Chapter 19– Emerging Adulthood: Psychosocial Development

Continuity and Change

Identity Achieved

The search for identity begins at puberty and continues much longer.

Most emerging adults are still seeking to determine who they are.

Erikson believed that, at each stage, the outcome of earlier crises provides the foundation of each new stage.

Ethnic Identity

Most emerging adults identify with very specific ethnic groups.

More than any other age group, emerging adults have friends with diverse backgrounds.

Vocational Identity

Establishing a vocational identity is part of growing up

Many go to college, as moratorium, and to prepare for a job

Temporary jobs are part of preparation

Personality in Emerging Adulthood

Rising Self-Esteem

continuity and improvement in attitudes of young adults

Plasticity

open to new experiences which allows personality shifts and eagerness for more education

Intimacy

Intimacy versus isolation

Erikson’s sixth psychosocial stage emphasizes that humans are social creatures.

Intimacy progresses from attraction to close connection to ongoing commitment.

Marriage and parenthood, as emerging adults are discovering, are only two of several paths to intimacy.

Friendship

Throughout life, friends defend against stress and provide joy.

Friends, new and old, are particularly crucial during emerging adulthood.

Most single young adults have larger and more supportive friendship networks than newly married young adults once did.

Gender and Friendship

Men tend to share activities and interests and talk about external matters

But do not talk of failures or emotional problems

Demand less of their friends so they have more of them

Women tend to share secrets, reveal their weaknesses and problems and expect sympathy

Romantic Partners

Relationship between love and marriage depends on era and culture.

3 patterns occurring roughly in thirds:

−Arranged marriages

−Adolescents meet a select group and man ask woman’s parents for permission

−People socialize with many and then fall in love and marry when they are able, the most common in Western cultures

The Dimensions of Love

Robert Sternberg (1988) described three distinct aspects of love:

Passion- an intense physical, cognitive and emotional onslaught characterized by excitement, ecstasy, and euphoria.

Intimacy- knowing someone well, sharing secrets as well as sex.

Commitment- grows gradually through decisions to be together, mutual care giving, kept secrets, shared possessions, and forgiveness.

Types of Love (Sternberg)

Hookups

A sexual encounter with neither intimacy nor commitment

Social networks

A Web site that allows users to publically share their lives and connect with large numbers of people

Choice overload

Having so many possibilities that a thoughtful choice becomes difficult

Finding Each Other and Living Together

Cohabitation

Living with an unrelated person—typically a romantic partner—to whom one is not married

Most young adults in the U.S., England, and northern Europe cohabit rather than marry before age 25.

Half of all cohabitating couples in the U.S. plan on marrying eventually.

Changes in Marriage Patterns

In the U.S.

Most adults aged 20-30 are not married

Compared to any year in the past, fewer adults are married and more are divorced.

Similarities and Differences

Homogamy

Marriage between people who tend to be similar (SES, goals, religion, attitudes, local origin, etc.)

Conflict

Learning to listen

Emerging Adults and Their Parents

Linked Lives

Where the success, health, and well-being of each family member are connected to those of other members.

Financial Support

Parents of all income levels in the U.S. help their adult children.

A Global Perspective

–  Parental support and linked lives are typical everywhere. In some countries, it is valued more than in others (i.e. Italy vs. Great Britain).