DevPsy: Finals L1 - Young Adulthood

3 Adulthood Criteria

1. Accepting responsibility for oneself

2. Making independent decisions

3. Becoming financially independent.

Emerging Adulthood

The late teens through the mid-to-late 20’s has become a distinct period of the life. This period of life span represents a period of time during which young adults can figure out who they are and what they want to be.

Health Status and Health Issues

• Genetic Influences

• Behavioral Influences

Direct Influences on Health

• Diet and Nutrition

• Obesity / Overweight

• Eating disorders

• Physical Activity

• Stress

• Sleep

• Smoking and Alcohol Use -Alcohol use peaks in emerging adulthood.

Risky Drinking

Defined as consuming more than 14 drinks a week or 4 drinks on any single day for men, and more than 7 drinks a week or 3 drinks on any single day for women.

Indirect Influences on Health

• Socio Economic Status and Race / Ethnicity

• Relationships and Health

• Mental Health Problems

  • Alcoholism

  • Drug Use and Abuse

  • Depression

Alcoholism

Chronic disease involving dependence on use of alcohol, causing interference with normal functioning and fulfillment of obligations.

Sexual and Behavioral Attitudes

• Emerging adults tend to have more sexual partners than in older age groups, but they have sex less frequently.

• Casual sex (hooking up) is fairly common.

• By emerging adulthood, most lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender persons are clear about their sexual identity.

Sexually Transmitted Infections

Illnesses that are transmitted by having sex.

Premenstrual Syndrome

A disorder that produces physical discomfort and emotional tension for up to 2 weeks before a menstrual period.

Symptoms may include:

• Fatigue

• Headaches

• Swelling

• Tenderness of the breasts

• Swollen hands or feet

• Abdominal Bloating

• Nausea

• Cramps

• Constipation

• Food Cravings

• Weight gain

• Anxiety

• Depression

• Irritability

• Mood swings

• Tearfulness

• Difficulty concentrating or remembering

Infertility

• The inability to conceive a baby after 12 months of intercourse in the absence of birth control methods.

• Women’s fertility begins to decline in their late 20s, with substantial decreases during their 30s. By their 40s, many women are not able to become pregnant without the use of artificial reproduction technologies (ART).

• Men’s fertility is less affected by age but declines significantly by their late 30s.

Reflective Thinking

• Active, persistent, and careful consideration of information or beliefs in the light of the evidence that supports them and the conclusions to which they lead.

John Dewey

American philosopher and educator who first defined Reflective Thinking.

Reflective Thinkers

Continually question supposed facts, draw inferences, and make connections. In other words, they frequently and spontaneously engage in critical thinking.

Postformal Thought

• Suggests that mature thinking is more complex than Piaget described, and that it encompasses more than just the capacity for abstract thought.

• Mature type of thinking that relies on subjective experience and intuition as well as logic and allows room for ambiguity, uncertainty, inconsistency, contradiction, imperfection, and compromise.

• At other times, especially in ambiguous circumstances, the fruits of experience can help us understand a situation more effectively.

• Draws on intuition and emotion as well as logic to help people cope with situations such as social dilemmas, which are often less clearly structured and are fraught with emotion.

Characterization of Postformal thought

• The ability to deal with inconsistency

• Contradiction

• Compromise

Relativistic thought

Acknowledges that there may be more than one valid way of viewing an issue and that the world is made up of shades of gray.

K. Warner Schaie’s life-span model of cognitive development

• Looks at the developing uses of intellect and cognition within a social context.

• His seven stages revolve around what motivates cognition at various stages of life.

Acquisitive Stage: Childhood and Adolescence

Children and adolescents acquire information and skills mainly for their own sake or as preparation for participation in society.

Achieving Stage: Late Teens or early 20s to early 30s

Young adults no longer acquire knowledge merely for its own sake; they use what they know to pursue goals, such as career and family.

Responsible Stage: Late 30s to early 60s

Middle-aged people use their minds to solve practical problems associated with responsibilities to others, such as family members or employees.

