Chapter 11: Early Adulthood (24 to 34 years)

Major Concepts in the Study of Adulthood: Life Course –Life course refers to the integration and sequencing of phases of work and family life over time. –Trajectory: the path of one’s life experiences in a specific domain. –Transition: the beginning or ending of an event or relationship.

Major Concepts in the Study of Adulthood: Life Course (cont.) –Social Clock: age norms and expectations for particular roles or behaviors. Also implies there are expectations for the sequence of roles, or, role sequencing –Pattern of the life course is influenced by the historical era. –Cohort: group of people who are roughly the same age during a particular historical period.

Exploring Intimate Relationships: Cohabitation –Cohabitation rather than marriage has become a common expression of a committed relationship. –Increasing number of children growing up in the context of cohabiting relationships. –Consensual union: a form of marital union often practiced in Latin America.

Exploring Intimate Relationships: Cohabitation (cont.) –Six types of cohabitating relationships: Marginal Prelude to marriage Stage in the marriage process Alternative to being single Alternative to marriage Indistinguishable from marriage

Discussion questions What characteristics are important to you in romantic, long-term partner? What characteristics are important to people in your family who might influence your choice? Would you cohabitate? Explain why or why not.

Exploring Intimate Relationships: Forming Close Relationships Between Partners of the Same Sex. –Gay men and lesbians are a diverse group with respect to their interests, backgrounds, and other important aspects of adult roles. –Many of the dynamics in heterosexual relationships apply to same-sex couples. –Unique challenges often involve a climate of secrecy and social stigma, especially fears about parental rejection.

Sternberg’s Triangle

Exploring Intimate Relationships: Adjustment During the Early Years of Marriage. –Communication and Marital Adjustment: There are many sources of tension in a new marriage. Most problematic are issues of balancing employment and marriage and debt brought into marriage.

Exploring Intimate Relationships: Communication and Marital Adjustment. –High levels of disclosure and disclosure reciprocity are associated with greater relationship satisfaction. –Negative interactions and conflict are associated with marital distress.

Exploring Intimate Relationships: Communication and Marital Adjustment. –Three dimensions of conflict are important in differentiating happy and distressed marital relationships: Negative communication Coercive escalation Congruence –Lack of congruence

Exploring Intimate Relationships: Communication Styles of Men and Women. –Men and women communicate differently and have different perceptions of the process. However, both men and women prefer contact interactions, rather than controlling interactions. –Demand-withdraw pattern is associated with relationship dissatisfaction.

Marriage Scenario 1 Becca and Jason have been cohabitating for 3 years. In this period of time, Becca has been the main “breadwinner”…..

Marriage Scenario 2

Exploring Intimate Relationships: Adjustment in Dual-Earner Marriages. –There has been a great increase over the second half of the 20 th century in the number of married women who are employed. –Involvement of both husband and wife in the labor market requires redefinition of traditional family roles and the division of labor.

Exploring Intimate Relationships: Adjustment in Dual-Earner Marriages (cont.) –Four benefits for couples with multiple roles: Both partners are likely to be integrated into social support systems More financial resources Success in one role can buffer against negative experiences in other roles Involvement in similar roles provides partners a shared frame of reference

Childbearing: Fertility Rate –Fertility rates in the United States vary according to race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status. –Average number of births required for natural replacement of a population is 2.1 births.

Childbearing: Decisions about Childbearing –Decisions about childbearing are made in the context of other personal and family goals and commitments. –Cultures differ in the norms and expectations regarding the value of having children as well as the timing and frequency of pregnancies. –Decisions to postpone childbearing are often influenced by the social and biological clocks.

VIDEO: Deciding Whether to Have Kids

Childbearing: Dual Roles of Intimate Partner and Parent. –The arrival of the first child often brings joy, as well as a period of stress to the relationship. –The quality of marital adjustment over the transition to parenthood is related to marital quality before the child was born. –Having children does have an impact on marital companionship.

Childbearing: Non-marital Childbearing –Majority of births to unmarried women occur at younger ages: 22% of births to unmarried women ages –Decision to have child outside of marriage can be a result of divorce, widowhood, in the context of a lesbian or cohabiting relationship, or the desire to start a family without a partner.

Childbearing: The Decision Not To Have Children –Not all couples choose to have children –In 2006, 20% of women were childless –The U.S. culture continues to be pro- natalistic; placing a high value on having children.

Lifestyle: Social Network –Most people expand their social network during early adulthood due to participation in multiple roles. –Single adults and couples without children typically have more time for adult friendships than do parents.

VIDEO: Adult Women Juggling Roles

The Psychosocial Crisis: Intimacy –Intimacy: the ability to experience an open, supportive, tender relationship with another person without fear of losing one’s own identity in the process. Usually acquired toward the end of early adulthood

The Psychosocial Crisis: Interaction Styles of Men and Women –Men’s interaction styles vary from that of women; in that men are less intimate than women. The Psychosocial Crisis: Intimacy in the Work Setting –A common context for the establishment of intimacy is the work setting.

The Psychosocial Crisis: Isolation –Isolation: a crisis resolution in which situational factors or a fragile sense of self leads a person to remain psychologically distant from others. –Feelings of loneliness can be separated into three categories: transient, situational, and chronic.

The Psychosocial Crisis: Isolation –Fragile Identity: For some people, the possibility of closeness with another person seriously threatens the sense of self. –Sexual Disorders: Isolation may be linked to sexual disorders such as hypoactive sexual desire and compulsive sexual behavior.

The Psychosocial Crisis: Isolation (cont.) –Situational Factors: Isolation can also result from situation factors such as moving to a new town, educational or career decisions, etc. –Divergent Spheres of Interest Isolation can also be a product of diverging interests and activities.

The Psychosocial Crisis: Isolation (cont.) –Enmeshment: Some family therapists suggest that families are characterized by a continuum from disengaged to enmeshed. Enmeshed relationships are characterized by over-involvement in one another’s lives, to the extent that any change in one family member is met by strong resistance by the others.

The Prime Adaptive Ego Quality and the Core Pathology –Love: An emotion characterized by a capacity for mutuality that transcends the secure attachment of infancy. –Exclusivity: The core pathology of this period is exclusivity, a shutting out of others.

Applied Topic: Divorce –Factors contributing to divorce: Age at marriage Socioeconomic level Socio-emotional development Family history of divorce Coping with divorce Attachment to former spouse Coping strategies