Adolescent and Adult Psychology

Assignment
Submitted by G. Satya (STU14-S211037)
Q1. Discuss the issues of terminating a marriage.
Introduction: Why do people seek divorce?
It is often believed that divorces all around the world are filed sometimes as soon as
the couples exchange the wedding wows. These are the instances of rare cases but
in United States, which has the highest divorce rates, an average marriage ends in
divorce after 7 or 8 years. The divorce rate shows the difficulties faced by people in
attaining goals when they get married but the remarriage rate shows that people
keep trying. Instead of trying to put up with each other for the sake of children the
couples conclude that its worse to allow children watching them fight. The childless
couples never find any reason to stay together. It has come to that point where
some sociologists refer first marriage as Starter Marriages. Some people expect
too much out of their partners and hence daily conflicts give rise to bitterness,
unfaithfulness and finally divorce.
Adjustments following a divorce:Divorce affects not only the well being of the couples but also the people who
surround them. Relatives and friends on either end put their energies in helping
them make decisions and being supportive before, during and after the divorce
trials. Where end is a necessary means, the process becomes a painful task when
one of the parents has to give the other the custody of his or her children. It affects
their self-esteem because here they are being determined as competent for raising
children or not. In rare cases, regardless of the childrens needs, the parents fight
over the custody but later do not take care of them properly. They do it just for the
sake of getting allowances they get from the government or NGOs for supporting
the children.
Even though divorce provides physical and mental relief for the couple, it reduces
long term well-being for the partner who did not initiate the process of divorce. It
may happen due to financial problems after the separation, disruption of parent
child relationships because only one of the parents have close contact with the child
whereas the other is made to go through a painful separation of a week before
getting to spend an hour with the child. Some families do not support the decision
of divorce and hence alienate their relative who has gone through divorce and
develop hostility towards the In-laws. The loss of emotional support from family

and displaced out the family home may cause a great deal of long term stress and
feelings of failure in life.
In cultures where birth of the male child is seen as an important event, the women
who bear multiple female children is made an outcast and often divorced. Such
women are not only physically weak and emotionally wrecked, but the ones from a
poor background often do not have enough qualification to go to a proper job and
hence struggle to support the education of the children before finally the children
fall into the hands of child labor, child marriage and human trafficking.
In the process of adjustment, emotional detachment from the former spouse is a
key factor. People who cannot move on to find a new partner and find themselves
involved in their ex-mates life experience more distress.
Remarriage and step-parenthood :Remarriage is a second chance in which the person gets to marry not only his
partner but also a whole family when there are children from the first marriage
involved. As Samuel Johnson says, Remarriage is the triumph of hope over
experience. People opt for divorce not because they think its a mistake but they
still want to find someone to be happily settled with. Young woman around the age
of 25 tend to remarry again but also tend to file divorce too if they find the new life
difficult. Men tend to remarry earlier than women; in fact, 8% of men and 10% of
women are divorced currently.
In the presence of step-children, the possibility of a redivorce is more the first five
years of remarriage. Trying to live in a step family can be difficult initially for both
adults and children because children fantasize that the stepparent would eventually
go away and the parents expect a smooth and speedy adjustment from the
childrens side. Stepparenting can be more difficult for women than men perhaps
because they are the ones who mostly stay at home, in close contact with the
children. It is harder when the current marriage is more recent and children move
towards adolescence.
But the adults warm up to the needs of the children and form bonds with them over
time with patience and perseverance. Hence the family comes together from bits
and pieces to form a whole again.

