Today exploring and developing one's ethnicity is particularly significant.
While this self-identification is true for all people, it is especially important for recent immigrants and for those born in the United States who are now third and fourth generation. It is achieving a balance between one's particular ethnic group and the culture at large. Most young adults experience changes in their relationships. Existing friendships may deepen, and they may make new friends among a broader mix of people. At the same time they are reordering the relationships within their family, integrating sexuality into their lives and choosing a permanent lifestyle such as marriage or a vocation to the priesthood, diaconate or religious life.