1 hs1000-71 human growth & social environment lecture 7: early adulthood (age 20 – 40)

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HS1000-71Human Growth & Social Environment

Lecture 7: Early Adulthood (Age 20 – 40)

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1. Nature of Early Adulthood

The Transition from Adolescence to Early Adulthood:

Occurs in adolescence.

It is usually marked by full-time employment.

It is marked by economic independence.

Involves accepting responsibility and consequences for one’s behaviors and choices.

Marriage: Adult status in developing countries is often marked by marriage occurring much earlier than in the United States.

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1. Nature of Early Adulthood The Transition from Adolescence to Early

Adulthood: Transition from high school to college

then part-time study: Has positive and negative aspects. Can be very stressful.

Sources of stress can be: Academic (exams, grades, competition). Personal (relationships, parental

conflicts, family conflicts). Economic (balancing work, school,

family). Psychological (emotional situations).

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2. Physical Development

Physical development- Physical development and maturation are

complete- At the peak of their physical capabilities- Early 20s, tend to be healthy, vigorous ( 精力

充沛 ), and energeticSenescence( 衰老 ): - the natural physical decline brought about by

aging, begins

2. Physical development

Health and fitness Physical and sensory abilities are typically

excellent in emerging and young adulthood The mapping of the human genome ( 基因

組 / 染色體 ) is enabling the discovery of genetic bases for certain disorders

Lifestyle factors such as diet, obesity ( 肥胖症 ), exercise, sleep smoking and substance use or abuse can affect health and survival


Good health is related to higher income and education.

Social relationships, especially marriage, tend to be associated with physical and mental health

Mental health is generally good in early adulthood, but certain conditions, such as depression, becomes more prevalent ( 普遍的 ). Alcohol abuse and alcoholism are the most common substance disorders

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- Peak of psychomotor abilities - Reaction time is quicker, muscle strength is

greater, eye-hand coordination is better- To reach their physical potential, must

exercise (30 minutes of moderate physical activity at least 5 days a week) and maintain a proper diet

3. Cognitive development

Moral reasoning According to Kohlberg, moral development in

adulthood depends on experience, though it cannot exceed the limits set by cognitive development. Experience may be interpreted differently in various cultural contexts


Perspectives on adult cognition Some investigators propose distinctively adult

forms of cognition beyond formal operations. Reflective thinking emphasizes complex logic; postformal though involves intuition and emotion as well

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Postformal Thought: Giesela Labouvie-Vief

- Thinking that acknowledges that adult predicaments must sometimes be solved in relativistic ( 相對的 ) terms

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3. Cognitive development : Dialectical ( 辯證 ) thinking: an interest in and appreciation for

argument, counterargument, and debate

accepts that issues are not always clear-cut

answers to questions are not always absolutely right or wrong

but must sometimes be negotiated

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3. Cognitive development : Intelligence

IntelligenceRobert Sternberg - Triarchic theory of intelligence- Practical intelligence is as important as traditional

academic intelligence in determining future success, is learned primarily by observing others and modeling their behaviour

- They are able to understand and handle even new situations effectively, reading people and circumstances insightfully, based on their previous experiences


According to Sterberg’s trarchic theory of intelligence, the experiential and contextual elements become particularly important during adulthood. Tests that measure tacit knowledge can be useful complements to traditional intelligence tests.

Emotional intelligence may play an important part in life success

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3. Cognitive development : Stress

- Life style decisions to use or abuse of alcohol, tobacco, drugs, or engaging in unprotected sex can hasten ( 加速 ) secondary aging

- physical declines brought about by environmental factors or an individual’s behavioral choices

Stress: - the physical and emotional response to

events that threaten or challenge us

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Stressors: - events and circumstances that produce threats to

our well-being- Need not be unpleasant events, even happiest

events, e.g. starting a long-sought job or planning a wedding can produce stress

Psychoneuroimmunology (PNI): ( 心理神經免疫學 )

- the study of the relationship among the brain, the immune system, and psychological factors

- It found that stress produces several outcomes

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Biological reaction: certain hormones secreted by the adrenal ( 腎上腺素 )

glands ( 腦垂體腺 )cause a rise in heart rate, blood pressure, respiration rate, and sweating ( 汗水 )

May be beneficial because they produce an “emergency reaction” in the sympathetic nervous system

people are better able to defend themselves from a sudden threatening situation

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Continuous exposure to stressors may result in a reduction of the body’s ability to deal with stress

Stress-related hormones are constantly secreted ( 分泌 ) The heart, blood vessels, and other body tissues may deteriorate

To become more susceptible ( 血管 )to diseases as their ability to fight off germs declines

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- Series of stages (Arnold Lazarus & Susan Folkman)

1. Primary appraisal: - the individual’s assessment of an event to

determine whether its implications are positive, negative, or neutral

- If negative, how threatening, can it be resisted successfully?

