EARLY

ADULTHOOD
development
 What is Early ADULTHOOD
Development?
The life stage called early adulthood defines individuals
between the ages of 20 and 40, who are typically vibrant, active
and healthy, and are focused on friendships, romance, child
bearing and careers.
Physical development basically complete. Muscles are
developed, strong and motor coordination is at its peak.
Mental development seek additional education, choose
careers and independence.
Emotional development many emotional stresses related to
career, marriage, family, etc.
Social development moving away from peer group, tend to
hang with others with similar ambitions. Most find a mate and
begin a family.
Characteristics of Early Adulthood

The young adult has to take roles such as that of spouse, parent and
bread winner and to develop new attitudes, interests and values in
keeping with these new roles. Some of the outstanding characteristics
are;

1. Early Adulthood is the 'settling - down age'. This is the period

when young men and women are trying out different life patterns in
terms of jobs and different individuals to share their life. Once
individuals decide upon the pattern of life they believe will meet their
needs, they develop pattern of behavior, attitudes and values which will
tend to be characteristically theirs for the ramaining of their lives.

2. Early Adulthood is the 'Reproductive Age' - parenthood is one of

the most important roles in the lives of most young adults.
3. Early Adulthood is a 'Problem Age' - young adults
need to cope up with all adjustments within their work
and with partner and larger circle of friends and relatives.
Expectations are too high and to meet demand make it
even more difficult.

4. Early Adulthood is a period of 'Emotional Tension'

- what young adult's worry about which leads to
emotional tension will depend upon their work load at
their work place, at home and in the social circle and also
how much success or failure they are experiencing in
meeting these problems.

5. Early Adulthood is a period of 'Social Isolation' -

with the end of formal education and the entrance into
adult life pattern of work and marriage, the association
with peer groups is slowly weaned. This is when they
Early Adulthood is a 'time of Commitment' - As young adults change their role from
student and dependent (characteristic of adolescence) to that of independent adults, they
establish new pattern of living, new responsibilities and take up new commitments for
themselves and their partners.

Young adults with high level of education, good health support and guidance from
partner and family members, high ambitions and realistic goals, ability to accept
success or failure gracefully, ability and willingness to communicate with others,
respect for others and active participation in prestigious community affairs will
easily climb up the ladder to successful economic and social status.

Poor health or physical defects can be hazardous to personal and

social adjustments but these can always be overcome with the support one gets from the
family and friends.

A lot of adjustments need to be made by young adults, the most important being -
adjustment to marriage, to parenthood, and to the expanded family circle.
There are chances of singlehood also but how women feel about unmarried life
and adjustment to singlehood differs from that of men. For men stress is less than
single women.

Old age is the closing period in the life span. Age sixty is
usually considered the dividing line between middle and old
age. Chronological age is a poor criteria to use in marking off
the beginning of old age because there are such marked
differences among individuals in the age and better aging
actually begins. Because of better living conditions health
care, most men and women today do not show the mental
and physical signs of aging until early seventies. The
characteristics of old age are far more likely to lead to poor
adjustment than to good and to unhappiness rather than to
happiness. That is why old age is even more dreaded than
middle age.
Characteristics of Senescence or old age are:
1. Old age is a period of decline - decline comes partly from physical and
partly from psychological factors. There is change in body cells due to the
aging process. Unfavorable attitude towards one self and life in general
can lead to decline or become depressed and disorganized. Motivation
plays a very important role in decline.
2. There are individual differences in the effects of aging. People age
differently because they have different hereditary endowment, different
socio economic and educational backgrounds and different patterns of
living. The general rule is physical aging precedes mental aging.

3. Old age is judged by different criteria - age is judged in terms of

physical appearance and activities. One who has white hair is labeled as
old. There are many who try to cover up their aging symptoms to create
illusion that they are not yet old.
4. There are many stereotypes of old people - let it be the folklore, the media,
poetry, fiction, jokes or different forms of humor or scientific studies, all portray
the aged as those who are worn out physically and mentally, unproductive,
accident - prone, hard to live, days of usefulness are over, should be pushed
aside to make way for younger people.
Poor adjustment is characteristic of old age - Because of the unfavorable social
attitudes towards the elderly that are reflected in the way the social group treat
them, it is not surprising that many elderly people develop unfavourable self-
concepts. These tend to be expressed in maladjusting behavior of different
degree of severity.
Middle Adulthood
Emotional Developmemt
Social Development
Peer Group
what is middle adulthood?

A person in a nonspecific stage of life, being neither

young nor old, but somewhere in the middle. According to
Erik Erikson, between ages 40 to 65 years, with the
developmental (psychological) task of generativity vs.
despair. Often associated with the potential onset of
midlife crisis.
Emotional Development
During the middle adulthood, men and woman start to
considered themselves a different generations with different needs.
Many men and woman in their 50's face a transition from becoming
parents to becoming grandparents. They have to make decision
aout their old parents and work as well. This causes emotional
disturbance in thi age because this person is facing a massive
emotional change.

