Human Development, 6: Early Adulthood

Question 1

What is the “random events” theory of aging?

Answer 1

That accidental mutations gradually harm the DNA in cells. This leads to less effective cell replacement and repair, and abnormal cells.

Question 1

What is the telomere theory of aging?

Answer 1

Telomeres are DNA “caps” at the end of chromosomes that protect against mutations. They shorten with each cell division, and when they disappear, the cell can no longer effectively replicate itself.

Question 2

How does growth hormone affect adults?

Answer 2

Secretions of growth hormone slowly decrease, leading to loss of muscle and bone mass.

Question 3

When is the upper biological limit of motor capacity attained?

Answer 3

In the beginning stages of early adulthood

Question 4

What percent of US persons are categorized as maintaining ‘unhealthy’ weight?

Answer 4

67%, which includes both obese and overweight

Question 5

Which of the following is most effective for weight loss: eliminating fat, eliminating carbs, appetite suppresants, social support?

Answer 5

Social support

Question 6

In ‘developed’ regions, what is the leading cause of preventable death?

Answer 6

Tobacco smoke

Question 7

How is alcohol use related to crime, violence, and property damage?

Answer 7

Alcohol is more of a gateway drug than any other; alcohol intoxication is present in 50% of police calls, 90% of violent crimes, and 40% of motor vehicle accidents.

Question 8

Which is a better predictor of vocational choice: parental vocations, friends’ vocational ideals, or the individual’s childhood fantasies?

Answer 8

Parental vocations. Childhood fantasies are very infrequently predictive of the vocation a person actually chooses.

Question 9

What choice regarding college is most likely to lead a person towards more complex cognition?

Answer 9

Residence on campus, because it immerses the student in academic and social life of the college. The type of school matters less. Extra effort is needed to improve the effects of college for commuters.

Question 10

Is having several sexual partners per year common among today’s young adults?

Answer 10

No, most young adults report having one sexual partner in the preceding year.

Question 11

What is ‘commitment within relativistic thinking’?

Answer 11

A rarely reached stage of cognition in early adulthood, commitment within relativistic thinking progresses past dualistic (authoritarian) thinking, and relativistic ‘there are multiple truths’ thinking, to specifying objective criteria against which multiple truths can be evaluated.

Question 12

What is the common ‘risk’ of emerging adulthood?

Answer 12

Loneliness is more common among early adults than at other phases of life.

Question 13

What is the psychosocial conflict of emerging adulthood, according o Erik Erikson?

Answer 13

Intimacy versus Isolation

Question 14

If a person focuses on raising children during their emerging adulthood, are they likely to reach maturity in their career?

Answer 14

They likely will, but it will occur later, sometime during middle adulthood.

Question 15

Without the more universal markers of progress such as ‘grade level’ in school and so forth, how do emerging adults plan their lives to ensure they can fully participate in society?

Answer 15

They follow a ‘social clock’, a set of implicit and explicit norms about when to engage in different types of work, marrry, and start a family.

Question 16

What are the three elements of the triangular theory of love?

Answer 16

Intimacy, Passion, Commitment

Question 17

Can passionate love last forever?

Answer 17

While affection and attraction can certainly last, passion is currently understood to be a biologically driven process that has a limited duration. Without other elements (especially commitment), a satisfying relationship is unlikely to result. Other peroids of history and cultures have considered passion a form of temporary madness or at least not a basis or requirement for love.

Question 18

Do parent-child attachment styles affect adult relationships?

Answer 18

Yes, similar feelings and behaviors are likely to recur, so that unresolved insecurities often play out in adult relationships. (See infancy/toddlerhood for a review of styles if you are uncertain of the types).

Question 19

During the lifespan, loneliness for most persons peaks:

Answer 19

During early adulthood

Question 20

Why is loneliness thought to be more common in early adulthood?

Answer 20

Greater needs and expectations from intimate partners, due to the burdens of newfound independence.

Question 21

How will a collectivist orientation affect the loneliness of an immigrant to the US?

Answer 21

Their loneliness will be greater than a native born US resident, and immigrants from individualist societies.

Question 22

What is the relationship between avoidant attachment and loneliness?

Answer 22

Avoidant attachment is associated with times of intense lonliness.

Question 23

What can you predict about someone who leaves their parents home at an unusually early age?

Answer 23

Difficulties obtaining satisfactory work, among other undesirable outcomes

Question 24

What factor is the most reliable predictor of a lasting marriage?

Answer 24

Later ages at marriage

Question 25

Are males implicated in the majority of domestic violence incidents?

Answer 25

No, in some samples, women were found to actually assault men at a slightly higher rate. This may not be the perception due to the sense that males’ assaults could be more dangerous, and an even greater sense of shame or reluctance for men to report being abused.

Question 26

How do todays parents rate their confidence in child rearing choices?

Answer 26

They feel less confidence about their choices than previous generations did.

Question 27

Is childlessness in a couple problematic for their psychological state?

Answer 27

It depends. If the childlessness is involuntary, it predicts some problems. But couples who deliberately choose to be childless generally suffer no adverse consequences.

Question 28

How have divorce rates changed since the 1980s?

Answer 28

They have remained roughly the same since the 1980s.

Question 29

How common is it for emerging adults to change employment?

Answer 29

Changing work is a fairly frequent occurrence among emerging adults, occuring once per two years on average.