3. Cognitive development : Origins of Stress

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3. Cognitive development : Origins of Stress

2. Secondary appraisal: the person’s answer to the question, “Can I

handle it?” whether his or her coping abilities and

resources are adequate to overcome the challenge

If resources lacking, potential threat greater, experience stress

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3. Cognitive development : Consequences of stress

Constant wear and tear caused by the physiological arousal that occurs as the body tries to fight off stress produces negative effects

Headaches, back-aches, skin rashes ( 皮疹 ) indigestion (消化不良 ), chronic fatigue (疲倦 ), even the common cold are stress-related illnesses

Immune system may be damaged Begins to attack the body itself Damaging healthy tissue (組織 ) Permit germs to reproduce more easily Allow cancer cells to spread more rapidly

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3. Cognitive development : Psychosomatic disorders

- Medical problems caused by the interaction of psychological, emotional, and physical difficulties

- e.g. ulcers ( 胃潰瘍 ), asthma ( 哮喘 ), arthritis ( 關節炎 ), and high blood pressure

Coping with stress- coping: the effort to control, reduce, or learn

to tolerate the threats that lead to stress

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Problem-focused coping: - to manage a stressful problem or situation by

directly changing the situation to make it less stressful

Emotion-focused coping:- involves the conscious regulation of emotionSocial support: - assistance and comfort supplied by others- Emotional support (a shoulder to cry on), and

practical, tangible support (temporary financial loan)

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Defensive coping: - unconscious strategies that distort or deny the true

nature of a situationEmotional insulation ( 隔離 ): - people unconsciously try to prevent themselves from

experiencing emotions - if becomes a habitual response to stress, can

prevent the person from dealing with the reality of the situation

- by offering a way to avoid or ignore the problem- e.g. use drugs or alcohol to escape

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Hardiness ( 堅強 ): - a personality characteristic associated with a lower

rate of stress-related illness - They are take-charge people who revel in life’s

challenges, - more resistant to stress-related illness- react to stressors with optimism- turning threatening situations into challenging ones

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Resilience: - Ability to withstand ( 抵擋 ), overcome, and

actually succeed following deep adversity- Easy-going, good-natured and independent- Good social and communication skills

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3. Cognitive development : Emotional intelligence- the set of skills that underlies the accurate

assessment, evaluation, expression, and regulation of emotions

- To get along well with others- to understand what others are feeling and

experiencing- to respond appropriately to the needs of others

Intelligence is made up of three major components:1. componential ( 成份 )2. experiential3. contextual

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3. Cognitive development : Emotional intelligence

1.Componential aspect: - analysis of data to solve problems - using previously-learned information2.Experiential aspect: - insightful aspect of intelligence - the relationship between intelligence,

people’s prior experience, and their ability to cope with new situations

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3. Cognitive development : Emotional intelligence

3. Contextual aspect: - the degree of success people demonstrate in

facing the demands of their everyday, real world environments

- major life events such as marriage, the death of a parent, starting a first job, the birth of a child, buying a house may lead to cognitive growth

- Young adults think about the world in innovative way

- Often more complex, sophisticated and less rigid

4. Psychosocial development

Emerging adulthood is often a time of experimentation before assuming adult roles and responsibilities. Such traditional developmental tasks as finding stable work and developing long-term romantic relationships may be postponed until the 30 or even later

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4. Social and Personality Development

People perceive themselves as adults when they are:

- No longer other people’s children- Full members of society with responsibilities- Psychologically maturing- Self-supporting- Legal definitions

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4. Social and Personality Development: Erikson – seeking intimacy

- Intimacy-versus-Isolation stage: developing close, intimate relationship with others.

