Exam 5 - Early & Middle Adulthood / Chapter 10, 11, & 12 Flashcards
Emerging adulthood only for
People living in developed world
The goal for emerging adulthood
- Exploring different possibilities
- Exuberant optimism about what lies ahead
Internal terms of reaching adulthood
- Financially support themselves
- Adults accept responsibility for their actions
- Make independent decisions about life
Emerging adulthood is defined by
variability
- as we set sail on our own
What created emerging adulthood in the 20th century
- Longer life expectancy
- Education - college crucial to career success
- Western culture stressed self-exploration
Constructing a career can take until
mid-20s+
S. Europe main barrier in reaching adulthood
high youth unemployment rates
- Social norms discourage cohabitation
People from where spend the 20s - 30s in parents house
- Portugal
- Italy
- Greece
- Spain
Cohabitation
living together without being married
Nest-leaving
moving out of a parent’s home to live independently
What makes Scandinavia unique for emerging adulthood
- Jobs plentiful for youth
- Marriage is an optional choice
- Gov. Funds university in Norway, Sweden, & Denmark
In N. European countries nest-leaving begins at
brink of emerging adult years
Nordic nations 20s stress-free interlude exploring life before children or deciding to marry
US route to emerging adulthood vs. European
- Marriage important life goal
- Move out at 18
- Focus on self-reliance - gov. Doesn’t pay for college
- Trouble finding decently paying jobs
Colliding conceptions + dramatic income inequalities =
sharp social-class differences in how U.S. emerging adults contract an adult life
Differences of emerging adulthood within the US
- Marriage is a middle-class achievement
- Low-income adults without a spouse
- Children of well-off parents have trouble moving out parents’ house
The US and N. Europe see leaving the nest as
an important rite of passage
2 benefits of leaving home
- Produce more harmonious family relationships
- Force young people to “grow up”
Does Leaving House Produce Better Parent-Child Relationships?
yes
Does Leaving Home Make People More Adult?
yes
Less conflict between children and parents happens when
children leave nest
Not true in Italy - young people prize family closeness over friendships
Close mother-child relationships and calling each other frequently correlated with
well adjusting to college and homing in on a satisfying career
“Nest residers” less likely to
- Be in a long-term relationship
- Felt more emotionally dependent on parents
- Less satisfied with life
Social clock
The concept is that we regulate our passage through adulthood by an inner timetable that tells us which life activities are appropriate at certain ages.
Age norms
Cultural ideas about the appropriate ages for engaging in particular activities or life tasks.
Off time
Being too late or too early in a culture’s timetable for achieving adult life tasks.
Identity
In Erikson’s theory, the life task of deciding who to be as an adult.
Role confusion
Erikson’s term for a failure in identity formation, marked by the lack of any sense of a future adult path.
Identity diffusion
According to James Marcia, an identity status in which the person is aimless or feels totally blocked, without any adult life path.
Identity Foreclosure
According to James Marcia, an identity status is in which the person decides on an adult life path (often one spelled out by an authority figure) without any thought or active search.
Moratorium
According to James Marcia, an identity status in which the person actively explores various possibilities to find a truly solid adult life path.
Identity achievement
A fully mature identity status in which the young person chooses a satisfying adult life path.
Ruminative Moratorium =
When a young person is unable to decide between different identities, becoming emotionally paralyzed and highly anxious.
Barriers in leaving home depend on:
- being able to afford to live on their own
- For immigrant & ethnic minority youth - values
Feeling off time in a late direction can cause
young people distress
General social-clock guidelines
set by
- society
- personal goals
How can one predict a given undergrad’s social clock timetables
by using “is having a family your main passion?”
Marriage top-ranking = marriage & kids at younger ages
Pros and cons of emerging adulthood
- Pros:
- Emerging adulthood exhilarating
- emotionally challenging time - Sense of being out of control
- Cons:
- anxiety disorders reach peak
Marcia’s 4 identity statuses
- Identity diffusion
- Identity foreclosure
- Moratorium
- Identity achievement
Marcia’s categories framework for
what is going wrong and right inline
Marcia - as teens grow they pass through
- Diffusion
- Moratorium
- Achievement
In real life people identity statuses
fluid throughout adulthood
What is vital to living fully
revising identity
Ruminative moratorium produces
- poor mental health
- identity achievement
Ethnic Identity
How people come to terms with who they are as people in relation to their unique ethnic or racial heritage.
Ruminative Moratorium
When a young person is unable to decide between different identities, becoming emotionally paralyzed and highly anxious.
Biracial or multiracial
How people of mixed racial backgrounds come to terms with who they are as people in relation to their heritage.