In addition to that men and woman get emotionally disturbed in
their middle adulthood because they start to think of the
opportunities they have lost. A person in the middle adulthood
turmoil due to dissatisfactions in the past as well as in the present.
 Many research associate a person's
thinking to his emotional state. During the
middle adulthood, a person faces a lot of
challenges that may give emotional
instability. A person in midlife is thought to
be a crisis due to the challenges faced by
him. People in miidle adulthood have
conflicting feelings of generativity and
stagnation
Erik Eriksons Theory of Psychosocial Development

Believed major psychological challenge of the middle

years is generativity versus stagnation
Generativity
ability to generate or produce; based on instinctual
drive toward procreativity (bearing and rearing children)

can consist of parenting ones own children, helping
others with their children, being engaged in projects that will
influence future generations
Stagnation
rejection of generativity drive can result in a life
stripped of meaning and purpose
Daniel Levinsons Seasons
Midlife transition

The years from 40 to 45

Psychological shift into middle adulthood often
accompanied by a crisis during which people fear they have
more to look back upon than forward to

Midlife crisis
Time of dramatic self-doubt and anxiety during which
people sense the passing of their youth and become
preoccupied with concern about the imminence of their own
mortality

May be imposed from external factors such as downsizing
Entering Midlife: Crisis, Turning Point, or Prime of
Life?
Midlife usually identified around age 35 for women and age
40 for men; women reach it about five years earlier mostly due to
reproductive awareness

Due to unrealized dreams and life losses, psychotherapy
during this time should not be overlooked.

Midlife can be prime of life if the person has continued to
develop in an area of expertise or interest

Little if any fluid intelligence lost and crystallized intelligence
growing
Entering Midlife: Crisis, Turning Point, or
Prime of Life? (contd)
Middle-aged adults, especially professionals,
are often earning more money than young adults.

Tend to be geographically and vocationally settled

Most have built systems of social support and may
be involved in endearing romantic and social
relationships as well as have children

Flip side of middle adulthood

The overwhelming responsibility of taking care of
your own family, helping with your aging parents, and
remaining in the workplace all at once
Social Development

In addition middle adulthood brings social

changes in a person as well which then stabilizes
them socially. The mid life restructures a person's
social life as his parents become ill, he himself
becomes a parent or grandparent and he has to
fulfill multiple duties at home and at work (Hargrave,
2006)
Social Changes

The FIRST social change that comes in midlife is marriage.

Many middle aged men have strong marital relationship and they
are doing more than better with their life. However, unmarried men
show more personal growth than married ones. Although marriage
is related to well being but still a stable marriage also put a new
pressure to a person. These pressures include growing up of
children, children's marriage and becoming a grandparent. This
things brings changes to a person's life and thus inhibit the
personal growth. (Hargrave, 2006)
 Another Social Changes is the change of parental
roles that the middle age person faces. The middle age
person sees his children growing to adolesence. This changes
requires alteration in parent child relationship. Parenthood
also involves a major and long-lasting commitment, one that
can cause substantial stress on the parents. The time and
finances invested in children create stress, which frequently
results in decreased marital satisfaction. This decline is
especially true for women, who usually bear the larger part of
the burden of raising the children and taking care of the house,
despite that they increasingly also work and have careers.
Stability and Change in Middle
Adulthood
Personalities tend to mature rather than be shaped by environmental
conditions.
Expression of personality traits is influenced by culture.

Are There Sudden Shifts in

Personality?
The big five personality traits tend to show stability over time.

Some trends of group personality changes over the years, but introverted
tend to remain introverted, extroverted tend to remain extroverted

Neuroticism declines over time; agreeableness and conscientiousness

increase over time; extraversion and openness to new experience decline
slightly over time
 Peer Group/Relationship in Middle Adulthood

Evolving Parent-Child Relationships

Parents are stressed when adolescents do not exert self-control and they
have to direct them in multiple areas of their life.
Children who are young adults may still be financially reliant upon their
parents.
Some still live at home
Parents balance between staying in touch with the young adult and interfering
with their life choices.
Living at home as a young adult differs according to culture as well as location.
Married children present new family members (in-laws) who may or may not
enrich their parents lives.
Grandparenting
Grandparents have to choose between reckless
interference or painful neglect.
Having grandchildren is viewed as a positive life
event.
Grandparents spend a higher proportion of their
time with their grandchildren in recreational and
educational activities.
Grandchildren tend to spend more time with their
grandmothers than with their grandfathers all the way
through adolescence.
Grandchildren tend to be more involved with
maternal grandparents than paternal grandparents.
Grandparenting (contd)
Grandparents tend to have resources such as trips
available for grandchildren, but parents do the caretaking.

Grandparents have less influence on their grandchildren
when they live with them.
Conflicts between adult children and grandparents ensue
over parenting

Some grandparents end up the custodial parent to their
grandchildren.

