Emerging adulthood

• The transition form adolescence to adulthood is known as emerging adulthood

  • Occurs from approximately 18 to 25 years of age

  • Characterized by experimentations and explorations

• Key features:

  • Identity exploration, especially in love and work

  • The age of possibilities, individuals have an opportunity to transform their lives,

  • instability is common in love, work, education, and residence

  • Feeling in-between, young adults don’t consider themselves adolescents or full adults yet

Physical Changes

• Physical performance and development

  • Peak physical performance typically occurs between 19 and 26 years of age

  • Muscle tone and strength usually begin to show signs of decline around age 30

• Health

  • Emerging adults have twice the mortality rate of adolescents

  • Few chronic health problems

  • Increase in bad health habits

    • 70% of college students do not get adequate sleep and 50% reports daytime sleepiness

  • Positive health behavior = positive life satisfaction

Substance Use/Abuse

• Addiction is a pattern of behavior characterized by an overwhelming involvement with using a drug/substance and a preoccupation with securing its supply.

• Alcohol:

  • Binge drinking increases in college

  • Alcoholism - disorder that involves long-term, repeated, incontrollable, compulsive, and excessive use of alcoholic beverages.

  • Impairs health and social relationships

• Cigarettes & Nicotine:

  • Smoking is linked to…

    • 30% of cancer deaths

    • 21% of heart disease deaths

    • 82% of chronic pulmonary disease deaths

  • Cigarettes consumption has decreased by vaping nicotine has dramatically increased

Sexuality

• Approximately 60% of individuals have experiences sexual intercourse by the end of emerging adulthood

• Casual sex is more common in emerging adulthood than in the late 20s

• Heterosexual attitudes:

  • Males have more casual sex partners, while females report being more selective

  • Most Americans do not engage in kinky sexual acts

  • 62% of college women reported having experiences sexual harassment while attending college

Cognitive Development

• Piaget concluded that people enter the final cognitive stage, the formal operational stage, during adolescence

• However, some theories argues that it is not until adulthood that many consolidate their formal operational thinking.

  • Is there a fith, post-formal stage of cognitive development?

The Brian

• The frontal lobe of the brain, particularly the prefrontal cortex, usually fully matures around the age 25

• The frontal lobe is repsonsible for many higher-level cognitive functions, such as:

  • Motor planning

  • Behavior

  • Personality

  • Impulsivity

  • Executive functioning

  • Planning

  • Solving problems

  • Making decisions

  • Cognitive control

Motivation

• In thinking about a persons motivation in goal-achievement, psychologists examines 2 types of motivations

• Extrinsic motivation - involves doing something to obtain something else or avoid an undesirable outcome

  • the activity is a means to an end

  • E.g., individual might work very hard at a job to get a promotion and earn more money, or to avoid getting fired

• Intrinsic motivation - involves the internal motivation to do something for its own sake.

  • The activity is an end in itself

  • E.g., individual might work very hard at a job because they enjoy it

Careers and Work

• From mid-20s on, individuals often seek to establish their emerging career in a particular field.

• Only 20% of 12- to 22-year-olds have a clear vision of where they want to go in life

• Most college students only focus on short-term goals

  • Focus on graduating rather than explore what they want to do long-term

  • Do you want to have a job, pursue a career, or follow a vocation?

Impact of Work

• Work defines people in fundamental ways; it influences their financial standing, housing, the way they spend their time, where they live, their friendships, and their health.

• Work can create a sense of structure to life, and daily routine, that is often missed when individuals do not work for an extended period or after retirement

  • Many individuals experience emotional distress and low self-esteem when they are unable to work

  • Most people spend about one-third of their time at work, with only 8% reporting to work less than 40hrs per week