CHAPTER 13 Early Adulthood Physical and Cognitive Development

CHAPTER 13 Early Adulthood: Physical and Cognitive Development

Emerging Adulthood

Emerging Adulthood • Emerging adulthood – Distinct period of development that is found in societies that allow young people an extended opportunity to explore their roles in life – These societies tend to be affluent; parents or government help with higher education – However, some people cannot gain the necessary supports to successfully travel into emerging adulthood – Adults in this stage report maturity in some areas but not in others.

Physical Development

Physical Development • Physical development peaks in early adulthood. – (20’s and early 30’s) then declines • Sensory sharpness peaks in early 20’s and then begins gradual decline in middle adulthood • Visual acuity remains good until middle adulthood. – Decline leads to farsightedness and a need for reading glasses • Hearing decline beginning in late 20’s/early 30’s

Physical Development (cont’d) • Changes in cardiovascular, respiratory, and immune systems gradually begin to decline. – Regular exercise can increase cardiovascular and respiratory capacity. – As people age, the immune system produces fewer white blood cells and the disease-fighting ability of those that remain declines.

Physical Development (cont’d) • Fertility decreases as both sexes age. Women – After age 35, pregnant women are checked for Down syndrome and chromosomal abnormalities. – Number of eggs in women are reduced and the quality is not as good – May still have healthy children into their 40’s Men – Older men may contribute to infertility as well.

Physical Development (cont’d) • Both sexes may be graying and losing hair by end of early adulthood – Due to heredity, men may bald by mid 20’s. • Skin may begin to loosen, grow less elastic, and wrinkle – More so in women than in men

Health and Fitness

Health and Fitness • Young adults tend to have healthy immune systems. • Accidents most prominent reason for early death – Further declines among 25 - to 44 -year-olds • Homicide accounts for 13. 9% of deaths of 25 - to 44 -year -old men. – Does not decline until 40 to 65 years of age • Cancer and heart disease kill a much larger percentage of people aged 25 to 44 than aged 15 to 24, but they take second and third place behind accidents • HIV/AIDS becomes leading cause of death among 25 to 44 -year-olds

Health and Fitness (cont’d) • Many young adults do not take care of health and put it on “back burner” – 78% of young adults eat less fruits and vegetables than recommended – 43% engage in no physical activity – 29% are smokers – 30% engage in binge drinking – 26% are overweight – 14% are obese (Mc. Cracken et al. , 2007)

Diet and Weight • Females more likely than males to report dieting • Being overweight runs in families. – Strong heredity role • Adaptive thermogenesis may sabotage weight loss efforts. • Psychological factors – Observational learning, stress, and emotional states contribute to obesity.

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Exercise • Adults 18+ need 30 minutes of physical activity five or more days a week. – Breaking exercise into smaller segments is beneficial • Reduces risk of developing or dying from – cardiovascular disease – type 2 diabetes – certain cancers such as colon • Exercise helps lower blood pressure and cholesterol, prevents or retards osteoporosis and arthritis, and reduces obesity. – Benefits brain function and helps with some mental disorders • Integrating exercise into daily routine best way

Substance Abuse and Dependence • Substance abuse – Ongoing use of a substance despite the social, occupational, psychological, or physical problems it causes (APA, 2000) • Substance dependence – Having the substance in the body becomes a norm • Tolerance – Body becomes habituated to a certain amount and needs more to achieve same effect • Abstinence syndrome – Withdrawal symptoms when dosage is lowered

Effects of Depressants • Depressants slow the nervous system. – Include alcohol, narcotics derived from the opium poppy (heroine, morphine, and codeine), and sedatives (barbiturates and methaqualone) • Alcohol effects – Lowers inhibitions – Binge drinking associated with bad grades and risky behavior such as unprotected sex, acts of aggression – Distorts perceptions, impairs concentration • Alcohol use most prevalent among 21 - to 34 -year-olds – Over 2 million college students a year drive under the influence of alcohol. – More than one million between the ages of 18 to 24 are accidentally injured while under the influence.

