Human Development. The transitions of Early Adulthood. Breann Thompson.

1. Human Development
The Transitions of Early Adulthood
By Breann Thompson
PSY1170

2. College and the responsibilities that
came with it helped me transition
from teenager to adulthood
-Lee Thompson Young

3. What is early adulthood?
• The time between adolescence and middle age
(varies between ages 20-40)
• Physical abilities are at its peak
• A bulk of our lives are spent in this development
• Intimate relationships begin to form e.g. marriage,
common law
• Begin to develop an interest in childhood
development by becoming parents

4. Social Changes
• The timing of an early adulthood life changes will vary
among individuals but they do however follow the same
sequence known as the “social clock”
• Social clock- a sequence of life experiences in a
particular culture such as: moving out of parents house,
getting married
• There are still some people who do not follow the social
clock. Others may refer to these types of people as
atypical and unusual and will usually take criticism from
others

5. Friendship
• Gender differences.
Women are more personally involved than men
Friendships of women are stronger than friendships of men
• After marriage cross-gender friendships are less common due to jealously
• Men tend to form their friendships with work colleagues
• When people marriage, they become more dependant on their spouses for social needs
• After the arrival of children, women’s amount of friendships see a decrease
• When children become more independent, amount of women’s friendships will increase

6. Marriage in Early Adulthood
• Marriage remains an important milestone of the young adult years
• Marriage consists of important psychological factors such as: love,
nurture & comfort of each other, intimacy, conflict resolution
• People are getting married a lot later in life than compared to 30
years ago
• A good marriage is considered beneficial as greater life satisfaction
is achieved compared to of those who don’t marry

7. Divorce in Early Adulthood
When the psychological factors of marriage have drifted and are no
longer there, this may result in a divorce.
• Average age of divorce men 44 years, women 41 years
• Likelihood of divorcing is lower in a first marriage than it is in a
remarriage
• Stress and depression are two major health problems associated
with divorce
• Effects the social clock and timing for future family roles

8. Parenthood
• Majority of young adult men and women want at least 1
child
• Couples who are in long-term intimate relationships make
having a child to be an important goal
• Even though physical abilities are at its peak at this stage,
stress is often developed during the transition into
parenthood
• 4 types of parenting styles: permissive, authoritative,
authoritarian, uninvolved

9. Parenting Styles
Permissive parenting style: parents who are warm, affectionate and
high in nurturance but are overly accepting of their child’s behaviour
good and bad
Authoritative parenting style: a style in parenting that is high in
nurturance and warmth and are firm with restrictions and expectations
of their child's behaviour
Authoritarian parenting style: is a type of strict parenting style that
expects a child to obey the rules that are made by the parents with little
or no input from the child
Uninvolved(neglect) parenting style: a parent is emotionally
uninvolved in their child’s life

10. Martial satisfaction can decrease after the birth of a
child. However, the longer that a couple has been together
before having a child, followed by the amount of children
they have as well as the amount of education each adult has,
can all relate and benefit to martial satisfaction. If parents do
not agree on the same parenting style, this too can sometimes
lead to dissatisfaction of marriage.
Something to Consider

11. Establishing a Career
• Men have more continuous careers whereas women often have
discontinuous careers due to family needs or having children
• People who enter their chosen field after their schooling is completed,
are often disappointed
• As being new to the work force, people are often discouraged between
their expectations and reality
• The average person in their 20’s relocates to a new job every 2 years
• Young adults can sometimes take a bit to get adjusted and settled into
their jobs

12. Work and Family
• Combining work and family can be stressful on most parents
• Especially families who are dual income earners (both parents work)
• Best to establish a career that has time-flexible policies that are available
(e.g. take time off work to take care of a sick child)
• Work/life balance is both beneficial to employers and employees
Employees Employers
• Less stressed
• Felt more committed to
work
• Flex to work from
home
• Happier marriages
• More productive
• Arrived to work on
time
• Worked harder
• Fewer missed days

13. Physical Development
• Physical abilities are at it’s peak
• Senses are at their sharpest
• Eyesight will not start to drastically decrease until
around the age of 40
• During adulthood it is very important to maintain
physical health
• Exercising 30 minutes a day can prevent future
health problems
• Must be more aware of their nutritional intake

14. Professional Life Reflection
When I finish school and enter the workforce, this will
benefit me by knowing what challenges I will be facing within my
career(s). This content will also be relevant to what I can expect
between other young adults and myself while working parallel.
Knowing some of the challenges I will eventually go through
depending on my life choices, It will benefit me in the future to
follow the path of a career that will work out well for me to be
able to have a rewarding work life balance career.

15. Personal Reflection
The transition of early adulthood is relevant to me on a
personal basis because this is the stage of development I am
currently in. I have a better outlook on what some of the
challenges I will be faced with and some of the different ways to
cope with them. Relationships, marriage, career and child rearing
are all some of the main events that are going to happen in this
development period for me. I now have a better understanding as
to what other young adults and myself are going through and to
know that some of the stages will be perfectly normal and are
very common among todays young adults.

16. I’ve heard this before from people: early 20s kind of
screws with your head a little bit because you’re
transitioning into adulthood and actually becoming an
adult with responsibilities and paying bills. So all of a
sudden, it’s like you’re responsible now.
-Dan Byrd

17. References
• https://new.edu/resources/early-and-middle-adulthood-building-effective-lives
• http://catalogue.pearsoned.ca/assets/hip/us/hip_us_pearsonhighered/samplechapter/02
05748597.pdf
• http://family.jrank.org/pages/664/Friendship-Friendships-Throughout-Adulthood.html
• http://www.the-positive-parenting-centre.com/types_of_parenting_styles.html