PROVO — When Britney Spears released a song in late 2001 titled "I'm Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman" she was, in fact, a woman.

Technically, at least. The pop star was 19 — legally an adult — when radio played the song. But it turns out the confusion Spears expressed on the song about whether she was an adult is common among those of her generation.

A study by a Brigham Young University professor found that most college-age Americans — 70 percent, to be exact — are not sure if they are, in fact, adults.

That holds true for 18- to 25-year-old members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — 66 percent of whom said they are unsure of their adult status.

Larry Nelson, an assistant professor of marriage, family and human development at BYU, said most Americans in this age bracket see themselves as "emerging adults."

"No longer are the days when marriage or embarking on a career automatically make you an adult," said study co-author Carolyn McNamara Barry, assistant professor of psychology at Loyola College in Maryland. "Young people today use more internal and individualistic qualities as their mile markers. Perceiving oneself as an adult coincides with making progress towards resolution of one's identity."

For the study, published in this month's Journal of Adolescent Research, Nelson and McNamara surveyed 232 individuals and found that most used the same criteria to determine adult status.

Of those surveyed, most agreed that adults accept responsibility for their actions, are financially independent and that they think more about others than themselves.

The fraction of those who felt they had attained these characteristics had a better sense of identity and were more likely to know what type of person they desired as a romantic partner, Nelson found. They were also less depressed and less likely to use illegal drugs or engage in unprotected sex.

It is not until most people reach their late 20s that they consider themselves adults, Nelson said. In the LDS culture, where missions and marriage at a relatively young age are encouraged, perceived adulthood may come more quickly, he said.

"If you think about the larger society, what should an 18- to 25-year-old person be doing right now? There is no expected thing. You wouldn't say go to college, because most people still don't. You wouldn't say get married or go in the military or get a job. There is no one thing. There is absolutely nothing to move people along toward adulthood," Nelson said.

"But in the LDS Church, we have missions for men, Relief Society for women, church callings to give you responsibility and make you feel like an adult.

"And even if you're not married, you feel like you need to get ready for it."

Nelson said that his research thus far on "emerging adulthood" has been limited to surveys done on college campuses. He acknowledged that not all 18- to 25-year-old Americans are aimlessly wandering.

"It may be a middle- to upper-middle class phenomenon. There are a lot of people who do not have that luxury: teenage mothers, people from a lower socioeconomic status who immediately have to go out and get a job," he said. "There is some speculation about how widely this research can be applied."

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