Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Young Adulthood Personality and...

Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Young Adulthood Personality and Sociocultural Development

Chapter 13

13


Young AdulthoodPersonality and Sociocultural Development

• Self, Family, and Work

• Forming Close Relationships

• The Family Life Cycle and Adult Development

• The Occupational Cycle

• Work and Gender


Self, Family, and Work

• Self, family, and work are separate but interacting systems that represent various aspects of the self

• Theoretical conceptions of the self:

– Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

– Carl Rogers’ Unconditional Positive Regard

– Modern perspectives emphasize identity


Domains of Self


Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

SOURCE: From Motivation and personality (3rd ed. ), by A. H. Maslow, 1987. R. D. Frager and J. Fadiman (Eds.), copyright ｩ 1987. Adapted by permission of Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ.


Self as Family Member

• Achieving independence from parents is an important aspect of identity development in early adulthood

• Establishment of new family relationships is important for adult development

• 90% of young adults say that their family roles and responsibilities are the most important components of who they are


Self as Worker

• Work provides an important context in identity development

• Extrinsic factors are important when jobs involve boring work

• Intrinsic factors are the focus when work is meaningful

• Workers whose jobs emphasize intrinsic factors report more job satisfaction


Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Motivations Toward Work


Forming Close Relationships

• Adult Friendships

• Couple Formation and Development

• Marriage

• Cohabitation

• Gay and Lesbian Couples

• Staying Single



• Friendships are a core aspect of adult life

• Adult friends that last involve reciprocity and mutuality

• Most people pair off romantically in young adulthood

• Erikson: “coupling” is the essential task of young adulthood

– Sternberg’s theory of love consists of three components: intimacy, passion, and decision/commitment.


Sternberg’s Triangular Theory of Love

Source: Adapted by Feldman. 1998, from” A Triangular Theory of Love.” by R. J. Sternberg, 1986, Phsycological Review, 93, pp. 119–135.


The Kinds of Love Based on Sternberg’s Triangular Theory



• Choosing a Romantic Partner– Stimulus-value-role theory: mate selection is

motivated by each partner’s attempt to get the best possible “deal”

– Is the relationship worthwhile? Three stages help one decide:

• Stimulus stage – meet and make initial judgments

• Value-comparison – are they compatible?

• Role stage – can they function in compatible roles in a marriage or other long-term relationship?


Marriage and Cohabitation• Over 90% of U.S. men and women

will marry at some point• Worldwide, courtship and marriage customs are

defined by culture• U.S. couples are marrying later today than they

did in previous decades• More U.S. couples are deciding to cohabit before

or instead of marriage; only 1/3 marry their cohabitation partner

• Gay and lesbian couples cannot legally marry in most states


Marital Status, Young Men and Women in the United States, 2007

Source: From Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2009, by the U.S. Census Bureau, 2009. Washiington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.


Living Arrangements of Young Adults in United States, 2007

Source: From Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2009, by the U.S. Census Bureau, 2009. Washiington, DC: Author.


The Family Life Cycle and Adult

Development

• The Family Life Cycle consists of seven major life events, though not all adults experience all of the events


The Family Life Cycle and Adult Development

• The first child changes the direction of family life irrevocably

• Fathers and mothers display different reactions to their children

• Social support, marital happiness, and parental self-esteem are factors in a couple’s adjustment to the first child


Effects of the Transition to Parenthood


Video Clip

A woman describes how she balances work, family, and graduate school:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bN1B25Toas0


The Family Life Cycle

• Coping with Children's Developmental Stages– Demands on parents vary at each period of

the family life cycle

– Not all parents adjust well to each stage

– Parents often renegotiate their own relationship as they deal with developmental demands of children

– Family structure needs to be flexible enough to adapt to children and parental needs


Stages of Parenthood


The Family Life Cycle

• Single Parenthood– Pressures of parenthood acute for single

parents

– In 2007, 29% of all U.S. families were maintained by a single parent, 25% by a single mother, and 4% by a single father.

– Single mother households twice as likely has single father households to be in poverty

– Welfare reform (PRWORA, 1996) led to some problems for single parents


Video Clip

NBC Nightly News excerpt on challenges posed by absent fathers:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SUo2w2SRhM


The Occupational Cycle

• Every worker’s occupational cycle is unique and filled with events and decisions

• Today most people have several different jobs and may change jobs in midcareer

• Jobs are increasingly technical

• Havighurst developed a model of career work cycles


Havighurst’s Developmental Model of the Traditional One-Career Work Cycle


The Work Cycle

• Gaining a Place in the Workforce– formal and informal training

– The reality shock sets in when young people start working

– Mentors are important for career development

– For most young adults, midcareer is a time of consolidation

– Climbing the corporate ladder is not as easy as may be anticipated


The Work Cycle

• Careers and Career Choices

– Career counseling helps people select jobs that are a good match

– Holland categorized career-related personality types and jobs according to personal characteristics required

– Although jobs and people are more complex than Holland’s model, it is proven that people work best in jobs that match their interests and personalities


Holland’s Theory of Careers


Work and Gender

• Since 1970s, women’s entry into the workforce has been increasing steadily

• In the last 25 years, women have made huge advances in professional fields like medicine, science, and law

• A large percentage of women are still limited to lower-paying jobs

• Women earn, on average, 78 cents for every dollar a man earns– Black women earn even less, on average


Video Clip

Debate on whether the military’s don’t ask, don’t tell policy should be repealed:http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/politics/2009/05/20/am.costello.dadt.cnn?iref=videosearch


Work and Gender

• Women who work in careers are happier and have higher self-esteem than women who are unemployed, working part-time, or working in low-paying jobs

• The increase of women in the workforce has produced an increase in dual-earner incomes

• Women who work still do more of the housework and child-rearing tasks than do men

• Dual-earner families have to deal with the stress of juggling work and family roles


Summary

• Young adulthood is a time when most people are involved with a career, finding a romantic partner, and building a family

• Modern perspectives on the self focus on identity. Although identity may change in response to circumstances, a balanced integrative identity is the most healthy

• Work and separation from parents are important contexts of personality and social development

• Erik Erikson emphasized the importance of establishing an intimate relationship at this stage, the stage of intimacy versus isolation


Summary

• Over 90% of U.S. men and women will marry at some point; many cohabit before marriage

• Gays and lesbians generally cannot marry, though they may in some places be able to adopt children

• Parenthood involves new roles and responsibilities, and is a time of great transition for young adults

• Single-parents have many challenges.• Today, most people will have several different

jobs and career changes in their lives


Summary

• Women still make less than men and often take more flexible approaches to their careers in order to take care of their families

• Career-oriented women tend to be happier and have better self-esteem than women who are unemployed or have low-paying jobs

• Stress in dual-earner families is common, especially in the area of finding quality child care

Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Young Adulthood Personality and...

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