Psychology Chapter 9
HP is positively associated with
"grit" (which is a stronger predictor of college success than IQ; see Duckworth and colleagues, 2007). and student teacher rapport: college success
Nonetheless, Syed and Mitchell point out that feeling like an adult is more than likely not an
'all-or-nothing' event.
Quiz: Which of the follow are criteria of adulthood that is agreed upon cross-culturally?
Adults take responsibility for themselves and make independent decisions
Vectors of development: Developing congruence
Allowing personally held values to guide behavior
Quiz: Because of the brain changes that happen throughout emerging adulthood, early adults may be vulnerable to:
Anxiety and depression
Vectors of development: Managing emotions
Balancing self-control and self-expression
Quiz: If Jai's parents pressure him to become a lawyer and he begins to realize he is more passionate about writing and takes additional coursework in creative writing. What part of the self-authorship process is Jai in?
Crossroads
Quiz: Basing identity on religious or cultural beliefs is what stage of self-authorship?
External
Quiz: __________________ is strongly associated with "grit."
Harmonious passion
Baxter Magolda Self-authorship: In Crossroads, we see the importance of developing our internal voice but have difficulty moving away from external influence.
Hence we are at a crossroads. As we enter the crossroads we start to question external authority and develop our own internal voice. As we leave the crossroads, we begin to listen to that voice more and to nurture it. -know we need to develop own understanding, realize need to be true to self, needs to be balance between my needs and others
White men and women report fewer other-sex partners than
Hispanic or Black men and women
Quiz: A quarter life crisis can emerge in two different ways. One way is to find yourself in a committed relationship and a job you do not enjoy and continuing both because you don't feel like you have other options. This describes which of the two quarter life crises?
Locked in
Quiz: Are emerging adults gaining new cognitive skills?
No. They are using the skills they have more effectively.
Quiz: Which skills have been shown to improve in college?
Quantitative and communication skills
Quiz: The idea that there is no right or wrong when approaching a problem is most closely related to which of Perry's (1999) ways of understanding the world in emerging adulthood?
Relativistic
Both achieved and foreclosed statuses are associated with less
anxiety and depression.
A significant number of emerging adults do not
attend college.
Researchers suggest that these differences may be due to
cultural norms, for example, humility is more of a norm in Asian-American groups than in other groups
They do however, have a higher
death rate than adolescents
Exploration in breadth and commitment making have been described as ways that we
form identity
Interestingly the graduation rate for women is
higher than that for men, except when it comes to private for-profit institutions where males have a higher graduation rate than females.
When emerging adults are asked about the sexual orientation of their friends, the number of straight friends that LGBTQAI adults have is
higher than the number of LGBTQAI+ friends straight emerging adults have.
Normative identity style is close to the idea of
identity foreclosure. It involves following the conventions and norms of others. -following rules and conventions
Exclusive private colleges tend to have the __________ graduation rates.
lowest
Shulman and Connolly report that about half of these adults 'slide into' cohabiting, through a gradual pattern of
staying over.
Casual sex is seen as acceptable for
women only to a point.
They are sometimes referred to as the
'forgotten half' as much of the research conducted with emerging adults is conducted with college students.
His findings suggest, that across cultures and socioeconomic groups, respondents consistently agree on the top three criteria for adulthood:
-Accept responsibility for yourself -Make independent decisions -Become financially independent
Perry: Relativism
-An understanding develops that knowledge and ways of looking at the world are not definitely right or wrong. -Authorities may take different positions, e.g., my professor's way of looking at the world might be very different from my parents'. -Arguments can be made for and against each position. -Initially, this may lead to a sense of confusion, if everyone is right then no one is right! -Overtime, however, emerging adults come to realize that we can choose to support different views of the world based on how convinced we are by different arguments. -This moves us into the position of commitment.
Perry: Commitment
-At this point we understand that there are different ways of looking at the world, and that it is frequently not possible to prove that one position is right and another is wrong. -Instead, we look at the arguments for and against and choose to support one position, understanding that we cannot know for definite if we are right or not.
Vectors of development: Developing mature interpersonal relationships
-Developing the capacity for tolerating and appreciating the differences of others -developing the capacity for empathy
Sensation-seeking and risk-taking decline and avoidance of negative consequences increases after the age of
16 years
But understanding that there are different perspectives on problems does not fully develop until adults reach their
20s.