Aspects:i. Degree of unselfishness ( 無私 / 忘我 ): - sacrifice of one’s own needs to those of

anotherii.Sexuality: - experience of joint pleasure from focusing

not just on one’s own gratification but also on that of one’s partner

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4. Social and Personality Development: Erikson – seeking intimacy

iii. Deep devotion ( 忠心 ): - efforts to fuse one’s identity with the

identity of a partner- virtue/strength: love- difficulties: lonely, isolated, and fearful of

relationships with others- Critics: limited on heterosexuality (to

produce children), focused more on men’s development, and did not consider racial and ethnic identity

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4. Social and Personality Development: Freud

Freud – genital stage- Return of sexual interests and

establishment of mature sexual relationships

- Sexual urges repressed during latency now come up to flow in socially approved channels

- Defined as heterosexual relations with persons outside the family of origin

4. Social and Personality Development: Identity development in emerging adulthood

Recentering refers to a 3-stage process that underlies the shift to an adult identity.

Stage 1, the beginning of emerging adulthood, the individual is still fixed in the family of origin, but expectations for self-reliance and self-directedness begin to increase.

4. Social and Personality Development: Identity development in emerging adulthood

Stage 2, temporary, exploratory involvements in a variety of college courses, jobs, and intimate partners mark this stage.

Stage 3, usually by the age 30, the individual moves into young adulthood. This stage is marked by independence from the family of origin and commitment to a career, a partner, and possibly children

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5. Holland’s Model of Personality Types and Career Choices

Artistic: creating with materials (jobs

rare)

Social: helping people (teaching &

counseling)

Enterprising: persuading others

(sales & management)

Realistic: doing things (manual

activities)

Conventional: working with details

(clerical tasks)

Investigative: thinking (intellectual

professions)

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- John Holland’s Personality Type Theory- Six personality types are important in

career choice Realistic: - Down-to-earth, practical problems-solvers,

physically strong, but their social skills are mediocre.

- Good farmers, laborers, and truck drivers.


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2. Intellectual: - Oriented toward the theoretical and abstract- Not particularly good with people, well suited

to careers in math and science 3. Social: - Related to verbal skills and interpersonal

relations- good at working with people, make good

salespersons, teachers, and counselors


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4. Conventional: Prefer highly structured tasks, make

good clerks, secretaries, and bank tellers

5. Enterprising: - Risk-takers and take-charge types, good

leaders and may be particularly effective as managers or politicians


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6. Artistic: Use art to express themselves, often prefer

the world of art to interact with people, best suited to occupations involving art


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Midlife is a time of evaluation, assessment, and reflection about work roles and future goals.

Overall, job satisfaction steadily increases throughout one’s working life—usually from age 20 to 60. This pattern applies to both men and women. This pattern applies to both college- and non-college-educated

adults. Currently, middle-aged workers face many challenges:

Globalization and exporting of jobs. Rapid development in technologies. Downsizing and restructuring of companies. Early retirement—forced or due to buyouts.

Leisure is an important aspect of middle adulthood due to changes in relationships and career.

6. Vocational Education, Work and Career

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Work defines people in many fundamental ways, and most spend about 1/3 of their lives working full-time.

Work settings are linked to stress and health problems; and yet, inability to work for an extended period causes emotional stress and low self-esteem.

Unemployment creates stress and increases feelings of helplessness in both men and women, but intensity varies among individuals based on additional factors.

Single-earner married families are the minority of workers in American society.

Dual-career couples make up the majority of workers in American society and become dominant in Hong Kong society:

Division of responsibility for family had changed. Social attitudes and values are changing.

6. Vocational Education, Work and Career

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7. Foundations of intimate relationships:Attraction, Love, and Close Relationships

People actively seek out others to associate with: Familiarity is necessary for a close relationship. People seek others who are similar to themselves, but

opposites do attract in certain instances.

Physical attractiveness may not be the primary factor in establishing and maintaining a relationship.

Standards of what is attractive are always changing over time and across cultures.

Young adults seek intimacy in relationships with peers and romantic partners. Self-disclosure is an important aspect of intimacy

Most young adults have friends but have increasingly limited time to spend with them. Women;s friendships tend to be more intimate than men’s


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- Need for belongingness: to establish and maintain at least a minimum number of relationships with others.

Proximity: - who live nearby and with whom they come

in contact most frequently.Similarity: - attracted to others who hold attitudes and

values similar to their own.


