SOCIAL AND PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT IN EARLY ADULTHOOD

1. SOCIAL AND PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT IN EARLY ADULTHOOD

2. Table 14-1

3. What makes young adults happy? • Happiest memories = • Unhappiest memories = • Culture influences which psychological needs are most important in determining happiness

4. What makes us tick? Social Clocks of Adulthood - milestones of development - marriage? - children? • Cultural influence • Ravenna Helson’s research found that women become more:

5. Seeking Intimacy: Erikson’s Viewof Young Adulthood INTIMACY-VERSUS-ISOLATION STAGE Intimacy = Isolation = - felt that people who did not develop traditional relationships would suffer

6. Friendship • Important part of adult life need for belonging • Maslow - - - -

7. Passionate and Companionate Love: Two Faces of Love • PASSIONATE (ROMANTIC LOVE) • COMPANIONATE LOVE

8. Sternberg’s Triangular Theory: Three Faces of Love • Robert Sternberg • Intimacy-feelings of closeness • Passion-sex, physical closeness and romance • Decision/Commitment-love and determination that maintain that love

9. Attachment Styles and Romantic Relationships • Infant attachment style is reflected in adult romantic relationships (Shaver) • Secure • Avoidant • Anxious-ambivalent

10. To Marry or Not to Marry: That is the Question More people may be Labeled a POSSLQ – Persons of the opposite Sex living together

11. Why do people choice cohabitation rather than marriage? • Not ready for lifelong commitment • “Practice” for marriage • Reject institution of marriage

12. Why marry? • Preferred alternative during early adulthood • Desirability of spouse roles – economic, sexual, therapeutic and recreational roles • Legitimatization of children • Legal benefits and protections

13. What makes marriage work? • Successful married partners: • Show affection • Communicate relatively little negativity • Perceive themselves as interdependent • Experience social homogamy, similarity in leisure activity. and role preferences • Hold similar interest • Agree on distribution of roles

14. Divorce Around the World Increases in divorce rates are significant worldwide.

15. When the Honeymoon Wanes

16. Nearly half of married couples experience significant degree of conflict. • Realities of daily living sink in, and they become more aware of flaws. • Sources of conflict:

17. But the news is not all bad! Most married couples: • View early years of marriage as deeply satisfying • Find themselves more deeply in love than before marriage • Report newlywed period:

18. Parenthood: Choosing to Have Children • Statistics • Costs • Reasons

19. What produced the decline in the US fertility rate? • Availability of more reliable birth control methods • Increasing numbers: • Choosing to have children later • Cost of raising and educating children • Fear of not being:

20. Dual-Earner Couples Working Parent Statistics and Distribution of Chores 496

21. Close to ¾ of married women with school-aged children work outside home. • More than 50% of mothers of children under age 6 work outside home. • In majority of families, both partners work, but wife generally spend more time taking care of the children. • Husbands primarily perform outside chores, and women do housework, child care, meal preparation. • Although husbands and wives work about same number of hours at their paying, women spend more time doing chores and child care tasks. • Women’s household chores tend to be devoted to things that need immediate attention and wives may experience greater levels of anxiety and stress.

22. Birth of child brings about dramatic shift in spouse's roles and sometimes decrease in marital satisfaction. • Western culture’s emphasis on individualism views childrearing as primarily private enterprise. Parents in Western society are largely left without significant community support. Consequently, for many couples, strains accompanying the birth of child produce lowest level of marital satisfaction of any point in marriage. • Not all couples experience decrease in marital satisfaction upon birth of child. Factors that permit couples to successfully weather stress of child: • Working to build fondness and affection towards each other. • Remaining aware of events in spouse's life and responding to those events. • Considering challenges controllable and solvable. • Satisfaction closely related to state of marriage before birth of child.

23. WORK: CHOOSING AND EMBARKING ON A CAREER

24. Identity During Young Adulthood: Role of Work Vaillant : Career consolidation • General pattern of psychological development as young adults center on careers • Career concerns supplant focus on intimacy • Criticisms

25. Picking an Occupation • Ginzberg’s Career Choice Theory • Fantasy period-until age 11 • Tentative period –during adolescence • Realistic period-young adults • Criticism • Non-representative sample • Overstates choices and options to lower SES people • Age demarcations may be too rigid

26. Gender and Career Choices: Women’s Work • Traditionally • Women less likely found in male-dominated professions

27. The Gender-Wage Gap

28. Why Do People Work? • Motivation • Extrinsic • Intrinsic • Personal identity • Status

29. Satisfaction on the Job • Satisfaction related to job status • Worker satisfaction also associated with:

30. The Informed Consumer of Development Choosing a Career: Beginning Guidelines • Systematically evaluate a variety of choices. • Know yourself. • Create a “balance sheet,” • “Try out” different careers through paid or unpaid internships. • Remember that if you make a mistake, you can change careers. • It is reasonable to expect that careers may change throughout life.