Young Adulthood
Physical Development: Highlights
I. Health Issues
A. Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS): symptoms of physical
discomfort and emotional tension during the one to two weeks
before a menstrual period.
1) Physical Symptoms…
fatigue, headaches, swelling and tenderness of breasts,
bloating, nausea, cramps
2) Psychological Symptoms...
irritability, grouchiness, moodiness, acting demanding,
aggressiveness, hostility
3) About 85% of all women have at least one symptom
of PMS.
B. Alcoholism
1) What are some risk factors?
New found freedoms in college
Stress in life
Family history (genetics & environment)
Mental Illness
Cultural influences
Sex
C. Treatment for Alcoholism
1) Detoxification: a program of supervised recovery
provided in a hospital setting.
2) Alcoholics Anonymous (AA): a self-help group
comprised of people who abstain from alcohol use and offer
help and support to each other. While there is no therapist
involved, a member usually leads the group during meetings.
3) Disulfiram (a.k.a. Antabuse): a drug that discourages
alcohol consumption because the combination of the two
produces a violent response consisting of nausea,
headache, heart palpitations, and vomiting.
4) Naltrexone: a drug that blocks the high from alcohol,
amphetamines, and opioids.
5) Controlled Drinking: reducing consumption of alcohol
from dependent/abusive to moderate levels.
6) Relapse-Prevention Training: training designed to
help substance abusers to identify high-risk situations and
learn effective coping skills for handling these situations.
Cognitive Development
I. New Ways of Thinking in Adulthood
A. Postformal Thought: a mature type of thinking, involving
continuous, active evaluation of information and beliefs in the
light of evidence and implications. It relies on subjective
experience and intuition as well as logic and is useful in dealing
with ambiguity, uncertainty, inconsistency, contradiction,
imperfection, and compromise.
More flexible and adaptive.
Make deeper connections.
Reconcile conflicting ideas.
Develop overarching theories that explain different concepts.
B. Aspects of Postformal Thought
1) Shifting Gears: the ability to shift back and forth between
the abstract and the practical.
2) Problem Definition: the ability to define a problem as
falling within a class or category of logical problems and to
define its parameters.
3) Process-Product Shift: the ability to see that a problem
can be solved either through a process with general
application to similar problems or through a product,
a concrete solution to the particular problem.
4) Pragmatism: the ability to choose the best of several
possible solutions and to recognize the criteria for choosing.
5) Multiple Solutions: the awareness that most problems
have more than one solution, that people may have differing
goals, and that a variety of methods can be used to arrive at
a solution.
6) Awareness of a Paradox: the recognition that a problem
or solution involves inherent conflict.
7) Self-Referential Thought: a person's awareness that he
or she is using postformal thought.
C. Schaie: A Seven Stage Life-Span Model of Cognitive
Development
1) Acquisitive Stage: the first of Schaie’s seven cognitive
stages, in which children and adolescents learn information
and skills largely for their own sake or as preparation for
participation in society.
2) Achieving Stage: the second of Schaie’s seven cognitive
stages, in which young adults use knowledge to gain
competence and independence.
D. Intelligence in Young Adulthood
1) Emotional Intelligence: the ability to perceive, imagine
and understand emotions and to use that information in
decision-making.
a) Emotions and Decision-Making
2) Tacit (Practical) Knowledge: information that is not
formally taught or openly expressed but is necessary to get
ahead. Sometimes referred to as (un)commonsense.
a) Self-Management: knowing how to motivate oneself and organize
time and energy.
b) Management of Tasks: knowing how to do particular tasks.
c) Management of Others: knowing when to reward or criticize
subordinates.
E. Kohlberg’s Seventh Stage of Moral Reasoning: a sense
of unity with the cosmos, nature, or God enabling one to
perceive moral issues from the standpoint of the universe as
a whole.
II. Education and Work
A. The College Transition
1) U.S. college enrollment at record high.
2) Over 60% of high school graduates enter college.
3) Over one-third of college students are 25 or older.