In contrast, the average age of first marriage now is almost
26 years old for women and 28 years old for men.
Connections between areas of this association cortex continue right through to the age
40
Quiz: What type of attachment style can play a role in the likelihood that a person will engage in casual sex?
Anxious
Vectors of development: Developing purpose
Assessing interests, clarifying goals, making plans, and persisting despite obstacles in vocational, personal and interpersonal and family commitments
Baxter Magolda Self-authorship: The first phase is External meaning-making, also called Following Formulas.
At the start of this phase, we follow what external authorities say, without question. As development continues, however, we may start to question external authority. At that point we begin to move into the next phase of Crossroads. -Know what others tell me, be who others want me to be, please others
Quiz: Emerging adults who _________________ tend to get better jobs and are paid more than those who do not.
Attend college
Quiz: According to Chickering and Reisser (1993) one of the development tasks early adults experience in college is first a move to _______________ and then ________________.
Autonomy, interdependence
Just world belief Vivid cases
Believing world can be just and people can get what they want if they work hard, despite being from a bad place judge frequency of events by instances that readily come to mind and therefore influence our judgements of a group.
Quiz: Rabiah comes from an upper middle class family. Her father and mother were both musicians. They toured the country during Rabiah's childhood and she was home schooled. She recently graduated and is not sure if she wants to go on to college. Her parents are supportive and want her to find a passion driven life purpose. Rabiah decides not to go to college yet and begins working as a temp locally while taking pottery classes and spending time learning guitar. Rabiah's identity search, at this point, is what kind of exploration:
Carefree diffusion
Quiz: Some ethnic difference in self-esteem are related to :
Cultural expectations and emphasis on particular values
Quiz: Although emerging adults are at peak physical performance the death rate is higher than that of adolescents. What accounts for this?
Decision making that involves the balance between having the ability to control impulses and taking risks in order to get an excitement rush
Quiz: Both men and women in emerging adulthood prefer friendships with women for?
Deep conversation
Quiz: Cordelia is a 23 single mom of a two year old child. Cordelia began running last year and recently signed up for her first triathlon. This will require anywhere from 7-10 hours training a week. Cordelia wants to complete the triathlon and decides she will ask her job if she can shift her schedule to come in an hour later daily, enlist the help of her retired dad for child care, and reach out to friends to find a work out partner. What part of the Chickering and Reisser (1993) model does this relate most closely to?
Developing purpose
Quiz: ________________ exists where there is a gap of several years between the time young people finish secondary school and the time they secure stable careers and love relationships.
Emerging adulthood
Quiz: A college student that is exploring a harmonious passion in biology and later works as a marine biologist is using what kind of exploration?
Exploration in depth
Quiz: In the United States individuals are granted the right to vote when they turn 18 but are unable to rent a car until they are 25. The responsibility of voting coupled with the inability to rent a car exacerbates which feature of emerging adulthood?
Feeling in-between
How does the exploration of ethnic identity play out in emerging adulthood?
For one thing, it is very clear that ethnic identity development is by no means completed in adolescence
Vectors of development: Moving through autonomy towards interdependence
Gaining emotional and instrumental independence while developing interdependence
Quiz: According to the text, some studies that look at self-esteem in emerging adults and social media find:
High levels of online friendships and low levels of offline friendships may correlate to low self-esteem
Quiz: What barriers arise for ethnic minorities around Arnett's features of emerging adulthood as a period of possibilities?
Income inequality and discrimination
Quiz: According to Arnett (2000) the time between 18-29 includes several specific features. Which of the following is one of these features?
Instability in work, place of residence and love
Quiz: Arnett's theory of emerging adulthood has been criticized because some believe:
It does not address cultural differences
Emerging adults engage in risky behaviors. Is this a natural part of exploration or is it a symptom of a dangerous lack of focus?
It would appear that it can be both.
Quiz: According to the charts in the book representing the percent of students who finish high school and enroll in a 2 or 4 year college, which of the following groups are the least likely to enroll in college?
Low Income
Quiz: Self-authorship based on your cultural values is directly influenced by what level of Bronfenbrenner's ecological model?
