Early

Adulthood
(24 to 34 years)
CHAPTER 14

Presentation by:

GROUP 11

Gonzaga, Shen Fie May

Padilla, Elijah Seth
Uy, James
 Major Concepts in the
01 Study of Adulthood

02 Developmental Tasks

The Psychosocial Crisis:

03 Intimacy versus Isolation

The Central Process: Mutuality

04 Among Peers

Table of 05
The Prime Adaptive Ego Quality
and the Core Pathology

Contents 06 Applied topic: DIVORCE

Presentation by Really Great Site
 Social Roles
Social role is a socially defined pattern of
behavior that is expected of persons who
occupy a certain social position or belong to
a particular social category.

It is one of the concepts most frequently

used for understanding adulthood.
Roles are reciprocal, requiring complementary role
identities in order to be enacted and sustained. Thus,
participation in multiple roles brings with it a form of
social integration and social support.

The expectations associated with adult roles provide a

frame of reference within which individuals make their
own personal decisions.
People can conform to role expectations, revise
them, or reject them altogether.

Some of the stresses of adulthood result from

the need to redefine certain role expectations in
order to preserve an authentic sense of self.
 Life Course
Refers to the integration and sequencing of
phases of work and family life over time.
Two central themes to Glen Elder's Life
Course Persperctive:

Trajectories
—is the path of one’s life experiences in a
specific domain, particularly work and
family. The family trajectory might include
marriage, parenthood, grandparenthood,
and widowhood.
Transition
— is the beginning or end of an event
or role relationship. Transitions are the
events that make up a lifelong trajectory
 Social Clock

—refers to “age norms and age

expectations [that] operate as prods
and brakes upon behavior, in some
instances hastening behavior and, in
some instances, delaying it”
Competence (Robert White)
Coined to explain behaviors that are motivated by a
desire for new levels of mastery.

People strive to increase their competence through

repetition and practice of skills, by gaining new
information, through education and training, and
through feedback from earlier efforts at mastery.
Self-Acceptance (Carl Rogers)

It is an essential component of continued

growth to experience and accepts the
authentic self (Rogers, 1959, 1961).

A product of the positive feelings that

come from being direct and from the
acceptance one receives from others.
Self-Actualization (Abraham Maslow)

is a powerful, growth-oriented motive

that sits atop a pyramid of needs.
People who are characterized
as self-actualized are
described as:

authentic, having a
reality-based orientation
about themselves and
others.
spontaneous, interested
in solving problems and
accepting of others.
lacks prejudice.
Developmental Tasks

Exploring Intimate
Relationships
Childbearing
Work
Lifestyle
Exploring Intimate Relationships

The period of early adulthood is a time

when men and women explore the
possibility of forming relationships that
combine emotional closeness, shared
interests, a shared vision of the future,
and sexual intimacy.

Delaying the age of marriage is related to

several other social trends, including
having children at a later age, smaller
projected family size, and, therefore,
fewer years devoted to childrearing.
Readiness to Form Intimate Relationships

What are the factors that affect a

person's readiness for long-term
commitment?

1. Identity Achievement
2. Educational Attainments
3. Career/Occupational Achievement
 Cohabitation
—the state or condition
of living together as
sexual and domestic
partners without being
married.
Six Types of Cohabiting Relationships

Marginal — infrequent, short duration,

few children are born, strongly
discouraged union

Prelude to Marriage — relatively brief

duration, frequently transitions to
marriage with few children born
Stage in the Marriage Process — childbearing
is more common, and partners are expected to
marry, longer duration than in type 2

Alternative to Being Single — couples want to

postpone marriage and family formation,
relatively short in duration, ends in separation,
few children are born in this relationship
Alternative to Marriage — often established in the
context of cultural support for children born outside
the bonds of marriage; long duration, less likely to
transition into marriage, and more likely to involve
children.

Indistinguishable from Marriage — not a conscious

alternative to marriage based on attitudes or
values, involve children, shorter duration than in the
alternative to marriage
Close relationship between partners of the
same sex
Readiness to marry
Phases in the selection of a partner
Adjustment during the early years of marriage
Communication and marital adjustment
Communication styles of men and women
Adjustment in dual-earner marriages
Phases in the
Selection of a
Partner
What is
Child Bearing?
—the state of a woman
who is carrying a
developing embryo or fetus,
which normally lasts about
266 days from conception
until the birth of the baby
One central commitment of early adulthood is
parenthood.

Young adults make choices to delay parenting,

have an abortion, have a child, wait before having
another child, or stop having children altogether.

