Emerging Adulthood

In the movie Parenthood (1989), many developmental stages can be observed. With that being said, one character that can be observed is Gil who is middle-aged adult. Gil has a beautiful wife and 3 children. In Santrock (2016, pp. 362-363) security, love, loyalty, and emotional interests are important during middle adulthood. Both Gil and his wife (Karen) believe that they have raised their children the correct way, but it can be seen that some people in his family think otherwise. He also has 2 sisters and 1 brother. In addition, he has a mother, father, nieces/nephews, and a brother-in-law. According to Santrock (2016, p. 342), during middle-aged adulthood adults normally reach peak position at their jobs, but in this case the promotion that Gil wanted was given to someone else, so Gil struggled with this concept of not moving up. Also, his household seems to be hectic and not perfect, but somehow he pushes through (Parenthood, 1989). According to Santrock (2016, p. 354), Erickson’s developmental stage that pertains to Gil is generativity vs. stagnation. In this stage, adults feel a sense of wanting to leave their legacy when they are gone (generativity), but at the same time feel as though they have not done anything for the next generation (stagnation). In the movie Parenthood (1989), Gil can be seen exhibiting this developmental stage in various scenes, but there is one seen in particular that stands out. Him and his wife are called to school for a meeting with the

Emerging adults have reached a step up from childhood but are not yet ready to fully take on adult responsibilities. This part of life is open to many new experiences which can be very good for the morality of this upcoming generation of adults. People find themselves changing majors in college or taking different classes to explore their interests and find out where they best belong in their future career field.

The life pursuits and subjective judgments of many contemporary young people indicate that the transition to adult roles has become so delayed and prolonged that it has spawned a new transitional period extending from the late teens to the mid-to late-twenties, called emerging adulthood. During the college years, young people often refine their approach to forming their own identity. In these years, young people have left adolescence, but most have not yet assumed adult responsibilities. Many have dreams and those are what guides them in their decision making. In the video, 22 year old Casey describes her dream and comments on her identity development. Casey says that she became interested in Psychology in high school during her junior year when she took a psych course. She knew from then on that was what she wanted to do, but she hadn't picked a career yet. Casey said that she picked a career during her first year of graduate school, when she decided on gerontology. She said her happy and active grandparents had a lot to do with picking a career and wanting to work with the population. Casey thinks her identity was a gradual process and it's only really formed since last year. She feels her parents helped shape her morals and beliefs, but in between her senior year and her first year of graduate school, she started to form her own and integrated some of her own ideas. 24 year old Elizabeth and 25 year old Joel are shown discussing

This article was on a study that compared developmental trajectories of non-students, versus college-educated young adults, on the aspects of Arnett’s theory of emerging adulthood (Mitchell & Syed, 2015). However, there is a large group that literature has not been explored, and that category is on the young teen/adults who choose to not attend college, or are unable to because of socio economic status (Mitchell & Syed, 2015). The emerging adulthood theory has been controversial. The controversial topic has been brought up by researchers questioning how non-students may not experience the development of other emerging adults based on their interests to pursue adulthood without attending postsecondary education. The aim of the study was intended to compare emerging adulthood among individuals with college degrees, some college, and no college (Mitchell & Syed, 2015). Arnett’s development tasks for emerging adulthood include: finding a reliable and satisfying career, choosing a partner and starting a family, and establishing financial independence (Mitchell & Syed, 2015).

New needs and tensions will arise in each area of life initiating one to seek new ways of adapting to these new found stressors. In return this forces them to form different kinds of intimate relationships. This maturation helps forms one’s personality (Kowalski, & Westen, 2002). “Relationships formed during each stage of life serve as a prototype for interactions in later stages. For this reason, there exists a continuum of relationships formed throughout a lifetime that shape and mold specific personality traits. Sigmund Freud, Erik Erikson, Jean Piaget, and Lawrence Kohlberg, describe development as a series of stages. A stage is a period in development in which people exhibit typical behavior patterns and establish particular capacities” (Kowalski, & Westen, 2002). “The various stage theories share three assumptions: First people pass through stages in a specific order, with each stage building on capacities developed in the previous stage, second stages most related to one’s age, third development is discontinuous, with qualitatively different capacities emerging in each stage” (Kowalski, & Westen, 2002).

