Psychology 203 Human Development

1
Psychology 203 Human Development

• Psychosocial Development
• In
• Young Adulthood
• Chapter 14

2
Young AdulthoodPersonality Development

• Four Views
• Normative-stage models
• Typical sequence of age-related development that
  continues throughout adult life span
• Timing-of-events models
• Expected or unexpected occurrence and timing of
  important life events (not age)
• Trait models
• Mental, emotional, temperamental, and behavioral
  traits (cheerfulness, irritability)
• Typological models
• Identify broader personality types, or styles
  that represent how traits are organized within
  individuals

3
Young AdulthoodPersonality Development

• Normative-stage models
• Erikson
• Personality changes throughout life
• Intimacy versus Isolation
• Vaillant (1977)
• Adaptive mechanisms
• Mature (using humor or helping others)
• Immature (developing aches and pains with no
  physical basis)
• Psychotic (distorting reality)
• Neurotic (repressing anxiety or developing
  irrational fears)
• Levinson (1986)
• Evolving life structure People shape their life
  structures during overlapping eras of about 20 to
  25 years each.
• Validity of studies is questionable
• Based on research using mostly men
• Based on small groups of all white middle-class
  to upper-middle-class men
• Most important message is adults continue to
  change, develop and grow

4
Young AdulthoodPersonality Development

• Timing-of-Events
• Course of development depends on when certain
  events occur in peoples lives.
• Normative Life Events are commonly expected life
  experiences that occur at customary times
• Marriage
• Parenthood
• Grandparenthood
• Retirement
• Events are normative when they are on time
• People are aware of their won social clock
• Crises may result, not from reaching a certain
  age but from the unexpected occurrence and timing
  of life events.
• Model is limited because model only fits when
  cultures and historical periods in which norms of
  behavior are stable and widespread

5
Young Adulthood Trait Models (Costa and McCraes
five Factors)
Neuroticism Extraversion Openness Agreeableness Co
nscientiousness
6
Young AdulthoodCosta and McCraes

• Continuity of personality
• Analysis is cross-sectional, longitudinal, and
  sequential from large sample sizes
• Critics of model
• Statistical and methodological problems
• Based largely on subjective ratings
• Model looks at only individual differences in
  trait groupings
• No theoretical framework for understanding how
  personality works within the person

7
Young AdulthoodTypological Models

• Typological Models
• Personality as functioning whole that affects and
  reflects attitudes, values, behavior, and social
  interactions
• Ego-resilient
• Adaptability under stress
• Well adjusted self-confident, independent,
  articulate, attentive, helpful, cooperative, and
  task-focused
• Overcontrolled
• Shy, quiet, anxious, dependable, withdraw from
  conflict
• Undercontrolled
• Active, energetic, impulsive, stubborn, and
  easily distracted
• Traits established in childhood may predict
  trajectories (long term patterns)

8
Young AdulthoodIntegrating Approaches
9
Young AdulthoodFoundations of Intimate
Relationships

• Resolve conflicts with parents in wholesome way
  or may reenact similar conflicts in new
  relationships with friends, colleagues, and
  partners
• Seek emotional and physical intimacy in
  relationship with peers and romantic partners
• Gain skills in
• Self-awareness
• Empathy
• Communicate emotions
• Sexual decision making
• Conflict resolution
• Sustain commitments

10
Young AdulthoodFoundations of Intimate
Relationships

• Intimate relationships are crucial task of young
  adulthood (Erikson)
• Shared disclosures (self-disclosure)
• Responsiveness to one anothers needs
• Mutual acceptance
• Respect
• Intimacy includes a sense of belonging
• Form strong, stable, close, caring relationships
  is powerful motivator of human behavior

11
Young AdulthoodFriendship

• Friendships center on
• Work
• Parenting activities
• Sharing of confidences and advice
• Young singles rely on friendships to fulfill
  social needs
• Women have more intimate friendships then men
• Women find friendships with other women more
  satisfying than those with men
• Men share information and activities, not
  confidences

12
Young AdulthoodLove

• Sternberg and Barnes elements
• Intimacy
• Self-disclosure leads to connection, warmth, and
  trust
• Passion
• Inner drives that translate physiological arousal
  into sexual desire
• Commitment
• Cognitive decision to love and to stay with the
  beloved

13
Young AdulthoodNonmarital and Marital lifestyles

• Rules of acceptable behavior are more elastic
  then during the first half 20th century
• Norms no longer dictate
• People must get married
• Stay married
• Have children
• At what age

14
Young AdulthoodNonmarital and Marital lifestyles

• Single Life
• 45 of 25-29 year olds had never married
• Black, White, and Latina single women in LA have
  difficulty finding eligible men with similar
  educational and social backgrounds

15
Young AdulthoodGay and Lesbian Relationships

• 3 of US men and 1½ women call themselves
  homesual or bisexual
• Ingredients of long-term satisfaction are very
  similar in homosexual and heterosexual
  relationships

16
Young AdulthoodCohabitation

• Consensual or informal union
• In US was against the law in 1970
• Substitute for marriage or trial marriage
• Relationship tend to be less satisfying than
  marriages
• Half US couples who marry have lived together
  first
• Tend to have unconventional attitudes about
  family life
• Likely to have divorced parents
• Stepchildren
• Liberal attitudes toward divorce