Effects of Depressants (cont’d) • Barbiturates are addictive. – In part due to their legitimate medical uses • They are abused due to – relaxing effects – mild euphoric effects

Effects of Stimulants • Stimulants increase central nervous system activity – Nicotine, cocaine, and amphetamines most common • Nicotine – Addictive chemical in tobacco • 450, 000 Americans die from smoking-related problems each year. • Cigarette smoke contains carbon monoxide. • Shortness of breath • Hydrocarbons that cause respiratory diseases and lung cancer

Effects of Stimulants (cont’d) • Cocaine produces feelings of euphoria, relieves pain, boosts self-confidence, reduces the appetite • Cocaine – – – accelerates heart rate spikes the blood pressure constricts arteries of heart thickens blood can cause cardiovascular and respiratory collapse • Cocaine overdoses can causes restlessness, insomnia, tremors, and death.

Effects of Stimulants (cont’d) • Tolerance for amphetamines develops quickly. • Methamphetamine may be physically addictive. – High doses can cause restlessness and insomnia, irritability, and loss of appetite • Methamphetamine abuse can cause brain damage, leading to problems with learning and memory. – Smoking or injecting it can be associated with violent behavior

Effects of Hallucinogenics • Hallucinogenics contribute to perceptual distortions called hallucinations. • Marijuana, Ecstasy, LSD, and PCP are hallucinogenics. • Marijuana – can be smoked or eaten – helps users to relax and elevates their mood – provides greater sensory awareness, self-insight, creativity, and empathy for others – increases attunement to bodily sensations – visual hallucinations as in time slowing down occurs – strong intoxication frightens some smokers

Effects of Hallucinogenics (cont’d) • Marijuana health risks – Impaired perceptual-motor coordination, short-term memory, and slows learning – Regular users may experience withdrawal, which is a sign of addiction • Ecstasy (MDMA) – – Popular party drug; chemical formula similar to amphetamines Boosts self-confidence; alertness and elation increased Mild hallucinogenic Decreases inhibitions, which can result in risky behavior such as unprotected sex – Impairs working memory, increases anxiety, and can lead to depression

Effects of Hallucinogenics (cont’d) • LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide) – Hallucinogenic drug – Can impair coordination and judgment, change mood, and cause hallucinations and paranoid delusions

Stress and Health • One-third of Americans report living with “extreme stress”. (APA, 2012) • Stress negatively affects – psychological and physical health – social, academic, and vocational lives • Younger adults respond to stress in unhealthy ways. – Skipping meals, lying awake at night, smoking more when stressed

Stress Management Tips • Get in touch with the ways you experience stress • Identify stressors such as people and situations. • Get in touch with the way you handle or don’t handle stress. • Work on creating better ways to cope with stress. • Take care of your health. • Obtain social support

Sexuality

Sexuality • Sexual activity peaks in early 20’s • Sexual frequency may be due to surge of hormones and opportunity. • Men and women are still experiencing the flood of sex hormones that affected them as adolescents

Fig. 13 -5, p. 275

Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) • Chlamydia – Most commonly occurring STI in young adults followed by gonorrhea, genital warts, genital herpes, syphilis, and HIV/AIDS • 2. 8 million new Chlamydia infections occur each year. – Major cause of pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), which oftentimes leads to sterility

Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) (cont’d) • Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) – Major cause of genital warts and associated with cervical cancer – 6 million new cases of HPV each year in the U. S. – Estimated that 50% of men and women contract HPV at some time in their lives – A vaccine is available that prevents most young women from being infected • Genital warts not visible on the cervix in women or in the urethra in men • Greatest risk – Women initiating sex prior to age 18 and engaging with multiple partners

Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) (cont’d) • HIV/AIDS – Most devastating STI – If left untreated, is lethal; long-term prospects of those who do receive treatment unknown – 33 million people worldwide are living with HIV/AIDS • 2. 5 million are children under the age of 15 – Risk factors • • • Anal intercourse Injecting drugs by sharing needles Multiple sex partners Failing to use condoms Abusing drugs and alcohol

Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) (cont’d) • Women in U. S. less affected by HIV/AIDS, but in other parts of the world, are more likely to be infected • European, African, and Southeast Asian sexually active teenage girls have higher rates of HIV infection than older women or young men

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Menstrual Problems • 50 to 75% of women experience discomfort prior to or during menstruation. • Dysmenorrhea – Pelvic cramps – May be brought on by hormones called prostaglandins – Fluid retention in the pelvic region may cause bloating • Amenorrhea – Absence of menstruation and a sign of infertility – Symptom of anorexia nervosa and extreme exercise • Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) – Combination of biological and psychological symptoms affecting women during the four- to six-day interval preceding menstruation

Menstrual Problems (cont’d) • Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMDD) – More severe than PMS; a technical term used by American Psychiatric Association • Premenstrual symptoms include – psychological discomfort, muscular tension, aches, or pains; cause of PMS may be due to body’s responses to changing levels of estrogen and progesterone; linked with imbalances in neurotransmitters such as serotonin and GABA • Treatment includes – exercise, dietary control, vitamin supplements, hormone treatments, and medications that reduce anxiety or increase the activity of serotonin

Rape: The Most Intimate Crime of Violence • Rape is defined as – sex with a nonconsenting person by the use of force or the threat of force • Women aged 16 to 24 – 2 to 3 times more likely to be raped than girls or older women • Most states permit prosecution of husbands who rape their wives • Statistics – 1 in 4 U. S. women are raped during lifetime – 188, 000 women assaulted in 2010 – 10% of rape victims are men whose assailants are generally men – 2/3 of rapes not reported

Types of Rape • Acquaintance rape – – 90% of rapes committed by acquaintances of the victim Includes classmates, coworkers, dates, or family friends Less likely to be reported to the police Misunderstood type of rape; may be passed off as lover’s quarrel • Date rape – More likely to occur when there has been too much to drink and then the couple parks in the male’s car or the female goes to his residence

Social Attitudes, Myths, and Cultural Factors that Encourage Rape • Some attitudes toward rape consist of – the beliefs that a woman wants a forceful and pushy man – the way a woman dresses encourages rape – women want to be overpowered and forced into sex by men • Society pushes males into socially and sexually dominant roles by reinforcing males as children for aggressive and competitive behavior as well as ostracizing them for “feminine” traits such as tenderness and empathy, which might restrain aggression

Sexual Harassment • In the workplace, defined as deliberate or repeated unwanted comments, gestures, or physical contact • Make the workplace a hostile environment • Sexual harassment includes – sexual jokes, overtures, suggestive comments, verbal abuse, leering at or ogling a person’s body, unwelcome physical contact, outright sexual assault • Includes demands for sex accompanied by threats about one’s job or student status

Sexual Harassment (cont’d) • Sexual harassment oftentimes ignored – The victim may suffer from anxiety, irritability, lower self-esteem, and anger. – Some resign from their jobs due to the harassment. • Some harassers maintain the victim took them too seriously. • Has to do with abuse of power more than sexual desire – Especially true in “male” fields • Employers are accountable if harassment creates a hostile or abusive work environment or interferes with an employee’s work performance.

Cognitive Development

Cognitive Development • People at height of cognitive ability during early adulthood • Improvements – People retain verbal skills and may improve vocabulary and general knowledge as they age – Crystallized intelligence increases with age • Declines – Memory shows great decline as we age – Problem-solving speed and visual-spatial skills decline as we age. – Fluid intelligence more likely to decrease with age

Cognition Across Age Groups and Gender • Young adults more focused in their use of scientific expertise than adolescents are • Late adolescents are likely to have the broadest general knowledge of the sciences, whereas young adults who continue in the sciences will need to narrow their focus. • Academic gaps between males and females are smaller.

