Polish adaptation of the Inventory of the Dimensions of Emerging Adulthood (IDEA-PL)

Emerging adulthood refers to a new phase in life that is related to the transition period from adolescence to adulthood. The concept spread around the world and has been examined in various cultural contexts. This article aims to introduce a Polish adaptation of the Inventory of the Dimensions of Emerging Adulthood (IDEA-PL) developed to assess attitudes toward emerging adulthood among young people.

In total, 1,414 randomly assigned emerging adults aged between 18 and 29 took part in this study. Participants were asked to describe the extent to which they considered their current life as a time of identity exploration, experimentation/possibilities, negativity/instability, self-focused, feeling in-between, and other-focused. Responses were given on a Likert-type scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 4 (strongly agree).

The results were analyzed in two steps: via exploratory factor analysis (EFA) to check the underlying structure of the measure and via confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to assess the model fit. The EFA results showed that the IDEA-PL items loaded onto the originally dedicated six factors; however, some achieved low loadings and/or cross-loadings. In the second step of the analysis, the problematic items were eliminated and the CFA results showed that a five-factor solution with 15 items achieved satisfactory parameters.

In this paper, we introduce a Polish adaptation of the Inventory of the Dimensions of Emerging Adulthood (IDEA-PL). These results add value to the existing literature and scholars and clinicians can use this questionnaire for research and practice purposes.