Early and Middle Adulthood
Marianne Williamson said, “In our society, as people pass out of young adulthood, they tend to relate to themselves more in terms of what they are no longer than what they are now, and that’s psychologically low-grade devastating”. As we age, we tend to look at the future, that growth with fear or trepidation. We mourn the loss of our “youth” rather than embrace the new changes we are heading toward. These changes we will experience are vast and necessary for each stage of development. As we grow become adults we will experience a variety of psychological changes as we adjust to aging and any changes that will happen to our lifestyle. These changes should not be feared, they simply mark the growth and experience that we will go through. During early and middle adulthood these changes are the most apparent. These changes can affect our relationships, the roles we play, and our later life. The way that people adjust to the changes of growing older and how this affects the rest of their life is what we will examine here.
Social and Intimate Relationships
During early and middle adulthood the way people view and interact within their relationships will be affected by a variety of factors. During middle to late adulthood, people will enter the fifth stage of Erik Erikson’s Psychosocial Theory of Development. During this stage people will face a crisis where they will face being alone or being involved in meaningful relationships, called intimacy versus isolation. He also believed that during this time adults specifically entered the generativity vs stagnation stage, where adults needed to care for the next generation, extend their legacy through creativity, sacrifice and care.
However, Abraham Maslow did not link chronological age and adult development. Instead, he described five stages that occur sequentially. The first is physiology, where needs such as hunger and thirst are the priority. The next stage is safety, whereby a person needs organization and predictability in order to feel “safe, secure, and stable” (Berger, 2010, p. 457). The third stage is called love and belonging and focuses on those needs and the desire to avoid alienation and isolation. The fourth stage is success and esteem, where the desire for recognition and respect from others is desired. The fifth and final stage is self-actualization, where one desires to reach their fullest potential. However, Maslow suggested that another level could exist past self-actualization. He called it self-transcendence and stated that this level is not “usually attained until late in life” (Berger, 2010, p . 457).
However, most commonly this time in a personas life is fraught with the “midlife crisis”. The concept of the midlife crisis was popularized by writer Gail Sheehy and further discussed by psychologist Daniel Levinson. However it is important to note that despite its mainstream popularity “no large study has found any evidence for the midlife crisis” (p. 459). A midlife crisis is actually not a typical even for men or women. There is a belief that the midlife crisis theory was born due to the radical changes occurring during that time (the early 1970s) and that it is more prevalent in middle-class families rather than lower-class.
While there has been the belief that life today has destroyed marriage it actually may not be the case. Housework is now a shared responsibility in most households. While this may make the husband upset, their wives are happier. In turn more women are also working which can relieve financial pressures from the husband even though it reduces the time they spend together. While early adulthood tend to be the happiest time for people, during middle adulthood changes occur that can add stress or strife to a person’s relationships.
Role Changes
Regardless of what is called, relationships during early and middle adulthood evolve due to a variety of reasons. During early adulthood people are working toward becoming financially stable, they are generally enjoying their life, either with or without a partner. During middle adulthood they are generally financially independent. Their children are growing and become independent. Those children may already be parents and they are becoming grandparents. They may also notice changes in their relationships with their siblings due to familial obligations or distance. This relationship may change again if one sibling becomes a parental caregiver. Generally during this time, family life keeps a person busy so they tend to have less time for friends.
Healthy and unhealthy habits. During this time, people are more settled and their personalities are more mature making them more equipped to deal with these changes. However they are also learning how choices they make or made during early adulthood can affect the rest of their lives. During early adulthood, people tend to be busier. They are eating fast food or generally making quick, unhealthy food choices. They may be smoking and drinking more than is advisable. Also, they may not get to exercise regularly leading them to have a higher than average body mass index (BMI). These choices have a lasting effect. The person who engages in any or all of these behaviors is at a higher risk of cardiovascular disease in middle age. They are also at a higher risk for developing diabetes, high blood pressure and a variety of other illnesses, especially if they have a preexisting family history of them. During early adulthood, it is important to make healthier choices and make time to exercise to help lower your risks.
Conclusion
Choices made today can affect the rest of your life is not simply warning you to make good choices. It is letting you know that there are lasting consequences to any choice you make. Your relationships with your partner, friends, and family can all be affected by a small decision. However, this is all part of the aging process. Psychosocial growth does not stop once we enter adolescence. In fact it does not stop even when we reach adulthood. Humans are constantly changing and adapting. Our relationships, both social and intimate, grow and evolve due to changes in our roles. These roles and how they affect you can also be impacted by your decisions regarding your own health and wellbeing. It is necessary for a person to examine work on their relationships, evaluate them and view how these changes in their life can affect them. J.K. Simmons said it best, “People evolve and it’s important to not stop evolving just because you’ve reached ‘adulthood’”.
References
Berger, K. S. (2010). Invitation to the life span [Adobe Digital Editions].
Boundless. (n.d.). Socioemotional development in adulthood. Retrieved from https://www.boundless.com/psychology/textbooks/boundless-psychology-textbook/human-development-14/early-and-middle-adulthood-74/socioemotional-development-in-adulthood-289-12824/
Houghton Mifflin Harcour. (2015). Relationships in Middle Adulthood. Retrieved from http://www.cliffsnotes.com/study-guides/sociology/marriage-family-alternative-lifestyles/relationships-in-middle-adulthood
Meier, A., & Allen, G. (2008). Intimate relationship development during the transition to adulthood: Differences by social class. New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development, 2008(119), 25-39. doi:10.1002/cd.207
Smith, M. (2015, January 12). Bad health habits that spell early death start young. Retrieved from http://www.medpagetoday.com/PrimaryCare/DietNutrition/2472