Macrosystem
Quiz: Going to a cognitive behavioral counselor to talk about a recent event that spiked anxiety and panic symptoms and gaining a better understanding of those symptoms is an example of actively using:
Metacognition
HP students experience more academic success (including significantly higher cumulative GPAs) than students who are
OP or non-passionate about their academics.
Quiz: Being able to afford your own rent, clothes, and food has been identified in many cultures as a marker:
Of adulthood
Quiz: As emerging adults begin to consider a career and their decisions begin to be based on their own values and self of self-efficacy and not the opinions and values of friends and family, they begin to see new possibilities for themselves. Which of Arnett's features of emerging adulthood is best seen in this example?
Optimism
The onset of some anxiety disorders may be due to
Over sensitivity to negative feedback in the brain which is associated with anxiety
Vectors of development: Developing competence
Physical, intellectual and interpersonal •(Physical includes artistic and athletic achievement)
Quiz: Difficulty during early emerging adulthood accessing adult roles including employment and relationships can lead young people to:
Quarter life crisis
Vectors of development: Establishing identity
Resolving a host of issues related to appearance, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, class, and social situation and developing a positive, stable self-concept
Quiz: The freedom from responsibility to parents and not yet having a long-term spouse or children make this feature of emerging adulthood identified by Arnett more accessible?
Self-focus
Quiz: When is the movement from dualistic to committed reasoning generally seen in emerging adults attending college?
Senior year
Quiz: Which of the following is a positive outcome of hook ups?
Short-term increase in feelings of desirability and happiness
Quiz: How might an emerging adult with an avoidant attachment style behave in intimate relationships?
Spending little time with romantic partner because homework and hobbies take priority
Quiz: Harper is twenty three and spends his summer working two jobs and taking classes at the local community college. His friends are not working and tend to go out several nights a week. Which of the following developments in emerging adulthood explains Harper's behavior?
The ability to pass up short term needs for fun and relaxation for long term needs for achievement and stability
Robinson: Quarter life crisis
The anxieties and challenges that emerge in trying to find our place in society
Quiz: Emerging adults in Thailand who work at call centers for technical support on computer systems speak to customers living in many countries. This is an example of:
The impact of global economies and the global market place
Quiz: Twenty year old Rose has been living with her parents and working as a server for two years. She has been saving money for a down payment to buy her first home. Her friends have recently decided to take a trip to India for a month and Rose really wants to go. She considers the fact that she will lose half of what she has saved to do this and decides that she will pass on the trip. What developments in the brain account for this?
The improving connection between the prefrontal cortex and the limbic system allows for consideration of long term rewards
Perry: Dualism
The world is seen in terms of two positions, right and wrong, them and us, good and bad (hence the term dual). -Authorities like teachers and parents are seen as knowing the right answers. -As adults progress they begin to understand that the world is not that simple and that often our knowledge about the world is not certain. -Consequently, they progress to the next position of relativism. -adolescence, beginning of emerging adulthood
Cortex: Association areas
These areas involve more complex processing of the sensory input, e.g., recognizing that the sounds make up a word, recognizing that the lines and shapes are a cat.
They tend to be jealous, experience emotional highs and lows and doubts.
They are clinging and can be suffocating in their interactions with their partners
Ill-structured problems
They are problems with no clear right or wrong answers, instead there are arguments for and against any particular solution ex: which college should I go to
Baxter Magolda Self-authorship: When we trust our own voice, we enter the Internal or Self-authoring phase.
We are now building an internal foundation or personal philosophy that guides our decisions and relationship with others. In each phase we take a different view of knowledge of the world, of ourselves and of our relationship with others. -know what i believe based on my meaning, be true to self, respect self and others
In one research study, Arnett (2003) found that Black and Latino 18 to 29 year olds were more likely to say that they felt like adults than
White or Asian-Americans, suggesting that they felt less in-between, than their White and Asian-American counterparts.
Some emerging adults do marry young. About a quarter of women and 16% of men are married by the age of 23 years. Those who marry young tend to be
White, from lower socioeconomic groups and from rural backgrounds
HP students experience less burnout, less stress, and more
academic satisfaction than students who are OP or non-passionate.
