This qualitative study was conducted in higher educational settings and examines how the self-directedness of young adults changes as they study. Specifically, this study seeks to highlight how and why young adults who attend colleges, educational institutes attached in colleges, or universities participate and engage in learning. In-depth interviews were conducted with eight young adult learners who had experienced changes in their learning. There were five primary categories of findings: (1) the learners showed low levels of self-efficacy and passive learning styles at the beginning of their learning; (2) the learners had difficulty in dealing with multiple roles as adults; (3) the levels of the learners' self-directedness increased as they studied with others; (4) the learners recognized the changes in their self-directedness; and (5) the learners turned into self-directed learners as their learning progressed.