Chapter Nineteen Early Adulthood: Psychosocial Development Dr. M. Davis Brantley

Two basic needs: affiliation and achievement –or affection and instrumentality Maslow: hierarchy of needs Erikson: intimacy vs. isolation Love and Work

Ages and Stages Patterns of the Past –by 20s: identity –by 30s: intimacy –by 40s: generativity Adult lives today “are less orderly and predictable than stage models suggest”

The Social Clock Culturally set timetable that establishes when various events and endeavors in life are appropriate What are some of the appropriate timetables in the United States?

The Social Clock, cont. Developed vs. Developing Nations –developed nations now permit grandmothers to be college graduates, while developing nations do not –developing nations encourage teens to be mothers, while developed nations discourage this practice Rich and Poor –the lower the SES, the sooner a person is expected to reach life’s milestones

Need for Intimacy –meeting it depends on affiliation, affection, interdependence, love Two primary sources are close friendships and romantic partnerships Intimacy

Friendship Better than the family in buffering against stress, as guide to self- awareness, and as a source of positive feelings like joy

Choosing Young-Adult Friends Physical attractiveness Apparent availability (willingness to chat) Absence of exclusion criteria –Like what??? Frequent exposure to each other

Gender Differences in Friendship Conversations and Expectations –women  self-disclosure –men  external matters—sports, politics, work –female-female pattern may better reduce loneliness and self-absorption –male-male pattern may be more effective and efficient, especially in work situations

Gender Differences in Friendship, cont. Friendships Between Men and Women –cross-sex friendships allow learning about common humanity and let people help each other gain skills –problems may arise when a platonic relationship is sexualized or there are conflicts of expectations Same sex friendships may be most effective and efficient –especially in the workplace

Development of Love and Marriage Sternberg’s Theory of love –1) passion 2) intimacy 3) commitment –7 forms of love based on presence or absence of three components above – in West, consummate love— a combination of all three—is the ideal form –difficult to achieve consummate love familiarity and security diminish passion

Throughout history marriages commonly arranged –still common today in many nations and certain cultures Typical U.S. pattern today—initiated and sustained by the two people involved –duration and seriousness increase until, couples marry, typically 10 years after their first love affair Courtship follows predicable pattern— from passion to intimacy What are ways we court one another today? Contact and Courtship

Living Together Cohabitation— a couple’s living together in a committed sexual relationship without being formally married –increasingly common –cohabitation not just for young adults –slightly more than half of all women aged years have cohabited

Living Together, cont. Cohabitation does not necessarily benefit the participants –one study found people who cohabitate are much less happy and healthy, and less satisfied with financial status than are married couples –in another study, cohabiting relationships were 3 times as likely to be abusive than marriages –in a third, compared to single adults, cohabitants are likelier to have alcohol problems

Marriage Not like it “used to be” –proportion of unmarried adults is higher than at any time in the past century –10 percent of brides are virgins –nearly one-half of all births are to single mothers who are increasingly unlikely to marry the fathers of their babies

Marriage, cont. Not like it “used to be,” cont. –20 percent of first births conceived before marriage –divorce rate is 49 percent of marriage rate –the rate of first marriages in young adulthood lowest in 50 years

Marriage, cont. Marriage, still most enduring evidence of couple commitment, is celebrated in every culture in the world by a wedding –hoped-for-results: a love that deepens over the years, as bond cemented by birth of children weathering economic and emotional turbulence surviving serious illness or other setbacks sharing social and financial commitments

Marriage, cont. Worldwide research says married people are happier, healthier, and richer

What Makes Marriages Work Developmentally, marriage is a useful institution –children generally thrive when two parents are committed to their well- being

What Makes Marriages WorkWhat Makes Marriages Work, cont. One developmental factor affecting success of marriage is maturity of the partners A second factor is degree of similarity, or homogamy—marriage within same group –heterogamy—marriage outside of group –social homogamy—similarity of couple’s interests and role preferences

What Makes Marriages Work, cont. Marital Equity –social exchange theory –in modern marriages, what matters most is perception of fairness, not absolute equality

Long-term homosexual partnerships are more common and open today 2-5 percent of all U.S.adults spend some part of adulthood in such relationships Homosexuals generally have same relationship issues as heterosexuals Same-Sex Partners

Divorce Influenced by social and political context –affects many lives for years United States has highest divorce rate –almost 1 in 2 first marriages end in divorce Historically, an increase, but stabilizing –one reason: lower marriage rate

The Role of Expectations People today expect more from marriage partners than in the past, but expectations are not always as well defined

Violence in intimate relationships has multiple causes –social pressures that create stress, cultural values, personality pathologies, and drug and alcohol addiction –common couple violence—1 or both partners engage in verbal and physical attack –intimate terrorism—1 partner systematically isolates, degrades, and punishes the other Domestic Violence

Intimate terrorism less prevalent than common couple violence Perpetrator usually anti-social and violent in many ways Leads to battered-wife syndrome, with woman not simply physically beaten but broken socially and psychologically Domestic Violence, cont.

Similarities Between 2 Types of Domestic Violence –jealous male partner doesn’t want female partner to talk to other men –male partner tries to limit female partner’s contact with family and friends –male partner insists on knowing who female partner is with and where she is at all times –Difference Between 2 Types of Domestic Violence But in intimate terrorism, partner seeks to exert violent control over the other

Defined as the motivation to achieve or the drive to be generative generative Generativity

Importance of Work Develops and uses personal skills and talents Provides structure for daily life Work can help a person to –develop and use personal skills –express unique creative energy –aid and advise coworkers, as a mentor or friend –contribute to larger community via product or service

Restructuring –work –workers –employers –schedule –teamwork –typical career sequence Manufacturing estimated to shrink by 1/3 between New Patterns of Employment

New Patterns of Employment, cont. Workplace characterized by ongoing reorganization and growing automation Timing and pace of jobs are changing Burden of these new work patterns falls especially on young adults

Diversity in the Workplace A major social change is most adult women are employed –motherhood no longer considered impediment to employment Gender and ethnic diversity are increasing in every developed nation –glass ceiling (invisible barrier impeding rise of both groups) Generational diversity –What does this mean?

Diversity in the Workplace, cont. Work teams function best when they are diverse Work requires same relationship skills as friendship or marriage

Parenthood Adult Development –having children, nurturing them, and launching them into the world has a major impact on the parent’s development –birth of a child brings conflict and challenges and begins the lifelong process of interdependence

The bond is reciprocal Challenges emerge at every stage of child’s development Few young adults anticipate the time required for parenting Children Affect Their Parents

Benefits and Problems –role overload –role buffering Logistics in Everyday Life Employed Parents

Children and Divorce Children make divorce more complicated Financial burden of child rearing on custodial parent –Only one-half of fathers pay full child support

Alternative Routes to Parenthood Roughly one-third of North American adults become –stepparents –adoptive parents –foster parents