The sibling relationship also becomes more equal as our
adult abilities develop.
Parents support their adult children more than their
adult children support them.
In particular, the ability to bring together and integrate different views of ourselves develops in
adulthood.
Resulting in the quarter life crisis which tends to happen around
age 30 years. -The job is not as exciting as I thought, paying for my own home is difficult and relationships can be challenging.
Friendships are maintained when emerging adults are
agreeable and have strong interpersonal skills.
Moreover, the development from dualism to commitment is not seen in
all adults and is not even across all areas of knowledge.
The degree of intimacy in friendships
also increases in the latter half of emerging adulthood
Moreover, we are better at reasoning about ill-structured problems when we are dealing with an
area that we know well.
Diffuse-avoidant identity style involves
avoiding making important life decisions. -avoiding the search for identity
It is clear that emerging adults from ethnic minorities face greater
barriers to exploring these possibilities. =income inequality and discrimination.
On the whole, it appears that emerging adults are gaining more control over their
behavior and are able to work towards longer term goals.
Forming a sense of identity rooted in our own beliefs and values seems to involve
being open-minded, flexible and proactive.
Interdependence involves
being your own person but also being connected to others.
For many of them, a romantic partner will become their
best friend and that relationship will assume primacy over others.
This is by no means to say that emerging adults are always good at metacognition or that they always use the metacognitive skills that they have but they are
better at metacognition than adolescents.
Couples who cohabit to test a relationship before making a commitment to each other are more likely to
break up.
Discrimination: Microaggressions are
brief, every day, verbal or behavioral interactions that intentionally or unintentionally convey hostility or insult to another person -For example, if one was to say to a person of color 'I don't really think of you as Black', the implication is that it is a good thing not to be thought of as Black. - Complimenting a gay man on being masculine is another example of a microaggression.
Emerging adults may consciously pursue a particular career path although Arnett suggests that most do not go about
career planning in a systematic way but instead fall into a career.
One feature of sexuality in emerging adulthood, particularly in college populations, are
casual sexual relationships and experiences (CSREs). Examples of these experiences include hook-ups, friends with benefits and booty calls.
Employment is also less stable with emerging adults being far more likely to
change jobs than their parents were.
Emerging adults tend to have fewer
chronic diseases and health problems
It can lead to a mistrust of others that makes it hard to form the
close bonds that human beings need in their lives
Intimacy involves forming a
close, emotional bond with another person.
The resolution of questions about ethnic identity will depend on the
cognitive abilities of the individual, their sense of self and their social support
While emerging adults are not marrying, they are
cohabiting.
As students progress through college they place less emphasis on how
college can help them get a job and more emphasis on learning for its own sake.
Once we are well on our way to forming a clear identity or sense of who we are, then we are ready to
commit to other people.
Adults with a history of anxious attachment tend to see relationships as involving a
complete merging with another person and yet, they are anxious about the relationship.
Bad habits that may have been established in adolescence, such as poor eating habits and low levels of exercise are likely to be
continued in emerging adulthood. consequences repeated later
Emerging adulthood is a balance between having the ability to
control impulses on the one hand, and on the other, taking risks in order to get an excitement rush or high
High school students in the U.S. have a strong expectation that they will attend college and it appears that most of them are
correct in that assumption.
There is a suggestion that those in moratorium and achievement make sense of those turning points in a
deeper and more mature way than those in diffusion or foreclosure
Self-esteem tends to be higher in emerging adulthood than in adolescence, possibly because of the
degree of autonomy and choice that emerging adults have.
Status may also be enhanced if the partner was seen as
desirable, although this outcome is more likely to be experienced by men than women
Checkering and Reisser: The vectors represent
developmental tasks that have to be achieved during the college years and they describe the vectors as paths towards developing a unique sense of self.
Individuals with a history of anxious attachment want closeness but have
difficulty maintaining a close relationship.
They can be jealous in relationships, lacking trust in their partners and tending to be
distant and unsupportive.
Adults with a history of avoidant attachment are likely to be
distrustful. They tend to think that relationships do not last.
Some adult children in this situation find that their parents interfere in their affairs or monitor their behavior like they did when the adult child was an a
dolescent, e.g., staying up until the child gets home
Indeed, even younger people in middle childhood and adolescence can show that kind of thinking when they are working in a
domain (or subject area) that they know well.
