Adulthood can be broken down further into two sub-stages: Early (eighteen to thirty-five), and Middle adulthood (thirty-five to sixty-five). In Early Adulthood, adults are in the “prime of their lives”, that is, they are in top physical and cognitive health (lime). When a person reaches Middle Adulthood, their cognitive abilities remain stable; and they tend to approach things more practically; the activities and tasks engaged in by midlife are generally not cognitively challenging. Perhaps this is due to experience, or having many years of practice on the task at hand, or they may be employing selective optimization-they focus on and do the things they do well as a way to compensate for the things they do not as well(brown). When healthy, …show more content…
Seeing the children grown and moved out is a milestone for middle adulthood, and is viewed as the completion of a long endeavor. Job satisfaction and the obtainment of personal goals are milestones for the middle-aged adult. Erikson’s sixth state is the Intimacy vs. Isolation stage for early adulthood, and the seventh is Generativity vs. Stagnation for middle adulthood. It states that young adults who fail to form intimate relationships with others will become isolated. Adults that did not successfully complete the identity crisis will fail to form these attachments, resulting in an inability to enter the workforce productively, leave home, and establish a committed relationship (GOLD). Middle adulthood is characterized by either successfully helping the younger generation through their work and child-rearing, or stagnation because they are not(GOLD). They confront the aging process and contribute to future generations. Successful stage completion results in well-adjusted adults, highly satisfied with their lives. As a person advances in years, they begin to question their lives. This can prompt a sudden change in direction, that is a, a new job, returning to school, or taking action to do things that were goals when younger (lime). Parents, in particular, begin to view their concept of life differently. The appreciate the job they did raising their families once grandchildren come along (brown). Early Adulthood tends to be more of a time
At this stage most people will find jobs and new careers. Due to this, adults will start to learn new skills such as effective communication skills. In addition, adults will start to live independently, which means that they will have to learn the skills of cooking and managing their homes. This will prepare them for children and marriage. Most adults will get under pressure at this stage therefore their thinking time will become a lot slower. But because of their experience they will find it easier to solve their problems
As the mother of seven grown children, I agree with most of Jeffrey Arnett’s, author of Emerging Adulthood, theories. It is a time of change, with a developmental connection between adolescence and adulthood. During this phase of development, children experience periods of self-discovery transformation. There are favorable outcomes as well as adverse effects during this developmental stage. Furthermore, this successive stage encourages and promotes the change from the dependency of their parents to the independence that is distinctive for adults. This autonomy is beneficial because it prepares the emerging adult for their future independently from their parents. Arnett believes there are five characteristics of emerging adulthood that make it distinguishable from other time periods: the age of identity explorations, the age of instability, the self-focused age, the age of feeling in-between, and the age of possibilities.
Adulthood is a generation when modifications appear in social connections and situations. These transformations do not appear in efficient, foreseeable stages but as an alternative resulting in different courses, depending on personality
The biological changes associated with later adulthood are the taking of responsibilities from personal level to those depending on a person. Apart from responsibility, the brain changes to become independent and care for others becomes a priority. But all of the above can be done effectively by a positive change of mind . The major biological change is the maturity of the mind.
There are many developmental milestone events and transition points that help form the identity of an individual. As one transitions from milestone to another, they are not necessarily losing or gaining anything, but are adapting to their new stage in life (Bjorklund, 2011). These transitions can affect other domains of human development including: physical changes, cognitive changes, personality or identity, social relationships and mental health. The transition into adulthood is a transition that varies widely between each individual (Bjorklund, 2011). Some young adults may enter military service, go into the workforce, get married, or go to college. This indicates that young adults do not have to go into a role they do not wish to enter and they have the freedom to make their own decisions (Bjorklund, 2011). This transition into adulthood varies in length for all young adults, and this time is spent solving issues that affected them in childhood, and will help them to become successful adults (Bjorklund, 2011). Emerging adulthood is the transition that takes place between the ages of 18 and 25 (Bjorklund, 2011). This transition gives young adults the time to explore and experience new things that eventually lead them to commitments of work and love (Bjorklund, 2011). According to Erik Erikson, one’s personality will continue to develop throughout their entire life, and, in order to have
Their paths of change confirm that midlife is a time when some of the most complex mental abilities are at their peak. In five abilities, modest gains occurred into the fifties and sixties, followed by gradual declines. The sixth ability, perceptual speed, decreased steadily from the twenties to the late eighties. And late in life, fluid factors (spatial orientation, numeric ability, and perceptual speed), showed greater decrements than crystallized factors (verbal ability, inductive reasoning, and verbal memory).
