Chapter 11 and 12: Physical, Cognitive, and Socioemotional Development in Early Adulthood

Introduction to Early Adulthood Development

• Emerging Adulthood: Describes the transition from adolescence to adulthood, occurring from approximately $18$ to $25$ years of age. This period is characterized by experimentation and exploration.
• Key Features of Emerging Adulthood (Jeffery Arnett):
  • Identity Exploration: Especially prevalent in the realms of love and work.
  • Instability: Residential changes peak during this time; instability is common in love, work, and education.
  • Self-focused: Individuals typically have fewer social obligations, duties, and commitments to others, granting them greater autonomy in running their lives.
  • Feeling In-between: Many emerging adults do not consider themselves adolescents nor full-fledged adults.
  • The Age of Possibilities: A period of optimism regarding the future and the opportunity to reorient life in a positive direction.
• Critics of Emerging Adulthood:
  • Argue that the concept mainly applies to privileged adolescents.
  • Questions whether these features are a self-determined choice or a result of specific circumstances.

The Changing Landscape of Young Adulthood

• Generational Shifts: Previous generations were expected to finish college, obtain full-time employment, and establish a household (often with a spouse and children) much earlier than current emerging adults.
• Living Arrangements: For the first time in the modern era, living with parents has become the most frequent living arrangement for individuals aged $18-34$.
• Education: Today’s emerging adults are generally better educated than those in the $1970s$.
• Transition from High School to College:
  • Repetition of the Top dog phenomenon, where students move from being the oldest/most powerful in high school to the youngest/least powerful in college.
  • Movement to larger, more impersonal school structures.
  • Increased focus on achievement and formal assessment.
  • Recent trends show students have increased concern for personal well-being but decreased concern for others, particularly the disadvantaged.
  • Increased reports of higher stress and depression levels.

Physical Development and Health

• Peak Performance: Most individuals reach their peak physical performance before the age of $30$.
• Physical Decline: Decline in physical performance also begins during this age period.
• Mortality: Emerging adults have more than twice the mortality rate of adolescents.
• Health Risks: Issues such as inactivity, poor food choices, obesity, substance use, and lack of reproductive health care often worsen in emerging adulthood if they began in adolescence.
• Maintenance Recommendations:
  • Sleep: Adults should obtain $7-9$ hours of sleep nightly.
  • Exercise: At least $30$ minutes or more of aerobic exercise is recommended.

Substance Abuse in Early Adulthood

• Alcohol Use: Only $20\%$ of college students report abstaining from alcohol.
• Gender Differences: Male college students and young adults are more likely to use drugs than females.
• Binge Drinking Statistics (2018): $28\%$ of US college students reported having $5$ or more drinks in a row at least once in the previous two weeks.
• Extreme Binge Drinking (High Intensity Drinking): Defined as consuming $10$ or more, or $15$ or more, drinks in a row within the last two weeks.
• Consequences of Binge Drinking: Associated with missing classes, physical injuries, police trouble, and unprotected sex.

Sexuality and Sexual Behavior

• Sexual Activity: Slightly over $60\%$ have had sexual intercourse upon entering emerging adulthood; by age $25$, most have had intercourse.
• Marriage Trends: The average age of marriage in the US is $29.5$ for males and $27.4$ for females. Most emerging adults are sexually active but unmarried.
• Casual Sex: ‐Hooking up‐ and ‑Friends with Benefits (FWB)‐ are common in this stage.
• 1994 Sex in America Survey Findings:
  • Frequency Categories: $33\%$ have sex twice a week or more; $33\%$ a few times a month; $33\%$ a few times a year or not at all.
  • Faithfulness: $75\%$ of married men and $85\%$ of married women reported never being unfaithful.
  • Cognition of Sex: Men think about sex more often ($54\%$ think about it daily or multiple times a day) compared to women ($67\%$ think about it only a few times a week or month).
  • Partner Count: $17\%$ of men and $3\%$ of women reported having sex with over $21$ partners.
• Sexual Orientation:
  • Historical View: Prior to the late $19th$ century, people were viewed only as heterosexual or homosexual.
  • Modern View: Orientation is seen as a continuum from exclusive male-female relations to exclusive same-sex relations.
  • Determining Factors: Orientation is likely a combination of genetic, hormonal, cognitive, and environmental factors.
  • Fluidity in Women: Women are more likely to change sexual patterns/desires, identify as bisexual, or have experiences with both sexes even if identifying as heterosexual.

Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs)

• Gonorrhea:
  • Cause: Bacteria.
  • Spread: Moist membranes during sexual contact.
  • Incidence: Approximately $500,000$ cases annually in the US.
  • Treatment: Penicillin and other antibiotics.
• Syphilis:
  • Characteristics: A sore where the infection entered the body; if untreated, can cause paralysis or death.
  • Incidence: $100,000$ cases annually in the US.
  • Treatment: Penicillin.
• Chlamydia:
  • Impact: Can cause infertility in females.
  • Incidence: About $3$ million people annually in the US.
  • Treatment: Antibiotics.
• Genital Herpes:
  • Characteristics: Eruptions of sores and blisters.
  • Incidence: One in five US adults.
  • Management: No cure; antiviral medications can shorten outbreaks.
• AIDS:
  • Impact: Destroys the immune system; transmitted via semen and blood.
  • Incidence: More than $300,000$ cumulative cases of HIV in the US.
  • Management: New treatments slow progression from HIV to AIDS; no cure.
• Genital Warts:
  • Characteristics: Highly contagious; does not always produce symptoms.
  • Incidence: $5.5$ million new cases annually in the US.
  • Prevention/Treatment: Approved vaccine available; treatment includes topical drugs, freezing, or surgery.
• Prevention Strategies: Know partner’s risk status, obtain medical exams, practice protected sex, and avoid multiple partners.

Cognitive Development and Creativity

• Piaget’s View: Believed young adults are more quantitatively advanced (have more knowledge) but remained in the Formal Operational stage as the final stage.
• Postformal Thought: A proposed qualitative stage characterized as:
  • Reflective, relativistic, and contextual.
  • Provisional.
  • Realistic.
  • Influenced by emotion.
• Creativity Enhancement Strategies:
  • Seek surprise daily and surprise others daily.
  • Journal daily about these surprises.
  • Follow sparked interests.
  • Wake up with a specific goal.
  • Spending time in stimulating settings.

Achievement, Motivation, and Grit

• Mindsets:
  • Growth Mindset: Belief that qualities can change and improve through effort; linked to success.
  • Fixed Mindset: Belief that qualities are ‐carved in stone‐; linked to lower achievement.
  • Strategic Mindset: Involves asking strategy-eliciting questions when facing challenges.
• Motivation:
  • Extrinsic Motivation: Doing something to obtain an external reward (e.g., bonuses, praise, trophies, avoiding punishment).
  • Intrinsic Motivation: Internal motivation to do something for its own sake (e.g., hobbies, volunteering, pursuit of knowledge).
• Grit: Defined as passion and persistence in achieving long-term goals. Involves pushing oneself, working hard regardless of duration, and overcoming challenges.

Careers and Work

• Career Mystique (Phyllis Moen): The cultural belief that hard work for long hours leads to status, security, and happiness. This has rarely been reality for ethnic minorities, women, or poorly educated adults.
• Work Trends:
  • Disappearing long-term careers.
  • Shift toward ‐survival jobs‐ vs. ‐career jobs.‐
  • Workers increasingly desire flexibility and control over hours.

Socioemotional Development and Attachment

• Foundation: The first $20$ years of life lay the foundation for adult socioemotional development.
• Adult Attachment Styles:
  • Secure Attachment: Adults have positive views of relationships, find it easy to get close to others, and are not stressed by romance. They prefer committed relationships ($60-80\%$ of adults).
  • Avoidant Attachment Style: Hesitant about romance; tend to distance themselves once in a relationship.
  • Anxious Attachment Style: Demand closeness, are less trusting, and more jealous/possessive.

Love and Relationships

• Erikson’s Stage: Intimacy vs. Isolation: After establishing identity, adults find themselves while losing themselves in another; requires commitment.
• Romantic Love: Also called passionate love or eros. Features strong components of sexuality, infatuation, and complex emotions (passion, fear, joy).
• Affectionate Love: Also called companionate love. Occurs when someone desires proximity and has a deep, caring affection.
• Sternberg’s Triangular Theory of Love:
  1. Passion: Physical and sexual attraction.
  2. Intimacy: Emotional feelings of warmth, closeness, and sharing.
  3. Commitment: Cognitive appraisal and intent to maintain the relationship.
• Sternberg’s Combinations:
  • Consummate Love: Includes Passion + Intimacy + Commitment.
  • Infatuation: Passion alone.
  • Affectionate Love: Intimacy + Commitment (low passion).
  • Fatuous Love: Passion + Commitment (low intimacy).

Marriage and Communication Styles

• John Gottman’s Principles for Working Marriages:
  • Establishing love maps (knowing each other deeply).
  • Nurturing fondness and admiration.
  • Turning toward each other (seeing each other as friends).
  • Letting the partner influence you (sharing power).
  • Creating shared meaning.
• Communication Styles (Deborah Tannen):
  • Rapport Talk: The language of conversation; establishes connections.
  • Report Talk: Designed to give information (e.g., public speaking).

Adult Lifestyles and Cultural Variations

• Lifestyles for Consideration:
  • Single Adults: Balancing challenges and advantages.
  • Cohabitating Adults: Living together unmarried; associated with certain risk factors.
  • Married Adults: Benefits of a good marriage.
  • Divorced Adults: Causes of marital dissolution.
  • Gay and Lesbian Adults: Addressing misconceptions.
• Cross-Cultural Variations: Differences exist in communication (direct vs. indirect), gender roles, family involvement, commitment timelines, expressions of love, beauty standards, and social expectations for public displays of affection.