17
Young AdulthoodMarriage

• Meets fundamental needs
• Intimacy
• Commitment
• Friendship
• Affection
• Sexual fulfillment
• Companionship
• Emotional growth
• Identity and self-esteem

18
Young AdulthoodEntering Matrimony

• Most common way of selecting a mate has been
  through arrangement
• Free choose of mates norm in western world
• Transition to married major changes in
• Sexual functioning
• Living arrangements
• Rights and responsibility
• Attachments
• Loyalties

19
Young AdulthoodSexual Activity After Marriage

• Only one-third have intercourse two or more times
  a week
• More emotional satisfaction from sex then single
  or cohabiting couples
• Drops sharply after the early months and then
  declines as time goes on
• May seek sexual intimacy outside the marriage
  after few years

20
Young AdulthoodFactors in Marital success or
failure

• One of the most important factors is sense of
  commitment
• Success closely associated with
• Communication
• Making decisions
• Dealing with conflict
• Good marriage
• Arguing and openly expressing anger
• Trouble marriage
• Whining
• Defensiveness
• Stubbornness
• withdrawal

21
Young AdulthoodFactors in Marital success or
failure

• Major predictors of success
• Age - 20-30 better then teens
• Education - College grads better then non grads
• Cohabitation before marriage and having divorced
  parents are predictive of divorce
• No children better then pregnant or bearing
  children before marriage

22
Domestic Violence

• Physical, sexual, or psychological maltreatment
  of a spouse, a former spouse, or an intimate
  partner so as to gain or maintain power or
  control
• Nine out of ten victims in US are women
• Men profile
• Less than a high school education
• Unemployed or intermittently employed
• Low incomes
• Alcohol or drug problems
• Former or estranged husband or former boyfriends
• Men seeking control or dominance
• Boys taught by example to prevail though
  aggression and physical force

23
Becoming Parents

• Preindustrial farming societies
• Large families were a necessity
• Helped with family work
• Care for aging parents
• Death rate in childhood was high
• Having lots of children many more would reach
  maturity

24
ParenthoodDevelopmental Experience

• First baby marks a major transition in parents
  lives
• Baby changes individuals and changes
  relationships
• As baby develop, so must parents
• Fathers today are more involved in childrens
  lives, and childcare and housework than ever
  before.

25
ParenthoodDevelopmental Experience

• Men with children living with them
• Less involved in outside social activities
• More likely to participate in
• School-related activities
• Church Groups
• Community services

26
ParenthoodMarital Satisfaction

• Satisfaction declines during the childraising
  years
• Both husbands and wives report sharp decline
  during the first four years

27
Dual-Earner Families

• Two out of three US families with married couple
  and children under 18 years
• Positive outcomes
• Raises some families from poverty to
  middle-income
• Women more independent and share of economic
  power
• Reduces pressure on men to be providers
• Equal relationship between husband and wife
• Better health for both
• Greater self-esteem for the women
• Closer relationship between fathers and children

28
Dual-Earner Families

• Downside
• Working couples face extra demands on them and
  energy
• Conflicts between work and family
• Rivalry between spouses
• Anxiety and guilt about meeting childrens needs

29
Division of Domestic Work

• Almost all known societies women have primary
  responsibility for housework and child raising
• Psychological effects very based on how
  breadwinning and household work are divided
• Effects depend on how the husband and wife view
  their roles

30
Division of Domestic Work

• Perception of unfairness contributes most to
  marital instability
• Fairness depend on the size of the wifes
  financial contribution
• Co-provider
• Supplementing husbands income
• Meaning and importance wife or husband place on
  wifes work

31
When Marriage Ends

• Average marriage ends in seven to eight years
• 43 of first marriages end in separation or
  divorce within 15 years
• 90 of separated couples go on to divorce within
  5 years

32
When Marriage EndsWhy the increase?

• Possible causes
• More liberal divorce laws
• No-fault laws
• More women financially independent
• Greater damage to children if they stay together
• More childless couples
• Young couples expect too much from marriage
• Take place of their parents
• Take place of their friends
• Both confidantes and lovers
• Conflicts between what men want and what women
  want

33
When Marriage EndsAdjusting to Divorce

• Divorce is a process not a single event.
• Some people adjust rather quickly but may tend to
  reduce long-term well-being
• Reasons
• Disruption of parent-child relationships
• Discord with a former spouse
• Economic hardship
• Loss of emotional support
• Moving out of family home
• Feelings of
• Failure
• Blame
• Hostility
• Self-recrimination
• Depression
• Illness
• Most important factor is emotional detachment
  from the former spouse (average time is three
  years)

34
Remarriage and Stepparenthood

• Remarriages are more likely than first marriages
  to end in divorce
• Greatest during the first five years and
  stepchildren
• Stepparent more challenging for women then men
• The more recent the current marriage and the
  older the stepchildren, the harder stepparenting
  seems
• Less able to separate feelings about the marriage
  from feelings about success as stepparents