People are going back to school later in life.
4) Overall, increase is mostly due to increasing numbers of females.
Over 60% of undergraduates.
5) About 40% enter and finish college with a degree in 4 years.
6) Of the remaining 60%, half eventually complete their college
degree and the other half do not.
7) About 70% of African American college students do not finish
college with a degree.
College Enrollment by Racial / Ethnic Group
Education’s Relationship To Poverty
B. Distance Learning: a type of learning in which the instructor
and student are separated by space, and sometimes, by time.
C. Cognitive Growth in College
1) Commitment Within Relativism: when a young adult is
able to make his or her own judgments and choose his or
her own beliefs and values despite uncertainty and the
recognition of other valid possibilities.
D. Cognitive Growth at Work
1) Substantive Complexity of Work: this refers to a
reciprocal relationship between the degree of thought and
independent judgment required and a person’s flexibility in
coping with cognitive demands.
2) Spillover Hypothesis: cognitive gains from work carry
over to nonworking hours.
Psychosocial Development
I. Personality Development: Four Models
A. Normative-Stage Models: models that argue for a definite
sequence of age-related changes in psychosocial development.
1) Developmental Tasks: typical challenges that need to be
mastered for successful adaptation to each stage of life.
2) Intimacy versus Isolation: Erikson’s sixth stage of
psychosocial development, in which young adults either
make commitments to others or face a possible sense
of isolation and consequent self-absorption.
Virtue attained…
a) Love: a mutual devotion between partners who have chosen to
share their lives, have children, and help those children achieve their
own healthy development.
3) Life Structure: the underlying pattern of a person’s life at a
given time, built on whatever aspects of life the person finds
most important.
a) Dream: one’s hopes about what one wishes to achieve in the future,
part of the entry phase of young adulthood.
4) Emerging Adulthood... A new stage of development?
Period between the ages of 18 – 25.
Shifting cultural forces; delayed onset of full adulthood.
Increase in the amount of education needed for good career.
Frequency of cohabitation without marriage.
Continued growth & change in brain development (prefrontal cortex).
Continued identity exploration.
Insecurity, instability, self-focus.
Criticism...
The ability to spend time “exploring” is not available to everyone
True developmental stages are not option
5) Normative Studies of Women
Women may face different psychological and environmental
constraints in forming life structures than men do.
Women’s transitions tend to take longer.
Between age 27-43, women (as opposed to 17-33 for men) develop
more self-discipline, commitment, independence and confidence.
B. Timing-Of-Events Model: a model that describes adult
psychosocial development as a response to the expected
or unexpected occurrence and timing of important life events.
People usually have an awareness of their own timing and
of the…
1) Social Clock: a set of cultural norms or expectations for
the times of life when important events, such as marriage,
parenthood, entry into work, and retirement, should occur.
C. Trait Models: models that focus on mental, emotional,
temperamental, and behavioral traits, or attributes.
Costa and McCrae’s “Big Five” Factors...
1) Neuroticism: the tendency to experience emotional
instability: anxiety, hostility, depression, self-consciousness,
impulsiveness, and vulnerability very easily.
2) Extraversion: the tendency to seek stimulation and enjoy
the company of other people.
3) Agreeableness: the tendency to be trusting and
compassionate rather than distrustful of and antagonistic
towards others.
4) Conscientiousness: the tendency to show self-discipline,
to be reliable, and to strive for competence and achievement.
5) Openness to Experience: the tendency to enjoy new
experiences and new ideas.
D. Typological Models: models that identify broad personality
types or styles.
Friedman’s and Rosenman’s Personality Types...
1) Type A Personality: a highly competitive, impatient,
hurried person who typically has a hostile temperament.
2) Type B Personality: an easygoing, less hurried, and less
hostile person.
Block’s Personality Types…
1) Ego-Resilient: well adjusted, confident, and task-focused.
2) Overcontrolled: shy, quiet, anxious, and who withdraw
from conflict.