Others who are unable to conceive decide to adopt

children. Some adults become foster parents,
whether or not they have children of their own.
 Child Bearing
Fertility rate
The average number of births required for the natural
replacement of a population is estimated at 2.1 births per
adult woman.
Women who have graduated from high school have a
higher fertility rate than women who graduated from
college.
Women who are not in the labor force have a higher
fertility rate than those in the labor force.
Women whose family income is below $25,000 have a
higher fertility rate than those above $25,000 .
Decisions About Child Bearing
Nonmarital Child Bearing
Adoption
Decision Not to Have Children
Problems in Adjustment during Pregnancy and
Child Bearing
disruptive impact of maternal depression on the infant’s cognitive
and emotional development and the associated mother-infant
relationship.

The challenge is whether to continue the use of these therapeutic

drugs, weighing the risks of potential harm to the fetus and the risks
of untreated or increased depressive symptoms for the pregnant
woman.

This results to maternal distress, negative affect, reduced sensitivity

to the infant’s signals, and disengagement from the mothering role.
Work

primary means of accumulating financial

resources.

determines in large part the activities, social

relationships, challenges, satisfactions, and
hassles or frustrations of daily life.

the context in which many adults express

their personal identity and experience a
sense of personal value and social status.
 Four Central Components
of the Work Situation
technical skills—familiarizing and learning new skills
authority relations—familiarizing authorities involved
with the job
unique demands and hazards—professionalism and
efficiency
Occupational hazards include a broad range of
potential physical and psychological risks
associated with the workplace.
interpersonal relations with coworkers—the need for
friends
Lifestyle (self in action)

is a social psychological construct that

integrates personality characteristics, goals,
convictions, and inner conflicts with social
opportunities and resources into an
organizing pattern of actions and choices
.
Pace of life
Social Network
Competing Role Demands
Health & Fitness
The Psychosocial Crisis:
Intimacy versus
Isolation
Intimacy
the ability to experience an
open, supportive, tender
relationship with another person
without fear of losing one’s own
identity in the process. An
intimate relationship has both
cognitive and affective
components.
 Isolation, and the
accompanying feeling of
being unable to experience
intersubjectivity or shared
meaning, is a major source
of psychological distress.
 Isolation and its
resulting factors
Loneliness
transient
situational
chronic
Depression
Fragile identity
Situational factors
Divergent Spheres of Interest
 The Central
Process:
Mutuality
Among Peers
 Mutuality refers to empathic
awareness of one another,
understanding of self
othersther, and the ability and
willingness to regulate one’s
needs in order to respond to the
needs of one’s partner
 Mutuality, like attachment, is a
characteristic of the dyadic relationship
rather than of the individual members in
it.

It is formed as two individuals discover

that they can have open, direct
communication, hold each other in high
regard, and respond effectively to each
other.
Prime Adaptive Ego Quality
and the Core Pathology

Love
and
Exclusivity
Love
—the ego quality of love emerges as the
capacity for mutuality and devotion that
transcends the secure attachment of
infancy.

—According to Robert Sternberg, love is a

set of feelings, thoughts, and motives that
contribute to communication, sharing, and
support.
Three dimensions of Love
intimacy—the emotional investment in a
relationship that promotes closeness and
connection;

passion—the expression of physical and

psychological needs and desires in the relationship;
and

commitment—the cognitive decision to remain in

the relationship.
Sternberg's Triangle of
Types of Love
Passion is the most fleeting and, without commitment, is
likely to result in a short-lived love.

Intimacy and commitment can grow stronger over time.

However, if passion and intimacy both decline, commitment
may dwindle as well.

The factor of commitment, which may originate from valued

kinship obligations or economic practicalities, can sustain a
relationship and foster an enduring love with or without
intimacy or passion
 Four Aspects of Love
Conceptions

ideas about the beloved

feelings that are associated with love
thoughts associated with love, and actions
that are likely
to occur between the lover and the beloved
Romantic love has a motivational quality akin to thirst
and hunger. In brain imaging studies, people who have
recently fallen deeply in love are shown photographs of
their loved ones.

As they gaze at the photo, they all typically show

activation of the area of the brain associated with
motivation and reward, areas that are rich in dopamine
production. A neurological response is associated with
focused attention, new levels of energy, and the feeling
that a deep need is being satisfied.
Exclusivity
—means shutting out others. To some
extent, exclusivity is a natural element
in intimate relations.

—can become destructive to one’s ability

to have relationships. It is characterized
by intense jealousy, possessiveness, and
obsession.
Exclusivity

—the experiences of intimacy and love

should broaden one’s sense of connection
and social integration but with exclusivity,
one’s social support network is limited.

—it limits one's ability to entertain new

ideas.
DIVORCE
Factors of Divorce

1. Age of marriage
2. Socioeconomic level
3. Socioemotional development off
the partners
4. Family history of divorce
 Coping with Divorce
Attachment to former spouse
Coping strategies
 Thank you for
listening !

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