01/18/2018

4:00-5:00 Early or Young Adulthood

Th Psychiatry
Anatomy Bldg Ruby Jaen Bito-onon, M.D.

OUTLINE STATE OF EMERGING ADULTHOOD

I. Three Main Periods of Adulthood IDENTITIY EXPLORATION WHO AM I REALLY?

II. Characteristics Instability Job
III. Emerging Adulthood Relationship
IV. State of Emerging Adulthood
Education
V. The Mental Apparatus
VI. Drive Expression of the Adult Self-focused during this phase they go
VII. Self-concept and Identity through some stage of living
VIII. Object Relations alone
IX. Social Roles and Work Feeling in between Between both adolescence
X. Developmental Tasks of a Young Adult and adulthood
XI. Normative Development of Man Age of Possibilities Anything is Possible for the
XII. Normative Development of Woman future
XIII. Choices in Love

THE MENTAL APPARATUS

3 MAIN PERIODS OF ADULTHOOD
 Young Adulthood – 20-40 years
 Emerging Adulthood – 18-25 years
 Middle Adulthood – 40-65 years
 Late Adulthood – 65 years & over
CHARACTERISTICS
 Attainment of full growth & dev’t in the physical sense
 Change continues at a different rate and a different character
 The adult past must be taken into account in understanding
adult behaviour
 Influenced by vicissitudes of current life experience.
 Normative developmental crises include: love, parenthood,
courtship, job achievement, marriage, role changes,
childbearing, and menopause
EMERGING ADULTHOOD
 Phase between adolescence and young adulthood
 Shift of financial responsibility
 Ends in near complete independence from parents
 Issues: career identity sexual identity, ethnic identity
o Career soul searching
 How to spend time
 Life goals
 What can he offer to the world
o Sexual identity
 Heterosexuals may have a hard time developing a sense of
sexual identity
 More difficult for those confused with their sexual orientation
 Deal with negative attitude toward LGBT
 Experience “minority stress”
 different from other minorities
o Ethnic Identity – for people of mixed racial heritage
 Parent or grandparent may push for his or her identity as
the dominant one
 Biracial people of all ages resist having to identify with one
racial group over the other
Ego
 Distinguishing characteristic of the mental apparatus of the
adult: relative dominance of the ego
 Involves the acquisition of a relatively effective internal
regulatory system to handle and integrate the input from both
the internal environment (drives) and external environment
(reality)
Evident in:
o Capacity to delay action.
 Use of thought, self-examination & self-judgment in dealing
with the pressures of the drives and influence of the env’t
 Ability to use resources of past experience from which we
can synthesize new ideas and make a judgment as to the
proper course, timing and character of action
o Better developed sense of identity
 Conception of self and own needs
 Capacity to understand and respond to the needs of other
 Capacity to tolerate deprivation of the sources of supply for
the self is an important determinant of psychic as well as
physical strength
o Better developed sense of reality
 Person no longer functions as if a wish in itself could bring
satisfaction or as if a need for satisfaction guarantees it.
 Symbols and words are used in thought and feeling and are
not equated with objects.
 Diminished tendency to use technique of magic.
 Well-developed ability to identify, characterize, categorize and
utilize what exists in the environment and to differentiate
objects and phenomenon from each other.
o Considerable capacity to tolerate tension and discomfort.
 Past successes in problem solving and overcoming or passing
through painful or difficult situations in the past provides
quality of confidence and hope.
o Capacity for love, sexual enjoyment, work and play due to
capacity to maintain control over drives.
 Permits periodic abandonment of reality in the form of
fantasies, play, joking, humor, which are tolerated and
enjoyed because of certain knowledge that it can be
terminated at will.