Efficacious teens “workers”
Csikszentmihalyi and Schneider term of young people who enter emerging adulthood upbeat and competent
Emotional advantages of feeling positive about identity are underscored by
ethnic identity
If part of the dominant culture - rarely think of your ethnicity
Being proud of ethnic background provides
a sense of meaning in life
- Identifying with Chinese or Cambodian = buffer from becoming depressed or risk-taking more
- Doing well in middle school
Firmly connecting with mainstream culture
sign ethic minority young person has skills to reach out fully in love
Pros & cons of emerging adulthood in biracial people
- Cons:
- Particularly poignant
- Pros:
- Pushes people to think in more creative ways
- Promotes resilience
Sigmund Freud definition of ideal mental health
ability to love and work
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi & Barbara Schneider study
of teenagers’ career dreams using the experience-sampling method
Emerging adults vs. their parents
- Face a more difficult economy than parents
- Students feel more driven to work hard than their parents
- Career disappointment is faced when young people enter college and confront the real world
Self-esteem changes
dips dramatically during the first semester of college and gradually rises over the next few years
Set to flourish when confronting demands of college life
young people who enter emerging adulthood upbeat and competent
Growth most occurs in the personality dimension called
conscientiousness
- More resilient
- Reason in more thoughtful ways
Flow
Csikszentmihalyi’s term for feeling total absorption in a challenging, goal-oriented activity.
School-to-work transition
The change from the schooling phase of life to the work world.
Rise in executive functions during emerging adulthood due to
- fully developed frontal lobes
- powerful inner state
Life’s most uplifting experiences occur when
we connect deeply with people
When we enter flow
during activity that stretches our capacities
Flow depends on being
intrinsically motivated
when working towards a goal
Why finding flow can be hard
depends on person-environment fit
US high school graduates enrolled in college
2 out of 3
Money of degree
- with master’s degree $70,000/ year
- Only high school degree $30,000/ year
- 1 of 10 non-college graduates unemployed
Why do many emerging adults drop out of school?
- Not “college material”
- Uninterested in academics
- Poorly prepared in Highschool
- Low SES - less likely to graduate
Emerging adults average money in loans after graduating
$20,000 or more
Colleges focus on freshmen can
lead to neglecting the role of “academic integration” during subsequent years
Qualities of good professors
- Love subject
- Committed to communicating passion to students
Professors’ mission
excite students in their field
Intimacy
Erikson’s first adult task, which involves connecting with a partner in a mutually loving relationship.
Homophobia
Intense fear and dislike of gay people.
Sexual Orientation
Our sexual and romantic attraction to other people
Stimulus-value-role theory
Murstein’s mate-selection theory that suggests similar people pair up and that our path to commitment progresses through three phases (called the stimulus, value-comparison, and role phases).
Role phase
In Murstein’s theory, the final mate-selection stage, in which committed partners work out their future life together.
Value-comparison phase
In Murstein’s theory, the second mate-selection stage, in which we make judgments about a partner on the basis of similar values and interests.
Rate of couples that met online
1 in 3
20th-century lifestyle revolution produced
remarkable expansion in kind of partners
Limits to the assumption we live in the golden age of diverse partner choices
People are now less likely to select partner of different social class
People reject boys who don’t stick to standard gender roles in
elementary school
During teen years trans and gay youth
undergo emotional turmoil
Most difficult coming out as gay
black and Latino LGBTQ
Once identity is embraces
sense of self-efficacy and relief follow
Romantic moratorium built into west societies why
the phase of mate selection so long
- 1 in 2 couples break up then get back with exes
Young people frame romantic disappointments as
learning experiences
After-effects of romantic disappointments of young people
- More likely to binge drink
- Health declines
- Losses in self-esteem last a full year
Prices of stimulus-value-role theory
- Stimulus phase
- Value-comparison phase
- Role phase
Equal-reinforcement-value parter explains why
we expect the couple to be similar in “social value” and class
Driving force in love relationships
homogamy
Identical twins more than fraternal twins to
select similar “bonding style” partners
Humans may be biologically primed to gravitate to a specific mate
Homogamy enhanced by
people with identical passions gravitate to similar zones of low
Why are attachment styles stable
Operate as self-fulfilling prophecy
Securely attached adults are more
- Successful in love
- More satisfying romances
- Hang in during the difficult time
- Support parter in times of need
- Excel at being emotionally in tune
Homogamy
In Murstein’s theory, the initial mate-selection stage, in which we make judgments about a potential partner based on external characteristics such as appearance.
Stimulus phase
In Murstein’s theory, the initial mate-selection stage, in which we make judgments about a potential partner based on external characteristics such as appearance.
Adult attachment styles
The different ways in which adults relate to romantic partners, based on Mary Ainsworth’s infant attachment styles. (Adult attachment styles are classified as secure, preoccupied/ambivalent insecure, or avoidant/dismissive insecure.)
Preoccupied/ambivalent
An excessively clingy, needy style of relating to loved ones.
Avoidant/dismissive
A standoffish, excessively disengaged style of relating to loved ones.
Securely attached
The genuine intimacy that is ideal in love relationships.
