Young Adulthood

Young Adulthood

• Physical Changes
• Stages of Development
• Cognitive Changes
• Social Changes

• Erickson 
• Maslow
• Freud 

• Daniel Levinson’s Developmental Tasks
• 1) Defining a Dream
• 2) Finding a Mentor
• 3) Developing a Career
• 4) Establishing Intimacy

• The 20’s
• The 30’s

• Because development is no longer propelled chiefly by biology, the stages of adulthood are determined in large measure by the social clock - a culturally set timetable that dictates the best or right time for an event, such as marriage and career, and tells us what is early or late.
• Socioeconomic status affects the setting of the social clock.
• For example, a female of low socioeconomic class may feel pressure to marry much younger than an affluent female who postpones marriage until 30.

• What is Love?
• Eric Fromm believes that there are four elements common to all definitions of love -
•   1) Knowledge
•   2) Care
•   3) Respect
•   4) Responsibility
• According to Robert Sternberg , love has three components -
•   1) Passion
•   2) Intimacy
•   3) Commitment
• Although an ideal marriage has some measure of all three components, passion tends to fade over time, while intimacy and commitment grow stronger.

• The mate selection process occurs in three stages -
• 1) Stimulus stage 
• 2) Values stage 
• 3) Roles stage 

• 1) Sexuality
• 2) Commitment
• 3) Trust
• 4) Separateness
• 5) Sharing Hurts and Fears
• 6) Playfulness
• 7) Time

• 1) Lack of self-awareness
• 2) Pressure and stress
• 3) Chronic busyness
• 4) Unresolved anger
• 5) Inflexibility
• 6) Poor communication
• 7) Low self-esteem
• 8) Breaking of trust

• 1) Start by recognizing the intimacy you have
• 2) Reaffirm your commitment
• 3) Become partners in esteem-building
• 4) Build trust
• 5) Learn skills for sharing feelings
• 6) Work to clear up anger and resentments
• 7) Help each other take risks
• 8) Nurture the joy and satisfactions
• 9) Search for ways to express love
• 10) Set aside time

• A study of 400 marriages of ten years or more revealed the following patterns:
• 1) Conflict-habituated
• 2) Devitalized
• 3) Passive-congenial
• 4) Vital
• 5) Total

• Half of all divorces occur within the first seven years of marriage.
• Paul Bohannon’s stages of divorce -
• 1) Emotional divorce
• 2) Legal divorce
• 3) Economic divorce
• 4) Coparental divorce
• 5) Community divorce
• 6) Psychic divorce

• 1) Career Exploration (15-24)
• 2) Career Establishment (25-44)
• 3) Career Maintenance (45-64)
• 4) Career Decline (age 65 on)
• Work satisfaction 
•  mentor.

• 1) The Honeymoon Period
• 2) The Nurturing Period (B to Age 2)
• 3) The Authority Period (2-5)
• 4) The Interpretive Period (5-12)
• 5) The Interdependent Period (Adol)
• 6) The Launching Period
• 7) The Empty Nest Period
• Most parents are glad that they had children but wish that parenthood were easier!