Adulthood

Young Adulthood In your 20s/early 30s you focus on settling down, finding a mate, developing your professional career Risk for heart disease, lung disease, etc. can often be predicted early, based on prior behavior Diet is a major concern: eating your greens!

Marriage and Divorce Around 80% of U.S. adults marry at some point. Nearly half of all marriages end in divorce How to improve the chance of success? How does a couple handle arguments? How often does a couple experience intimate moments? Stereotype that older people don’t have sex doesn’t hold If it’s a reality for a couple, often is just a self-fulfilling prophesy.

Menopause Ends a woman’s ability to have a child Has less of an impact on mood/behavior than stereotypes suggest Many women don’t know what to expect at this time Sex drive, sex experiences do not diminish Men have no similar period

Middle Age Problems Erikson focuses on generativity in adulthood (ability to create and produce things others find useful) You may feel productive at home, work, or in your community Ex. Raising “good” kids, leading a project at work, helping plan your church’s summer camp If this feeling of generativity drops off, may experience a midlife crisis where you reassess your identity Not dramatically different than adolescence, but now you have more experience Empty-nest syndrome is not very common Most parents are happy to have the new freedom with their kids gone.

Late Adulthood Aging seems to occur because our cells are no longer as able to repair themselves as well as before But those who continue regular exercise “wear down” slower Those who remain mentally active at work or in academia tend to show continued mental health Use it or lose it Your fluid intelligence decreases with age (the ability to think quickly through new problems)

Dementia and Alzheimers Dementia is a loose term used to describe the general wearing away of mental abilities Alzheimer’s patients experience increasingly strong symptoms: from emotional numbness to a near vegetative state. Alzheimer’s correlates with low levels of acetylcholine (neurotransmitter linked with thinking and memory) No cure yet for Alzheimer’s: only successful at slowing the disease’s advance