Stemming from a systemic perspective and a life course framework (Elder, 1994), which acknowledge that individuals both influence and are influenced by significant others and their changing historical contexts, the current study aims to provide a comprehensive and up-to-date picture on family relationships and processes during emerging adulthood. Furthermore, we intend to provide a renewed reflection upon the experience of family members and the whole-family system during the transition to adulthood of their children, framing emerging adulthood years into a family life cycle perspective. This aim takes on particular relevance due to the new challenges that emerging adults and families currently face, ones deeply intertwined with the extension of the transition to the adulthood period and the postponement of most transition markers of adult status (Buchmann & Kriesi 2011).