Binge drinking typically involves
drinking four drinks in two hours if you are a woman and five drinks in two hours if you are a man.
Other couples maintain their individual residences but spend the night at
each other's homes.
As we move from adolescence to emerging adulthood, we become less interested in rewards that are
easy to acquire and more interested in rewards that require effort
Arnett 5 features of emerging adulthood: Instability
emerging adulthood is a time of change and instability, mostly in work, love and place of residence. Emerging adulthoods frequently move at least temporarily out of their parents' homes and will live in dorms, with roommates and in apartments. They may date different people and have a number of different jobs.
Arnett 5 features of emerging adulthood: Identity explorations
emerging adulthood is a time of continuing identity exploration, where young people try to answer the question 'who am I?', particularly in the domains of love and work
Arnett 5 features of emerging adulthood: Self-focus
emerging adulthood is a time of less responsibility for others and consequently, a focus on the self develops. Emerging adults are not answerable to parents the way that children and adolescents are and they have not formed the commitments to others that adults have. This focus on the self is not selfishness. It is just that emerging adults are at a stage where they are not responsible for or to others in the same way as they are earlier and later in their development.
Arnett 5 features of emerging adulthood: Possibilities/optimism
emerging adulthood is a time of possibilities. Having not decided for certain on a path, many possible future selves are available. Furthermore, with growing independence from parents psychologically as well as materials, this is a time in development when transformation is possible. Emerging adults are still influenced by parents, but with a growing, complex sense of self and reflective abilities, they have the potential to change the way they see themselves and others.
Arnett 5 features of emerging adulthood: Feeling in-between
emerging adulthood is a time when young people feel in-between adolescents and adulthood. This is reflected in their answers to the question 'are you an adult?' which are frequently 'sometimes yes and sometimes no'
As we progress through adulthood, we have to grapple with these kinds of problems, and we by no means master this skill completely in
emerging adulthood. Instead, it is a skill that will develop through adulthood.
Self-authorship explores how
emerging adults understand and make sense of themselves, their relationship with others, and the world around them. This process involves meaning-making.
Sibling relationships continue to be an important source of support for
emerging adults.
Emerging adults with caring, supportive parents and peers are less likely to
engage in casual sex
Emerging adults who are sensation seekers are more likely to
engage in hookups.
Importantly, people who experience HP freely choose when and when not to
engage in their passionate activity and thus have balance in their lives, which produces many positive benefits
Personal values relating to premarital sex also predict the likelihood of
engaging in hookups.
Unfortunately, less students complete their studies than
enroll.
Once again, ethnic minority adults are more likely to have a friend from the
ethnic majority than the other way around.
However, the sense of family obligation felt by adults towards their family is greater in
ethnic minority groups, whose members are more likely than their majority counterparts to say that they will live with their parents or spend more time with them in the future and that they will help family members financially in the future
They become less rigid in their political and social views and become less
ethnocentric (ethnocentric means thinking that your culture is better than others)
Arnett (2015) acknowledges, however that emerging adulthood as described by him is not experienced in the same way by
everyone in every culture Emerging adulthood can be said to exist wherever there is a gap of at least several years between the time young people finish secondary school and the time they enter stable adult roles in love and work
Studies which measure activity in the brain when participants are anticipating a r
eward show that emerging adults show greater activation in the areas of the brain that process incentives.
It's tempting to think of emerging adulthood as a time of sexual experimentation without commitment and yet, most emerging adults
expect and want to form a long term, committed relationship, if not now, then in the future
It is possible for exploration to become worry and lack of decision-making. We can get stuck in
exploration mode. Equally, people who have not made a commitment and who are not exploring are not necessarily carefree. Procrastinating and avoiding exploration can lead to anxiety
For emerging adults engaged in the kind of exploration found in moratorium, risky behavior, e.g., drug-taking, can be part of that
exploration.
Informational identity style is close to the idea of
exploration. It involves being proactive and open-minded, exploring possibilities. -proactive, flexible, open-minded
Exploration in depth, on the other hand, refers to
exploring a commitment that has already been made in more depth. -thinking about an existing commitment
Garcia and his colleagues (2012) report that college students tend to overestimate the
extent to which their peers are having sex.
