1. The Developing Adult
Early – Late Adulthood
Sourced from: Human Adjustment John W. Santrock Chapter 11:
Emerging Adulthood, Adult Development, and Aging

2. 11-2
Emerging Adulthood
Emerging Adulthood = term for the transition from
adolescence to adulthood (18 to 25 years of age)
that is characterized by experimentation and
exploration
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3. 11-3
Who Is an Adult?
 Determining just when an individual becomes an adult
is difficult
 Some markers include:
– marriage
– full-time job
– economic independence
– self-responsibility
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4. Adjustment Strategies
for Emerging Adulthood
11-4
1. Experiment and explore responsibility
2. Develop intellectual assets
3. Create psychological assets
4. Establish social assets
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5. 11-5
Lifespan and Life Expectancy
 Lifespan - maximum number of years any member of
the species has been documented to live
– Our lifespan is about 120 years
 Life expectancy - number of years that will probably
be lived by the average person born in a particular
year
– The life expectancy of individuals born today in the United
States is 77 years (80 for women, 73 for men)
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6. 11-6
Adult Periods of Development
 Early adulthood - begins in late teens/early 20s and
lasts through the 30s
 Early adulthood is a time of:
– establishing personal and economic independence
– developing a career
– selecting a mate
– learning to live with someone in an intimate way
– starting a family
– rearing children
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7. 11-7
Adult Periods of Development
 Middle adulthood - period from 40 years of age to
about 60
 Middle adulthood is time of:
– expanding personal and social involvement and
responsibility
– assisting next generation in becoming competent, mature
individuals
– reaching and maintaining satisfaction in a career
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8. 11-8
Adult Periods of Development
 Late adulthood - period that begins in the 60s and
lasts until death
 Late adulthood is the time of:
– adjusting to retirement
– decreasing strength and health
– new social roles
– reviewing one’s life
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9. PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT
IN ADULTHOOD: Early Adulthood
11-9
 Most adults reach their peak physical development
and are healthiest during their 20s
 Young adults rarely recognize that bad eating habits,
heavy drinking, and smoking in early adulthood can
impair their health as they age
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10. PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT
IN ADULTHOOD: Middle Adulthood
11-10
 Physical changes in middle adulthood include changes
in appearance
– Individuals begin to lose height in middle age, and many
gain weight
 People become more concerned about their health in
their 40s
 For women, menopause occurs in late 40s or early 50s
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11. PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT
IN ADULTHOOD: Late Adulthood
11-11
 The fastest-growing segment of the population
today is 85 years old and older
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12. Physical Changes and Health
in Late Adulthood
11-12
 Changes in physical appearance become more
pronounced in older adults
 Chronic diseases (arthritis, hypertension) become
more common in late adulthood
 Exercise slows the aging process and helps older
adults function in society
 A sense of control is important for health and survival
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13. 11-13
The Brain in Late Adulthood
 Adults can grow new brain cells throughout their lives
 Even in late adulthood, the brain has remarkable repair
capability
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14. 11-14
Dementias & Alzheimer’s Disease
Dementia = global term for any neurological disorder in which
the primary symptoms involve deterioration of mental
functioning
 20% of individuals over 80 years of age have dementia
– More than 70 types of dementia have been identified
Alzheimer’s disease = progressive, irreversible brain disorder
characterized by a gradual deterioration of memory,
reasoning, language, and, eventually, physical functioning

More than 50% of dementias involve Alzheimer’s disease
 The deterioration of the brain is characterized by the formation of amyloid
plaques and neurofibrillary tangles
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15. 11-15
Cognitive Development in Early Adulthood
 Jean Piaget (1952) - in each stage of cognitive
development, people think in a qualitatively different
way
 Piaget believed that the formal operational stage
(ages 11 to 15) is the highest stage of thinking
 Adults gain knowledge, but ways of thinking are the
same as those of adolescents
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16. 11-16
Cognitive Development in Early Adulthood
 Some researchers disagree with Piaget and believe
that thinking in early adulthood becomes more realistic
and pragmatic
 Post-formal thought - thought that is
