Human Development Across the Life Span

Annotations:

• Transition and Continuity

1. Progress Before Birth: Prenatal Development

   Annotations:

   • Conception occurs when fertilization creates a zygote (one celled organism formed by the union of a sperm and egg)  The Prenatal Period extends from conception to birth, usually encompassing nine months of pregnancy.  development during the prenatal period is remarkably rapid
   1. The Course of Prenatal Development

      Annotations:

      • Divided into 3 stages: germinal, embryonic and fetal
      1. Germinal Stage

         Annotations:

         • The germinal stage is the first phase of prenatal development, encompassing the first two weeks after conception 
         • begins when a zygote is created through fertilization.  during the implantation process, the placenta begins to form. the placenta is a structure that allows oxygen and nutrients to pass into the fetus from the mothers bloodstream and bodily wastes to pass out to the mother this critical exchange takes place across thin membranes that block the passage of blood cells, keeping the fetal and maternal bloodstreams separate. 
      2. Embryonic Stage

         Annotations:

         • The embryonic stage is the second stage or prenatal developmental, lasting from two weeks until the end of the second month.
         • during this stage most of the vital organs and bodily systems begin to form in the developing organism, which in now called an embryo. it is usually 2.5 cm long, beginning to look human ( arms, legs, hands, feet, fingers, toes, eyes and ears)
         • this stage is under great vulnerability because virtually all of the basic physiological structures are being formed. Anything that interferes can be devastating. (most miscarriages happen at this time)  Most major structural birth defects are also due to problems that occur during the embryonic stage.
      3. Fetal Stage

         Annotations:

         • The Fetal Stage is the third stage of prenatal development, lasting from two months through birth. 
         • now called a fetus: becomes capable of physical movements as skeletal structures harden, organs formed in the embryonic stage continue to grow and gradually begin to function, sex organs start to develop during the third month during the last 3 months, the brain cells multiply at a brisk pace. sometime between 22 weeks and 26 weeks the fetus reaches the age of viability--the age at which a baby can survive in the event of a premature birth. at 23 weeks the probability of survival is still slim, and grows as you get closer to 26 unfortunately a great many of the premature infants born near the threshold of viability go on to experience a wide range of developmental problems.
   2. Environmental Factors and Prenatal Development

      Annotations:

      • Although the fetus develops in the protective buffer of the womb, events in the external environment can affect it indirectly through the mother Teratogens are any external agents, such as drugs or viruses, that can harm an embryo or fetus
      1. Maternal Drug Use

         Annotations:

         • Most drugs consumed by a pregnant woman can pass through the membranes of the placenta sedatives, narcotics, and cocaine are very dangerous. *babies of heroine users are born addicted to narcotics and have an increased risk of earlu death dye to prematurity, birth defects, respiratory difficulties and problems associated with their addiction
         • cocaine is associated with increased risk of birth complications, and a variety of cognitive deficits that are apparent in childhood Fetal Alcohol Syndrome: is a collection of congenital (inborn) problems associated with excessive alcohol use during pregnancy, it is the most common known cause of intellectual disability, and is related to an increased incidence of difficulties in school, depression, suicide, drug problems, and criminal behaviour in adolescence and adulthood.  higher alcohol intake was associated with an elevated risk in deficits in IQ motor skills, and attention span, and with increased impulsive antisocial and deliquent behaviour smoking appears to increase a mothers risk for miscarriage, stillbirth, and prematurity, and newborns risk for sudden infant death syndrome. prenatal exposure to tobacco is also associated with slower than average cognitive development, attention deficits, hyperactivity, and conduct problems
      2. Maternal Illness and exposure to toxins

         Annotations:

         • The fetus is largely defenceless against infections because its immune system matures relatively late in the prenatal period. Many maternal illnesses can interfere with prenatal development. The nature of any damage depends, in part, on when the mother contracts the illness babies in the womb exposed to a surprisingly variety of environmental toxins can have an impact on the fetus.
      3. Maternal Nutrition and Emotions

         Annotations:

         • Too much or too little weight gain during gestation is associated with a variety of birth complications, and guidelines for maternal weight gain are based on pregnancy body mass index.
         • The developing fetus needs a variety of essential nutrients. Thus, its not surprising that severe maternal malnutrition increases the risk of birth complications and neurological defects for the newborn 
         • Recent studies also suggest that maternal emotions can have an impact on prenatal development researchers suggest that prospective mothers emotional reactions to stressful events can disrupt the delicate hormonal balance that fosters healthy prenatal development
      4. Fetal Origins of Disease

         Annotations:

         • Recent evidence suggests that events during prenatal development can "program" the fetal brain in ways that influence ones vulnerability to various types of illness decades later ( low birth weight: been found to be associated with an increased risk of heart disease many decades later)its clear that critical developments unfold quickly during the prenatal period. 
2. The Wondrous Years of Childhood

   Annotations:

   • While the transformations that occur in childhood seem magical, they actually reflect an orderly, predictable, gradual progression
   1. Exploring the World: Motor Development

      Annotations:

      • Motor Development: refers to the progression of muscular coordination required for physical activites
      1. Basic Principles

         Annotations:

         • The cephalocaudal trend- the head to foot direction of motor development. *gain control over the upper part of their bodies before the lower part The proximodistal trend- is the centre outward direction of motor development *gain control over their torso before their extremities Early progress in motor skills has traditionally been attributed almost entirely to the process of maturation Maturation is development that reflects the gradual unfolding of ones genetic blueprint the process of motor development suggests that infants are active agents rather than passive waiting for their brain and limbs to mature progress in motor development is attributed to infants experimentation and their learning and remembering of the consequences of their activities 
      2. Understanding Developmental Norms

         Annotations:

         • Developmental norms indicate the median age at which individuals display various behaviours and abilities  Variations from the average are entirely normal
      3. Cultural Variations and their Significance

         Annotations:

         • Cross-cultural research has highlighted the dynamic interplay between experience and maturation in motor development. Relatively rapid motor development has been observed in some cultures that provide special practice in basic motor skills Cultural variations in the emergence of basic motor skills demonstrate that environmental factors can accelerate or slow down early motor development,. Nonetheless, the similarities across cultures in the sequence and timing of early motor development outweigh the differences. This fact suggests that early motor development depends to a considerable extent on maturation. 
   2. Easy and Difficult Babies: Differences in Temperament

      Annotations:

      • Temperament refers to the characteristic mood, activity level and emotional reactivity. infants show consistent differences in emotional tone, tempo of activity, and sensitivity to environmental stimuli very early in life. 
      • Longitudinal design-investigators observe one group of participants repeatedly over a period of time Cross-Sectional Design- investigators compare groups of participants of differing age at a single point in time CSD can be complated more quickly, easily and cheaply than longitudinal studies. Longitudinal studies are more sensitive to developmental changes
      • Temperamental differences among children are apparent during the first few months of life. Thomas and Chess found that most infants could classified as easy, slow to warm up, or difficult children. These differences in temperament are fairly stable and probably have a genetic basis
   3. Early Emotional Development: Attachment

      Annotations:

      • Attachment refers to the close, emotional bonds of affection that develop between infants and their caregivers Contrary to popular belief, infants attachment to their mothers is not instantaneous but by six to eight months of age, they show a preference for her and protest when separated from her. This is the first manifestation of separation anxiety-emotional distress seen in many infants when they are separated from people with whom they have formed an attachment 
      1. Theories of Attachment

         Annotations:

         • Harry Harlows famous studies of attachment in infant rhesus monkeys *if reinforcement through feeding were the key to attachment, the frightened monkeys should have scampered off to the mother that had fed them. This was not the case. The young monkeys scrambled for their clothes mothers, even if they were not fed by them. 
         • John Bowbly: influenced by evolutionary theories, argued that there must be a biological basis for attachment.  *infants are biologically programmed to emit behaviour (smiling, cooing, clinging and so on) that triggers an affectionate, protective response from adults. He also asserted that adults are programmed by evolutionary forces to be captivated by this behaviour and to respond with warmth, love and protection
         • Contemporary Evolutionary theorists emphasize how attachment contributes to parents and childrens reproductive fitness
      2. Patterns of Attachment

         Annotations:

         • Ainsworth: suggests that attachment emerges out of a complex interplay between infant and mother strange situation procedure: in which infants are exposed to a series of eight separation and reunion episodes to assess the quality of their attachment
         • Secure attachment, Anxious-ambivalent attachment, avoidant attachment, disorganized disoriented attachment maternal behaviours appear to have considerable influence on the type of attachment that emerges between an infant and mother The type of attachment that emerges between an infant and mother may depend on the nature of the infants temperament as well as the mothers sensitivity.
         • Based on their attachment experiences, children develop internal working models of the dynamics of close relationships that influence their future interactions with a wide range of people  Infants with a relatively secure attachment tend to become resilient, competent toddlers with high self esteem  studies also found a relationship between secure attachment and more advanced cognitive development during childhood and adolescence 
      3. Culture and Attachment

         Annotations:

         • Separation anxiety emerges in children at about six to eight months and peaks at about 14 to 18 months in cultures around the world these findings, which have been replicated in quite a variety of non western cultures, suggest that attachment is a universal feature of human development 
   4. Personality Development in Childhood

      Annotations:

      • A stage is a developmental period during which characteristic patterns of behaviour are exhibited and certain capacities become established.  Stage theories assume that: 1. individuals must progress through specified stages in a particular order because each stage builds on the previous stage. 2. progress through these stages is strongly related to age  3. development is marked by major discontinuities that usher in dramatic transitions in behaviour
      1. Eriksons Stage Theory

         Annotations:

         • Erikson partitioned the life span into eight stages according to erikson, personality is shaped by how individuals deal with these psychosocial crises. he viewed each stage as a tug of war that determined the subsequent balance between opposing polarities in personality.
         • Stage 1: (first year of life) trust vs mistrust Stage 2: (2nd/3rd years) Autonomy vs shame and doubt Stage 3: (4th to 6th year) Initiative vs guilt Stage 4: (age 6 to puberty) Industry vs Inferiority  Stage 5: (adolescence) Identity vs confusion Stage 6: (early adulthood) Intimacy vs Isolation Stage 7: (Middle Adulthood) Generativity vs self absorption Stage 8: (Late adulthood) Integrity vs Despair
         • Trust Vs Mistrust: If an infants basic biological needs are adequately met by his or her caregivers and sound attachments are formed, the child should develop an optimistic, trusting attitude toward the world. however is the infants basic needs are taken care of poorly, a more dustrusting, pessimistic personality may result Autonomy vs Shame and Doubt: if all goes well, he or she acquires a sense of self sufficiency. but if parents are not satisfied, the child may develop a sense of personal shame and self doubt initiative vs Guilt: In the ideal situation, children will retain their sense of initiative while learning to respect the rights and privileges of other family members Industry vs Inferiority: the challenge of learning to function socially is extended beyond the family to broader social realm of the neighbourhood and school 
      2. Evaluating Eriksons Theory

         Annotations:

         • it accounts for both continuity and transition in personality development, it accounts for transition by showing how new challenges in social relationships stimulate personality development throughout life. it accounts for continuity by drawing connections between early childhood experiences and aspects of adult personality
         • On the negative side of the ledger, his theory has depended heavily on illustrative case studies, which are open to varied interpretations, it provides an idealized description of typical developmental patterns, thus its not well suited for explaining the enormous personality differences that exist among people
   5. The Growth of Thought: Cognitive Development

      Annotations:

      • Cognitive Development refers to transitions in youngsters patterns of thinking, including reasoning, remembering and problem solving Theory of Piaget
      1. Overview of Piagets Stage Theory

         Annotations:

         • Piagets model is a stage theory development. He proposed that youngsters progress through four major stages of cognitive development, which are characterized by fundamentally different thought process: 1. Sensorimotor Period (birth to 2) 2. Preoperational Period (age 2 to 7) 3. Concrete Operational Period (age 7 to 11) 4. Formal Operational Period (age 11 onward) Piaget regarded his age norms as approximations and acknowledged that transitional ages may vary, but he was convinced that all children progress through the stages of cognitive development in the same order Assimilation involves interpreting new experiences in terms of existing mental structures without changing them. Accommodation involves changing existing mental structures to explain new experiences They both often occur interatively
         • Sensorimotor Period: called this stage that because infants are developing the ability to coordinate their sensory input with their motor skills At the beginning of this stage, a childs behaviour is dominated by innate reflexes, but by the end of the stage, the child can use mental symbols to represent objects Object permanence develops when a child recognizes that objects continue to exist even when they are no longer visible, infants are not aware of this at first.
         • Preoperational Period: children gradually improve in their use of mental images. Piaget emphasized that shortcomings in preoperational thought. Conservation: is piagets term for the awareness that physical quantities remain constant in spite of changes in their shape or appearance**inability to understand conservation is due to some basic flaws in preoperational thinking. these flaws include centration, irreversibility, and egocentrism Centration is the tendency to focus on jus one feature of a problem, neglecting other important aspects Irreversibility is the inability to envision reversing an action Egocentrism in thinking is characterized by a limited ability to share another persons view point animism the belief that all things are living, just like one self.
         • Concrete Operational Period: Named this stage that because children can perform operations only on images of tangible objects and actual events among the operations that children master during this stage are reversibility and decentration. Reversibility permits a child to mentally undo an action Decentration allows the child to focus on more than one feature of a problem simultaneously the newfound ability to coordinate several aspects of a problem helps the child appreciate that there are several ways to look at things. This ability in turn leads to a decline in egocentrism and gradual mastery of conservation As children master concrete operations, they develop a variety of new problem solving capacities
         • Formal Operational Period: In this stage, children begin to apply their operations to abstract concepts in addition to concrete objects According to Piaget, youngsters graduate to relatively adult modes of thinking in the formal operations stage. he did not mean to suggest that no further cognitive development occurs once children reach this stage. However, he believed that after children achieve formal operations, further developments in thinking are changes in degree rather than fundamental changes in the nature of thinking. Thought processes in the formal operational period can be characterized as abstract, systematic, logical and reflective
      2. Evaluating Piagets Theory

         Annotations:

         • Jean Piaget made a landmark contribution to psychologys understanding of children in general and their cognitive development. Weak or controversial spots of theory: Piagets theory views of infant development as a relatively discontinuous process composed, as we have seen, of series of discrete stages.
         • Other criticisms: in many areas, Piaget appears to have underestimated young children's cognitive development. Piaget's model suffers from problems that plague most stage theories. Piaget believed that his theory described universal processes that should lead children everywhere to progress through uniform stages of thinking at roughly the same age. However, without Piaget's theory to guide research, many crucial questions about childrens development might not have been confronted until decades later
      3. Neo-Piagetian Theories

         Annotations:

         • Have extended some of Piaget's ideas, integrating them with current perspectives on the nature of information processing. Juan Pascual-Leone, Robbie Case Pascal-Leone found that the complexity that children could deal with varied positively across age. He suggests that an increase in information processing capacity is one of the attributes that forms the basis of cognitive development Robbie Case- suggests that one of the fundamental issues in developmental psychology is whether development can be conceptualized in terms of the development of one rather general intellectual attribute or factor, or a set of more discrete aspects
      4. Vygotskys Sociocultural Theory

         Annotations:

         •  Vygotskys sociocultural theory Vygotskys and Paiget perspective on cognitive development have much in common but they also differ in several important respects V places enormous emphasis on how childrens cognitive development is fuelled by social interactions with parents, teachers, and older children who can provide invaluable guidance. V asserted that culture exerts great influence over how cognitive growth unfolds for Vygotsky, culture is a critical factor in how cognitive development unfolds he argued that language acquisition plays a crucial, central role in fostering cognitive development. in fact, language and communication are seen to be crucial since cognitive development is affected by the information shared during cooperative activities with able partners
         • According to V, children acquire most of their cultures cognitive skills and problem solving strategies through collaborative dialogues with more experienced members of their society His emphasis on the social origins of cognitive development is apparent in his theoretical concepts such as the zone of proximal development and scaffolding
         • ZPD is the gap between what a learner can accomplish alone and what he or she can achieve with guidance from more skilled partners Scaffolding occurs when the assistance provided to a child is adjusted as learning progresses Private Speech V argued that children use this private speech to plan their strategies, regulate their actions, and accomplish their goals Vs sociocultural theory is guiding a great deal of contemporary research on cognitive development
      5. Are some cognitive abilities Innate?

