Early Adulthood Development

Inconsistency and selfishness from the “Catch-30” stage turns into rationality and order in the early thirties. This is the “Rooting and Extending” stage where one is known to mature. People lay out their future with settled

The Generativity vs. stagnation stage ranges from ages thirty-five to sixty-five and is when we ask ourselves if we produced anything of value in our lives, and if not then we find some way to fulfill that desire (Erikson, 1994). Lastly, the Ego integrity vs. despair stage ranges from sixty-five years old until death, and is when we look back on our lives and decide if we made an impact or made a difference while we were on this earth (Schultz, 2008).

“Though the age boundaries are not set in stone, we will consider middle adulthood as the developmental period that begins at approximately 40 to 45 years of age and extends to about 60 to 65 years of age” (Santrock, 2013, p. 485). I interviewed two individuals for this paper. Each person was asked the same fifteen questions (Appendix). I interviewed a male and a female who fell in the midrange of middle adulthood.

A person’s way of thinking may lead to the way they view the world, but they are both separate, individual ideas. Thinking is a process; it there are steps involved in its making. Whereas reality is more of an outcome. There are no steps involved in it, only ones that lead up to it. Although both are their own ideas they come together and intertwine to create something that makes up a major part of every person’s life. They both play a part in molding and creating a person, making them who they

During this stage, the thought process becomes more rational, mature and 'adult like ', or more 'operational ', although this process most often continues well into the teenage years.

The fourth stage is labeled as living a healthy, satisfying and productive life, and this stage pertains to the twenty to forty-nine-year age category. The goal of this stage is to, "increase the number of adults who are healthy and able to participate fully in life activities and enter their later years with optimum health" (www.cdc.gov, n.d.).

Elderly people physically slow down and have lower energy levels. There are changes in the body systems and organs that can usually result in all types of

Later adulthood is the time in life when changes in marriage, families, and peer relationships are affected the most by the loss of someone close to that person. “Most people 70 years of age or older are widowed, divorced, or single” (Zastrow & Kirst-Ashman, 2010, p.619). Losing a spouse or close friend can create a sense of loneliness, which causes depression, anxiety and the emptiness feeling can become overwhelming. Depression also leads to psychological effects that will deteriorate a person’s health causing the chance for a terminal disease to become much higher. The weaker appearance of older adults causes family and remaining peers to step up in the role of making sure the person’s wellbeing is being met. (Zastrow & Kirst-Ashman, 2010). Living accommodations and healthcare needs

This stage in the life span is considered the time when a person moves from the childhood stage into the adulthood stage. During this time there are many physical, cognitive, and personality developments that affect the

Arguably, the physical and cognitive development of young adults is an issue that has always attracted the attention of many scholars including Schaie and Erikson among others. Schaie is one of the most prominent scholars who have done exhaustive research on individuals’ development. He conducted many studies on areas of intellectual functioning in adults, and from his research, he proposed his theory of stages in cognitive development in human adults. Schaie outlined these stages as the acquisition stage, young adult stage, achieving stage, responsible stage, executive stage, reorganizational stage, reintegrative stage, and legacy creating stage (Capuzzi & Stauffer, 2016). The achieving stage is just one of the many stages proposed by Schaie in his

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 stage that follows early adulthood is known as middle adulthood where people are generally caught between being productive and being stagnant. This stage reflects the need to create a living legacy: they would either need to feel they have become an important figure for the next generation to follow or they would develop a sense of purposelessness which is generally known as a “mid-life crisis”. This crisis can be solved by having the adults care and nurture children or help the fore-coming generation in other ways or means, however if the crisis remains the person would persist in random non-age-appropriate behavior as well as a continued feeling in stagnation. During this stage adults lose some of their physical aspects as their muscular strength, ability and agility weakens. Women will go through a menopausal

Our cognitive processes, such as how we think, remember, decide and perceive, change over time. There is a substantial difference between adult and adolescent thinking. Adult thinking differs in three ways from adolescent thinking: Practical, cognitive flexibility and dialectical thinking. Adults have more flexibility in their thought patterns, understanding that there are multiple opinions on issues, and that there is more than one way to approach a problem (Stassen Berger, 2014). Furthermore, the difference between adolescent and young adult reasoning is particularly obvious when it involves reasoning requiring the conjunction of emotion and logic.

There are five key features that characterize emerging adulthood. The first s identity exploration. The second is “Instability.” For many the instability is a result of residential changes such as living in a dorm. There is also instability in friendships, romantic relationships, academia, and work. Emerging adults have few obligations, responsibilities, and commitments. Because they have so much autonomy in controlling their own lives the third key feature is “Self-Focused.” One of the most difficult

Throughout the Human Behavior and the Social Environment course, we have encompassed the many stages of the life cycle process. Now that I am twenty two years old, I found the early adulthood stage to be the most influential, and the most sensible one to relate to given the point that I am at in my life. More importantly, I decided to research and apply this life cycle stage to a variety of milestones, experienced by my interviewee, Chelsie. Living just houses apart, being raised by single fathers, Chelsie and I found that we had many things in common. We have remained friends since we were children, and have only grown to be closer into our early adulthood years.