Adolescence and Adulthood

Adult stages change with each individual. Some adults are married at 20 years of age, while some marry at 50, and other, not at all. Some adults have children at 20, some at 50 and some never have children. We have 30 year old bosses and 60 year old bosses. Marathon runners at 20 years old and 60 years old. We have people in their late 20s who still live at home.

This explains why

• It is difficult to generalize adult developmental stages.

• some babies respond to faces with smiles.

• adolescence is so hard.

• toddlers learn to speak at different ages.

Physical: peak of performance

Social: changing, assessing, ticking social clock

Cognitive: education and career training

• childhood

• adolescence

• young adulthood

• middle adulthood

Generativity (Erikson)- creating, aiding the next generation

- prevents stagnation

• adolescence

• young adulthood

• middle adulthood

• late adulthood

Developmental tasks of young adults:

• intimate relationships

• begin families and parenthood

• assuming career and job responsibilities

• learning language

• learn object permanence

This is the preferred timing in which people should leave home, marry, have children etc. It has loosened over the last 20 years, however many women still feel pressured to have children before they are physically unable.

• Social Clock

• Social Contract

• Humanity Clock

• Psychological Clock

Senses less sharp, hearing, taste etc., reaction time slower, brittle bones and easily broken

• middle adulthood

• infancy

• childhood

• late adulthood

degenerative brain disorder

• Alzheimer's

• Multiple Sclerosis

• brain cancer

Some people in late adulthood occasionally experience memory loss, but most memory loss is normal. Many older adults do have some general decline in intellectual ability, as measured by scores on intelligence tests. It’s worse when it comes to performing a task quickly. A majority of older age people have no serious decline in intellectual skills.

________ aids memory by stimulating the development of neural connections and by promoting neurogenesis, the birth of new nerve cells, in the hippocampus.

• exercise

• medications

• playing chess

_______believed that people in late adulthood are challenged by the maintenance of ego integrity - the belief that life is meaningful and worthwhile even when physical abilities are not what they used to be a persons with ego integrity is able to accept their approaching death as part of life. It’s a big challenge. If seniors can meet this challenge, they can be happy. If not, they risk falling into despair because they feel that they are losing everything that matters.

• Erik Erikson

• Sigmund Freud

• William James

• PIaget

stereotyping and discriminating basis of a person's age. Similar to racism and sexism, involves holding negative stereotypes about people of different ages. In this case, is a refers to older people.

• Ageism

• racism

• discrimination