         Annotations:

         • Many studies have made use of habituation-dishabituation paradigm. Habituation is a gradual reduction in the strength of a response when a stimulus even is presented repeatedly Dishabituation occurs if a new stimulus elicits an increase in the strength of a habituated response. Working mostly with H-DH paradigm, researchers have discovered that infants understand basic properties of objects and some of the rules that govern them. In this line of research, perhaps the most stunning discovery has been the finding that infants seem to be able to add and subtract small numbers
         • Again and again in recents years, research has shown that infants appear to understand surprisingly complex concepts that they have had virtually no opportunity to learn about. These findings have led some theorists to conclude that certain basic cognitive abilities are biologically built into humans neural architecture Nativists simply assert that humans are prewired to readily understand certain concepts without making assumptions about why humans are prewired in these ways Evolutionary Theorists agree with nativists that humans are prewired for certain cognitive abilities, but they are keenly interested in why.
      6. Critical Periods in Development

         Annotations:

         • Critical period as a limited time span in the development of an organism when it is optimal for certain capacities to emerge because the organism is especially responsive to certain experiences. the term critical period is traditionally used to suggest that is the ability or knowledge is not acquired at that point, it will not be possible to acquire it later Sensitive Period suggests an optimal period is acquisition but one that does not obviate acquisition at a later point.
         • Theory of Mind Research on theory of mind examines the development of childrens understanding about the mind and mental states, and how children conceive of another persons thought processes, knowledge, beliefs and feelings According to classic research in this area, most children under the age of four do not yet appreciate that people can hold false beliefs that do not accurately reflect reality. The false belief method is just one of several research paradigms that researchers have used to explore childrens developing ideas about the mind An understanding of the concept of false belief is often seen as the developmental achievement that marks the childs progression to a more mature theory of mind Mind blindness or a lack of theory of mind, in which the processes that allow the normal development of a theory of mind in most children are impaired in children suffering from various forms of autism
   6. The Development of Moral Reasoning

      Annotations:

      • Morality involves the ability to discern right from wrong and to behave accordingly
      1. Kohlbergs Stage Theory

         Annotations:

         • Kohlbergs model is the most influential of a number of competing theories that attempt to explain how youngsters develop a sense of right and wrong. Kohlberg's theory focuses on moral reasoning rather than overt behaviour
         • Stage Theory of Moral Reasoning Kohlberg found that individuals progress through a series of three levels of moral development, each of which can be broken into two sublevels, yielding a total of six stages. Each stage represents a different approach to thinking about right and wrong Younger children at the preconventional level think in terms of external authority. Older children who have reached the conventional level of moral reasoning see rules as necessary for maintaining social order during adolescence, some youngsters move on to the postconventional level, which involves working out a personal code of ethics
      2. Evaluating Kohlbergs Theory

         Annotations:

         • Progress in moral reasoning is indeed closely tied to cognitive development. Studies also show that youngsters generally do progress through Kohlberg's stages of moral reasoning in the order that he proposed. relationships between age and level of moral reasoning are in the predicted directions
         • However, there is great variation in the age at which individuals reach specific stages. In addition, very few people reach stage 6, which raises doubts about its validity. His critics raised the following issues: 1. its not unusual to find that a person shows signs of several adjacent levels of moral reasoning at a particular point in development 2. evidence is mounting that Kohlberg's dilemmas may not be valid indicators of moral development in some cultures 3. a consensus is building that Kohlberg's theory led to a constricted focus on reasoning about interpersonal conflicts while ignoring many other important aspects of moral development 4. Other critics have argued that Kohlberg's theory was based primarily on male participants responses and is biased against the equality principled moral reasoning of females
3. The Transition of Adolescence

   Annotations:

   • Adolescence is a transitional period between childhood and adulthood Although most societies have at least a brief period of adolescence, it is not universal across cultures Adolescence is a critical time for development of important physical and psychological attributes, even a sense of identity
   1. Physiological Changes

