Adulthood

By: BeverlyCovita

Adulthood
Fully

grow and developd

Matured
An

and sensible

adult is a human being or other organism that

has reach sexual maturity.

Early Adulthood

Also called Emerging adulthood

An individual is concerned with developing the ability to

share intimacy, seeking to form relationship and find
intimate love.

It is stage of life between 18-25 years

also refer to:
- Young Adulthood
- Late Adolescence
- Age of Majority

Theories in
Adulthood

Levinsons Theory
Daniel Levinsons Season of Life Theory

1.

Early Adult Transition

-Age 17-22
-a person leaves adolescence and begins to make choices
about adult life.

2.

Entering the Adult World

-Age 22-28
- This is the stage in which a person makes more concrete decisions
regarding their occupation, friendships, values, and lifestyles.
3.

Age 30 Transitions

- Age 28-33
- In this stage, there are often lifestyle changes that could be mild or
more severe.

4. Settling Down
- Age 33-40

- In this stage, one often begins to establish a routine, makes progress

on goals for the future, and begins behaving like an adult.

5.

Mid-Life Transition

- Age 40-45
- This time period is sometimes one of crisis.
- A person begins to evaluate his or her life. Values may change, and how society
views these people may change also.

6.

Entering Middle Adulthood

- Age 45-50
- In this stage, choices must be made about the future and possibly retirement.

7.

Late Adulthood

Age 60
- In this stage, one begins to reflect on life and the decisions they have made.

Levinson also indicated that each stage consists of two

types of periods:
The Stable Period

- in which a person makes crucial choices in life.

The Transitional Period

- in which one stage ends and another begins.

Vaillant's Theory
George Vaillants Adult Task Theory

Six Adult Life tasks

Developing an Identity.

- Vaillant explained that an adolescent must establish an identity that

allows a separation from parents.

Development of Intimacy.

- This allows a person to have reciprocal relationships with another

person.

Career Consolidation.

- In this task, the person finds a career that is valuable to society and to him
or herself.

Generativity.
- This involves the unselfish will and capacity to give.

Becoming Keeper of the Meaning.

-This task involves passing on the traditions of the past to the next generation.

Achieving Integrity.

- This task involves achieving a sense of peace and unity with respect to one's
life and to the world itself.

Neugartens Theory
Bernice Neugartens Social Clock Theory

Social Clock Explained

- This is the feeling that you were supposed accomplished something by a

certain point in your life .
- It is social pressure has been around as long as people have lived in societies.

 Origins

of the Social Clock Social

- psychologist Bernice Neugarten proposed the idea of the social clock to help
explain aging. Neugarten noticed that events in society happened in a
predictable manner. Think about your culture. What is considered the best age
for marriage? In most western societies, the age is around 25 to 35. However in
many cultures, the expectation is as young as 12.

Cognitive Development

Changes over a persons lifespan, peaking at around age 35+ slowly

declining in later adulthood.

Cognitive changes are numerous during in this period.

Unlike our physical abilities, which peak in our mid-20s and then
begin a slow decline, our cognitive abilities remain relatively steady
throughout early and middle adulthood.

Since Piaget's theory of cognitive development, other developmental

psychologists have suggested a fifth stage of cognitive development,
known as postformal operational thinking.

Early adulthood is a time of relativistic thinking, in which young

people begin to become aware of more complexities in life.

Two forms of intelligencecrystallized and fluidare the main focus

of middle adulthood. While crystallized intelligence grows steadily,
fluid intelligence starts to decline even prior to mid-adulthood.

Middle Adulthood

Time span is between ages 45-65 years old.

The maturing process is viewed as completed and gives way to the

aging process.

Chronic health problems can become an issue along with disability or

disease.

Emotional responses and retrospection vary from person to person.

Physical Characteristics

Middle-aged adults begin to show visible signs of aging. Vision could change
and many who did not need corrective lenses or eyeglasses may find that they
need them. Hearing might be affected and Height may also start to diminish.

Women between 45-55 years old experience menopause

Men may also experience physical changes, changes occur to skin and hair and
physical fitness.

The mortality rate begins to increase from 45 and onwards mainly due to
health problems.

Cognitive Characteristics
Erik

Erikson refers to this period of adulthood as

the generatitivity-versus-stagnation stage. Persons
in middle adulthood or middle age may have some
cognitive loss.

Social and personality

characteristics

Marital satisfaction remains but other family relationships can be

more difficult. Career satisfaction focuses more on inner satisfaction
and contentedness and less on ambition and the desire to
'advance'.Even so, career changes often occur. Middle adulthood or
middle age can be a time when a person re-examines their life by
taking stock, and evaluating their accomplishments. Morality may
change and become more conscious. The perception that those in this
stage of development or life undergo a 'mid-life' crisis is largely false.