Exceptions to homogamy drive love
- The relationship works best when 1 partner is more dominant than other
- One strong personality, not two
- Unpleasant traits that are common
We choose people who
embody our “ideal self”
Charting love in stages showed
people often felt good in relationships the more homogamous they were.
Different Cindy Hazan & Phillip Shaver adult attachment styles
- Preoccupied/ambivalent
- Avoidant/dismissive
- Securely attached
Classified as Securely attached if
- describe pulses and minuses of relationship
- Talk about the desire for intimacy
- Adopt other-centered perspective
- Nurturing other’s development as the primary goal
Classified as Avoidant/dismissive if
- Describe relationship in formal stilted ways
- Emphasize autonomy issues
you are giving a toast to your friend Sarah’s 20th birthday party and you want to offer some predictions about what the next years might hold a store for her. Given your understanding of emerging adulthood which would be a safe prediction?
- Sarah may not reach the standard markers of adulthood for many years
- Sarah might need to move back into the nest or might still be living at home
Which emerging adult is least likely to be in the nest?
Silvia, who lives in Stockholm
Staying in the nest during the 20s today is a symptom of a child refusing to grow up – true or false
False
Which person is most apt to worry about a social-clock issue:
- Martha, age 50, wants to apply to nursing school
- Lee, age 28, who has just become a father
Martha, who is starting a new career at age 50; will be most worried about the ticking of the social clock
You overheard your psychology professor say that his daughter Emma shows symptoms of Erickson’s role confusion. Emma must be _____, which in Marcia’s identity status framework is a sign of ____
Drifting
Diffusion
Joe said, “I’ve wanted to be a lawyer since I was a little boy.” Kayla replied, “I don’t know what my career will be, and I’ve been obsessing about the possibilities day and night.” Joe’s identity status is _______, whereas Kayla’s status is ______. According to the latest research, who is apt to have an emotional problem?
Foreclosure & moratorium
Kayla more apt to emotional problems
Your cousin Clara has enrolled in nursing school. To predict her feelings about this decision, pick the right question to ask:
- Have you explored different career possibilities?
- Do you feel nursing expresses your inner self?
Do you feel nursing expresses your inner self?
Having a biracial or multiracial identity makes people think in more rigid ways about the world?
True or False
False
Your 17 Y.O cousin is graduating from high school. Given what you learned in the text, you might predict that she has overly high/overly low expectations about her academic abilities and that she will become more mature/remain exactly the same as she travels through her 20s.
Overly high
Get more mature
Lisa loves her server job. When the restaurant is hectic, time flies by. She feels like a multitasking whiz! Lisa is describing a ____ experience
Flow
Josh says the reason his classmates drop out of college is that they can’t do the work.
Joan says, “Sorry, it’s the need to work incredible hours to pay for school”.
Make each person’s case using the information from text
Josh: Prior academic performance predicts College completion, with low odds of finishing high school grads with a C average or below.
Joan: money is critical because academically talented low-income kids are far less likely to finish college than their affluent peers, and dropouts cite financial issues as the main reason for leaving
Juan, a freshman, asks for tips about how to succeed in college. Pick the advice you shouldn’t give:
- Get involved in Campus activities
- Select friends who have exactly the same ideas as you do
- Get the best professors and reach out to make connections with them
- Select friends who have exactly the same ideas as you do
Latoya is discussing how 21st-century relationships have changed. which of the following statements is incorrect?
- Today young people are more likely to marry outside of their social class
- Today same-sex relationships are much more acceptable
- Today homophobia no longer exist
- Today young people are more likely to marry outside of their social class
- Today homophobia no longer exist
Today, more/fewer people are open to interracial dating, and people who meet on the internet are less/more apt to be happily married than their counterparts who meet in traditional ways
Today, more people are open to interracial dating, and people who meet on the internet are more apt to be happily married than their counterparts who meet in traditional ways
Nat and Ash met at a friend’s new years eve party and just started dating. They are about to find out theater they share similar interests, backgrounds, and worldviews. This couple is in Murstein’s ____ phase of romantic relationships
- Stimulus
- Value-comparison
- Role
Value-comparison phase
Cat tells kelly, “to have a happy relationship, find someone as similar to you as possible.” why is Cat somewhat wrong
- People with dom personalities better off with more sub mate
- We gravitate to people with good personalities
- Rather than looking for a clone, best to find a mate who is similar to one’s ideal self
- Overinflating person’s virtues helps
Kita is clingy always feels rejected
Rena runs away from intimate relationships
Sam is affectionate and loving
Match attachment status of each person to one of the following:
Secure, avoidant-dismissive, or preoccupied
- Kita
- Preoccupied
- Rena
- Avoidant-dismissive
- Sam
- Secure
According to Marcia’s identity statuses framework, a teen experiencing Erikson’s role confusion would be labeled:
diffused
_____ devised four identity statuses.
Marcia
Deinstitutionalization of marriage
The decline in marriage and the emergence of alternate family forms during the last third of the twentieth century.