Adulthood and Development

EMERGING ADULTHOOD BODY, MIND, AND SOCIAL WORLD

Emerging Adulthood  The period between the ages of 18 and 25, which is now widely thought of as a separate developmental stage.  Also called young adulthood or youth.

5 main Features  1. Identity Explorations (esp. in love and work)  Intimacy vs. isolation  2. Instability  3. Most Self-focused age of life  4. Feeling in between  5. Age of possibilities

Characteristics  Health  Sexual Health and Reproduction  Risk Taking  Cognitive Growth  Personality  Identity

Identity and Intimacy  Intimacy  Erikson’s sixth psychosocial stage, intimacy versus isolation  Intimacy progresses from attraction to close connection to ongoing commitment.  Marriage and parenthood  Friendships  Romance

Identity and Intimacy cohabit  To live with an unrelated person—typically a romantic partner—to whom one is not married.  Most young adults in the United States, England, and northern Europe cohabit rather than marry before age 25.

Family  Emerging adults are supposedly independent, leaving their childhood home and parents behind.  Parents continue to be crucial influences Identity and Intimacy

Adulthood: Body and Mind

Adulthood  Body changes  Senescence  Physical changes  Vision changes  Hearing Changes

Sexuality  Sexuality  Responsiveness  Fertility

The Adult Body  Health  Menopause/Andropause  Drugs  Poor Habits  Measuring Health

Measuring Health MORTALITY AND MORBIDITY Mortality ◦ Death: Morbidity ◦ Disease:

Variations in Health Gender Differences

Variations in Health Women may suffer more on other measures of health:

Variations in Health Socioeconomic Status and Health

Adult Brain  Cognition  Development  Sleep  Brain Loss

Intelligence

Components of Intelligence Two Clusters: Fluid and Crystallized (Cattell) Fluid intelligence Crystallized intelligence

Components of Intelligence Three Clusters: Analytic, Creative, and Practical (Sternberg) Analytic intelligence Creative intelligence Practical intelligence

Components of Intelligence Nine Clusters: Cultural Variations (Gardner)  Linguistic, logical-mathematical, musical, spatial, bodily- kinesthetic, naturalistic, social understanding (interpersonal intelligence), self-understanding (intrapersonal intelligence), and existential intelligence

Selective Gains and Losses Selective Optimization with Compensation

Expertise Selective expert Expertise

Characteristics of Expert Thought Expertise is intuitive Expertise is automatic

Characteristics of Expert Thought Expertise is strategic Expertise is flexible

Adulthood Psychosocial Development

Erikson’s Task for Adulthood  Generativity vs. stagnation  Satisfying generative needs  Creativity  Caregiving  Employment

Ages and Stages  Maslow’s Stages  Abraham Maslow (1954) described five stages, which occur in sequence.  Movement occurs when people have satisfied their needs at one level and are ready for the next step.  In his later years, Maslow reassessed his final level, self- actualization.  He suggested another level after that, called self- transcendence.

Ages and Stages

 The Social Clock  A developmental timetable based not on biological maturation but on social norms

Ages and Stages  Choosing a Lifestyle  In adulthood, people choose their particular social context, or ecological niche.

Ages and Stages  Gender Differences in Personality  gender convergence-

Intimacy  Intimacy needs are lifelong.  Relatives, friends, coworkers, and romantic partners  social convoy

Friends  Friends:

Family Bonds  When family bonds are similar to friendship bonds, relatives are mainstays of the social convoy.

Family Bonds  Over the years of adulthood, parents and adult children typically increase in closeness, forgiveness, and pride as both generations gain maturity.  familism

Family Bonds  Adult siblings  Adult siblings help one another cope

Family Bonds  Family closeness can sometimes be destructive, however.  fictive kin

Committed Partners  Adults everywhere seek committed partnerships  Less than 15 percent of U.S. residents marry before age 25, but by age 40, 85 percent have married.  Marital outcomes

Partnering, cont.  The Marital U Curve

Committed Partners  empty nest  Why do folks maintain committed partnerships?

Divorce  Adults are affected (for better or for worse) by divorce in ways they never anticipated.  Distressed vs. Distant Marriages  Outcomes of divorce

Divorce

Adults and Conflict  Define conflict  Conflict styles  Avoidant  Volatile  Validating  Hostile

Conflict, cont  Negative communication  Characteristics  Phrases  Downward spiral of negative communication

Conflict, cont.  The Journey to isolation and separation  Refusing influence  Criticism  Flooding  Defensiveness  Contempt  Stonewalling

Generativity  Adults seek to be productive in a caring way.  Adults satisfy their need to be generative in many ways

Caregiving  What is involved in caregiving?  kinkeeper

Caregiving  Chief form of generativity  The challenge of generativity and parenting  Stepfamilies  Adoption  Caring for aging parent

Caregiving  sandwich generation

Employment  The other major avenue for generativity.  Psychosocial needs fulfilled  Unemployment associations

Employment  Work and generativity  Skills  Creative energy  Mentoring  Support  Contribute

Employment  extrinsic rewards of work  intrinsic rewards of work

Coping with Stress  Stressor  allostatic load

Coping with Stress  organ reserve  problem-focused coping  emotion-focused coping

Coping with Stress  Gender also affects how a person responds to stress and thus affects allostatic load.  Virtually every study finds that social support is crucial in reducing allostatic load.

Stress, cont.  Warning signs  Identify sources  Integrate coping techniques