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 o Utilization of adaptive and reality-oriented defense
mechanism.
 Better ability to recognize discrepancies and failures and
develop new techniques to deal with stress to solve problem
 Repression, denial, introjection, identification, identity
formation, projection, displacement, rationalization, undoing,
isolation
 It is not the ego defense which is regarded in terms of
normality or abnormality but how the defense is used and
what the consequences are
Superego
 Responses are more realistic
 Provides an impetus to appropriate action and is not simply a
punitive agent
 Motivates ethical, moral and socially considerate behavior
DRIVE EXPRESSION OF THE ADULT
Sexuality
o 2 Basic changes in libido development before adult level is
reached:
 There must be a shift in erotogenic primacy from the pre-
genital (oral, anal, phallic) to genital primacy
 There must be a change in object from self to parent to extra-
family heterosexual object
o Criteria to gauge that such development has taken place:
 Capacity to achieve a successful
heterosexual love relationship culminating in marriage and
having children.
 Capacity to love and be loved.
 Capacity to achieve orgasm in the genital level
 Involves a period of mounting during foreplay and a climax
which can more or less synchronize with that of the partner
 Followed by satisfaction, relaxation and feelings of love for
and gratitude toward the partner.
 With the attainment of genital primacy, the conscious and or
unconscious confusion that
 Existed in the pre-genital period
 Between the sexual and other
 Nonsexual physiologic function of the erotogenic zone
disappears
Aggression
 Able to gratify the needs to overcome and master the
environment in ways which are essentially in conformity with the
realistic situations
 Pleasure is derived from doing the job well, from mastering
difficulties in work, from the feeling of conquering nature,
building, organizing, and successfully supporting one’s family
(man) or mastering the problems of child- bearing (woman)
 Other expressions of aggression: play, games, identification
with athletes or teams, membership in competitive groups
 Uses aggressive abilities in self-defense and the object of
aggression discharged is appropriate to the provocation and to
the realistic dangers and gains w/o feelings of guilt
 Uses aggressive abilities in self-defense and the object of
aggression discharged is appropriate to the provocation and to
the realistic dangers and gains w/o feelings of guilt
 Uses aggressive abilities in self- defense and the object of
aggression is the real enemy; amount and character of
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aggression discharged is appropriate to the provocation and to
the realistic dangers and gains without feelings of guilt.
 Able to plan his expression of aggression, to make realistic
judgments and if necessary, withhold the attack if reality so
dictates
ADULT SELF-CONCEPT AND IDENTITY
 Development of a sense of identity, with the capacity to feel
and experience oneself as an individual among individuals, with
wishes, ambitions, goals and roles in life.
 Comes about by virtue of the degree and kind of support which
has been provided by objects in growing up years
 The child’s own experience of self through his successes and
failure of efforts in various situations and roles
 To a large degree, final self-concepts are precipitates and
derivatives of the earlier object relations – major importance in
determining the kind of object
 Relations currently sought after and the capacity of the
individual to establish and maintain new object
 Relations or to tolerate loss of old objects
 Continuing and sustained object relationships are necessary in
order to maintain intactness
 Objects loss (real, threatened or imagined) constitutes psychic
stress
OBJECT RELATIONS
 Involves the resolution of many areas of conflict with the early,
usually familial object and the evolution of a new relationship
relatively free of conflicts
 Final successful resolution of oedipal complex, more realistic
appraisal of family objects (neither excessively feared or
idealized) and new objects are endowed with relatively discrete
identity of their own
 Capacity to ascribe identity and individuality to others and relate
to them more realistically in terms of their assets and deficits
with appropriate consideration for their needs and aspirations as
individuals
 The hallmark of mature adult object relationships is the ability to
experience full measure of personal gratification in a relationship
without sacrificing consideration and respect for the other
SOCIAL ROLES AND WORK
 Socially adjusted human being whose awareness of the social
structure in which he plays a role and his responsibilities and
obligations to society and his place within the society
 Able to make judgments or decisions relating to the welfare of
the larger group sometimes subordinating his own interest or the
interest of his family
 Responsive to the goals, needs, and destiny of the social group
of which he has an integral part
 Work is the main means whereby one’s function is fulfilled in
society
 Through work, one establishes a position as an effective
member of society
 Regardless of social recognition, he experiences satisfaction in
his own work effectiveness and achievement
 Gratification is enhanced if his work is in some way also
recognized as socially variable and useful
 Sense of identity evolves in the course of the development of his
work role
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 DEVELOPMENTAL TASKS OF A YOUNG ADULT
 To develop a young adult sense of self (3rd Individuation)
o establishing a “self” away from parents
o “self” as comfortably alone and competent
o (+) emotional detachment  lead to mental representations
from the childhood past and the young adult present
 To develop adult friendships
o an extra-familial object relationship base on mutuality,
equality, freedom of choice
 To develop the capacity for intimacy or to become a spouse
o the developmental shift from sexual experimentation to the
desire for intimacy is experienced as extreme loneliness.
o Having mastered the mechanics of capable sexual
performance, mere repetition no longer provides sexual
satisfaction
o (+) desire for emotional involvement
o “self” is increasingly linked to partner – male
and female are equal and interdependent for sexual pleasure,
intimacy, and reproduction
 To become a biological and psychological parent
o (+) attachment and involvement with children
 To develop mutuality and equality with parents while
facilitating their midlife development
 To establish an adult work identity
 To develop adult forms of play
 To integrate new attitudes toward time
NORMATIVE DEVELOPMENT OF MAN
Early Adulthood
 Period of relative vigor and activity where he is establishing
himself in different roles and relationships
o role as a working member of the society
o new kinds of relationships with peers and superiors
o social relationships with other men, club membership, athletic
activities
 Success is one regulator of self-esteem
 Problems in this period develop with the inability to pursue
a career because of earlier life experiences; these problems
are:
o Unemployment
o job displacement
o discrimination
o social & cultural pressures
 Period of falling in love, courtship and marriage
 (+) role reversal in his relationship with his parents
Love and Courtship