Q2. Write a note on how intimate relations are formed in

early adulthood?
Introduction: The foundation of intimate relationships
The change in personal relationship is quite dramatic as young people enter college
or office workspace. They start taking independent decisions and take responsibility

for themselves and others in a social environment. They resolve the conflict of
autonomy that arose during adolescence with their parents.
By forming intimate relationships, people seek emotional and physical support. In
order to navigate a relationship smooth one needs to have skills like empathy,
ability to communicate emotional states, keeping promises and sexual decision
making. According to Erickson this development of intimacy between partners
covers the most important task. Intimacy basically involves sharing personal
experiences, wishes, wants, views, a sense of belonging and emotions about any
particular event not only just sexual closeness. People in relationship tend to be
physically and mentally healthier and are observed to have an increased longevity.
Though internet has virtually brought us together, it has been observed that there
are declines in psychological well being for the people who date online.
Friendships:Friendships during young adulthood are based on sharing same hobbies like
jogging friends, at work as colleagues, childhood or college friend. They turn to
friends for advice, sharing exciting events, celebration of social events like
birthdays, anniversaries and parties. After marriage the communication with friends
declines but still they are important to them. Women have more intimate
friendships with other women than men.

Love:Robert Sternberg described love as a story in which lovers are the authors and what
they make up about their experiences in love is the story. He proposed the
triangular theory of love which says that love contains three elements:
+ Intimacy: (emotional element)the closure, trust, connection that leads to
emotional openness.
+Passion:(motivational element) the inner drive that leads to arousal of sexual
desire
+commitment:(cognitive element)to love and stay with the partner forever
There are several types of love based on the presence or absence of the three
components:
Type
Nonlove
Liking
Infatuation
Empty Love

Intimacy

Passion

Commitment

Romantic Love
Compassionate Love
Fatuous Love
Consummate Love

++single life++
Some young men and women decide to stay single because they feel that they
havent found the right kind of mate. Other reasons include being free of risks,
pursuing career, do creative work and experiment and have sexual freedom. More
women tend to choose single life now to pursue a better position in their career
perhaps because of less social pressure to get married.
++cohabilitation++
It is a lifestyle choice made by unmarried couple living together and maintaining
sexual relationship. This is becoming quite popular in European countries where
they have legalized it. In US and Canada too is gaining a lot of support. It is often
thought of as a substitute or as a trial marriage but it is often seen as a delay in the
actual marriage and it is less stable than marriage. The cohabilitations of about five
years end in marriage but such couples often have unhappy married lives and have
greater chances of divorce.
++marriage++
It is the most accepted form of union. It is universal and is seen across all cultures
though in a variety of forms: monogamous, polygamous and polyandrous.
Monogamy is the widely accepted form in most of the developed countries and the
others are seen in smaller communities. It is usually done to meet childbearing
needs, emotional needs, sexual needs and financial satisfaction though it is not the
only way to do so.
Sexuality: The issues and attitudes that people associate
Attitudes about sexual activity fall into 3 categories:
+Reproductive- to have children
+Recreational- to feel the sexual arousal unless it doesnt other person
+Relational- to feel loved and have intimacy but not necessarily accompanied by
marriage
The rates of sexual activity of both men and women are not as high as previously
thought. The average number of sexual partners for women is 2 and for men is 6 at
the age of 18. Rape has become a major problem across the worlds. Adolescent
girls, college girls and office going women have been victims everywhere. Rape-

prevention programs address the issues that rise as a consequence of the rape and
bring out more empathy toward the victim. In many communities the victims is
thrown out of family ties and is held as a shame to the household. The victims are
often made to look like a social outcast while the perpetrator of crime escapes
punishment.
++gay and lesbian relationships++
Though there is more acceptance of homosexuality now, men and women still feel
hostile and harassed for their choice of sexuality. Adults tend to identify themselves
as homosexual more than in adolescence. It happens sometimes that the complete
openness about their sexual orientation may never be achieved. The social stigma
against them reflects their poor mental health. Many suffer through depression,
anxiety and take to drugs and become addicts.
The Catholic Churchs negative opinion on both homosexuality and extramarital sex
affect the attitude of a large population. Though such views have now been
liberalized, the sex outside of marriage is still condemned in many countries. Young
people who are less religious tend to have such views and more men than women.