The Changes Experienced in Adolescence, Adulthood, and Midlife

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).

Today people who are age 65 or older make up more than one tenth of the U.S. population and are the quickest growing age group (Zastrow & Kirst-Ashman,  2010). As adults reach later adulthood, they begin to undergo mental, physical, and social transformations. All of these changes are experienced and handled differently by each individual. Time and planning help to alleviate stress and can make these changes easier to deal with. Family and friends are an exceptional source of support during these tough times.

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

7. How does life satisfaction change over adulthood (if at all)? What are examples of some factors that influence self-reported life satisfaction? What are some weaknesses of studies of life satisfaction?

development. Based on what you have learned do you feel like this is a stage that everyone goes through or do you feel like this is a process that only some experience? Explain. Your answer will be graded based on thoughtfulness and

People mark the point of reaching adulthood in many different ways, such as the eighteenth birthday, puberty, or getting their drivers license. I consider the major transition point into adulthood as being when I got my first job. I was hired about a month after my sixteenth birthday. I had been applying for jobs so I would have something to do and a way of making money. I applied to numerous different places and many different kinds of places, including fast food restaurants and clothing stores. The day after I sent in all my applications, I got a call from Sonic Drive-In. I was so excited to have my first job. I have worked there for nearly six months and loved every minute of it.

Young to middle adulthood refers to the development of generativity and the need to expand commitment to family. Middle adulthood is also known for the midlife crisis. This is when someone starts to question his or her values and beliefs. Sometimes a person may choose to change their job, divorce their spouse, or move. This can often start in the in the 40’s when someone realizes their youth is leaving them and their goals are no longer attainable. This is not always going to happen to

We all enjoyed those days when we were children, free to play outside and run around all day with no hint of responsibility. When we are children, we are motivated to be like our parents and taking what we admire about them. Then when we hit the teenager stages, we think we know everything and that the entire world is looking at us for attention. Slowly but surely, we realize that the adult world is not all that we thought it would be, as we got older. Starting college, learning how to take care of rent and bills, figuring out your career path and taking care of your parents is not all that fun when you get down to it. We do what we do every day to take care of the ones that we love, especially our parents and

In the book by Shaie et al. (2016) “HANDBOOK OF THE PSYCHOLOGY OF AGING,” Baltes’ selection, optimization, and compensation (SOC) theory represents a dialectical lifespan approach. Psychological gains and losses occur at every life, but in old age losses far exceed the gain (Shaie, et., al. 2016.p.6). When we think of physical changes in late adulthood, we believe that those changes can alter lifestyles or cause disability. However, in late adulthood people develop physical changes that affect their ability to perform activities of daily living (ADL) such as, visual changes, auditory changes, smell and taste, skin and kinetic changes, and sexual function. Also, aging affects skeletal system, cardiovascular system, immune system, neurological

Currently, I have several supports that are helping me transition to adulthood. These supports come from Saint Ambrose, my friends, and family. Personally, most of these support systems have had a positive impact on my development; however, other’s support systems may not have had a positive impact on their development.

Middle-aged adults experience change in many different areas of their life at this time, they will find that not only their health is changing, but their appearance, their family, their thinking, and their emotions are changes as well. When discussing people that fall into the middle adulthood age of life, the term “midlife crisis” is often used, but according to an article titled Middle Adulthood Developmental Psychology, “most people during middle adulthood are satisfied and pleased with their lives”, ("Physical Changes," 2008-2013, expression 1). This article also states that the age range for middle adulthood is approximately age thirty-five to sixty-four. Midlife crisis is a when an individual views themselves and are unhappy with

their late twenties earn significantly less then those who lived outside the city. One would ask why is that?

From adolescence to late adulthood, our lives change drastically. Our goals, achievements and conceptions of life differentiate as we mature. As we grow older, we no longer concern ourselves with self-identity or the opinions of others, but instead we focus on our accomplishments and evaluate our life (if we lived a meaningful life). From adolescence to late adulthood, we experience different developmental tasks at a particular place in our life span.

The process of moving from childhood to adulthood is often confusing and frightening. Without a role model, girls and boys who enter adulthood unprepared often flounder in uncertainty; so, they seek outlets that will distract them and guidance from people they feel will listen. In American Beauty, the viewers are confronted with a young woman named Jane and her relationship with her parents, which is flimsy at best. Her mother does not know or refuses to acknowledge their lack of a relationship and her father admits there is no relationship but does nothing to change this, leaving her to discover adulthood without them. In Wildlife, Joe is thrown into a volatile situation after his father moves their family to a new town and then runs off

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.