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