Perry’s Theory of Epistemic Cognition • Epistemic cognition – Concerns our ideas about how we arrive at our beliefs, facts, and ideas • College students’ views on what and how they know something becomes more complex as they are exposed to the challenges of college thought. • College exposure consists of learning material, but also learning different cultures and backgrounds as well as different views taught by professors. • Students move from dualistic thinking to a more relativistic thinking to commitment as they mature.

Labouvie-Vief’s Theory of Pragmatic Thought • Pragmatic thought – Adults must narrow possibilities into choices (Labouvie-Vief, 2006) • Cognitively healthy adult is more willing to compromise and cope with the world as it is • Cognitive-affective complexity – The harboring of both positive and negative feelings about career choices, partners (Labouvie-Vief, 2006) – Adults function best when they can accept reality but choose goals that allow positive feelings.

Postformal Thinking • Young adults are less egocentric than adolescents. • Young adults more relativistic but ideally capable of making commitments in their relativistic world • Young adults maintain most of the benefits of their general secondary education; if gone on to higher education, they have gained specialized skills • No scientific agreement if there is a stage past Piaget’s formal operations

College and Cognitive Development • Postformal thought involves the recognition that some problems are too complex to have simple answers and that people make judgments based on their own assumptions and values. • Community colleges and four-year institutions encourage broadening experiences in this cognitive domain.

The Diverse Culture of College • Diversity refers to the differences we find between groups of people. – Ethnic and cultural diversity, socioeconomic level, gender, age, and sexual orientation • College experience includes meeting people who are different from one’s self • College will challenge formerly held beliefs as well as spur cognitive growth.

The Diverse Culture of College (cont’d) • Ways to benefit from diversity on your campus - Recognize your way of looking at the world is not universal Embrace opportunities to meet different people Your initial reaction to a new culture may be defensive Understand what makes others’ traits valuable to them Listen to others’ descriptions and concerns Immerse yourself in a different culture Commit to understand a given situation from a different point of view

Career Development

Choosing a Career • Particular occupation may not be chosen until college years or after • Most career choices based on experiences and personalities – Some follow respected members of the community – Some young adults postpone career decisions until after college • Many young adults “fall into” careers due to what is available at the time, family pressures, or the lure of high income or a particular lifestyle.

Career Development • Work provides extrinsic and intrinsic motives. • Extrinsic motives – Paycheck, fringe benefits, security • Intrinsic motives – Opportunity to engage in stimulating and satisfying activities – Includes work ethic, self-identity, self-fulfillment, self-worth, socialization, and public roles • More women quit their careers due to intrinsic motives.

Super’s Stages of Career Development • Fantasy stage – Involves child’s unrealistic conception of self-potential and of the world of work – Dominates until age 11 • Tentative choice stage – From age 11 to 17, focus is on some realistic self-assessment and knowledge of occupations – Based on interests, abilities, limitations, and glamour • Realistic choice stage – Choices become narrow after age 17 as student weighs job requirements and rewards against interests, abilities, and values

Super’s Stages of Career Development (cont’d) • Maintenance stage – Person settles into career role, which normally occurs in the second half of our 30 s – Career continues to develop, and there is a feeling of moving forward – Job hopping more necessary due to corporate downsizing, mergers, and acquisitions – Return to school for different training; may need to occur out of necessity as well as interest • Retirement stage – Individual severs bonds with the workplace; retirees often undertake second or third careers

Developmental Tasks in a Beginning Career • Career challenges may include – learning how to carry out the job tasks – accepting your subordinate status within the organization or profession – learning how to get along with coworkers and supervisor – showing that you can maintain the job, make improvements, and show progress – finding a sponsor or mentor – defining the boundaries between the job and other areas of life – evaluating your choice in the light of supervisor appraisal – measurable outcomes – learning to cope with the daily stressors