Executive Stage: 30s or 40s through middle age

People in this stage are responsible for societal systems (such as governmental or business organizations) or social movements. They deal with complex relationships on multiple levels.

Reorganizational stage: End of middle age, beginning of late adulthood

People who enter retirement reorganize their lives and intellectual energies around meaningful pursuits that take the place of paid work.

Reintegrative Stage: Late adulthood

Older adults may be experiencing biological and cognitive changes and tend to be more selective about what tasks they expend effort on. They focus on the purpose of what they do and concentrate on tasks that have the most meaning for them.

Legacy-creating Stage: Advanced old age

Near the end of life, once reintegration has been completed (or along with it), older people may create instructions for the disposition of prized possessions, make funeral arrangements, provide oral histories, or write their life stories as a legacy for their loved ones.

Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory of Intelligence

Intelligence is comprised of three elements:

• Componential

• Experiential

• Contextual Knowledge

Analytic Intelligence

• Mental Steps or “Components” used to solve problems.

• Compare, evaluate, and analyze.

Creative Intelligence

• Use of experiences in ways that foster insight.

• Generate insights, inventions, and other creative endeavors.

Practical Intelligence

• Ability to read and adapt to the contexts of everyday.

• Applying what people have learned in everyday life.

Tacit Knowledge

• “inside information, ” “know-how, ” or “savvy” that is not formally taught or openly expressed.

• Commonsense knowledge of how to get ahead—how to win a promotion or cut through red tape.

• May include:

  • Self-management

  • Management of tasks

  • Management of others

Self-management

Knowing how to motivate oneself and organize time and enegy.

Management of tasks

Knowing how to write a term paper or grant proposal.

Management of others

Knowing when and how to reward or criticize subordinates.

Emotional Intelligence

It refers to four related skills. The abilities to:

• perceive emotions

• use emotions

• understand emotions

• manage or regulate emotions

our own and those of others—so as to achieve goals.

Peter Salovey and John Mayer

Coined the term emotional intelligence.

Cognitive maturation

In Kohlberg’s theory, moral development of children and adolescents is closely tied to ________________.

Abstract thought

Young people advance in moral judgment as they shed egocentrism and become capable of ____________.

Adulthood

In ________, however, moral judgments become more complex.

I: Obedience/Punishment

Age Range

• Infancy

Description

• No difference between doing the right thing and avoid punishment.

I: Self-Interest

Age Range

• Pre-school

Description

• Interest shifts to rewards rather than punishment—effort is made to secure greatest benefit for oneself.

II: Conformity and Interpersonal Accordance

Age Range

• School Age

Description

• The “good boy/girl” level. Effort is made to secure approval and maintain friendly relations with others.

II: Authority and Social Order

Age Range

• School Age

Description

• Orientation towards fixed rules. The purpose of morality is maintaining the social order. Interpersonal accord is expanded to include the entire society.

III: Social Contract

Age Range

• Teens

Description

• Mutual benefit, reciprocity. Morally right and legally right are not always the same. Utilitarian rules that make life better for everyone.

III: Universal Principles

Age Range

• Adulthood

Description

• Morality is based on principles that transcend mutual benefit.

Preconventional: Punishment and Obedience

Right and wrong defined by what they get punished for. If you get told off for stealing, then obviously stealing is wrong.

Preconventional: Instrumental-Relativist

Right and wrong is now determined by what we are rewarded for, and by doing what others want. Any concern for others is motivated by selfishness.

Preconventional

This moral stage happens up to the age of 9.

Conventional: Interpersonal Accordance

Being good is whatever pleases others. The child adopts a conformist attitude to morality. Right and wrong are determined by the majority.

Conventional: Law and Order

Being good now means doing your duty to society. To this end we obey laws without question and show a respect for authority. Most adults do no progress past this stage.

Conventional

This moral stage occurs to most adolescent and adults.

