Development in Early Adulthood - Lecture Notes

Vocabulary and key concepts focusing on early adulthood developmental milestones, emerging adulthood, trauma personality types, mental health models, and social issues including IPV and the gender wage gap.

Early Adulthood

The developmental period occurring between late adolescence and the early forties, characterized by stabilization of physical and emotional growth.

Emerging Adulthood (Arnett, 2000)

A developmental stage from mid-adolescence to the mid/late twenties characterized by the postponement of adult roles, common in industrialized countries.

Median Age at First Marriage (US Census)

In the contemporary United States, the estimated age is $30.8$ for men and $28.4$ for women, compared to $23.5$ and $21.1$ in 1975.

Age of Identity Explorations

A feature of emerging adulthood where young adults explore interests and choices regarding work and relationships.

Age of Self-focus

A feature of emerging adulthood where young adults experience independence without obligations and a feeling of being "in between" adolescence and adulthood.

Flat Affect

A symptom of schizophrenia characterized by a severe reduction in emotional expressiveness.

Polyvagal Theory

A theory describing the nervous system’s response to threats, including the fight-or-flight response and split-second fear responses.

Secondary Traumatic Stress

A type of stress experienced by individuals such as social workers, first responders, and ICU workers resulting from exposure to others' trauma.

Freeze (Trauma Personality Type)

A survival pattern based on the belief that "people are synonymous to danger," leading to avoidance of human contact and behaviors like daydreaming or hibernating.

Fawn (Trauma Personality Type)

A survival pattern where an individual seeks to please others and forfeits their own boundaries and needs to earn safety and love.

Flight (Trauma Personality Type)

A survival pattern characterized by escaping into obsessive thought and compulsive action, often mis-labeled as OCD or ADHD.

Fight (Trauma Personality Type)

A survival pattern involving the pursuit of power and control to create safety, often mis-labeled as Narcissist or Conduct Disorder.

EMDR

Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing; an evidence-based treatment approach for PTSD.

Behavioral Activation

A PTSD treatment that utilizes the strengths perspective to promote engagement in pleasant activities and navigate barriers through problem-solving.

Person-first Language

Discourse that emphasizes the individual over their disability (e.g., "Person with Schizophrenia"), ensuring the disability does not define the person.

Disability-first Language

Discourse that frames disability as an empowering identity label and connects the individual to a community (e.g., "Deaf person").

Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) Risk Stats

One in two ($1:2$) women and one in four ($1:4$) men are victims of sexual/physical violence or stalking by an intimate partner.

Gaslighting

One of the 8 tactics of IPV referred to as "blame shifting."

Lisa Moss Case

A legal case in Oklahoma where a woman served $34$ years for a life-without-parole sentence for the death of her abuser, highlighting gender bias in Stand Your Ground (SYG) laws.

Gender Wage Gap

Full-time working women earn approximately $81-83$ cents for every dollar men earn, leading to an earnings gap of roughly $542,800$ over a 40-year career.

Motherhood Penalty

The systemic disadvantage where women are seen as less competent/committed after having children, losing $5\%$ in wages for each child, while men's wages typically increase.

Title IX

A policy that prohibits gender-based discrimination in higher education institutions.

Distributive Justice Perspective

A perspective on affirmative action that advocates for ensuring everyone has equal rights and resources by using policies to correct historical unfairness.

Libertarian Perspective (Affirmative Action)

The view that affirmative action represents government overreach and that the benefits do not justify expanding the government’s role.