SOCIAL AND PERSONALITY

DEVELOPMENT IN EARLY
ADULTHOOD
Chapter 14
DEVELOPMENTAL TASKS OF
ADULTHOOD
WHAT MAKES YOUNG ADULTS
HAPPY?

„ Happiest memories = psychological needs rather

than material needs satisfied

„ Unhappiest memories = basic psychological needs

left unfulfilled

„ Culture influences which psychological needs are

most important in determining happiness
SEEKING INTIMACY: ERIKSON'S
VIEW OF YOUNG ADULTHOOD

Intimacy versus isolation stage

• Intimacy = Close, intimate relationship with others

• Isolation = Feelings of loneliness and fearful of

relationships
EMERGING ADULTHOOD: A
NEW STAGE OF LIFE?
• Continued growth and change in
Arnett: Emerging adulthood brain development
• Period between 18 and the late – Prefrontal cortex
20s
• Continued identity exploration
• May be response to shifting
– Not knowing place in life
cultural forces; delayed onset of
full adulthood – Not fitting into adult role
– Increasing amount of education – Insecurity, instability, self-focus
needed for good career
• Criticism
– Fewer employment
opportunities overall – Ability to spend time not
available to everyone
– Frequency of cohabitation
without marriage – True developmental stages are
not option
 FRIENDSHIP
Most of our relationships with others involve
friends, and for most people maintaining such
relationships is an important part of adult life
• Basic need for belonging

• Influenced by proximity, similarity, and personal

qualities

• Although most adults claim on surveys to have a

close friend a different race, when they are queried
regarding the names of close friends, few include a
person of a different race (See Figure 14-1)
FALLING IN LOVE: WHEN LIKING
TURNS TO LOVING

How does love develop?

PASSIONATE AND COMPANIONATE
LOVE: TWO FACES OF LOVE

Some psychologists suggest that our love

relationships can fall into two different categories:
• Passionate love

• Companionate love

If it hurts…it really love?

How do you know?

STERNBERG'S TRIANGULAR
THEORY: THREE FACES OF
LOVE

Decision/Commitment Intimacy

Passion
THE COMBINATIONS OF LOVE
SEEKING A SPOUSE: IS LOVE
ALL THAT MATTERS?

„ U.S. – love as a major factor

„ In other cultures, love may be a secondary

„ Emotional maturity, health, similar education, chastity
CHOOSING A MATE

Evolutionary perspective (Buss and colleagues)

• Gender differences

• Species requirement
DO YOU THINK YOU WILL USE THE
PRINCIPLE OF HOMOGAMY TO SELECT
A MATE?
MARRIAGE OUTSIDE OF
RACIAL/ETHNIC GROUP
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE MARRIAGE
GRADIENT FACES THE COUGAR?
Infant attachment style is reflected in adult romantic
relationships (Shaver)
• Secure

• Avoidant

• Anxious-ambivalent

ATTACHMENT STYLES AND

ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIPS
„ Research findings suggest that gay and lesbian
relationships are quite similar to relationships between
heterosexuals

„ Most gays and lesbians seek loving, long-term, and

meaningful relationships that differ little qualitatively
from those desired by heterosexuals

GAY AND LESBIAN RELATIONSHIPS:

MEN WITH MEN AND WOMEN WITH
WOMEN
WHY DO PEOPLE CHOICE
COHABITATION RATHER THAN
MARRIAGE?

„ Not ready for lifelong commitment

„ Practice for marriage

„ Reject institution of marriage

WHY MARRY?

„ Preferred alternative during early adulthood

„ Desirability of spouse roles

„ Legitimatization of children

„ Legal benefits and protections

WHY DO PEOPLE WAIT?
WHAT MAKES MARRIAGE
WORK?

Successful married partners:

• Show affection
• Communicate relatively little negativity
• Perceive themselves as interdependent
• Experience social homogamy, similarity in leisure
activity and role preferences
• Hold similar interest
• Agree on distribution of roles
BUT THE NEWS IS NOT ALL BAD!

Most married couples:

• View early years of marriage as deeply satisfying

• Find themselves more deeply in love than before

marriage

• Report newlywed period as one of happiest in entire

married life
PARENTHOOD: CHOOSING TO
HAVE CHILDREN

Deciding whether to have children is one of the most important

decisions couples make
• Young adults typically cite psychological reasons for having children
– Care or companionship in old age
– Response to societal norm

„ Having children can well lead to greater marital satisfaction—at least

for couples who are already satisfied with their marriage

„ For marriages in which satisfaction is low, having children may make

a bad situation worse
WHAT PRODUCED THE
DECLINE IN FERTILITY RATE?

„ Availability of more reliable birth control methods

„ Increasing numbers of working outside the home

„ Choosing to have children later

„ Cost of raising and educating children

„ Fear of not being good or accessible parent

DUAL-EARNER COUPLES

One of the major historical shifts affecting young adults that

began in the last half of the twentieth century is the increase in
the number of families in which both parents work
• Close to three-quarters of married women with school-aged
children are employed outside the home

• More than half of mothers with children under the age of six are
working
DUAL-EARNER COUPLES

Figure 14-10 Division of Labor

Although husbands and wives generally work at their paying jobs a similar number of hours
each week, wives are apt to spend more time than their husbands doing home chores and in
child-care activities. Why do you think this pattern exists? (Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics,
2012.)
STAYING SINGLE: I WANT TO
BE ALONE

„ Statistics

„ Rationale

„ Societal view
WORK: CHOOSING AND EMBARKING ON
A CAREER
IDENTITY DURING YOUNG
ADULTHOOD: ROLE OF WORK
Vaillant : Career consolidation
• General pattern of psychological development as
young adults center on careers
• Career concerns supplant focus on intimacy

Criticisms
• Highly restricted sample limits Generalizability
• Dated findings questions in view of shifts in attitudes
toward importance of work
PICKING AN OCCUPATION

Ginzberg's Career Choice Theory

• Fantasy period
• Tentative period
• Realistic period

Criticism
• Non-representative sample
• Overstates choices and options to lower SES people
• Age demarcations may be too rigid
PICKING AN OCCUPATION
Holland's Personality Type Theory
• Realistic (sensible and practical)
• Intellectual
• Social
• Conventional (ordinary, commoner)
• Enterprising (resourceful, imaginative)
• Artistic (creative)

Criticism
• Lack of fit for many
GENDER AND CAREER
CHOICES: WOMEN'S WORK

„ Traditionally:
„ Communal professions = women (associate with relationship)
„ Agentic professions = men (practical, getting things done)

„ Women less likely found in male-dominated professions

THE GENDER-WAGE GAP

Figure 14-11 The Gender Wage Gap

Women's weekly earnings as a percentage of men's have increased since 1979 but
are still only a bit more than 75 percent and have remained steady over the past
three years. (Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census, 2009.)
WHY DO PEOPLE WORK?
MORE THAN EARNING A LIVING

„ Motivation
„ Extrinsic
„ Intrinsic

„ Personal identity

„ Status
CHOOSING A CAREER

„ Systematically evaluate a variety of choices.

„ Know yourself.
„ Create a balance sheet,
„ Try out different careers through paid or unpaid
internships.
„ Remember that if you make a mistake, you can
change careers.
„ It is reasonable to expect that careers may change
throughout life.
SATISFACTION ON THE JOB

„ Satisfaction related to job status

„ Worker satisfaction also associated with:

„ Nature of job
„ Amount of input one has into one's duties
„ Influence employees have over others