Reading Notes 9/3: Gillis (2019): Identity Exploration or Labor Market Reaction in Service-Program Participation

Overview

• Article by Alanna Gillis (2019) examines why college students aspire to participate in service programs after graduation (e.g., Teach for America, Peace Corps) and tests whether emerging adulthood’s identity-exploration story explains their choices.
• Central claim: social class background, current financial security, work values, and labor market constraints shape four distinct orientations toward service programs, challenging the universality of emerging adulthood as the sole driver.
• Four orientations identified:
  • Backup Planners: participate for extrinsic reasons to build a resume and access long-term careers; often from disadvantaged class backgrounds with limited current financial security.
  • Delayed Careerists: view the immediate post-college period as an unsettled life stage to pursue meaningful, short-term work before settling into stable long-term careers; generally have moderate financial security.
  • Enthusiasts: pursue service programs for intrinsic reasons tied to identity projects (social issues, religion, etc.) and hope to align long-term careers with passions; typically from privileged backgrounds with strong financial security.
  • Professionals: use service programs as a direct route to enter their chosen long-term careers (e.g., teaching via TFA); rare in sample and often tied to explicit career-entry paths.
• Findings suggest that differences in work values and labor market constraints, not just identity exploration, explain post-college service-program participation.
• The study contributes to debates about emerging adulthood by showing that social class and labor market conditions produce heterogeneous post-college trajectories, even among students at an elite university.

Theoretical framing and key concepts

• Emerging adulthood (Jeffrey Arnett, 2004): a proposed life stage (ages 18–25) characterized by identity exploration, instability, self-focus, feeling in-between, and possibilities. Proposed as a universal phase preceding settled adulthood.
• Critiques of emerging adulthood’s universality:
  • Non-universality across social classes: working-class youth and non-college pathways often move quickly into adult roles (Edin & Kefalas; Benson & Furstenberg).
  • Financial constraints limit identity exploration (high debt, reduced parental support).
  • Elite-college contexts may not erase class-based constraints on opportunity and aspirations.
• Work values framework:
  • Intrinsic values: desire for creativity, self-expression, meaningful and identity-consistent work. Represented as $V_{intrinsic}$.
  • Extrinsic values: emphasis on salary, prestige, and material rewards. Represented as $V_{extrinsic}$.
  • Other dimensions: influence, social rewards, altruism, and leisure.
  • Values are not strictly on a single continuum; individuals can be high on both, low on both, or different across dimensions.
• Link to social class and current financial security:
  • Higher-class socialization often emphasizes intrinsic rewards; higher current financial security supports pursuing long-term, potentially less secure but meaningful paths.
  • Lower-class backgrounds and/or high debt/limited parental support push students toward extrinsic, financially safer, or more strategic paths (e.g., service programs as a way to build human capital).
• Labor market constraints shaping post-college trajectories:
  • Rising risk of underemployment for college graduates with degrees (Horowitz, 2018).
  • Difficulty finding long-term careers that align with personal identities; preference for nontraditional pathways into careers (nonlinear career entry).
  • Service programs as potential bridge to careers or as skill-building opportunities in a tight labor market.
• Public-service sector implications:
  • The orientation individuals choose within TFA or Peace Corps affects long-term retention and turnover, which in turn impacts student outcomes in low-income settings.

Research questions and aims

• Primary question: Are soon-to-be college graduates aspiring to participate in service programs to engage in identity exploration, or do social class differences reveal other forces at play?
• Secondary aim: If social class differences exist, how do work values and labor market constraints explain differences in aspirations for post-college service participation?
• Methodological aim: Use qualitative in-depth interviews to inductively develop a typology of orientations toward service programs and relate them to social class background and financial security.

Data, methods, and analytical strategy

• Design: 30 in-depth, semi-structured interviews with juniors and seniors at a highly selective public university in the Southeast.
• Timeframe: Data collection March 2015–April 2016; interviews averaged 1 hour 40 minutes.
• Rationale for method: In-depth interviews to analyze motivation accounts, interpret meaning, and identify common frameworks; iterative coding approach.
• Analytic process:
  • Sequential interviewing with interview-guide adjustments to follow emergent themes.
  • Freewriting, verbatim transcription, analytic memos during and after transcription.
  • Open coding line-by-line to generate codes; memoing to capture emergent themes and pathways.
  • Development of a codebook; systematic coding of all interviews.
  • Pathway analysis for each participant; cross-case comparison to build a typology of orientations.
  • Linking orientation types to social class background and current financial security.
• Sample and recruitment:
  • Sampled at a highly selective, four-year, residential, public research university in the Southeast.
  • Rationale: strong representation of TFA, Peace Corps, and similar programs post-graduation; tests theory in setting seen as conducive to identity exploration if universal claims hold.
  • Recruitment: referral-based; participants at different decision stages (pre-application, awaiting decisions, accepted/rejected).
  • Variability approach aimed at analytical generalizability rather than statistical representativeness (as per Small 2009).
• Sample characteristics:
  • N = 30; 70% women.
  • Racial/ethnic composition: approximately 70% White, 17% Black, plus one each of Hispanic, multiethnic, Middle Eastern, and other/South Asian.
  • Social class backgrounds: 50% upper-middle/upper class, 27% lower-middle class, 23% working-class or poor.
  • Current financial security: evaluated via debt, anticipated parental support, and subjective money stress.
  • Method of classifying social class: based on parental education and occupation, with adjustments for unusual circumstances (e.g., medical debt in the family).
• Ethical notes: pseudonyms used for all participants; financial and personal details treated with confidentiality.

