A lack of identity capital, she believes, can lead to depressive episodes and destructive behavior.

While identity capital is almost by definition “good,” it is often difficult for young people to comprehend, since their mindset is still focused on the attainment of fleeting goals unrelated to identity capital, such as degrees, grades, and other accolades or forms of praise. She defines the term as the aggregation of relationships and skills that have intrinsic value and endure over time. Though Jay does not have a solution for this particular problem of the broadening of economic options, she talks about one way to manage it: by forming identity capital. Most of her young patients express doubt about their ability to find a job they like from a seemingly endless array of alternatives. Jay explains the ways in which anxiety about this changing market appears in her experience as a psychologist. The unemployment rate for young adults is further exacerbated by an expanding population. Jay credits this to the outsourcing of simple labor, which has sent most jobs that were usually reserved for young adults needing entry-level experience to countries where such labor is cheaper. In today’s world, young adults are educated at an unprecedented rate, but a smaller portion of them actually ends up finding work when they graduate. Jay contextualizes current attitudes about the second decade of human life in recent economic changes. Jay speaks directly to people who now inhabit this critical phase, suggesting ways to prepare behavioral and mental frameworks that will minimize regret. Jay draws on her experiences as a counselor to individuals who have passed out of their twenties and are overcome with regret for having squandered the opportunity to figure out their desires and identity during this time. The Defining Decade (2012), a self-help book by clinical psychologist Meg Jay, critiques modern views about young adulthood which, in the author’s view, often trivialize its critical role in establishing the mental groundwork for a healthy and happy adult life.

The defining decade book