Coming of age is maturing from the juvenile world of fantasy and sugarcoated truths and being able to see the world for what it truly is, like an adult. In this novel some experiences that show this coming-of-age theme are portrayed through Dill, Jem, and Scout. These experiences range from Jem beginning puberty, to Scout acting like a mature lady at the the Missionary tea with her Aunt Alexandra, and Scout recognizing Boo Radley as a person. There is one experience that I believe is the most important, which is when Dill begins to recognize how colored people in his community are treated unfairly. In this scene Dill, Jem, and Scout are at the trial. The children are watching the trial from the top of the balcony with Reverend Sykes when Dill

Emerging adulthood is a period of development that coincides with college, around years 18-25 (Arnett, 2000). At this stage, young adults fully learn about themselves, their roles, and who they are.

In emerging adulthood, many people experience the need to share their personal life with someone else. Erikson name for this crisis is intimacy versus isolation and emerging adults and many older adults know this feeling very well (Berger, 2014, p. 551). As emerging adults begin feeling the need for human connection, friendships and intimate relationships deepen for this reason (Berger, 2014, p. 551). As a senior in high school my friends became an extremely important part of my life, we told each other everything and the need for human connection was evident as I always wanted to be with my friends and share my personal life with them. I had, and currently have, the same 2 friends that I would confide in about boy problems, health

Speaking from experience I believe that emerging adults are both healthy and unhealthy because there are some that take nutrition seriously, and then there are some that do not take it seriously at all. I would consider myself as an emerging adult, and I know that I try to keep myself in good physical shape however there a lot of people my age that do not care much at all about their body. Which in my opinion is kind of sad because it can come back to harm them later on in life as we learned in our discussion in chapter eleven.

The evidence is accumulating that contends individuals maintain the ability to adapt personality traits through all stages of life. Roberts and Mroczek (2008) emphasize that personality changes in middle and old age may appear subtle, however, they are apparent which supports a growing census that personality traits continue to evolve throughout one’s lifetime. It has been shown that the longer a period of time a study follows a specific personality characteristic change, the more evident the change will become, this provides data that opposes the general theory that personality traits have a limited level of alteration from which traits may show variation (Roberts & Mroczek, 2008). The changes evident in personality during middle adulthood

Introduction: This chapter showcases the many changes a young adulthood presents like taking responsibility for multiple things and being out on their own. Such things as their physical and cognitive development will be discussed and show how it all changes during this time in the young adulthoods life.

I like to think of the “emerging adulthood” versus older generations as travelers. For older generations, so many of them where forced on a flight straight to adult hood. Yes, the clouds may be nice up in the air and it’s faster to get to a destination, but all the action is below. The new generation is opting out of the straight flight and exploring alternative routes.

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

His biggest dream was to enter the military after high school graduation. He applied and was refused because of his epilepsy. He was so intent on getting into the service that he waited a year and applied again, this time lying about his condition and not putting it on the application form. He got all the way into basic training when he told a friend about his lie. That friend told the commander and he was kicked out. He recalls being very disappointed and devastated because this was the only thing he wanted to do. As an average student he wasn’t interested in going to college. His greatest challenge as a young adult was dealing with his epilepsy and coming to terms with the reality that a career path he had always dreamed of and had the most passion for was not going to happen for him. He enjoyed cooking so he worked at several restaurants as a grill cook. He recalls being wild and sexually promiscuous. When the AIDS epidemic began he put a stop to that type of behavior so as not to contract that disease. It was during this time that he met his first wife and they were married in 1985 when he was 30 year-old. Although his wife was the same age he recalls knowing it wouldn’t last because he was attracted to much older women. When I asked him why he married her then he said sadly “because I thought that was expected of me”. Their social life consisted of working at their jobs and going out socially to concerts and sporting events. They hung

Despite some young adults being privileged and may not have to worry as much about issues of the real world, several of other young adults are growing up slowly and are not completing milestones that were common at their age in past generations. Emerging adulthood is beneficial to young adults and should be more supported by others because it would give young adults more time to have identity exploration, it helps give young adults more self-focus towards their career, and it helps to understand the responsibilities of the real world.