Sample characteristics and context specifics

• The study focuses on elite college context, chosen to test identity-exploration claims within a setting where emergent adulthood is often presumed strongest.
• Service programs discussed include Teach for America and the Peace Corps, as well as smaller programs; programs have short-term time limits (typically one or two years) and vary in compensation.
• Financial aspects of programs:
  • TFA: typical first-year teacher salary.
  • Peace Corps: cost-of-living-based stipend in host country.
  • Smaller programs: sometimes fundraising-required stipends; examples included ranges from $15{,}000$ for a one-year program to over $75{,}000$ for a three-year program.
• Implications of costs: some young adults are blocked from participation due to fundraising requirements; nonetheless, the elite college setting facilitated cross-class aspiration toward service participation.

Findings: four orientations toward service program participation

• Four orientations emerged from 30 interviews (Table 1 summarizes distribution by social class origins and current financial security):
  • Backup Planners (N = 6): Extrinsic reasons; class background P/WC 33%, LMC 50%, UMC/UC 17%; current financial security Low 50%, Medium 50%, High 0%.
  • Delayed Careerists (N = 6): Unsettled life stage; class background P/WC 17%, LMC 33%, UMC/UC 50%; current financial security Low 0%, Medium 67%, High 33%.
  • Enthusiasts (N = 16): Intrinsic reasons; class background P/WC 25%, LMC 13%, UMC/UC 63%; current financial security Low 6%, Medium 44%, High 50%.
  • Professionals (N = 2): Direct career entry; class background P/WC 0%, LMC 50%, UMC/UC 50%; current financial security Low 0%, Medium 50%, High 50%.
• Backup Planners: describe themselves as needing a “backup plan” to ensure entry into long-term careers, using service programs as skill-building and résumé-enhancing opportunities even if they prefer immediate entry into qualifying careers.
  • Quotes: Michelle (working-class, exercise and sports science major) uses City Year as a backup if OT school doesn’t work out; Mathilde (working-class, global studies) views Peace Corps as a backup path with post-program benefits (re-entry support, grad school access).
  • Key mechanism: perceived risk of underemployment, debt, or lack of family safety net drives reliance on low-paid service work as a stepping stone.
  • Financial logic: fundraising and post-program earnings are weighed against the cost of postponing immediate entry into long-term careers.
• Delayed Careerists: pursue service programs to capitalize on an unsettled post-college life phase for meaningful, identity-aligned experiences, with long-term goals still oriented toward stable, lucrative careers.
  • Example: Hope (lower-middle-class) considers Peace Corps before starting a law-enforcement career; Jackson (upper-middle-class) plans a gap year via a Fulbright or similar program to gain cultural experience before entering a high-earning career path.
  • Distinguishing logic: they see the post-college period as the right time for a meaningful detour, not as a universal identity-exploration stage for all.
  • Financial stance: moderate security reduces sweet-spot pressure; they can tolerate temporary low pay as a strategic, short-term detour.
• Enthusiasts: prioritize intrinsic rewards and identity projects; view service as a platform to enact passions (religion, environment, social justice) and as a potential pathway to long-term, intrinsically rewarding careers.
  • Examples: Riley (upper-middle-class) hopes to clarify career focus via service; Steven (working-class) experiences a religious conversion that reframes his post-college path toward international and religious service; Emily (upper-class) intends Peace Corps work to pursue agricultural passions.
  • Financial angle: even substantial fundraising can be feasible for some Enthusiasts when parental support or other resources exist; several Enthusiasts raise substantial funds (e.g., $25k, $40k, $75k) to participate.
  • Identity dimension: Enthusiasts’ service programs are integrated with pre-existing or developing identities and life-projects.
• Professionals: use service programs as a direct entry mechanism into their chosen field (e.g., teaching via TFA); connect program participation to credentialing and immediate job entry.
  • Examples: Jayla (lower-middle-class) discovers a passion for teaching and uses TFA to structure the path; Robert (upper-middle-class) benefits from TFA guidance to complete certification requirements quickly.
  • Distinguishing feature: TFA uniquely facilitates direct career entry (through alternative certification) contrasted with other programs, which are primarily short-term and do not guarantee long-term employment paths.
  • General trend: among the seven students applying to TFA in the sample, only two intended to stay in teaching long-term; Professionals represent a minority and are not the main focus for class-based analyses.