Postconventional: Social Contract

Right and wrong now determined by personal values although these can be over-ridden by democratically agreed laws. When laws infringe our own sense of justice we can choose to ignore them.

Postconventional: Universal Ethical Principle

We now live in accordance with deeply held moral principles which are seen as more important than the laws of the land.

Carol Gilligan

Created the Levels of Moral Development in Women

Level 1: Orientation of Individual Survival

The woman concentrates on herself-on what is practical and what is best for her.

Transition 1: From selfishness to responsibility

The woman realizes her connection to others and thinks about what the responsible choice would be in terms of other people (including her unborn baby as well), as well as herself.

Level 2: Goodness as self-sacrifice

• This conventional feminine wisdom dictates sacrificing the woman’s own wishes to what other people want—and will think of her.

• She considers herself responsible for the actions of others, while others responsible for her own choices.

Transition 2: From goodness to truth

• The woman assesses her decisions not on the basis of how others will reach to them but on her intentions and the consequences of her actions.

• She develops a new judgement that takes into account her own needs, along with those of others.

Level 3: Morality of nonviolence

By elevating the injunction against hurting anyone (including herself) to a principle that governs all moral judgement and action, the woman establishes a “moral equality” between herself and others and is then able to assume the responsibility for choice in moral dilemmas.

The College Transition

• Gender, Socioeconomic Status, and Race/Ethnicity

• Adjusting to College

• Cognitive Growth in College

• Completing College

Cognitive Growth in College

Researchers have found that going to college can result in a fundamental change in the way young people think.

Entering the World of Work

• Combining Work and Schooling

• Cognitive Growth at Work

• Smoothing the Transition to the Workplace

Spillover Hypothesis

Cognitive gains from work carry over to nonworking hours.

Influences on paths to Adulthood

• Gender

• Academic Ability

• Early attitudes toward education

• Race and Ethnicity

• Expectations in Late Adolescence

• Social Class

Moratorium

Time out from developmental pressures and allows young people the freedom to experiment with various roles and lifestyles.

Identity-Diffusion

A status that characterizes those who have neither explored the options, nor made a commitment to an identity.

Identity-Foreclosure

The status for those who have made a a commitment to an identity without having explored the options.

Identity-Moratorium

A status that describes those who are exploring in an attempt to establish an identity but have yet made any commitment.

Identity-Achievement

The individual has attained a coherent and committed identity based on personal decisions. A long process achieved by the end adolescence.

Recentering

• A name for the process that underlies that shift to an adult identity.

• The primary task of emerging adulthood.

Stage 1: The Beginning of Emerging Adulthood

The individual is still embedded in the family of origin, but expectations for self-reliance and self-directedness begin to increase.

Stage 2: During Emerging Adulthood

• The individual remains connected to but no longer embedded within the family of origin.

• Temporary, exploratory involvements in a variety of college courses, jobs, and intimate partners mark this stage.

Stage 3: Young Adulthood

Usually by age 30, this stage is marked by the independence from the family of origin (while retaining close ties to it) and commitment to a career, a partner, and possibly children.

Influences on Relationship with Parents

• Positive parent-child relationships during early adolescence predict warmer and less conflicted relationships with both parents when the child reach age 26.

• Generally, parents and young adult children get along best when the young adult is following normative life course but has deferred the responsibility of parenthood until other adult roles are well established.

• The quality of the parent-adult relationship may be affected by the relationship between the mother and father.

Developing Adult Relationship with Parents

• Even though they are no longer children, emerging adults still need parental acceptance, empathy, and support, and attachment to parents remains a key ingredient of well being.

• Financial support from parents, especially, for education, enhances emerging adults’ chances of success in adult roles.

Failure to Launch

Adult children who continue to live with parents may have trouble renegotiating their relationship.

Normative Stage Models

Questions Asked

• Does personality change in typical ways at certain periods throughout life course?

Methods Used

• In-depth Interviews

• Biographical Materials

Change or Stability

• Normative personality changes having to do with personal goals, work, and relationship occur in stages.