3) Undercontrolled: active, energetic, impulsive, stubborn,
and distractible.
II. Foundations Of Intimate Relationships
A. Self-Disclosure: revealing important information about
oneself to another.
B. Disclosure Reciprocity: the tendency for one person’s
intimacy or self-disclosure to match that of a conversational
partner.
C. Friendship
Center on work and parenting activities.
Sharing of confidences and advice.
Young singles rely on friendship for social needs.
Women have social needs met by friends more than men.
D. Love... Sternberg’s Triangular theory of love
1) Intimacy: the emotional element of love; involving selfdisclosure, which leads to connection, warmth and trust.
2) Passion: the motivational element of love; inner drives
that translate physiological arousal into sexual desire.
3) Commitment: the
cognitive element of
love; the decision to
love and stay with
the beloved.
Sternberg’s Forms of Love
E. Do Opposites Attract?
F. Sexual Attitudes
1) Reproductive: attitude concerning sex that sex is
permissible only for reproductive purposes within marriage.
2) Traditional: attitude concerning sex that sex is permissible
only within marriage.
3) Recreational: attitude concerning sex that whatever feels
good and doesn’t hurt anyone is fine.
4) Relational: attitude that sex should be accompanied by
love or affection, but not necessarily marriage.
III. Non-marital and Marital Lifestyles
A. Single Life
Proportion of 20-24 year olds who are single...
Women - 75%
Men - 86%
Strong trend in African American women...
35% still single in late 30s
B. Gay and Lesbian Relationships
About 50% of gay men and 45-80% of lesbians are in romantic
relationships.
C. Cohabitation: status of a couple who live together and
maintain a sexual relationship without being legally married.
Wide international variation…
More than 83% of French women at some point in their lives.
Less than 5% of Polish women at some point in their lives.
D. Cohabitation in the United States
Over half of US couples who marry live together first.
Higher divorce rates among previous cohabiters.
May reflect people’s traits, rather than the experience of cohabitation itself.
E. Marriage
U.S. men and women desire the same top 5 characteristics
in a marriage partner...
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Mutual Attraction (Love)
Emotional Stability and Maturity
Dependable Character
Pleasing Disposition
Education and Intelligence
Interesting differences in rankings…
Ambition and Industriousness:
Men = 11; Women = 6
Good Financial Prospects:
Men = 16; Women = 11
Good Looks:
Men = 7; Women = 13
Married people are happier than unmarried people (yet less sexually active).
But, those in unhappy marriages are less happy than unmarried or
divorced people.
Factors affecting satisfaction:
Economic resources
Equal decision-making
Non-traditional gender attitudes
Partners’ happiness with the relationship
Sensitivity to each other’s feelings
Communication
Conflict management skills
Age at marriage
College graduates
1) Rewards: benefits such as love, respect, trust,
communication, compatibility, and commitment to the partner.
2) Barriers: factors that prevent one from leaving the marriage,
such as children, religious beliefs, financial interdependence,
and commitment to the institution of marriage.
IV. Parenthood
A. Men’s and Women’s Involvement in Parenthood
Both have a mixture of feelings… excitement, anxiety, responsibility.
Mothers are more involved in children’s lives than fathers.
Involved fathers tend to be more satisfied with their lives.
B. How Parenthood Affects Marital Satisfaction
Marital satisfaction declines during childrearing years, especially
infanthood.
Mothers who see themselves as unable to cope with demands of
motherhood are dissatisfied with marriage.
Men who are less involved with their babies are more dissatisfied with
marriage.
V. Divorce
1 out of 5 U.S. adults have been divorced.
More than 50% of marriages end in divorce.
Higher divorce rates are among:
Teenagers
High school dropouts
Nonreligious persons
A. Adjusting to Divorce
Divorce tends to reduce long-term well-being...
Men experience more negative effects on health than women.
Disruption of parent-child relationships.
Loss of emotional support.
Discord with former spouse.
Economic hardship...
Women are more likely to live in poverty post-divorce than men.