Lecture 9: physical, cognitive and psychosocial development in early adulthood Flashcards
Physical Functioning
height and weight
strength
age-related changes
Growth in height and weight
• Secular trend
- Full height achieved by mid-20s
- Risk of weight gain from more sedentary lifestyle
Strength
• Peaks in mid-30s, then slow decline
Age-related changes
• Cardiovascular, respiratory, sensory
Health in Early Adulthood
Pathological aging
Health compromising behaviours
- Pathological ageing
- Caused by illness, abnormality, genetic factors,exposure to unhealthy environments
- Health compromising behaviours
- Can lead to illness e.g., smoking, alcohol, and drug abuse, unsafe sex, eating disorders
- Important influence of an individual’s SES
Alcohol and Drug Abuse
- 12-25yr-olds vulnerable to chemical dependency
- Relates to changes in brain chemistry and neurocircuitry
- Binge drinking a major problem
- Health risks:
- Cancers, cirrhosis of the liver, stroke, heart disease, obesity
- Road fatalities, injuries
- Problem drinking, alcoholism
- Health risks:
Health Beliefs Model

Unsafe Sex and Eating Disorders
Unsafe sex
• HIV/AIDS, other STIs
Eating disorders
• Highest risk for females 18-25yrs
- High mortality rate
- Primarily a Western illness
- Focus is on early intervention and prevention
Stress
Eustress
Distress
Eustress (positive stress) vs. distress (negative stress)
- Individual differences in stressors
- Stress has direct effects on health
- Physiological change
- Indirect effects
- Health-compromising behaviours
- Personality
General Adaptation Syndrome

Experience of Stress
Primary appraisal
Secondary appraisal
Primary appraisal
• Present harm
- Future damage
- Challenge to overcome and benefit
Secondary appraisal
• Assessment of coping resources
Stress reaction depends on controllability and predictability of stimulus
Post-Formal Thought (Piaget)
Piaget’s formal operations stage
- Final stage of cognitive development
- Later researchers see limitations of Piaget’s stage theory
Post-formal thought
• Knowledge is relative, non-absolute
- Accept and synthesise contradictions
- Problem finding stage (Arnett, 2006)
makes it easier to solve real-world problems
Adult cognition

Schaie: Contextual Thinking

Adult Moral Reasoning
Kohlberg
Gilligan
Kohlberg’s stages:
• No social or emotional context
Gilligan’s stages:
• Survival orientation, conventional care, integrated care
Differences in moral reasoning arise from different experiences rather than sex differences
• Moral voice – includes class, context, and opportunity, not just sex
Timing of Events Model
Social clock: set of cultural norms or expectations for the times of life when certain important events should occur
- On time: following the social timetable; events happen when expected
- Off time: out of phase with peers; events happen earlier or later than expected
Timing of events theories:
- Describe and explain patterns of behaviour
- Explain diversity among groups
- Cultural and generational differences reflect different expectations
Erikson: Crisis Theory
Crisis of intimacy vs. isolation
- Crisis of intimacy vs. isolation
- Need to establish close, committed relationships
- For Erikson, the development of identity necessary for the development of intimacy
- Resolution of this crisis results in virtue of “love”
- Neurological and brain structural differences explain differences in achievement of intimacy
- For Erikson, the avoidance of intimacy leads to isolation and self-absorption
Vaillant: The Grant Study (1937)
3 conclusions
• Began in 1937, homogenous sample of 204 white males attending Harvard
• Women not included in the study
• Three conclusions about adult development:
- Development is lifelong
- Sustained relationships shape lives
- Adaptive mechanisms determine mental health
Vaillant: Career Consolidation for Men
- Career consolidation – an additional focus of development between 20-40yrs
- During this period, individual works hard and devotes themselves to career advancement
- Issues of generalisability
- Participants typically middle class men
• Underrepresentation of diversity
Levinson: Stage Model
- Study based on 40 males 35-45yrs, four occupational subgroups
- Blue collar workers, business executives, university biologists, novelists
- Later included females
- Studied through the biographical model
- Interviews, individual observations, tests, follow up interviews after 2 years
- Identified 3 eras or ‘seasons’ of male adult life
Levinson’s Model

Women’s Adult Development
- Women go through same eras as males, but negotiate them differently
- “Gender splitting” creates differences
- Differences in the tasks of the era’s for men and women – dream, mentor, pursuit of the dream
- Age 30 transition:
- Males re-evaluating careers
- Females balancing work and family goals
Relational-Cultural Theories of Women’s Development
- Theories emerged from concerns about the focus on males
- Childhood socialisation leads to gender- differentiated personalities
- “Typical” differences, not universal
- Women tend to be relational, men autonomous
- Kinkeeping skills – essential to establishing and maintaining relationships
- More highly developed in women
Intimate Relationships: Friendships
- Friendship increases with age
- Urban tribe, social convoy
- Provides well-being, self-esteem buffer against stress
- Encourages health-promoting and prosocial behaviours
- Online – social networks, dating sites
- Gender differences
- Friendship styles
Sternberg’s Definitions of Love

Partner Selection
- Cultural myths debunked by research - partners tend to be similar
- Opposites DON’T attract!
- Likely to meet within their social networks
- Have seen an increase in use of online dating services
- Motivation for both on- and off-line partner seeking is to form a committed relationship
Marriage
Marriage styles
• Still most likely choice for adult partnerships
- Age at first marriage is increasing
- Choice based on love: individualistic cultures
- Marriage styles
- Equal-partner (or near-equal)
- Conventional
- Junior-partner
• Same-sex partnerships more likely to achieve equality