      Annotations:

      • Adolescent growth spurt(rapid growth in height and weight) seems to be happening earlier scientists are not sure what triggers the hormonal changes that underlie the adolescent growth spurt, but recent evidence suggests that rising levels of leptin, the recently discovered hormone that reflects the bodys fat cell storage may provide the crucial signals
      • The term pubescence is used to describe the two year span preceding puberty, during which the changes leading to physical and sexual maturity take place. Secondary sex characteristics-physical features that distinguish one sex from the other but that are not essential for reproduction Puberty is the stage during which sexual functions reach maturity, which marks the beginning of adolescence. Primary sex characteristics-the structures necessary for reproduction-develop fully Menarche-the first occurrence of menstruation
      • Interestingly, there have been generational changes in the timing of puberty. Todays adolescents begin puberty at a younger age and complete it more rapidly than did their counterparts in earlier generations More is known about the consequences of variation in the onset of puberty. Generally girls who mature early and boys who mature late seem to have more emotional difficulties with the transition to adolescence. however in both males and females, early maturation is also correlated with poorer school performance, earlier experience of intercourse, more unwanted pregnancies, and greater risk for eating problems and disorders and a variety of psychological disorders
   2. Neural Development: The Teen Brain

      Annotations:

      • Recent research has also suggested that there is a surprising amount of change going on in the adolescents brain that may impact his or her behaviour and sense of self. white matter facilitates communication and linkages between regions of the brain; white matter development is important for a smooth flow of information through the brain the grey matter on the other hand is referred to as the thinking part of the brain consisting of neurons and their branch like extensions the growth of white matter seems to increase steadily in most areas of the brain from childhood to a point after puberty, at which point it slows In contract, grey matter decreases in volume. this finding is thought to reflect the process of synaptic pruning-the elimination of less active synapses-which plays a key role in the formation of neural networks most interesting discovery about the adolescent brain has been that increased myelinisation and synaptic pruning are most pronounced in the prefrontal cortex The prefrontal cortex appears to be the last area of the brain to fully mature, and this maturation may not be complete until ones mid 20s. the p.c has been characterized as an executive control centre that is crucial to high level cognitive functions, such as planning, organization, emotional regulation, and response inhibition
   3. Time of Turmoil?

      Annotations:

      • G. Stanley Hall proposed that the adolescent years are characterized by convulsive instability and disturbing inner turmoil. Hall attributed his turmoil to adolescent's erratic physical changes and resultant confusion about self image Stats on adolescent depression and suicide would seem to support the idea that adolescence can be a time marked by turmoil and disturbance for some. Suicide rates among teens have increased alarmingly over the past few decades. Recent analyses of suicide rates have found that ethnic and racial groups differ both in suicide rates and their precipitants
      • First Nations Canadians are especially vulnerable. Suicide rates are twice the sex specific rates and three times the age specific rate Suicide rates for the first nation youth reported to be seven times the rate of non aboriginal youth
      • Chandler and Lalonde they suggest that the increased rate of suicide among first nations Canadians is specific to certain contexts, rather than being true across that population they believe that cultural continuity factors differentiate the settings where suicide rates are high, and argue that a sense of personal and cultural continuity s necessary, especially in times of change, to serve as  critical foundation for personal and cultural identity. they argue that a sense of personal continuity or personal persistence is fundamental to psychological health. they feel that two important sets of circumstances may combine to cause the high suicide levels among first nations teens. set of changes that most adolescents experience and the other arises whenever ones culture, out of which the particulars of ones identity are necessarily composed is also thrown into serous disarray
      • Overall, recent consensus of the experts has been that adolescence is not an exceptionally difficult period, although turbulence and turmoil are not universal features of adolescence, challenging adaptations do have to be made during this period. In particular, most adolescents struggle to some extent in their effort to achieve a sound sense of identity
   4. The Search for Identity

      Annotations:

