Chapter 11: Physical/cog development in early adulthood Flashcards
What is ‘emerging adulthood’
The transition from adolescence to adulthood.
Lasts approx from 18 to 25 years of age
What characterizes emerging adulthood
Experimentation and exploration
What are the 5 Key Features of Emerging adulthood concluded by Jeffrey Arnett (2006)
- Identity exploration, especially in love and work.
- Instability. (residential changes, love, work, education)
- Self-focused. They have little in the way of social obligations, duties, commitments to others. SO they have a lot of autonomy running their own lives.
- Feeling in-between. (don’t consider themselves adolescents or full-fledged adults)
- the age of possibilities, a time when individuals have an opportunity to transform their lives.
1. many emerg. adults are optimistic about
their future
2. for E.A who have experienced difficult
times growing up, its an opportunity to
reorient their lives positively
What are some critics of the concept of emerging childhood
That it applies mainly to privileged adolescents and is not always a self-determined choice for many young people, especially those in limiting SES
What are some markers of becoming an adult
- Holding a more or less permanent, full-time job
- Economic independence
- Taking responsibility for oneself and developing emotional control
- Marriage (in developing countries)
- entering college (in developed countries) -imp. aspect of transitioning to adulthood.
What’s one parallel between the transition from elementary school to middle school and high school to college.
Going from senior in highschool to freshman in college replays the top-dog phenomenon.
What is the top-dog phenomenon
Transferring from the oldest and most powerful group of students to the youngest and least powerful
What are some positive features of transitioning from high school to college
College students are more likely to feel grown up, have more subjects from which to select, more time with peers, more opportunities to explore different lifestyles and values, enjoy greater independence and are challenged intellectually
What are emerging and young adults increasingly interested in when it comes to healthy lifestyles
Interested in monitoring their physical performance, health, nutrition, exercise and substance use to contribute to a longer life span.
When is peak physical performance reached.
Before the age of 30, between 19 and 26
When do we start to decline in physical performance
Muscle tone and strength decline usually begins around the age of 30.
- Including sagging chins and protruding abdomens.
- Sensory systems: little change
- lens of eye: loses some of it’s elasticity and less able to change shape and focus on near objects
How does hearing change from adolescence to early and late adulthood
Hearing peaks in adolescence, remains constant in 1st part of early adulthood and decline in the last part of early adulthood
What happens to the body’s fat tissue in middle to late twenties
It increases
What’s the mortality rate of an emerging adult compared to adolescents
Emerging adults have twice the mortality rate (male are primarily responsible for this rate)
Although emerging adults have a higher death rate than adolescents …
they have few chronic health problems, fewer colds and respiratory problems than they did when they were children
How much sleep should emerging adults have
7 to 9 hours
What can sleep deprivation contribute to
cardiovascular disease
shortened life span
impairment of cognitive and motor skills -> incr. risk of motor vehivle crashes and work-related accidents.
What can pulling an all-nighter do to performance
- distort memory
- less clear thinking
- impair concentration
What can being overweight or obese lead to
increased risks of hypertension, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease, depression, increased anxiety
What strategies are used often by successful dieters
30 minutes of exercise daily, planning meals, and weighing themselves daily
What are one of the main reasons experts want people to exercise
To prevent disorders such as heart disease and diabetes.
What is Aerobic exercise
= sustained exercise that stimulates heart and lung activity
e.g - jogging, swimming, or cycling
What does the World Health Organization recognize as a key factor in dying earlier
Physical inactivity
When does binge drinking peak
at 21-22 and remains high through mid-twenties
begins to decline in late twenties
What does the term extreme binge drinking (high-intensity drinking)
It describes individuals who had 10 or more drinks in a row.
What happens to sexuality in emerging adulthood
Emerging adulthood is a time during which most individuals are both sexually active and unmarried
When is casual sex more common
More common in emerging adulthood than it is in late twenties
What other type of hookup increased among emerging adults (other than hooking up)
Friends with benefits
Did researchers find anything for the possible basis of same-sex relations.
The results of hormone studies have been inconsistent.
What is the critical-period hypothesis for?
A hypothesis that this period might influence sexual orientation
What would happen if the critical-period hypothesis turns out to be correct?
It would explain why clinicians have found that sexual orientation is difficult/impossible to modify.
What are some biological factors of sexual orientation
Genes likely play a role, but they’re not the only factor involved.
A study found that about 35% and 19% of the variation in homosexual behavior in men and women respectively was explained by a genetic difference. (genes play a role in explaining why they differ in this behavior)
So what is the combination of factors that determines sexual orentation (Straight and LGB)
Combination of genetic, gormonal, cognitive, and environmental factors.
What are STIs
They are diseases that are primarily contracted through sexual relations- intercourse as well as oral-genital adn anal-genital sex.
What are among the most prevalent STIs
Bacterial infections- such as gonorrhea, syphilis and chlamydia
& STIs caused by viruses- such as AIDS, genital herpes, and genital warts.
What is the cause of Gonorrhea
It’s sometimes called ‘drip’ or ‘clap’.
its caused by the bacterium Neisseria gonorrhoeae.
Spread by contact between infected moist mebranes (genital, oral, anal)
What is gonorrhea characterized by and what’s the treatment for it
It’s characterized by discharge from penis or vagina and painful urination.
It can lead to infertility.
The treatment is Penicillin or other antibiotics
What causes and characterizes Syphilis
It’s caused by the bacterium Treponema pallidum.
Characterized by the appearance of a sore where syphilis entered the body.
The sore can be on the external genitals, vagina or anus. Later a skin rash breaks out on palms of hands or bottom of feet
Is Syphilis dangerous, and what’s the treatment for it
If left untreated it can eventually lead to paralysis or even death.
