PSY 221

PHYSICAL & COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT

IN EARLY ADULTHOOD

CHAPTER 13

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 LEARNING OUTCOMES
• describe the transition from adolescence to
adulthood
• identify the changes that young adults undergo in
their physical development
• discuss sexuality in young adults
• describe cognitive changes that young adults
undergo
• identify the key dimensions of career and work in
early adulthood

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 Emerging Adulthood (Arnett, 2006)
Key features
• Identity exploration, especially in love and work
• Instability (love, work, education)
• Self-focused
• Feeling in-between
• Age of possibilities - opportunity to transform
their lives

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 The Changing Landscape
• Age upon reaching developmental milestones
• Living arrangements
• Education
• Career
Helping adolescents become more
mature on their way to
adulthood
• Provide them with opportunities to be
contributors
• Give candid, quality feedback to
adolescents
• Create positive adult connections with
adolescents
• Challenge adolescents to become more
competent 13 - 5
 Markers of becoming an adult
• Full-time job
• Economic independence
• Taking responsibility for oneself
• Developing emotional control
• Note: markers may differ in different cultures
– E.g. marriage important marker in many
developing countries

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 Transition From High School to College
• Top-dog phenomenon
• Movement to a larger, impersonal school structure
• Increased focus on achievement and assessment
• Several positive features
– More likely to feel grown-up
– More choices to select subjects
– More time to spend with peers
– More opportunities to explore different lifestyles & values
– Greater independence from parental monitoring
– More intellectual challenges
• Today’s college students more stressed & depressed 13 -
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 Physical Development
Physical performance and development
• Peak physical performance typically occurs ages 19 –
26
• Muscle tone and strength usually begin to show
signs of decline around age 30
Health
• More than twice the mortality rate of
adolescents
• Bad health habits from adolescence increase
• Young adults’ life satisfaction is positively related to
healthy lifestyle
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Obesity:
• Heredity: some individuals inherit tendency to be
overweight
• Environmental: greater availability of food (high
fats), reliance on energy-saving devices, lower
physical activity
Dieting:
• Most effective programs include exercise
Binge Eating Disorder:
• Biological factors: Genes, dopamine
• Psychological: Less effective family functioning

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 Regular Exercise
• Recommended: At least 30 mins aerobic exercise
daily (raise heart rate ≥60% of maximum heart rate)
• Aerobic exercise: Sustained exercise that stimulates
heart and lung activity
• US survey findings: Men were more likely than
women to exercise

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 Substance Abuse
Alcohol
• Extreme binge drinking: 10 or more drinks in a
row/15 or more drinks in a row in the last 2 weeks
• Problems: Class absence, physical injuries, troubles
with police, unprotected sex
• Alcoholism: Disorder that involves long-term,
repeated, uncontrolled, compulsive, and excessive
use of alcoholic beverages
• Genetic predisposition & environmental factors
influence alcoholism
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Cigarette smoking and nicotine
• Linked to death by terminal illness
• Marijuana & alcohol use were risk factors for using e-
cigarettes in emerging adulthood
• Addiction to nicotine makes quitting challenging

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 Sexual Activity in Emerging Adulthood

Predictors of risky heterosexual behaviour

• Gender
• Earlier sex
• Education level
• Alcohol use

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 Figure 4, p. 415
The 1994 Sex in America Survey

Note:
Sample >3000
Age: 18 – 59 yrs
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 Sources of sexual orientation
• Sexual orientation now seen as continuum
from exclusive male–female relations to
exclusive same-sex relations
• No difference between LGBTQs &
heterosexuals in a wide range of attitudes,
behaviours, & adjustments
• Most likely a combination of genetic,
hormonal, cognitive, and environmental
factors
Figure 5, p.417 - Sexually Transmitted Infections

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 Forcible sexual behavior and sexual
harassment
• Rape: Forcible sexual intercourse with a person who
does not consent to it
• Characteristics of male rapists
– Aggression enhances their sense of power
– Angry at women in general
– Want to hurt and humiliate their victims
• Date or acquaintance rape: Coercive sexual activity
directed at someone with whom the perpetrator is
at least casually acquainted
• Sexual harassment - Manifestation of power of one
person over another - takes many forms 13 -
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 Cognitive Development
Piaget’s view
• Formal Operational Stage: More logical,
abstract, & idealistic thinking
• Characterizes both adults & adolescents

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 Is there a fifth, postformal stage?
• Postformal thought: Young adults’ thinking:
– Reflective, relativistic, and contextual: correct
solution to a problem requires reflective thinking
& may vary from one situation to another
– Provisional: skeptical about truth; seem unwilling
to accept an answer as final
– Realistic: things not black or white
– Recognized as being influenced by emotions
– Recent study (Webster & others, 2018): explored
wisdom & meaning as important developments in
emerging adulthood
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Figure 13.9, p.421 (16th Ed.) - Complex Postformal
Thought Questionnaire (Sinnott & Johnson, 1997)

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Figure 13.9, p.421 (16th Ed.) - Complex Postformal
Thought Questionnaire (Sinnott & Johnson, 1997)

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 Is there a fifth, postformal stage?
• Questionnaire items reflect three main
categories
– Taking into account multiple aspects of a
problem or situation
– Making a subjective choice in a particular
problem situation
– Perceiving underlying complexities in a
situation

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 Creativity
• Early studies (e.g. Lehman, 1960): individuals’ most
creative works were generated in their thirties
• Qualifying any conclusion about age & creative
accomplishments are:
– Magnitude of the decline in productivity
– Contrasts across creative domains
– Individual differences in lifetime output

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 Careers and Work
Developmental changes
• From mid-twenties on, individuals often seek to
establish their emerging career in a particular field
Finding a path to purpose (Damon, 2008)
• Only 20% of 12 – 22-year-olds had a clear vision of
their life purpose
• Often focus on short-term goals without exploring
the big, long-term picture of what to do in life
Monitoring the occupational outlook
• Be knowledgeable about different fields &
companies 13 - 24
 Impact of Work
Work defines people in fundamental ways:
• E.g. financial standing, housing, way their time is
spent, friendship, health
Work during college:
• 2015: 78% of part-time US college students were
employed
• Can help off-set some costs of schooling but also
restrict learning opportunities
• Can contribute to their education – internship, part-
time jobs relevant to their study or future work
interest 13 -
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Unemployment
• USA: remained high in recent years; Global
unemployment also increasing
• Produce stress and is related to physical problems,
mental problems, marital difficulties, and homicide
Dual-earner couples
• Challenge in balancing work and family life
• Division of responsibility for work & family
changed:
o Men increasingly take part in maintaining home
o Women increasingly take part in breadwinning
o Men showing greater interest in families & parenting
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 Diversity in the Workplace
• Women have increasingly entered the labor force
• Increasing ethnic diversity requires a sensitivity to
cultural differences and an appreciation of the
cultural values that workers bring to a job
• Women & ethnic minorities still experiencing
difficulty in breaking glass ceiling that prevents them
from being promoted to higher rungs on corporate
ladder
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