Early and Middle Adulthood Paper
Morgaine Smith
PSY280
April 17, 2012

Early to middle adulthood is a time of independence, identity seeking, and lifestyle forming. During this time people strike out on their own, building relationships and establishing social and health-affecting habits. Middle adulthood differs from young adulthood in social needs (although the basic need for socialization remains the same), and represents a shift in attitude about relationships and vocations that moves from fluidity to stability. Health practices are also at work here, with factors such as diet, exercise, and drug use in young adulthood impacting middle adulthood later on.
Erikson believed that people need constant contact with others throughout their lives, from birth to death, whether that contact is romantic intimacy or a relationship with friends and family. In romantic relationships, young adults tend to be “serially monogamous” [ (Berger, 2010) ], or remaining emotionally or sexually involved with only one person for a period of time, though the relationship is rarely permanent, and the young adult may have many of these relationships during this stage of his or her life. This is typical for the age group, which is characterized by an unwillingness to commit permanently to a job, a spouse, or even an educational program. Young adults today are markedly different from young adults in the previous generation, in that they marry later and may not start families or enter a permanent vocation until they are well into middle adulthood, or around their late twenties or early thirties; this is in part due to greater life expectancy and more accessible birth control, allowing young adults to experiment before settling down to permanency [ (Berger, 2010) ]. Relationships with friends and family can be considered close for young adults, who (at least in most Western cultures) prize autonomy and individualism. However, since many young adults during this time are pursuing higher education and are not vocationally or financially secure, they receive help from family members (usually parents). For example, my fiancée and I, who are young parents, still receive help with childcare from our parents as we both have jobs and I am attending school. Young adults, like adolescents, seek a sense of identity; Erikson believed identity was achieved by age 18, it is now believed to be a lifelong process [ (Berger, 2010) ]. Where adolescents find identity in peer groups and may not be particularly interested in a cultural or ethnic heritage, young adults seek to understand ethnic or religious backgrounds, investigating and assimilating aspects or entireties of their ancestry or traditions into their understanding and expression of self [ (Berger, 2010) ]. This can also include associations with gender, which is often seen in a phenomenon called stereotype threat, which is defined as a subconscious belief that certain traits, abilities, or inabilities are inherent in a group he or she identifies with [ (Geary & Stoet, 2012) ]. Studies show that, although mathematical advantage between males and females is different in different age groups and curriculums, there is a marked difference in performance in math at higher levels, favoring males, when females are aware of the stereotype that males are better at math. The original study involved two groups of mixed gender who were given a math test. The second group was told that the results of the test could indicate gender. The women who were the second group scored lower on their tests than the men in that group [ (Berger, 2010) ]. However, other studies indicate that stereotype threat has a different effect on different age groups. A test of 7-13 year olds supported the findings of the original study, but a test involving 16 year olds was less conclusive [ (Geary & Stoet, 2012) ]. Overall, the personalities of individuals, once considered to be genetic and set from birth, are now understood to be plastic, affected by experience and culture; traits such as aggression or amiability that were possessed in childhood do not disappear, but rather are tempered by age and experience. Early adulthood is considered to be one of the healthiest times in a person’s life. The body has a high level of what is referred to as homeostasis, which is the adaptability of the body to environmental factors and disease in order to keep the body functioning in balance [ (Berger, 2010) ]. This involves metabolism and immune system, which explains why young adults seem to be able to fight off disease, eat what they please, and tolerate the effects of drug and alcohol use better than older adults. However, prolonged unhealthy habits such as drug abuse take their toll later on, and are much harder to stop the longer they are in use. This is true not only of illegal drug use and binge drinking, but also of improper diet and lack of exercise. Fit young adults are less likely to develop diabetes, high blood pressure, and other chronic diseases than those who are obese and/or have unhealthy lifestyle practices. In middle adulthood and into old age, unhealthy practices carried over from young adulthood, such as heavy alcohol use can result in decrease in cognition, decrease in fertility, and an increase in the prevalence of mental illness (which young adults are particularly susceptible to) and even brain loss [ (Berger, 2010) ]. Even age-related declines, such as in vision, hearing, and overall health are exacerbated by destructive behavior as young adults; marijuana use, loud music, and tobacco use are some of the most heavily cited reasons for accelerated health decline in middle and late adulthood [ (Berger, 2010) ]. Allostatic load is a concern for older adults, it refers to the total burden of stress and disease a person deals with [ (Berger, 2010) ]. Like homeostasis, the body is better able to handle stressors and unhealthy habits in early adulthood (allostasis), but as people age, parents offer less support and immune systems are not as healthy, allowing stress to take its toll [ (Kinnunen, Kaprio, & Pulkkinen, 2005) ]. A longitudinal study of individuals from eight years old to forty-two years old measured the stressors and health issues related to lifestyle and career. At the age of forty-two, many of the subjects of the study who reported career instability also reported psychosomatic symptoms such as shaking, headaches, higher blood pressure, and other medical issues [ (Kinnunen, Kaprio, & Pulkkinen, 2005) ]. Higher alcohol use was also noted in these individuals, which of course contributes negatively to the health of the people using it. Erikson’s belief that people need interaction with others for psychosocial development does not cease in middle adulthood. Middle adulthood is characterized by more stability of personality, and adults structure their lives to fit their personalities, rather than the other way around. In fact, barring a stressful upheaval in routine or lifestyle, personality is more or less set until late adulthood or old age [ (Berger, 2010) ]. While gender roles depend on culture and differ greatly from one nationality to the next, the differences between genders become more similar later in life than is typically experienced in young adulthood, likely because young adults identify with gender groups as well as ethnic and religious ones; the decrease in difference between male and female behaviors are referred to as gender convergence, and suggests that gender differences are cultural rather than inherited [ (Berger, 2010) ]. Middle adults seek committed relationships, although this does not necessarily mean marriage in today’s adults. Middle adults tend to be in Erikson’s generativity vs. stagnation stage [ (Berger, 2010) ], which involves a tendency to seek to be caring and productive through creativity, care giving, and employment. Employment in particular seems to meet psychosocial needs; most middle adults have chosen a vocation from which they draw fulfillment, as opposed to young adults who tend to rarely keep jobs for longer than 18 months. This occurs when adults find a career or workplace that provides structure, interaction, creative energy, support to and from coworkers, and a sense of community, rather than just a means to provide for self and family. For example, in my late teens I was serially employed, working at retail stores, gas stations, and small restaurants. I never stayed anywhere more than a year, until I started working for Outback. There I found a sense of community, where I’m close with most of my coworkers, and, after four years, I’m seeking promotion and management opportunities there. To conclude, young adulthood is a time of social and vocational experimentation; early adults rarely establish permanence with regards to relationships and job choices, and can even change college majors many times during their education. Middle adulthood marks a shift to stability and permanence, where people establish long-term relationships, raise families and start careers.

References

Berger, K. S. (2010). Invitation to the Life Span. New York: Worth Publishers.
Geary, D., & Stoet, G. (2012). Can stereotype threat explain the gender gap in mathematics performance and achievement? Review or General Psychology, 93-102.
Kinnunen, M., Kaprio, J., & Pulkkinen, L. (2005). Allostatic Load of Men and Women in Early Middle Age. Journal Of Individual Differences, 20-28.