Chapter 19– Emerging Adulthood:
Psychosocial Development
Continuity and Change
Identity Achieved
• The search for identity (see Chapter 16)
begins at puberty and continues much longer.
• Most emerging adults are still seeking to
determine who they are.
• Erikson believed that, at each stage, the
outcome of earlier crises provides the
foundation of each new stage.
Continuity and Change
Ethnic Identity
• Most emerging adults identify with very
specific ethnic groups.
• More than any other age group,
emerging adults have friends with
diverse backgrounds.
• Ethnic identity may affect choices in
language, manners, romance,
employment, neighborhood, religion,
clothing, and values.
Vocational Identity
• Establishing a vocational identity is part of
growing up
• Many go to college, as moratorium, and to
prepare for a job
• Temporary jobs are part of preparation
• Young workers tend to feel no loyalty to
their employer in reaction to the current
global economy
Vocational Identity
Personality in Emerging
Adulthood
• Rising Self-Esteem
– continuity and improvement in attitudes of young
adults
• Worrisome Children Grow Up
– children with high aggression and those with extreme
shyness grew up with little pathology
• Plasticity
– open to new experiences which allows personality
shifts and eagerness for more education
Intimacy
Intimacy versus isolation
• Erikson’s sixth psychosocial stage
emphasizes that humans are social creatures.
• Intimacy progresses from attraction to close
connection to ongoing commitment.
• Marriage and parenthood, as emerging adults
are discovering, are only two of several paths
to intimacy.
Intimacy
Friendship
• Throughout life, friends defend against stress
and provide joy.
• Friends, new and old, are particularly crucial
during emerging adulthood.
• Most single young adults have larger and
more supportive friendship networks than
newly married young adults once did.
Intimacy
Gender and Friendship
• Men tend to share activities and interests and
talk about external matters
– But do not talk of failures or emotional problems
– Demand less of their friends so they have more of
them
• Women tend to share secrets, reveal their
weaknesses and problems and expect sympathy
Romantic Partners
• Relationship between love and marriage
depends on era and culture.
• 3 patterns occurring roughly in thirds:
−Arranged marriages
−Adolescents meet a select group and man
ask woman’s parents for permission
−People socialize with many and then fall in
love and marry when they are able, the most
common in Western cultures
Intimacy
The Dimensions of Love
Robert Sternberg (1988) described three
distinct aspects of love:
• Passion- an intense physical, cognitive and
emotional onslaught characterized by excitement,
ecstasy, and euphoria.
• Intimacy- knowing someone well, sharing secrets
as well as sex.
• Commitment- grows gradually through decisions to
be together, mutual care giving, kept secrets,
shared possessions, and forgiveness.
Intimacy
Hookups Without Commitment
• Hookups
– A sexual encounter with neither intimacy nor
commitment
• Social networks
– A Web site that allows users to publically share their
lives and connect with large numbers of people
• Choice overload
– Having so many possibilities that a thoughtful choice
becomes difficult
Finding Each Other and Living
Together
Finding Each Other and Living
Together
Cohabitation
• Living with an unrelated person—typically a
romantic partner—to whom one is not married
• Most young adults in the U.S., England, and
northern Europe cohabit rather than marry
before age 25.
• Half of all cohabitating couples in the U.S.
plan on marrying eventually.
Changes in Marriage Patterns
In the U.S.
• Most adults aged 20-30 are not married
• Compared to any year in the past, fewer adults
are married and more are divorced.
• The divorce rate is half the marriage rate
(3.6 compared to 7.3 per 1000) because fewer
people are getting married.
Similarities and Differences
• Homogamy
– Marriage between people who tend to be similar
(SES, goals, religion, attitudes, local origin, etc.)
• Heterogamy
– Marriage between people who tend to be dissimilar
(interests, etc)
• Social homogamy
– The similarity of a couple’s leisure interests and role
preferences.
Conflict
Learning to listen
• Demand/withdraw interaction
– A situation in a romantic relationship wherein one
person wants to address an issue and the other
refuses
– Women tend to be more demanding and men
withdrawing.
Intimate Partner Violence
• Emerging adults experience more partner
violence than those over 25.
• Alcohol and drugs make violence more likely
and more severe.
• Rates are high and would be higher if selfdeception and dishonesty weren’t factors but
would be lower if preventative measures were in
place.
Intimate Partner Violence
• Situational couple violence
– Fighting between romantic couples that is
brought on more by the situation than by
personality problems
• Intimate terrorism
– A violent and demeaning form of abuse in a
romantic relationship where the victim is too
scared to fight back, seek help, or withdraw
Emerging Adults and Their Parents
• Linked Lives
– Where the success, health, and well-being of each
family member are connected to those of other
members.
• Financial Support
– Parents of all income levels in the U.S. help their
adult children.
• A Global Perspective
– Parental support and linked lives are typical
everywhere. In some countries, it is valued more
than in others (i.e. Italy vs. Great Britain).