Conclusion

Abstract Emerging adulthood affords an important developmental context for adaptive and maladaptive trajectories with regard to sexual development. This concluding chapter of the volume “Sexuality in Emerging Adulthood” provides an overview of the key ways in which previous chapters have identified opportunities for positive experiences and outcomes related to sexuality in emerging adulthood as well as those that are associated with less successful navigation of this domain of development. Beginning with a brief overview of several theories that provide useful frameworks for understanding the vast body of literature on these topics, we then review how early anticedents to sexuality in emerging adulthood, certain sexual behaviors, and the presence of positive social forces may all contribute to greater sexual well-being. We next review factors associated with lower sexual health and mental health outcomes during emerging adulthood, including experiences in childhood and adolescence, sexual risk behaviors, and various social forces. Lastly, we suggest future directions for the field, which include additional longitudinal work, especially with non-college attending participants, and research that can account for the complexity and diversity in lived experience.