The Developing Person Through the Life Span

The Developing Person Through the Life Span Emerging Adulthood: Psychosocial Development

Continuity and Change Identity Achieved • The search for identity (see study area 16) begins at puberty and continues much longer. • Most emerging adults are still seeking to determine who they are. • Erikson believed that, at each stage, the outcome of earlier crises provides the foundation of each new stage.

Continuity and Change Out of all of the psychosocial stages Erikson proposes, the stages that most pertain to this time period are the 5th and 6th stage: Identity vs. Confusion and Intimacy vs. Isolation respectively. The Identity vs. Confusion stage is a time during adolescence when the individual is trying to discover their identity and independence from their parents. With proper encouragement the person can move on from this stage with a sense of control, self and independence. Once individuals experience the stage of Identity vs. Confusion, they enter the 6th stage of Intimacy vs. Isolation. This is a period of time for the exploration of relationships. Erikson felt that in order to move to the 7th step, which occurred as one became an adult, one had to be able to form and maintain committed relationships. If youth are unsure about their identities, they will be reluctant to form interpersonal relationships. If youth do not experience intimate relationships, it is likely that they will feel a sense of isolation.

Different types of identity • In the general field of social sciences, identity can be more loosely defined as how someone perceives themselves and how they are perceived within a group or affiliation. • People construct their identity through internal processes or by belonging to a group, and combined with a person's preference to a type of control, they can be defined by four distinct identity types: leader, follower, independent and drifter.

Different types of identity

Different types of identity • Leaders are more likely to take control. A follower is similarly external in how he or she formulates his or her identity, but a follower will cede control instead of seizing it. On the opposite side of the spectrum, someone who is independent is more likely to form his or her identity through internal processes. They are also more likely to take control. Someone who is a drifter, though, may be similarly internal, but tends to cede control, instead.

Different types of identity These identity types do not define people completely. Sense of identity may change depending on the context. There are also likely to be more balanced personality types that exhibit traits from the four kinds of identities. Furthermore, identity can be differently defined, depending on the field of thought. For instance, people have their own national identities, where people from a certain nation or region may hold a different national identity to those who are foreign to them. Identity can also vary through culture, which could be influenced by a number of things, like religion, social class, generation and political affiliation.

Ethnic Identity • Most emerging adults identify with very specific ethnic groups. • More than any other age group, emerging adults have friends with diverse backgrounds. • Ethnic identity may affect choices in language, manners, romance, employment, neighborhood, religion, clothing, and values.

Vocational Identity • Establishing a vocational identity is part of growing up • Many go to college, as moratorium, and to prepare for a job • Temporary jobs are part of preparation • Young workers tend to feel no loyalty to their employer in reaction to the current global economy

Vocational Identity

Personality in Emerging Adulthood • Rising Self-Esteem • continuity and improvement in attitudes of young adults • Worrisome Children Grow Up • children with high aggression and those with extreme shyness grew up with little pathology • Plasticity • open to new experiences which allows personality shifts and eagerness for more education

Intimacy Intimacy versus isolation • Erikson’s sixth psychosocial stage emphasizes that humans are social creatures. • Intimacy progresses from attraction to close connection to ongoing commitment. • Marriage and parenthood, as emerging adults are discovering, are only two of several paths to intimacy.

Intimacy Friendship • Throughout life, friends defend against stress and provide joy. • Friends, new and old, are particularly crucial during emerging adulthood. • Most single young adults have larger and more supportive friendship networks than newly married young adults once did.

Intimacy Gender and Friendship • Men tend to share activities and interests and talk about external matters • But do not talk of failures or emotional problems • Demand less of their friends so they have more of them • Women tend to share secrets, reveal their weaknesses and problems and expect sympathy

Romantic Partners • Relationship between love and marriage depends on era and culture. • 3 patterns occurring roughly in thirds: −Arranged marriages −Adolescents meet a select group and man ask woman’s parents for permission −People socialize with many and then fall in love and marry when they are able, the most common in Western cultures

Intimacy The Dimensions of Love Robert Sternberg (1988) described three distinct aspects of love(Triangle Theory of Love): • Passion - an intense physical, cognitive and emotional onslaught characterized by excitement, ecstasy, and euphoria. • Intimacy - knowing someone well, sharing secrets as well as sex. • Commitment - grows gradually through decisions to be together, mutual care giving, kept secrets, shared possessions, and forgiveness.

Intimacy

Hookups Without Commitment • Hookups • A sexual encounter with neither intimacy nor commitment • Social networks • A Web site that allows users to publically share their lives and connect with large numbers of people • Choice overload • Having so many possibilities that a thoughtful choice becomes difficult

Finding Each Other and Living Together

Finding Each Other and Living Together Cohabitation • Living with an unrelated person—typically a romantic partner—to whom one is not married • Most young adults in the U.S., England, and northern Europe cohabit rather than marry before age 25. • Half of all cohabitating couples in the U.S. plan on marrying eventually. • Couples who cohabit before marriage (and especially before an engagement or an otherwise clear commitment) tend to be less satisfied with their marriages — and more likely to divorce — than couples who do not. These negative outcomes are called the cohabitation effect.

Changes in Marriage Patterns In the U.S. • Most adults aged 20-30 are not married • Compared to any year in the past, fewer adults are married and more are divorced. • The divorce rate is half the marriage rate (3.6 compared to 7.3 per 1000) because fewer people are getting married.

Similarities and Differences • Homogamy • Marriage between people who tend to be similar (SES, goals, religion, attitudes, local origin, etc.) • Heterogamy • Marriage between people who tend to be dissimilar (interests, etc) • Social homogamy • The similarity of a couple’s leisure interests and role preferences.

Conflict Learning to listen • Demand/withdraw interaction • A situation in a romantic relationship wherein one person wants to address an issue and the other refuses • Women tend to be more demanding and men withdrawing.

Intimate Partner Violence • Emerging adults experience more partner violence than those over 25. • Alcohol and drugs make violence more likely and more severe. • Rates are high and would be higher if self-deception and dishonesty weren’t factors but would be lower if preventative measures were in place.

Intimate Partner Violence • Situational couple violence • Fighting between romantic couples that is brought on more by the situation than by personality problems • Intimate terrorism • A violent and demeaning form of abuse in a romantic relationship where the victim is too scared to fight back, seek help, or withdraw

Emerging Adults and Their Parents • Linked Lives • Where the success, health, and well-being of each family member are connected to those of other members. • Financial Support • Parents of all income levels in the U.S. help their adult children. • A Global Perspective • Parental support and linked lives are typical everywhere. In some countries, it is valued more than in others (i.e. Italy vs. Great Britain).

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The Developing Person Through the Life Span