 falling in love is a tremendously fulfilling experience
 can represent a major developmental achievement
 major identity formation takes place when there is genuine love
– may result to marriage!
 When the feeling is mutual, there is considerable enhancement
of self-esteem
 When one is thwarted, it is the most painful experience
o this can be a precipitating event for illness (both psychological
and somatic)
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Marriage
 formally acknowledging the change in relationship
 assumption of new and unique responsibilities
o as husband
o as the breadwinner
 (+) interpersonal relationship with wife’s family
 intimate and permanent sexual partner requires day to day
adjustment
Parenthood
 preparation for fatherhood is lifetime
o begins with relationship with wife
o preparation provides earliest source of wish to take care of,
nurture, support and provide for own children
 (+) adjustments and developments with birth of each child
 different roles assumed for every gender developmental stage of
children
 may reawaken own childhood experiences
 (+) projection of unfulfilled hopes and expectations to children
(especially boys)
NORMATIVE DEVELOPMENT OF WOMAN
Early Adulthood
 Girls mature earlier than boys
 Eventual goal is to become a Wife and a Mother
Sexual Cycle
 Menstrual cycle – represents the regularly occurring system
whereby a woman’s body is prepared for mating & impregnation.
At the time of ripening of the follicles and the rising level of
estrogen,
o there is an object-directed psychodynamic tendency which
brings forth wishes, fantasies & desires (depending on the
level of maturity).
o The aim is to bring about sexual contact with the sexual object
& achieve gratification thru coitus
o During progesterone production (beginning with the pre-
ovulation state) the active “outwardly-directed tendency” fuses
with a more receptive tendency
o parallel with the peak of the cycle at the time of ovulation, the
sexual drive reaches its highest level of integration
 If no conception ensues:
Decreased progesterone and estrogen levels
(+) regression of genital and reproductive
integration takes place
more primitive manifestation emerge (eg. Oral –
overeating ; Anal – cleanliness drive)
 when menstruation flow is established, the mood generally
relaxes, and after a few days, a new follicle begins to ripen, and
a new psychosexual cycle begins
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 Marriage
 a woman is likely to marry at a younger age than a man
o (+) unconscious biologic drive toward conception or
motherhood
 tends to be more oriented towards fulfilling her eventual role of a
mother and homemaker
 inclined to be more accepting of a relatively dependent role both
in relationship to her husband and in society in general
 maintains closer link with her own family
 may work but usually it is of secondary importance to that of
raising a family
 the largest part of a woman’s psychobiological development is to
prepare self for this goal of raising a family
o failures and difficulties in this preparation play a role in the
development of conflicts and problems
 the more successful her development as a child (parents having
a harmonious relationship), the better the prospect for own
success and maintenance of good health in the future
 early phase of marriage involves a period of mutual adjustment
 the state of “being in love”, with the husband enables the girl to
succeed in effecting a further degree of separation from her own
parents
 during early years of marriage, the relationship become
established toward more realistic basis
 eventually, the young wife succeeds in establishing her own
identity as a wife
o (+) stabilization of her relationship with her husband on a
more realistic basis, as well as with friends, neighbors,
family,etc
Pregnancy
 whether planned or not, the possibility of pregnancy is always
present
 young women differ greatly in how psychologically prepared
they are for pregnancy
 Potential sources of conflict in relation to pregnancy:
o Girl may be ready, but a variety of realistic external factors
make pregnancy inadvisable or impossible
o Girl is ready but the husband may not be emotionally
prepared to assume fatherly roles
o Girl ready and eager, but either she or husband may have
some organic defect which render them both infertile
o Girl not ready, but husband or family or social group expects
her to be
o Girl not ready, but unconsciously uses pregnancy for other
needs (replacing a lost object, as an adjustment to the
disappointment of marriage)
 Contraceptives may be used to regulate the timing of
pregnancy.
 healthy woman experiences pregnancy:
o with exquisite joy and fulfilment
o feels serene, contented & expectant
o fulfilled in a way which is entirely unique.
 the woman who is not emotionally prepared for pregnancy for a
number of reasons will have difficulty enjoying this experience
as stated above.
 as pregnancy develops, the woman may wait for the first signs
of life and have fantasies about the baby
 occupied with preparatory “nesting” activities
 During the last weeks of pregnancy - begins to feel impatient
and uncomfortable. The prospect of terminating the discomforts
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that develop make her more able to accept some of the pain and
difficulties of delivery.
Confinement
 The first cry and the first physical contact with the infant is
generally experienced as a joyous moment.
o (+) sense of serenity and completeness in holding the baby.
Delivery
 The relationship with her OB-GYNE is of great importance as
she relies on him and on his skill to protect her and the baby
from harm and pain.
 Ideally, her physician will have prepare her for what will be
expected and what she may expect from him
Motherhood and Motherliness
 “motherliness” - develops and evolve throughout the life of a girl
and is intimately related to her development and her relationship
with her own mother.
 The woman’s role and identity will be different depending on the
ages, number and sex distribution of her children.
 Woman learns from experience with each successive child. Her
attitudes also change and develops as each child assumes a
different identity and behave in different ways.
 As the children appear, childcare and homecare problems
ensue
Wife - Mother
 The day to day problems and adjustments of the young woman
are concerned with the relationships between herself, her
husband and children.
 She now assumes a different identity and a different relationship
with her husband
 The woman also achieves a new status in relationship to other
women and other members of her family by virtue of being a
mother.
o She must now fulfil certain expectations as set by both herself
and those around her.
CHOICES IN LOVE
Love According to Erik Erikson
 early adulthood is a time of intimacy vs Isolation
 Individuals must develop the ability to form deep, intimate
relationships with other people
 forming long lasting bonds with other people
 those who do not will live their lives in loneliness or isolation.
Love According to Ellen Berscheid
 There are 4 kinds of love as follows:
o Altruism – love in the family setting
o Friendship – love which has the qualities of enjoyment,
attachment and devotion
o Romantic love – “falling in love”
o Affectionate love- includes companionship and loyalty
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 Love According to Robert Sternberg SAMPLE QUESTION

