2-4 February 2015- Istanbul, Turkey Proceedings of INTCESS15- 2 nd International Conference on Education and Social Sciences 95 ISBN: 978-605-64453-2-3 THE LIMINALITY OF ADOLESCENCE BECOMING AN ADULT FROM THE POINT OF VIEW OF THE THEORY OF THE RITE OF PASSAGE Sylwia Jaskulska 1 1 Dr., Adam Mickiewicz University (Poznań), POLAND, jaskulsk@amu.edu.pl Abstract Adolescence and becoming an adult have been frequently analysed by the developmental psychology of life stages of the man. In descriptions of these life stages, psychological categories such as developmental crisis, identity transformation and initiation all intertwine. In the text, I combine the psychological theories that describe adolescence with the theory of rites of passage according to Arnold van Gennep and Victor Turner. Keywords: adolescence, "emerging adulthood", rites of passage 1. INTRODUCTION Out of all the stages of human life that are analysed by developmental psychology, it is adolescence and initiation in adulthood that are mostly popular among readers. In describing these stages of life, psychological categories that intertwine are developmental crisis, identity transformation and initiation. In this paper I pose a question on how this human development stage proceeds in the contemporary world. In search of answers, I apply the theory of rites of passage, especially the liminality as described by Arnold van Gennep and Victor Turner, to the psychological description of adolescence and "emerging adulthood" (Arnett daty). 2. RITES OF PASSAGE ACCORDING TO ARNOLD VAN GENNEP AND VICTOR TURNER Rites of passage accompany changes that occur in the lives of individuals. These changes apply to the roles, status and social position that one has. It is Arnold van Gennep who is thought to be the author of the theory of rites. The author understood them as "ceremonial patterns which accompany a passage from one situation to another or from one cosmic or social world to another" (van Gennep, 2006, p. 37). By claiming that it is possible to notice the rhythm and sequentiality similar to the one that the universe is based on, Gennep perceives human life not as a continuum, but as a sequence of leaps (passages) from one state to another. Van Gennep’s most important contribution to the theory of rites is considered to be his differentiation between and description of their stages. According to van Gennep, the passage happens in three stages, one out of which the second one is a moment of a momentary suspension between stage one and two. Van Gennep (2006, p. 45) called these phases: preliminal (separation), liminal (threshold), postliminal (incorporation). He perceived each of these stages both as a part of a whole and as a separate rite. Thus, he wrote about three subcategories of rites of passage: rites of separation, threshold (marginal) and incorporation (integration) (van Gennep, 2006, p. 36). What is the clue of the ritual process as described by van Gennep? In order for an individual’s role or social status to be changed, it has to be separated from the "old world" at the beginning. Their status is for some time suspended between the old and the new role, between the old and new identity. Finally, incorporation in the "new world" occurs. One of the examples given by the author are the rites related to pregnancy and labour. A woman that becomes pregnant is excluded from her previous status but is not a mother yet. Pregnancy is a liminal phase – a period of preparation to accept a new role, the role of a mother (van Gennep, 2006, p. 64). Van Gennep indicated that in case of various rituals various phases can be more stressed. Funeral rites are focused on separation; wedding rites are focused on incorporation; and in the rites of maturity and entering adulthood, that interest me most in this paper, the liminal threshold phase is