Although a person still enjoys the activity, the decision to engage in it is largely due to
external factors. ex: For example, a student who feels pressure to become a biology major because his parents want him to be a doctor might become OP about his academic activities.
Self-authorship involves a movement from
externally driven meaning-making to internally driven meaning making.
Those with an avoidant attachment pattern tend to either avoid s
exual contact altogether or engage in casual sex without emotional involvement.
Research in the United States suggests that ethnic minorities show a greater sense of, black latino asian
family obligation than Whites.
Some research reports short-term positive emotional outcomes, such as
feeling desirable, happy and excited.
Even if they are parents, emerging adults may still struggle to feel like an adult at time and so may experience some degree of
feeling in-between.
Obsessive passion (OP) develops when a person
feels pressured to choose an activity.
How are parents involved in their adult children's lives? They provide
financial assistance, practical advice and emotional support.
In the United States, living at home with parents seems to be more acceptable if one is having
financial difficulties and is unmarried
Nonetheless, the balance between risk and penalty is still being
fine-tuned in emerging adulthood.
Interethnic friendships are not
frequent.
One notable difference between earlier and later emerging adulthood however is that, as they get older, emerging adults tend to have more
friends of the opposite sex.
Both men and women value intimacy in
friendship and the companionship of a friend for joint activities.
Fortunately for most, this lonely phase passes as
friendships grow.
Nonetheless, those emerging adults who do not have a college education may find themselves engaged in
further education while employed in order to improve their prospects.
The latter two involve some kind of relationship where partners
get together regularly but just for sex. -outside committed relationship
Some couples cohabit with no clear
goal in mind.
The availability of marriage and legally recognized partnerships means that same sex couples can formalize their relationships if they so wish, and in some cases, this may lead to the
goal of forming a long-lasting relationship
Consequently, emerging adults nowadays are more likely than previous generations to have
grown up with friends whom they knew to be LGBTQAI+.
Overall most parents and adult children who live together report being
happy with the relationship.
Those who feel that sex is only acceptable in a loving relationship are less likely to
have casual sex.
While there are times that adult-parent contact is intrusive, leading to the phenomenon of
helicopter parenting, it does appear that this is the exception rather than the rule
In contrast, those from lower socioeconomic classes tend to engage in
higher intensity high school work that can interfere with educational attainment.
We have already seen that individual achievement tends to be valued in Western societies and so there is a tendency to think that
identity exploration and identification with commitment are preferable to commitment making alone or following the norms of others.
Adults spend a great deal of time at work, For some, the job that they do is an important part of their
identity, for others, it is a means to an end, a way to pay the bills.
Quantitative and communication skills tend to ___________ in college as does the ability to think critically.
improve
Connections between the prefrontal cortex and the limbic system
improve in emerging adulthood, resulting in an increased ability to regulate emotions.
We can also see from the percentage of students enrolling in college increases as the
income level of the student increases
Similarly, ruminative exploration, has been identified as a process where
individuals get caught in a loop of worrying about who they are and so get stuck in their identity exploration -getting stuck in exploration without a resolution
They provide social support, protect against
internalizing problems and bolster self-worth.
Similarly, volunteering and travel are ways of developing
interpersonal and organizational skills that seem to enhance employability.
In Erikson's theory the crisis to be resolved in emerging adulthood is
intimacy vs isolation.
Women siblings tend to emotionally
intimate.
Mutual relationships involve maintaining my sense of self while being
intimately connected to another person.
In general, emerging adults benefit from their parents'
involvement in their lives.
The inability to form these close relationships leads to a sense of
isolation.
Moreover, if emerging adults are involved in a romantic partnership, career goals and aspirations are often
jointly discussed and involve joint decision-making as both partners' career paths are considered
While they may not necessarily want sex, they may engage in sex in order to
keep a relationship going
You will note that I said 'move towards' because these committed relationships tend to be found
later rather than earlier in emerging adulthood.
Studies report, for example, that parent-child relationships become stronger when children
leave home for college
Emerging adults with a history of secure attachment report
less hookups.
As they get older, the number of friends they have will become
less.