How social class and labor market constraints shape orientation types

• Backup Planners typically arise from the lowest social-class backgrounds and/or those with low current financial security; they view service programs as strategic softness to ensure future mobility rather than identity exploration.
• Delayed Careerists span a range of class backgrounds but share a moderate level of financial security; they treat post-college life as a distinct stage for meaningful work rather than as a pure identity exploration period.
• Enthusiasts predominantly come from higher social-class backgrounds with strong financial security; they are more likely to pursue intrinsic rewards, even if fundraising is required, relying on family or social networks.
• Professionals are more likely to be from the higher end of the class spectrum and are notable for leveraging program structure to gain credentials and enter their long-term careers directly.
• The typology aligns with two sociological mechanisms:
  • Work values: intrinsic vs extrinsic preferences shaped by socialization and current financial realities.
  • Labor market conditions: underemployment risk, career-entry obstacles, and availability of nontraditional pathways influence program participation.

Discussion: implications for emerging adulthood and critique of universal claims

• The four orientations demonstrate that emerging adulthood is not a universal life-stage experience across social classes even in elite college settings.
• The study challenges the idea that all young adults engage in identity exploration through post-college service programs; rather, many are responding to material constraints and labor-market structures.
• The typology shows that some students already have clear identities and goals (Delays and Professionals), while others pursue exploration within a framework shaped by class (Enthusiasts, Backup Planners).
• Key nuance: identity projects among Enthusiasts are not equivalent to identity exploration; some youth pursue identity-consistent work due to constructed identities rather than unformed identities.
• Implications for policy and practice:
  • Career counseling and institutional support should consider students’ financial security and class background when designing programs and advising on post-graduate pathways.
  • Service programs could be viewed as responses to labor-market constraints, not merely as opportunities for identity exploration.

Connections to existing literature and broader relevance

• Aligns with critiques of universal “emerging adulthood” by showing class-based differences and labor-market constraints in post-college pathways (Côté 2014; Furstenberg 2016; Ryberg 2018).
• Relates to literature on work values (intrinsic vs extrinsic) and their developmental trajectories across the life course (Johnson & Mortimer; Kohn; Kalleberg).
• Engages with debates about nontraditional career-entry pathways and the role of service programs in building human capital (Horowitz 2018; McMillan Cottom 2017).
• Indicates that elite college contexts may amplify or mask class-based differences in post-graduate aspirations, highlighting the need to test across institutional types.

Limitations and future research directions

• Generalizability: study is based on a single elite public university in the Southeast; results may differ in other institutions (private elites, regional publics, community colleges).
• Sample size: 30 interviews; while designed for depth and typology development, larger samples could test the stability of typologies and class-based patterns.
• Gender and ethnicity: some patterns (e.g., women overrepresented in Enthusiasts) may warrant deeper exploration of gendered differences in post-college aspirations and service-program engagement.
• Cross-country comparisons: future work could compare U.S. gap-year/after-college service programs with gap-year traditions in other Western countries to identify institutional and policy differences.
• Mechanisms of value change: the finding that college can shift work values (e.g., increasing intrinsic value among Enthusiasts from some backgrounds) invites further study into how institutions influence these changes.
• Institutional variation: examine how different universities (with varying levels of financial aid and career services) shape post-graduate decision-making and service-program participation.

Implications for education policy and practice

• Emphasize nuanced career guidance that accounts for financial constraints and class backgrounds, not solely identity development narratives.
• Support for students considering service programs as legitimate post-graduate options, but with transparent information on long-term outcomes, funding requirements, and potential career trajectories.
• Consider partnerships with service programs to provide smoother transitions or longer-term pathways into careers for participants, especially for those seeking intrinsic as well as extrinsic outcomes.

Conclusion

• The rise of short-term post-graduate service programs cannot be fully understood through the lens of emerging adulthood as a universal life-phase focused on identity exploration.
• Instead, social class background and labor-market constraints create four distinct orientations toward service program participation, each with different implications for short- and long-term careers.
• The findings suggest a need to rethink the universality of emerging adulthood and to foreground structural conditions in analyses of early-career behaviors and policy responses.
• The study contributes to a broader understanding of how class, finances, and labor market dynamics shape the transition to adulthood, with practical implications for counseling, program design, and workforce development.

Key numerical and procedural details (at a glance)

• Study design: 30 in-depth interviews; semi-structured; iterative coding; open coding leading to a typology.
• Sample composition: 70% women; 70% White; 17% Black; other groups represented; 50% upper-middle/upper class; 27% lower-middle class; 23% working-class or poor.
• Financial security categories: Low, Medium, High (based on debt, parental support, and money stress).
• Programs discussed: Teach for America (two-year), Peace Corps (two-year), plus smaller programs; durations typically $1\text{ year}$ to $2\text{ years}$; fundraising obligations ranged from $15{,}000$ to over $75{,}000$ depending on program length.
• Typology summary (four orientations):
  • Backup Planners: Extrinsic; N=6; class origins skewed toward P/WC and LMC; current financial security typically Low/Medium.
  • Delayed Careerists: Unsettled life stage; N=6; class origins skewed toward UMC/UC; current financial security Medium/High.
  • Enthusiasts: Intrinsic; N=16; majority from UMC/UC; current financial security Medium/High.
  • Professionals: Direct career entry; N=2; balanced class origins; current financial security Medium/High.