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- Personal qualities (results of survey):

keep confidence loyalwarm affectionate supportive honest / frank ( 垣誠 )have a good sense of humor


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Gender Differences in Friendships: Women have more friends than men. Communication is central to female relationships. Females do more self-disclosure than men. Females exchange more mutual support. Activities are central to male relationships. Men share useful information but keep a distance. Men seek practical solutions to their problems. Men are less likely to disclose personal weaknesses. Male relationships are more competitive.


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Friendship is important throughout the life span. Friendship is a form of close relationship

providing people with: Enjoyment and spontaneity ( 自發性 ). Acceptance. Trust, respect, and mutual assistance. Confidences shared and a sense of

understanding. There are many functions of friendship. Friends and lovers are similar in many ways.


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Love is a very complex area of human emotion and comes in different types of expressions.

Intimacy should occur after one is well into establishing a stable and successful identity: Failure to achieve intimacy results in social

isolation. Intimacy’s most important aspect is commitment. Attempts to establish intimacy occur at the same

time that one is seeking personal autonomy.


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Falling out of love includes: The tragic collapse of a close relationship. Being with someone who does not return

your feelings. Emotions like depression or obsessive

thoughts occur.


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Making Marriage Work:

Nurture fondness / love and admiration / respect.

Turn toward, rather than away from, each other.

Let your partner influence you—share power.

Solve solvable conflicts.


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Bernard Murstein’s Stimulus-value-role (SVR) theory- 3 stages:1. Stimulus stage: - relationships are built on surface, physical

characteristics, e.g. person looks. The first encounter.

2. Value stage: - occurs between the second and the seventh

encounter, relationship is characterized by increasing similarity of values and beliefs

3. Role stage: - relationship is built on specific roles played by the

participants- e.g. the couple may define themselves as

boyfriend-girlfriend or husband-wife


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Passionate and Companionate Love

Passionate (romantic) love- is a state of powerful absorption in someone. - It includes intense physiological interest, arousal,

and caring for another’s need- what fuels ( 使感情更強烈 ) the fires of passionate

love is anything that produces strong emotions- even negative ones such as jealousy, anger, or fear

of rejection

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Robert Sternberg’s Triangular theory of love- Love is made up of three components

Intimacy ( 親密 ) component: - encompasses feelings of closeness, affection, and

connectednessPassion ( 激情 ) component: 2. comprises the motivational drives relating to sex,

physical closeness, and romanceDecision/commitment component: 3. embodies both the initial cognition that one loves

another person and the long-term determination to maintain that love

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Triangular theory of love- The 3 components can be combined to form eight

different types of love - Depending on which of the three components is

either present or missing from a relationship1. Nonlove: - people who have only the most casual of

relationships; absence of the 3 components2. Liking: - develops when only intimacy is present3. Infatuated ( 迷戀 )love: - exists when only passion is felt

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Triangular theory of love

4. Empty love: - exists when only decision/commitment is present5. Romantic love:- when intimacy and passion are present, are drawn together

physically and emotionally, but do not necessarily view the relationship as lasting.

6. Companionate ( 友愛 ) love:- when intimacy and decision/commitment occur jointly, may

occur in long-lasting relationships in which physical passion has taken a back seat.

7. Fatuous ( 愚昧 ) love:- exists when passion and decision/commitment, without

intimacy, are present, is a kind of mindless loving in which there is no emotional bond between the partners.

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Triangular theory of love

8. Consummate ( 完美 ) love:- all three components of love are present.- The type of love that predominates in a

relationship varies over time- Emphasizes both the complexity of love and

its dynamic, evolving quality- As people and relationship develop and

change over time, so does their love

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Choosing a partner

- Love and mutual attractionTraits: - dependability, emotional stability,

pleasing disposition / character, intelligence highly valued almost universally.

For men: - physically attractiveFor women: - ambitious and industrious

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Filtering Model

- Louis Janda and Karen Klenke-Hamel’s Filtering Model

- people seeking a mate screen potential candidates through successively finer-grained filters

Homogamy: - the tendency to marry someone who is

similar in age, race, education, religion, and other basic demographic characteristics

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Filtering Model

Marriage gradient ( 傾斜度 ): - the tendency for men to marry women who are

slightly younger, smaller, and lower in status, and women to marry men who are slightly older, larger, and higher in status

Jessie Bernard “Bottom of the barrel” men: - men cannot find women of low enough status to

meet the demands of the gradient - or cannot find women of the same - or higher status who are willing to accept them as

mates.