Treatment : Penicillin
What causes and characterizes chlamydia
The bacterium Chlamydia trachomatis.
Spread by sexual contact and infects both sexes genital organs.
Is chlamydia dangerous and what’s it’s treatment
A concern is that females with chlamydia may become infertile.
Treatment: Antibiotics
What is Genital Herpes (cause, characteristics, treatment)
Caused by a family of viruses with different strains (herpevirus family, includes epstein-barr)
Involves an eruption of sores and blisters, spread by sexual contact.
There is no know cure but antiviral meds can shorten outbreaks.
What causes and characterizes AIDS and treatment
Caused by virus: the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), which destroys the body’s immune system.
Semen and blood are the main ways of transmission.
common symptoms are: fevers, night sweats, weight loss, chronic fatigue, swollen lymph nodes
New treatments are slowing the progression but no cure.
What caused Genital Warts, what are the symptoms, what’s the treatment.
Caused by the Human Papillomavirus.
Doesn’t always produce symptoms, usually appear as small, hard, painless bumps in the vaginal area of around anus.
it’s very contagious.
certain high risk types of this virus can cause cervical cancer and other genital cancers. May recur despite treatement.
New HPV preventative vaccine : Gardasil has been approved for girls and women 9-26 yo.
treatements include tropical drugs freezing or suregy.
How is the immunity of someone with AIDS
HIV breaks down and overpowers the immune system which leads to AIDS.
Someone sick with AIDS has such a weakened immune system that a common cold can be life-threatening.
What’s the most frequent AIDS transmission category
Male-male sexual contact.
Gay and bi men accounted for 69 percent of all new HIV diagnoses.
What is pre exposure prophylaxis (PrEP)
Involves taking a daily pill that can reduce the probability of getting HIV by as much as 90 percent.
What are some good strategies for protecting against HIV and other sexually transmitted infections?
- Knowing you and ur partner’s risk status.
- Obtaining medical examinations
- Having protected sex. (latex condoms)
- Not having sex with multiple partners
What is Piaget’s View on early adults cognition
He concluded that adolescents and an adult think qualitatively the same way.
Young adults are more quantitatively advanced in their thinking in the sense that they have more knowledge than adolesc.
But they’re both in the FINAL STAGE of cognitive development which is - Formal operational thought -
What the extended cognitive stage proposed after the formal operational stage.
It is said that formal operational stage declines in young adults and is replaced by more realistic and pragmatic thinking.
It has been proposed young adults move into a new qualitative stage called Postformal thought.
What is postformal thought
- Reflective, relativistic and contextual.
- Provisional : more skeptical about the truth and seem unwilling to accept an answer as final.
- Realistic: understand that thinking can’t always be abstract
- Recognized as being influenced by emotion.
As an additional characteristic of the postformal stage : search for meaning = and how its linked to wisdom. What are the five component with which it was assessed.
critical life experiences, reminiscence, openness to experience, emotional regulation ang humor
When did researchers find that creativity peaks.
In the 40s, then declines.
What should be considered when generalizing about a link between age and creative accomplishments
- The size of the decline
- difference across domains (philosophy, history, ..)
In what fields does creativity seem to stay stable
Philosophy and history
In what field does creativity seem to peak in 20-30s
Lyric poetry, abstract math, theoretical physics.
How are personality traits linked to creativity ?
Openness to experience predicted creativity in the arts.
Intellectual capacity predicted creativity in the sciences.
What did Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi find that creative people experience regularly
A state he calls flow: a heightened state of pleasure experienced when we are engaged in mental or physical challenges that absorb us.
What is the first step toward a more creative life (d’apres Mihaly’s interviews)
Cultivating your curiosity and interest
How can you cultivate you curiosity and interest to have a more creative life
- try to be surprised by something every day
- Try to surprise at least one person everyday
- Write each day what surprised you and how you surprised others
- When something sparks your interest, follow it
- Wake up in the morning with a specific goal to look forward to.
- Spend time in settings that stimulate your creativity.
(eg walking driving swimming; half-asleep half awake states - deeply relaxed or barely awake)
What are some achievements seen in Early/middle/late childhood that continue to be important in adults’ achievements.
- Self-efficacy
- Mindset
What is self-efficacy
The belief that one can master a situation and produce favorable outcomes
What is a mindset
The cognitive view individuals develop themselves
What are two types of mindset
- Growth mindset: where people believe their qualities can change and improve through effort - linked to success and achievement
- Fixed mindset: in which they believe their qualities are carved in stone and cannot change - associated with lower achievement and success
what are two types of motivation
- Extrinsic and intrinsic
What is extrinsic motivation
= Involves doing something to obtain something else (the activity is means to an end).
It’s often influenced by external incentives such as rewards or punishments.
What is intrinsic motivation
= Involves the internal motivation to do something for it’s own sake (the activity is an end in itself)
What are good strategies for achievement
Setting goals (esp. challenging ones), planning how to reach those goals, and engaging in self-regulation and monitoring progress.
What is the concept of Grit
It involves a passion and persistence in achieving long-term goals.
What are linked to Grit
Life purpose commitment, hope, mindfulness, and goal commitement
How did Phyllis Moen describe the career mystique
Includes ingrained cultural beliefs that engaging in hard work for long hours through adulthood will produce a path to status, security and happiness
What did William Damon suggest in his book “the path to purpose”
He suggested that purpose is a missing ingredient in many adolescents’ and emerging adults’ achievement and career development.
What are the fundamental ways work defines people
- important influence on their financial standing, housing, the way they spend their time, where they live, their friendships, and their health
How much do most individuals spend at work
one third of their lives
What did one study reveal about stressors at work
They were linked to arterial hypertension in employees.