Changes the lifestyle of the middle adult and introduces
emotional challenges as well as balancing issues
Middle-Aged Children with Aging Parents
Most elderly parents live near one of their middle-
aged children.

Most burden of taking care of the elderly parents
falls on the middle-aged daughter

Sandwich generation refers to middle-aged
daughter taking care of her own children and/or
grandchildren as well as her aging parents

Middle-aged female may also be working, causing
more stress; if lucky, she will have a sibling living nearby to
help out
 Siblings
Most people in middle adulthood have at least
one living sibling.

Nature of sibling relationships reflect the

childhood relationship

Some sibling relationships get better as they

take care of aging parents together.

On the other hand, sibling relationship may

suffer if only one of the siblings is taking care of the
elderly parent.
 Friends
Adults in middle adulthood tend to have fewer
friends.

Middle-aged adults place value on the friends

they do have.

Their friends tend to mirror them in interests,

activities, and years of mutual experiences.

Male friends tend to be more competitive and

less likely to be intimate than female friends.

Loss of a friend is felt very deeply.

LATE ADULTHOOD
Physical Development
Cognitive Development
Social and Emotional Development
LATE ADULTHOOD
Late adulthood is generally considered to begin at about age 65. Erik
Erikson suggests that this is the time it is important to find meaning
and satisfaction in life. Age sixty-five is considered a milestones and
the beginning of late adulthood. By this age, it is generally brings
about retirement from work, eligibility for Social Security and
Medicare benefits, income tax advantages, reduced fares and
admission prices to leisure events, and special purchase or discount
privileges.

- Late adulthood is a time of reflection, enjoying friends, family and
grandchildren and maintaining health in preparation for the final
years of the lifespan.
Physical Development
People typically reach the peak of their physical strength and
endurance during their twenties and then gradually decline. In later
adulthood, a variety of physiological changes may occur, including
some degree of atrophy of the brain and a decrease in the rate of
neural processes. The respiratory and circulatory systems are less
efficient, and changes in the gastrointestinal tract may lead to
increased constipation. Bone mass diminishes, especially among
women, leading to bone density disorders such as osteoporosis.
Muscles become weaker unless exercise programs are followed. The
skin dries and becomes less flexible. Hair loss occurs in both sexes.
There is also decreased sensitivity in all of the sensory modalities,
including olfaction, taste, touch, hearing, and vision.
 The aging process in late adulthood is termed senescence.
The general effects of aging combine to make the body's
organ systems work less efficiently. For example, men
loss the sense to hear earlier than women. Another
example of process of aging is the sense of taste and
smell can be affected by things like dentures, medications
or strokes in the past. Researchers note that the loss of
collagen's elastic properties is one of the effects of aging.
Collagen changes in heart muscle tissue reduce the ability
of this organ to perform properly.

Changes in Weight and Height

Changes in Sensation, Perceptions and Motor skills.
Cognitive Development
Cognitive abilities such as memory may see a decline in late
adulthood. As an individual ages into late adulthood,
psychological and cognitive changes can sometimes occur. A
general decline in memory is very common, due to the decrease
in speed of encoding, storage, and retrieval of information. This
can cause problems with short-term memory retention and with
the ability to learn new information. In most cases, this absent-
mindedness should be considered a natural part of growing older
rather than a psychological or neurological disorder.
 Intellectual changes in late adulthood do not always result in
reduction of ability. While fluid intelligence (the ability to see and to
use patterns and relationships to solve problems) does decline in
later years, crystallized intelligence (the ability to use accumulated
information to solve problems and make decisions) has been shown
to rise slightly over the entire life span.

Dementias are usually responsible for cognitive defects seen

in older people. These disorders, however, occur only in about 15% of
people over 65. The leading cause of dementia in the United States is
Alzheimer's disease, a progressive, eventually fatal disease that begins
with confusion and memory lapses and ends with the loss of ability to
care for oneself.
Social and Emotional Development
Social Development. The role changes that
accompany old age especially in work and family roles.
The 4 Late Adulthood Personality Development
adjustments are made slowly and less frequent as
aging advances. There are two fundamental ways of
the developmental task for late adulthood. Firstly,
there is a focus on the maintenance of one's life and
quality of lifestyle rather than on discovery and
creativity (Havighurst, 1972). Secondly, the task
center on happening on what is occurring in lives of
others (Hurlock,1980). Successful adjustment and
adaptation can lead to healthy development in late
adulthood.
Death and dying
Death and dying has been studied extensively
by Elisabeth Kbler

Ross, who suggested that terminally ill

patients display the following five basic
reactions.

Denial
Anger
Bargaining
Depression.
Acceptance
 People who are dying are sometimes placed in a
hospice, a hospital for the terminally ill that attempts to
maintain a good quality of life for the patient and the
family during the final days. In a predictable pattern after
a loved one's death, initial shock is followed by grief,
followed by apathy and depression, which may continue
for weeks. Support groups and counseling can help in
successfully working through this process.
THANKS AND GOD BLESS!