We noted in earlier chapters that we tend to be friends with people who are
like us and the same is true in emerging adulthood.
Secondly, the journey toward self-authorship is not straightforwardly
linear, i.e., it is not as if I develop the capacity to make decisions based on internal criteria and then every decision I make after that is based on those criteria. I may move back and forth between the phases.
Attaining job, place to live, sharing lives goals, however, can lead to a sense of being
locked in from our mid-twenties to mid-thirties
The crisis takes two forms. In the early part of emerging adulthood, young people often have a feeling of being
locked out of the adult world.
There is even some evidence that emerging adults engage in hookups, hoping that they will lead to a
long-lasting relationship, although this is more prevalent amongst women
It also means that emerging adults are more likely to forego an immediate reward in favor of a
longer term positive outcome For example, an adolescent might be disruptive in class to get the immediate reward of looking cool in front of her friends, while a college student would be more mindful of the longer term impact of such behavior on her grades.
As we move through emerging adulthood, many of us (although not all), move towards the formation of
longer term sexual and romantic relationships.
Those from higher socioeconomic classes tend to engage in high school work that is
low in intensity and does not interfere with their studies
The reason for this answer appeared to be related to the
lower income level of the Black and Latino participants and whether they were parents or not.
When it is used as a replacement the results are less clear with some studies suggesting that emerging adults who have more friends online than offline have
lower levels of self-esteem than their counterparts
Exploration in breadth might involve finding a Exploration in depth, would involve
major. thinking about your chosen major in more detail.
In the United States surveys suggest that many cohabiting couples have
marriage in mind in the long term.
Further developments in cognition are observed in adulthood. Three changes are notable:
metacognition; the ability to deal with problems that do not have single solutions; understanding the nature of knowledge.
Other researchers have criticized Arnett's theory for being based on the experiences of
middle class, White Americans and they question whether this in-between stage is experienced by individuals in other cultural, social and economic groups
In short, students who are harmoniously passionate about their academic activities seem to experience numerous psychological and performance benefits that elude students who are .
more obsessively or non-passionate
It is suggested that this might be linked to a difficulty in avoiding
negative consequences and less regulation in the parts of the brain that are involved in risk-taking
Carefree diffusion
not being concerned with forming an identity
In this formulation of identity, exploration and commitment are presented as all or
nothing.
Emerging adults are more likely to be unemployed than
older adults
They are also maintained by reciprocity and contact. In the age of social media, much contact with peers is maintained through
online messaging.
Substance abuse, for example, tends to
peak during this age period.
Emerging adulthood is also the period for
peak reproductive capacity
On the other hand, White people, as we noted in chapter eight, do not experience the same kinds of barriers and discrimination as
people of color and ethnic minorities and so they are often less motivated to grapple with questions of ethnic identity
Harmonious passion (HP) is likely to develop when a
person freely engages in an activity and then receives positive social support from others. ex: For instance, a student who freely decides to become a psychology major because she truly enjoys it and then receives support from her teachers, friends, and parents may develop HP for her academic activities.
Emerging adulthood is a time when we are at our
physical peak even though the aging process has begun
Diffusion, on the other hand, is associated with
poorer well-being.
Contact is greatly facilitated by electronic communication and, in most cases, it is
positive, reflecting closeness and harmony in adult-child relationships.
Responding to rewards or punishments involves the .
prefrontal cortex for regulation of behavior, the limbic system for emotional and motivational responses and areas of the brain that connect actions and outcomes
We also become more able to understand abstractness and systematic in our
problem-solving
Metacognition includes the ability to monitor and regulate our
problem-solving and learning.
OP for academic activities predicts numerous
problematic health behaviors (e.g., eating disorders, sleep problems).
Emerging adulthood is also a vulnerable time for the onset of
psychological disorders.
It appears that from late adolescence and over the course of emerging adulthood, a balance is being developed between
reaching for a reward and avoiding risks
Unfortunately, the consequences of these habits will be
reaped later in adulthood.
