ADULTHOOD:
- Entering Adulthood:
- Rites of passage in U.S. are small and numerous, not as clear-cut as in many other cultures
- U.S. culture celebrates individuality, esp. Frontier influence, "Cowboy culture"
- In U.S., young adults are still somewhat "carefree"--
Continued adolescence, esp. in colleges (parties, fraternities, etc.)
- "Edgework" (danger sports like rock-climbing, kayaking, skiing) reach their peak, then wane
- College and graduate education-- much more important now than in the past:
- Over 50% of low income students go from H.S. directly to college
- ~65% of middle income students go from H.S. directly to college
- ~80% of high income students go from H.S. directly to college
- (Rates are much higher than in 1970s; many more also go later as "adult learners")
- Entering the workforce in full-time jobs (more on this next week)
- Erikson's stage 6: Adulthood = challenge of Intimacy vs Isolation
Adults find status in Work, Education, Marriage (sequence order may differ individually)
- Adult health and strength:
- Young adults (20s) enjoy lowest mortality rate of any age group
(#1 cause of death = accidents)
maximum physical strength; maximum athletic ability (exception: gymnastics)
- Lifelong health habits usually formed at this time:
- Smoking or not
- Alcohol and its consequences (traffic accidents, binge drinking, sexual assault, cirrhosis, cardiovascular disease later)
- Good and poor nutritional habits; obesity as a risk factor in many
- Socioeconomic issues in health:
- Poverty restricts choices
- Nonwhites often delay seeking health care when needed
(they discover cancer at later stages, etc.)
- Ditto for less educated people of all kinds
- U.S. has great health care disparities: poor health care for nonwealthy and undereducated (disparities less in most of Europe and other advanced economies)
- Adult brains and cognitive development
- Intelligence is made of multiple skills, statistically independent (based on Factor Analysis):
- Verbal intelligence: Vocabulary, also recognizing similarities and differences among named things
- Experiential intelligence: Social translation (decoding social situations)
- "Crystallized" intelligence: Vocabulary, analogies, logic-- Improves with age throuogh adulthood
- "Fluid" intelligence: Geometric problem-solving; analysis of shapes, series, matrices-- declines with age
- (Remaining skills show no general longitudinal change)
- Visual organization (recognizing a figure despite a confusing background (~hunter identifying an animal in camouflage)
- Auditory organization (recognizing word or tone amidst noise)
- Short-term acquisition and retrieval
- Long-term acquisition and retrieval
- Neuroscience research-- What part of brain is most active for each task?
- Stages of reflective judgment:
- Pre-reflective: knowledge (truth) based on: 1 Authority, 2 Direct observation
- Quasi-reflective: Looking for evidence; questioning truth
- Reflective: Choosing "most reasonable" explanation, but still open-minded.
- Formal thought (following rules) vs
Postformal (also consider subjective and situational factors)
- Integrating emotions and situational context into decisions--
Uses emotional intelligence (incl. impressions) to decide "who is a good employee?"
Increased use of emotions past age 30
Younger adults change their impressions of others more readily than older adults.
- "What do you want to be?"-- creating your life story
- Most young adults build a Life-span story or scenario (an internal narrative)
Where I came from; What I am now; My future goals (and social clock)
Generally, this is a more long-range view (15-30 year future rather than 1-2 year as in adolescence)
- Job and Career development is central; so is Family development
- Control of one's life:
- Primary control-- Beliefs about controlling the external world; wanting to be in charge of others
- Secondary control-- Beliefs about controlling internal self; wanting to be in charge of self
- Our ability to control others often declines with age; ability to control self often grows.
ADULT RELATIONSHIPS:
- Adult personality issues: Intimacy, flexibility vs inflexibility
Self-image ("What am I?"):
in men usually career or job-related; in women, family also or primarily
- Jobs and careers: Dedication to Job (each task) vs Employer vs My Career
Self-image: Pride in work--
Example of Submarine sandwich (hero sandwich) maker
who says, "My sandwich is a work of art"
- Friendship: --general characteristics
- 1. Emotional connection
- 2. Common (shared) interests
- 3. Sociability, compatibility-- nice to be with
- Includes siblings who remain very close, even at a distance (phone often, visit when able)
- Love (and marriage):
- Based on:
- 1. Passion (physiological desire)
- 2. Intimacy (willingness to be emotionally close)
- 3. Long-range commitment
- Enduring relationships show increased emotional intimacy and increased commitment with time,
even as passion diminishes
- Positive assortative mating (marrying similar to yourself) is usually easier, more enduring
Negative assortment sometimes ("opposites attract")
Personalities & beliefs usually more important that external variables (ethnicity, race)
- "What is a wedding? It's a test!"--
Couple (with family help) must plan a big celebration and keep everyone happy;
-- if they can do this, society then approves, lets them get married & have children together!
It's easier if the families get along, have more shared traditions, and respect each other.
More family support (bigger wedding) generally predicts more enduring marriages
(up to a point; business associates and >100 guests don't really count)
- Neuroscience and love: Oxytocin, dopamine, endogenous opiates all very active
Oxytocin ("cuddle hormone") especially important: strongest between mother and infant,
but also between spouses, between father and children, even people and their pets.
- Violence and abusive relationships-- usu. men against women (sometimes among lesbians)
"Battered woman syndrome"-- courts may be lenient on women who finally kill their abusers
Higher rates of marital violence in some cultures, including "honor killings" of women
- Singlehood as a choice: Career related in some; financial advantages; "Millenials" more often
--but this may be temporary, and may give way to delayed marriage (a growing trend by itself)
Studies show that married people live longer than never-married or formerly married
- "Cohabitation"-- As room-mates (mostly in younger adults; seldom lasts)
Sex without marriage: Tends to be much less stable than marriage; frequency and acceptance vary culturally;
often transitions into marriage, especially when children are born.
- LGBTQ relationships-- Mostly similar to married or cohabiting heterosexuals, but poorly studied (few examples until recently)
- Course of marriage:
- Early years-- Marriage becomes stronger if: 1. Expectations are realistic;
2. Partners are supportive of each other
- Children add to everyday stresses-- strengthens healthy marriages, but weakens those already weak or troubled
- Financial or job-related hardships may also strain marriages
- Staying happy in marriage: 1. Remain supportive 2. Talk things out
3. "Each partner gives in 90% of the time" (See also page 372 top)
- Family dynamics (and variations):
- Nuclear family (typical in U.S.) vs Extended family -- many variations
- Compared with past generations, today's adults: 1. marry later, 2. have children later,
3. have fewer children, 4. may have no children or stay single
- Single parents (can be never-married, divorced, or widowed)--
increasingly common; usually many financial burdens
- Very large families: Older children given more responsibility;
Oldest girl often becomes "mother's helper"
- Step-parents: relationships vary greatly; some become very close (may adopt), others not
- Foster parents (temporary); hard on children when childhood is unstable
- Adoption (permanent): as good or better than natural parents (many studies show this)
- Same-sex parents: apparently OK if couple is in loving, commited relationship,
but needs more study (few examples until recently)
- Divorce (and remarriage):
- Rates vary (Asians least)
- Conflicts predict early divorces. Negative effects long lasting (financial, emotional).
- Effects always very hard on children; lasting; higher divorce rates in their marriages
- Child custody: Often mother only (traditional), but frequent financial hardship
Joint custody is often best, but requires repeated negotiation.
- Remarriage usually introduces further complications, esp. in parenting practices.
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