Chapter 13 - Young Adult Social/Emotional Development, Occupations, and Families

normative events

• life events most people experience

• ex: getting married, having kids, graduating college

idiosyncratic events

• irregular events forcing someone to adapt and change

• ex: losing parents as a child, cancer in early adulthood, losing your job

Daniel Levinson

• believed that young adults experience developmental tasks

• define a dream, find a mentor, develop a career, establish intimacy

define a dream

what’s the plan for my life?

find a mentor

who in my life can support me to pursue my dreams?

develop a career

how can I build skills to help me build my career?

establish intimacy

who do I want to spend my life with?

milestone

am I where I should be at a certain age?

split dream

• for women only

• how do I balance being a mom and starting a family with establishing a career?

egalitarian marriage

mom and dad split daily tasks equally (chores, picking up kids from school, changing diapers, etc.)

intimacy vs. isolation

• Erikson’s 6th psychosocial crisis

• how do I establish personal connection without losing who I am?

• ages 17-45

intimacy

• personal closeness where each person has an identity supported by the other person

• can be experienced through multiple types of close relationships

main requirement for intimacy vs. isolation

each person has to have found their identity + undergone identity vs. role confusion

family life cycle

1. leaving home/family/parents

2. significant partnership

3. marriage

4. birth of kids/beginning of parenthood

5. other events - kids go to school, kids leave for college, adapting to a new family dynamic, etc.

6. retiring from work

7. death of spouse

work gives you access to…

• work-based resources

• having access to nicer things

John Holland’s 6 career types

• realistic

• investigative

• artistic

• social

• enterprising

• conventional

reality shock

expectation meets reality - early adults need to adapt to their new job

dual earner couple

both people in a relationship earn money

occupational stress

factors causing stress within a job - coworkers, time management, leadership, balancing family life + work demands