The document outlines developmental stages from early adulthood to late adulthood, detailing physical, cognitive, and emotional changes. Early adulthood focuses on establishing relationships and careers, while middle adulthood addresses aging and emotional stability despite societal perceptions of a 'midlife crisis.' Late adulthood highlights inevitable physical decline and cognitive issues such as dementia, culminating in reflections on life's meaning and integrity.

1. EARLY ADULTHOOD
(19-29 years old)
Created by: Gerard F. Tolero

2. • Individuals who are typically vibrant, active
and healthy, and are focused on
friendships, romance, child bearing and
careers.
• Yet serious conditions, such as violent
events, depression and eating disorders,
can negatively impact young adults.

4. PHYSICAL CHANGES
• Females reach their adult heights by age 18,and,
except for some males who continue to grow in
their early 20’s, most have reached their adult
heights by the age of 21.
• Death rates due to disease are low in this life
stage, but the rate of violence-related deaths is
high.
• People in this age group is eating disorders, which
include anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and
binge-eating disorder.

5. COGNITIVE CHANGES
• In Early adulthood essential brain growth already has taken
place, and individuals are now applying and using their
knowledge, and analytical capabilities.
• Additionally, many theorists, such as Jean Piaget (1896-
1980) noted a significant difference between adult and
adolescent thinking. Adults have more flexibility in their
thought patterns, understanding that there are multiple
opinions on issues, and that there is more than one way to
approach a problem.
• They are focused on developing their careers and achieving
independence from their families- a crucial requirement
for balanced, well functioning adults.

6. EMOTIONAL CHANGES
• Theorist Erik Erikson (1902-1994) maintained that
individuals develop in psychosocial stages, and
that early adulthood marks the time when
individuals seek to form intimate relationships.
And Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) argued that a
healthy adult is one who can “love and work.”
Simply stated, this developmental stage is
characterized by relationships and work.

7. MIDDLE ADULTHOOD
(30-60 years old)

9. • The ubiquitous term “middle crisis” that many in
society take for granted, doesn’t exist, according
to many developmental psychology researchers,
and in fact, most people during middle adulthood
are satisfied and pleased with their lives.
• Developmentalists categorize this life stage as
people between 35-64, and they maintain that
healthy and unhealthy lifestyles and attitudes
are the main concern for those in this age group.

10. PHYSICAL CHANGES
• For those in middle adulthood, aging is inevitable. By age
64, visible signs are apparent , such as gray and thinning
hair, wrinkles, the need for reading and bifocal
eyeglasses, and some hearing loss.
• Internally, changes are taking place as well, with some
decline in the major organs, including the lungs, heart
and digestive system; additionally women undergo
menopause sometime between the ages of 42 and 51.
• Developmentalists also study individuals vitality, or “joy of
living” during the middle adult years as they have found
high correlations between positive, upbeat attitudes and
physical and mental health.

11. COGNITIVE CHANGES
• Two researchers during the 1960’s, Raymond Cattell and
John Horn, identified categories of intelligence –
crystallized and fluid intelligence. These researchers
argued that fluid intelligence, or the ability to process new
concepts and facts quickly and creatively, including
abstract reasoning problems, independent of previous
education or learning, peaks in adolescence and then
starts a gradual decline between the ages of 30 and 40.
• Those in this age group typically need to simultaneously
manage a variety of family issues including children at
various ages of development, aging, ill parents and
financial concerns and worries.

12. EMOTIONAL CHANGES
• This is a time of great emotional upheaval, anxiety, and
drastic changes in behavior.
• Most middle-aged individuals say that they are in
meaningful intimate relationships, including those who
have been married for several years. For those who
divorce and remarry, many report satisfying intimacy
although most report that remarriage brings a new set of
challenges.
• And developmentalists have found that most people in
this age group have less problems with their children and
also better relationships with their own parents.

13. LATE ADULTHOOD
(61 years and above)

15. PHYSICAL CHANGES
• Primary aging, or inevitable changes in the body, occurs
regardless of human behavior. Gray hair, wrinkles, visible
blood vessels on the skin, and fat deposits on your chin or
abdomen affect those in this age group.
• Also, diminished eyesight and hearing, to some extent,
affects all older adults.
• And some in their 70’s will lose a significant portion of their
taste and smell senses.
• All the major organs and bodily systems slow-down –
cardiovascular, respiratory, digestive, and renal/urinary.

16. COGNITIVE CHANGES
• Overall, memory fades as people age and there are
marked differences in each decade- the 70’s, 80’s, and
90’s.
• However, some people defy that general trends and either
maintain their mental sharpness into their 80’s and 90’s,
or, more rarely develop a form of dementia in the middle
or beginning of late adulthood.
• One of the central concern as people age is dementia,
which includes many diseases and syndromes, including
Alzheimer’s, Parkinson's, Huntington’s, multiple sclerosis,
and vascular dementia, which is caused by strokes.

17. EMOTIONAL CHANGES
• Theorist Erik Erikson (1902-1994) devised a
framework for development based on psychosocial
stages, and he defined the last stage of life as a
tension between integrity and despair. Individuals
either come to accept their lives as having
meaning and integrity, or they contemplate their
life as unproductive and unfulfilling- feeling
despair.

18. Infancy
and Early
Childhood
(0-5)
Middle
Childhood
(6-12)
Adolescenc
e (13-18)
Early
Adulthood
(19-29)
Middle
Adulthood
(30-60)
Later
Maturity
(61- and
over)
1. Learning to walk 1. Learning physical
skills necessary
for ordinary
games
1. Achieving mature
relations with both
sexes
1. Selecting a mate 1. Helping teenage
children to become
happy and responsible
adults
1. Adjusting to
decreasing strength
and health
2. Learning to take
solid foods
2. Building a
wholesome attitude
toward oneself
2. Achieving a
masculine or feminine
social role
2. Learning to live
with a partner
2.Achieving adult
social and civic
responsibility
2. Adjusting to
retirement and
reduced income
3. Learning to talk 3. Learning to get
along with age mates
3. Accepting one
physique
3. Starting a family 3. Satisfactory career
achievement
3. Adjusting to death
of spouse
4. Learning to control
the elimination of
body wastes
4. Learning an
appropriate sex role
4. Achieving
emotional
independence of
adults
4. Rearing children 4. Developing adult
leisure time activities
4. Establishing
relations with one’s
own age group
5. Learning sex
differences and sexual
modesty
5. Developing
fundamental skills in
reading, writing, and
calculating
5. Preparing for
marriage and family
life
5. Managing a home 5. Relating to one’s
spouse as a person
5. Meeting social civic
obligations
6. Acquiring concepts
and language to
describe social and
physical reality
6. Developing
concepts necessary
for everyday living
6. Preparing for an
economic career
6. Starting an
occupation
6. Accepting the
physiological changes
of middle age.
6. Establishing
satisfactory living
quarters
7. Readiness for
reading
7. Developing
conscience, morality,
and a scale of values
7. Acquiring values
and ethical system to
guide behavior
7. Assuming civic
responsibility
7. Adjusting to aging
parent
8. Learning to
distinguish right from
wrong and developing
conscience.
8. Achieving personal
independence
9. Developing
acceptable attitudes
toward society
8. Desiring and
achieving socially
responsible behavior

19. Sources:
www.psychologypeers.com