Stages Of Development During The Period Of Adulthood

Becoming an adult involves a lengthy transition. Early adulthood occurs from 18 to 25 years of age. During this time, an individual is still trying to figure out “who” they are, exploring career paths, determining their identity and understanding what kind of lifestyle they want to live. Early adulthood is characterized by 5 key features as explained by Jeffrey Arnett. These include: identity exploration, instability, self-focused, feeling in-between and the age of possibilities – basically they can transform their lives. In the US, entry into adulthood is primarily characterized by holding a permanent, full-time job. Other countries consider marriage the marker for adulthood. Just as going from elementary school to middle school causes stress in adolescents, the transition from high school to college can evoke the same emotions.

Peak physical performance is often reached between the ages of 19 and 26. Along with physical performance decline, body fatty tissue increases and hearing begins to decline in the last part of early adulthood. Health during early adulthood is subpar. Although most know what is required to be healthy, many fail to apply this information to themselves. The bad habits started during adolescence are increased in early adulthood, including inactivity, diet, obesity, sleep deprivation and substance abuse. These lifestyles, along with poor health, also have an impact on life satisfaction. Obesity continues to be a problem in this developmental stage. Losing weight is best achieved with a diet and exercise program rather than relying on diet alone. Exercise can help prevent diseases such as heart disease and diabetes. Exercise can also improve mental health as well and has been effective in reducing depression. Alcohol use appears to decline by the time an individual reaches their mid-twenties, but peaks around 21-22 years of age. Binge drinking and extreme binge drinking are a concern on college campuses. This can lead to missing classes, physical injuries, police interactions and unprotected sex.

Sexual activity increases in emerging adulthood, with most people having experienced sexual intercourse by the time they are 25. Casual sex is common during this development stage involving “hook-ups” or “friends with benefits”. Piaget’s stages of development ended with formal operational thought that was discussed in the adolescent stage. However, he believes that this stage covers adults as well. Some theorists believe that it is not until adulthood that formal thoughts are achieved. An additional stage has been proposed for young adults – post-formal thought. This is reflective, relativistic, contextual, provisional, realistic and influenced by emotion.

Careers and work are an important theme in early adulthood. During this time an individual works to determine what career they want to pursue in college by choosing a major. By the end of this developmental stage, most people have completed their training and are entering the work force to begin their career. Determining one’s purpose, can help ensure that the correct field of study/career choice is made. Work defines a person by their financial standing, housing, how they spend their time, friendships and their health. Early jobs can sometimes be considered “survival jobs” that are in place just until the “career job” is obtained.

Erickson’s sixth stage of development that occurs during early adulthood is intimacy vs isolation. Intimacy, as described by Erickson, is finding oneself while losing oneself in another person, and it requires a commitment to another person. Balancing intimacy and independence is challenging. Love can take on multiple forms in adulthood. Romantic love, or passionate love, is the type of love that is seen early in a relationship, sexual desire is the most important ingredient in romantic love. Affectionate love, or compassionate love, is when someone desires to have the other person near and has a deep, caring affection for the person, typically a more mature love relationship. Consummate love involves passion, intimacy and commitment, and is the strongest of all types of love.

Adults lifestyles today are anything but conventional. Many adults choose to live alone, cohabitate, or live with a partner of the same sex in addition to the conventional married lifestyle. Divorce rates continue to remain high in the US, with most marriages ending early in the course of their marriage. Divorced adults have higher rates of depression, anxiety, suicide, alcoholism and mortality. Adults who remarry usually do so within three years of their divorce, with men remarrying sooner than women. Making a marriage work takes a great deal of commitment from both parties. John Gottman determined some principals that will help make a marriage successful. These include: establishing love maps, nurturing fondness and admiration, turning towards each other instead of away, letting the partner influence you and creating shared meaning. In addition, to these a deep friendship, respect for each other and embracing the commitment that has been made are things that will help to make a marriage last.

During early adulthood, many become parents for the first time. Sometimes this is well planned out, other times it is a complete surprise. Parenting is often a hybrid of utilizing techniques that their parents used on them and their own interpretation of what is useful. The average age an individual has their first child is increasing and the number of children they choose to have is declining. This is due to women wanting to establish their careers prior to becoming a mom. The results of this is that parents are often more mature and able to handle situations more appropriately, may have more income, fathers are more involved in the child rearing but also children spend more time in supplemental care than when mothers stayed home to provide the child care.