 Triangular Theory of Love 1. Which of the following is not a definition of Love

o Love is comprised of 3 main entities: according to Ellen Berscheid?
 Passion – physical and sexual attraction toward another A. Friendship C. Infatuation
person B. Romantic Love D. Altruism
 Intimacy- emotional warmth & closeness
 Commitment – the intent to build a long relationship and to 2. True or False. A woman is likely to marry at an older age
stay in the relationship even when problems arise. than a man.
o love can be described according to which of these 3 entities
are present in the relationship 3. Which of the following is not developmental task of a
young adult?
Seven (7) Forms of Love
A. To develop a young adult sense of self (3rd Individuation)
 Liking - Intimacy alone, no passion or commitment B. To develop adult friendships
 Infatuation - passion, but no commitment or intimacy C. establishing a “self” together with parents
 Empty love - only commitment, no passion or intimacy D. To develop the capacity for intimacy or to become a
spouse
 Romantic love - intimacy and passion but commitment
 Fatuous love - passion and commitment
4. It is a form love where there is intimacy and passion but
 Companionate or affectionate love - intimacy and
no commitment.
commitment, but no passion
A. Liking C. Fatuous Love
 Consummate love - fullest of love; commitment, passion and
B. Infatuation D. Romantic Love
intimacy are present
5. Which of the following is not a problem during normative
Factors in Trying to Find Love
development of a man?
A. Unemployment
 trying to find love is a universal act that all young adults B. Job displacement
eventually engage in C.Discrimination
 factors include: D.Polygamous Relationship
o Physical attributes
o Personality
o Money
o Sexual compatibility

Four (4) Factors Which are Critical in Mate Selection

 Proximity
 Similarity
 Reciprocity
 Complementarity

Key Factors That Make a Good Relationship

 Taken from Michael S. Broder’s “The art of staying together: a

Couple’s guide to intimacy”
 these factors include:
o Both partners having the knowledge and recognizing that an
issue affects one of the partners, affect both at the same time.
o Both partners value the relationship; recognizing and fulfilling
the needs of the partner.
o Both partners consider the long-range best interest of the
other.
o Both partners like, respect and trust each other.
o Both partners have some degree of self-reliance and share
power equally.
o Both partners give each other privacy, as well as the attention
and responsibility needed in a relationship.

SOURCE

 Dr. Bito-onon’s powerpoint presentation

ANSWERS: 1. C 2. FALSE 3. C 4. D 5. D

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