Fortunately, Robinson reports that most people overcome this locked in feeling by
reassessing their lives, developing new goals and commitments that are more in tune with their developing sense of selves, for example, changing jobs or indeed ending a relationship
For others, as an adult, the child can see that the parents' relationship is not working and they are more
reconciled to the divorce. -some blame a parent
Negative outcomes after hookups: These include feelings of
regret, embarrassment and shame
Others may identify as multiracial, while some will
reject the idea of ethnic identity entirely may pick between
The closeness of sibling relationships is related to the quality of those
relationships earlier in life
Interestingly, some studies have also shown that the adolescent brain responds more strongly than the emerging adult brain to
rewards that are unearned or require very little effort.
Many emerging adults report seeing their parents' differently, often developing a greater understanding of the
sacrifices parents have made for them.
White men are more likely to report having had a
same-sex sexual partner than Black or Hispanic men
He also contends that taking a job just to pay the bills will not ultimately be
satisfying.
African-American young adults have higher levels of
self-esteem than Whites, followed by Latinos with Asian-Americans have the lowest levels of self-esteem.
Emerging adulthood has also been described as a period of
self-focus.
Studies suggest that the movement from dualism is not seen until the
senior year of college.
There is some evidence that same sex relationships tend not to last as long as other
sex relationships, a fact that may be related to the unavailability of marriage for many same sex couples.
One obvious consequence of hookups is
sexual gratification and pleasure, although that is not always guaranteed!
Interestingly, couples with children have similar break up rates, regardless of their
sexual orientation
As we enter adulthood, we tend to have less contact with
siblings, since our time gets taken up with managing the responsibilities of adulthood.
Cortex: Primary sensory areas which process
simple signals, e.g., recognizing a sound or being able to see a line or a curve
Students are most vulnerable to the misuse of alcohol in the first
six weeks of their college career
For those who are more diffuse in their identity risky behavior is more of a
symptom of their lack of focus than of their attempts to define their identity
Exploration in breadth refers to
the kind of exploration identified by Marcia, where the emerging adult is searching broadly for a sense of meaning and identity. -general exploration for identity
Using the results of a national Clark University poll, Arnett concludes that emerging adults are in close contact with
their parents. Fifty-five percent of respondents in the 18 to 29 year old category reported being in contact with their parents every day or almost every day.
College first years often experience emotional loneliness, i.e.,
they are surrounded by other people but those relationships lack intimacy and closeness
It appears that what is happening is not so much that adults are gaining new skills, but rather they are using the
thinking skills that they have better.
Parents born in the post-World War II baby boom (often called 'baby boomers') are able to invest more
time and effort in their children than their parents were in them, consequently leading to greater involvement of baby boomers in children's lives.
Adults who were securely attached as children form stronger relationships built on
trust and intimacy and they behave empathically towards their partner.
Troubled diffusion
trying to explore but overcome with worry and rumination
Unfortunately, the external pressure that comes with OP causes people to lead
unbalanced lives, focusing all of their time and energy on their passionate activity. Even more unfortunately, this lack of balance is associated with numerous negative outcomes.
One of the difficulties with Erikson's description of intimacy vs isolation is that our
understanding of ourselves continues to develop in early adulthood.
Commitment making involves committing to a set of
values, beliefs, goals or identity. - forming a commitment
Identification with commitment and exploration in depth have been identified as
ways that we explore identities we already have.
Moratorium is associated with a poorer sense of
well-being than achievement but since moratorium is by definition transitory, its impact on well-being is not felt in the long term.
However, a normative identity style, following the norms and conventions of family or culture can be associated with
well-being when those norms and conventions work for the person involved
Another kind of commitment is identification with commitment,
which involves not just committing to an identity but committing to values, goals and beliefs that fit with one's sense of self. -making commitments that fit with my sense of who I am
Firstly, it is not the content of the decisions that is important, instead it is
why those decisions are made.
There are some gender differences however, with women and men both preferring to have a
woman friend for deep conversations and a male friend for activities.
Engaging in multiple hookup's still more damaging to a
woman's reputation than it is for a man's
The social network of emerging adults can help them to develop
work-related skills as well as provide connections that open opportunities for them.
That means that in emerging adulthood more 'brain power' is being devoted to
working out potential incentives, indicating that emerging adults are more likely than adolescents to see the benefit of working towards a future reward or avoiding a long term punishment.
Vectors of development: Developing integrity
•Humanizing values: Balancing self interests with the needs of others •Personalizing values: personally and actively owning values