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Filtering Model

“Cream of the crop” women: - women unable to marry because they are

higher in status - or seek someone of higher status than

anyone in the available pool of men

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The family life cycle has 6 stages:1. Leaving home allows youths to launch into adulthood.

2. Marriage is the uniting of two entire family systems.

3. Becoming parents creates new problems and requires lots of adjustments.

4. Parenting can be very challenging when adolescents are seeking autonomy and identity.

5. The family at midlife discovers new freedoms (empty net).

6. The family in later life is a time of adaptation.

7. Foundations of intimate relationships: Family life cycle

8. Marital and non-marital lifestyles

Today, more adults than in the past postpone marriage or never marry.

Reasons for staying single include career opportunities, travel, sexual and lifestyle freedom, a desire for self-fulfillment, women’s greater self-sufficiency, refuced social pressure to marry, fear of divorce, difficulty in finding a suitable mate, and lack of dating opportunities or of available mates

8. Marital and non-marital lifestyle : Cohabitation

With the new stage of emerging adulthood and the delay in age of marriage, cohabitation has increased and has become the norm in some countries

Cohabitation can be a trail marriage, an alternative to marriage. Cohabiting relationships in the US tend to be less stable then marriages.

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Cohabitation ( 同居 ): is more acceptable in today’s society. Has its advantages and disadvantages. Tends to be short-lived. Involves relationships that tend to be more equal

than those between husbands and wives.

Whether cohabitation is a harm or help toward later marital quality is controversial.

8. Marital and non-marital lifestyle : Cohabitation

8. Marital and non-marital lifestyle : Marriage

Marriage is universal ( 一致 ) and meets basic economic, emotional, sexual, social and child-raising needs

Mate selection and marrying age vary across cultures. People in industrialized nations now marry later than in past generations.

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Marriage in the United States: Adults are delaying marriage. Adult marriages are not lasting as long. Percentage of married persons who said they

were “very happy” declined from 1970s to 1990s, but recently began to increase.

Men report being happier in marriage than women.



Fewer people appear to be having extra-marital sexual relationships than in the past

Success in marriage may depend on partners’ sensitivity to each other, their validation of each other’s feelings, and their communication and conflict management skills. Men’s and women’s differing expectations may be important factors in marital satisfaction.

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Remarried couples face many changes and challenges: Negotiating rules for reconstituted families

and stepfamilies. Many remarriages occur to reduce loneliness and

improve financial circumstances. Negative behaviors from earlier marriages may carry

over into the remarriage.


8. Marital and non-marital lifestyle : Parenthood

Today women in industrialized societies are having fewer children and having them later in life, and an increasing number choose to remain childless

Fathers are usually less involved in child raising than mothers, but more so than in previous generations

Martial satisfaction typically declines during the childbearing years

In most cases, the burdens of a dual-earner lifestyle fall most heavily on the woman

Family-friendly workshop policies may help reduce marital stress

8. Marital and non-marital lifestyle : Parenthood

Divorce rates in the US have fallen from their high in 1981. Among the likely reasons are increasing educational levels, the delay in age of marriage, and the rise in cohabitation

Adjusting to divorce can be painful. Emotional distance from the ex-spouse is a key to adjustment

8. Marital and non-marital lifestyle : When Marriage Ends

Many divorced people remarry within a few years, but remarriages tend to be less stable than first marriages

Stepfamilies may go through several stages of adjustment


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Divorce rates have increased dramatically in all socioeconomic groups, from 2% in 1950 to 10% in 2002.

Divorce rates are higher in disadvantaged group.

Adults experience change, stress, and difficulties during and after a divorce.

Separated and divorced persons are more likely to show physical and psychological impairments.

Successful strategies exist for dealing with changes from divorce and their challenges.

Many who divorce in their 40s or later, had stayed together for the children—one study showed more women than men initiating the divorce.


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Strategies for Dealing with Divorce: Think of divorce as a chance to grow personally. Make decisions about work, lovers, and children

carefully. Focus more on future than the past. Use your strengths and resources to cope with

difficulties. Don’t expect to be successful and happy in

everything. You are never trapped in just one pathway, but

moving on to a better life usually requires some effort.


Statistics and data of Hong and Kong Remarriages ( 再婚 )Divorce ( 離婚 )First Marriage ( 初婚 )

http://www.statistics.gov.hk/pub/B1120017032012XXXXB0100.pdf


1 hs1000-71 human growth & social environment lecture 7: early adulthood (age 20 – 40)

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