Timing of Events Model

Questions Asked

• When do important life events typically occur? What if they occur later than usual?

Methods Used

• Statistical Studies

• Interviews

• Questionnaires

Change or Stability

• Non-normative timing of life events can cause stress and affect personality development.

Trait Models

Questions Asked

• Do personality traits fit into groups, or clusters? Do these clusters of traits change with age?

Methods Used

• Personality Inventories

• Questionnaires

• Factor Analysis

Change or Stability

• Personality types tend to show continuity from childhood through adulthood, but certain events can change the life course.

Typological Models

Questions Asked

• Can basic personality types be identified, and how well do they predict the life course?

Methods Used

• Interviews

• Clinical Judgements

• Factor Analysis

• Q-sort

• Behavior ratings

• Self-reports

Change or Stability

• Personality types tend to show continuity from childhood through adulthood, but certain events can change the life course.

Normative Stage Models

• Theoretical models that describe psychosocial development in terms of a definite sequence of age-related changes.

• The changes are normative in that they are common for most members of a population at a particular time.

Social Clock

Set of cultural norms or expectations for the times of life when certain important events, such as marriage, parenthood, entry into work, and retirement, should occur.

Intimacy VS Isolation

• Erikson’s sixth stage of psychosocial development, in which young adults either form strong, long-lasting bonds with friends and romantic partners or face a possible sense of isolation and self-absorption.

• Erikson believed that young people who develop a strong sense of self during adolescence are in a better position, in early adulthood, to fuse their identity with that of another.

• In other words, knowing who you are and what you want makes it more likely you will end up with a partner who fulfills your needs.

Virtue of Love

Mutual devotion between partners who have chosen to share their lives, have children, and help those children achieve their own healthy development.

Developmental Tasks of Young Adulthood

• Leaving the children home for advanced schooling

• Work

• Military Service

• Developing new and more intimate friendships and romantic relationships

• Independence

• Completing Education

• Entering the world of work

• Becoming financially independent

Timing of Events Model

• A response to the expected or unexpected occurrence and timing of important life events.

• This model has made an important contribution to our understanding of adult personality by emphasizing the individual life course and challenging the idea of universal, age-related change.

Trait Models

Theoretical models of personality development that focus on mental, emotional, temperamental, and behavioral traits, or attributes.

“Big Five” factors

Factors underlying clusters of related personality traits: (OCEAN)

1. Openness to experience

2. Conscientiousness

3. Extraversion

4. Agreeableness

5. Neuroticism

Costa and McCrae

Creator of the Five Factor Model, a theoretical model of personality.

Openness

• Imaginative or practical

• Interested in variety or routine

• Independent or conforming

Conscientiousness

• Organized or disorganized

• Careful or careless

• Disciplined or impulsive

Extraversion

• Sociable or retiring

• Fun-loving or somber

• Affectionate or reserved

Agreeableness

• Softhearted or ruthless

• Trusting or suspicious

• Helpful or uncooperative

Neuroticism

• Calm or anxious

• Secure or insecure

• Self-satisfied or Self-pitying

Typological Models

Theoretical approach that identifies broad personality types, or styles.

Ego-resilient

People are well adjusted: Self confident, independent, articulate, attentive, helpful, cooperative, and task-focused.

Overcontrolled people

Shy, quiet, anxious, and dependable; they tend to keep their thoughts most to themselves and to withdraw from conflict and they are most subject to depression.

Undercontrolled people

Active, energetic, impulsive, stubborn, and easily distracted.

Intimate relationships requirement

• Self-awareness

• Empathy

• The ability to communicate emotions

• Resolve conflicts

• Sustain commitments

• Sexual decision making

Friendship

• During young adulthood, it is often less stable than in either adolescence or later adulthood, primarily because people in emerging adulthood relocate more frequently than at other points in life span.

• Can be more stable than ties to a lover or a spouse.