Emerging adulthood is a phase of the life span between adolescence and full-fledged adulthood which encompasses late adolescence and early adulthood. Jeffrey Arnett a Psychologist suggested a new period of life called Emerging adulthood. A time of the end of adolescence to young responsible adults. As Arnett describes emerging adulthood with the age of identity exploration, age of instability, age of self-focus, age of feeling in between, and age of possibilities. Age of identity exploration is when emerging adults decide who they are, where they want to pursue an education, and what they enjoy doing. You need to learn about your interests and be creative with your life. Learning enables us to survive have full life overcome fear help us cope with change. To help us reach our full potential means we need to express our creativity our drive to bring something new into being. Age of instability once you decide if you want to attend college or move in with family or friends. Age of self-focus when you no longer depend on your parents deciding what talents you have that will help you choose a career. Talent is an ability or an aptitude that has value it is often thought as a gift in the sense that a person seems to be born with. Age of feeling in between are starting to take responsibility for but do not feel like a complete independent adult yet. Age of possibilities the feeling of being young and having free will to decide what you want to do with your life. Free will is to do what you ought to do. So many entitled kids think a good paying job will just be handed to them and they don’t have to work for it. Many if you are lucky you are born into a family where you don’t have to worry about money or getting a job but for most we need to work for what we want. In this generation many need the motivation to work. Work will enable us to provide for our families and will occupy a large part of our life. Work allows us to contribute to the building of the world and it provides us with a sense of dignity in life. This time is a critical development that reflects how you are shaped by your family, experiences, and morals. This transition works to establish your identity. Sense of identity is an individual understanding
In early and middle adulthood, the physical and cognitive changes are less dramatic compared with the other stages. After their 30s or 40s, the adults cannot recover from their muscular tension like in the previous stages. Also, adults show a decline in their sensory abilities, vision and hearing ability. In the middle adulthood, people start experiencing various diseases such as low bone density, diabetes, high cholesterol, and blood pressure. They also show some decline in the cognitive and sensory abilities during this stage ("M. LIBRARIES," n.d., para. 10).
Emerging adulthood stage can be challenging, but the challenges are what shapes these individuals to better themselves. “Leonard Bernstein said that to achieve great things, you need a plan and not quite enough time” (CITE, JAY. This quote is very profound and true because as emerging adults head into real life and the world, there will be many dreams and accomplishments that these individuals want to pursue. Without a plan, these emerging adult’s lives will be chaotic and no direction will be enforced. Planning is key to success. “Do something that’s an investment in who you might want to be next” (CITE, JAY). As these emerging adult’s complete college, work with different organizations, or want to become married, these adults should proceed
Happiness usually is derived from feelings of independence, competence, self-esteem, or relating well to other people (Sheldon et al., 2001). One aspect of adulthood that still remains the same, despite generational changes, is the development and maintenance of relationships. Erik Erikson spoke of young adulthood as the “Intimacy-Versus-Isolation Stage.” During this period, the focus is on developing close, intimate relationships
In Erik Erikson theory this stage is “Achieving a sense of generativity while avoiding self-absorption and stagnation (middle-age)” (Crisp and Taylor 2010, p.149). This stage is described as the focus of raising children and to sacrifice their own needs for others. (Crisp and Taylor 2010, p.149). Mrs Green may find that her relationship with her children is stronger, and may have a very active social life as she may be getting ready to retire from work (Koutoukidis, Stainton & Hughson 2013, p.224).
The middle adulthood period is defined by Erik Erikson as 35 to 55 or 65 years of age. It is during this period, according to Erikson, that creative and meaningful work becomes a central focus (Erikson, 1993). This period is one characterized by generativity, self-absorption, or stagnation (Erikson, 1993). However the basic strengths of people in the middle adulthood years are production and care (Erikson, 1993). The tasks of this period are associated with the transmission of cultural values through the family and through work (Erikson, 1993). The capacity to respond positively to the inherent role changes of this period as children leave home, relationships are discontinued, and goals are recalibrated can produce meaningful new purpose (Erikson, 1993). However, if these inevitable adjustments do not take place, then the result can be stagnation and self-absorption during middle adulthood (Erikson, 1993).
Of the many theorists that have had the opportunity to make immense contributions to the human race regarding behavioral sciences, theorist Erick Erickson and Abraham Maslow are the two that I believe set the framework of understanding my adult stages of life. According to Feldman (2014), Erik Erickson’s intimacy vs. isolation stage commences from age 18 through forty. During this stage of development, individuals actively are seeking to be intimately involved with others. Adults are attempting to explore and develop relationships that have the potential to be life-long. When a person is successful at this stage of development, he or she has developed happy relationships, and a sense of security and commitment essentially has acquired love
Growing, transforming and aging are all inevitable facets of life. Every single human being undergoes changes in their lives until they eventually expire. The life span of development includes childhood, adulthood and old age. Late adulthood is the concluding period of life span development when physical and mental declines occur from aging. Nevertheless, there are ways for people to prolong their lives while experiencing change. Regular exercise, a healthy diet and positivity give individuals the strength to help themselves transition into stages of development smoothly.
While cognitive abilities change through the course of infancy to late adulthood, a majority of our basic mental functions stay the same. Some current cognitive abilities that late adolescents experience include being able to think abstractly rather than concrete thinking. Concrete thinking is way of focusing on facts in the current moment and using the literal definitions of things. Late adolescents are also able to deal with multiple concepts at a given time, while those in late adulthood struggle with being able to multitask (Veroude, Jolles, Croiset, & Krabbendam, 2013). Late adolescents are also able to process harder complex problems at a reasonable speed, and are able to handle a more demanding curriculum because their memory