– reflective, relativistic, and contextual
– provisional
– realistic
– open to emotions and subjective
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17. 11-17
Cognitive Development in Middle Adulthood
 John L. Horn argues that some intellectual abilities decline in
middle age, but others increase
– Crystallized intelligence (individual’s accumulated information and
verbal skills) increases in middle adulthood
– Fluid intelligence (one’s ability to reason abstractly) begins to
decline in middle adulthood
 K. Warner Schaie (1996) found that two intellectual abilities
(numerical ability and perceptual speed) declined in middle age
and four intellectual abilities (vocabulary, verbal memory,
inductive reasoning, and spatial orientation) improved after
early adulthood
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18. 11-18
Figure 11.8 Longitudinal Changes in Six
Intellectual Abilities From Age 25 to Age 67
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19. Socioemotional Development
in Early Adulthood
11-19
 During early adulthood, individuals enter Erikson's
intimacy versus isolation stage (developmental task
of forming intimate relationships with others or
becoming socially isolated)
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20. 11-20
Erikson's Eight Life-Span Stages
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21. Degree of Personal Life Investment at
Different Points in Life
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11-21
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22. Socioemotional Development
in Middle Adulthood
11-22
 Generativity (the consciousness of being in the middle
of one’s life) and questions about the meaning of life
are themes of middle adulthood
 Generativity versus stagnation - Erikson’s seventh
stage, in which individuals leave a legacy of
themselves to the next generation (generativity)
or do nothing for the next generation
(stagnation)
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23. 11-23
Generativity
 Middle-aged adults can develop generativity through:
– biological generativity - giving birth to an infant
– parental generativity - providing nurturance and guidance
to children
– work generativity - developing skills that are passed down
to others
– cultural generativity - creating or conserving an aspect of
culture
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24. 11-24
Midlife Crises
 Levinson (1978) interviewed middle-aged men and
identified four major conflicts:
– being young versus being old
– being destructive versus being constructive
– being masculine versus being feminine
– being attached to others versus being separated from them
 Other research indicated only 10% of people
experienced a midlife crisis
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25. Socioemotional Development
in Late Adulthood
11-25
 Integrity versus despair - Erikson’s late adulthood
stage in which individuals engage in a life review that
is either positive (integrity) or negative (despair)
 Life review - involves looking back on one’s life
experiences and evaluating them
 Older adults report experiencing more positive emotion
and less negative emotion
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26. 11-26
Self-Regulation
 As individuals get older, they face losses so they are
likely to adjust best when they:
– reduce performance in areas in which they are not
competent (selectivity)
– perform in areas in which they can still function effectively
(optimization)
– compensate in circumstances with high mental or physical
demands (compensation)
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27. 11-27
Social Development of the Aged
 Religion can provide important psychological needs in
older adults:
– help them face impending death
– find and maintain sense of meaningfulness in life
– accept inevitable losses of old age
 Religion has been shown to be related to a sense of
well-being and life satisfaction
 The more active and involved older adults are, the
more satisfied they are and the more likely they are to
stay healthy
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28. 11-28
Facing One’s Own Death
 Elisabeth Kübler-Ross (1969) - five stages of dying:
– denial and isolation
– anger
– bargaining
– depression
– acceptance
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29. 11-29
Adjustment Strategies
for Communication With a Dying Person
1. Establish your presence
2. Eliminate distraction
3. Be sensitive to how long you should stay
4. Don’t insist the person feel acceptance of death
5. Encourage expression of feelings
6. Don’t be afraid to ask what the expected outcome
for their illness is
7. Ask if there is anyone he or she would like to see
8. Encourage the dying person to reminisce
9. Talk when she or he wishes to
10. Express your regard for the dying person
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30. 11-30
Grieving
Grief = emotional numbness, disbelief, separation
anxiety, despair, sadness, and loneliness that
accompanies loss of someone you love
 For most individuals, grief becomes manageable over
time
 Many grieving spouses report that they have never
gotten over their loss
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