      • Erik Erikson was especially interested in personality development during adolescence, which is the fifth of the eight major life stages he described. the premier challenge of adolescence is the struggle to form a clear sense of identity. He recognized that the process of identity formation often extends beyond adolescence, as his own life illustrates
      • Although the struggle for a sense of identity can be a lifelong process, it does tend to be especially intense during adolescence According to Marcia, the presence of absence of a sense of commitment (to life goals and values) and a sense of crisis (active questioning and exploration) can combine to produce four different identity statuses. They are not stages that people pass through but orientations that may occur at a particular tie. Identity Diffusion is a state of rudderless apathy, with no commitment to an ideology Identity Foreclosure is a premature commitment to visions, values, and roles-typically those prescribed by ones parents Identity Moratorium involves delaying commitment for a while to experiment with alternative ideologies and careers Identity Achievement involves arriving at a sense of self and direction after some consideration of alternative possibilities
   5. Emerging Adulthood as a New Developmental Stage

      Annotations:

      • Arnett-emerging adulthood-the years between age 18-25 roughly-have become a distinct new transitional stage of life Arnett maintains that emerging adulthood is characterized by a number of prominent features. A central feature is the subjective feeling that one is in between adolescence and adulthood. Another feature of emerging adulthood is that it is an age of possibilities Finally Arnett's research has found that, to a surprising degree, emerging adulthood is a period of identity formation His research indicates that identity formation continues to be a crucial issue for most young adults
4. The Expanse of Adulthood

   Annotations:

   • Patterns of development during the adult years are becoming increasingly diverse
   1. Personality Development
      1. The Question of Stability

         Annotations:

         • Gould--the evolution of a personality continues through the fifth decade of life Longitudinal Study--personality tends to be quite stable over periods of 20-40 years Both conclusions are accurate, they just reflect different ways of looking at the data. Recent research with a nationally representative sample found that self esteem tends to increase slowly from early adulthood through middle age peaking at about age 60. After 60 self esteem tends to gradually decline In sum, it appears that personality in adulthood is characterized by both stability and change
      2. Eriksons View of Adulthood

         Annotations:

         • Erikson divided adulthood into 3 stages. in early adulthood (intimacy vs isolation) the key concern is whether one can develop the capacity to share intimacy with others in middle adulthood (generativity vs self absorption) key challenge is to acquire a genuine concern for the welfare of future generations, which results in providing unselfish guidance to younger people and concern with ones legacy Late adulthood stage (integrity vs despair) the challenge is to avoid the tendency to dwell on the mistakes of the past and on ones imminent death Empirical research on the adult stages in erikson's theory has been sparse, but generally supportive of the theory
   2. Transitions in Family Life

      Annotations:

      • Many of the important transitions in adulthood involve changes in family responsibilities and relationships The family life cycle is a sequence of stages that families tend to progress through, however in contemporary north American society, shifting social trends are altering the traditional family life cycle.
      1. Adjusting to Marriage

         Annotations:

         • Most new couples are pretty happy, but 8-14 % of newlyweds score in the distressed range on measures of marital satisfaction, with the most commonly reported problems being difficulties balancing work and marriage and financial concerns. Studies found an association between premarital cohabitation and increased divorce rates. effects of cohabitation have become less consistent. cohabitation prior to marriage has gradually become the norm rather than the exceptionOne major source of conflict in many new marriages is the negotiation of marital roles in relation to career commitments Research shows the husbands careers continue to take priority over their wives career ambitions, many husbands maintain traditional role expectations about house work, child care and decision making However studies indicate that wives are still doing the bulk of the housework all over the world, even when they work outside the home. Nonetheless, most wives do not view their division of labour as unfair because most women don't expect a 50-50 split
      2. Adjusting to Parenthood

         Annotations:

         • The arrival of the first child represents a major transition and can lead to negative emotions and disruption of old routines can be extremely stressful. Dual roles for the mother also increase the level of stress and the tendency to experience marital dissatisfaction A review of decades of research on parenthood and marital satisfaction found that: 1. parents exhibit lower marital satisfaction than comparable non parents 2. mothers of infants report the steepest decline in marital satisfaction 3. the more children couples have, the lower their marital satisfaction Longitudinal study found that the transition to parenthood was associated with a sudden deterioration in relationship quality Ironically the more satisfied couples were prior to birth of their first child, the more their marital satisfaction declined
         • Couples who have high levels of affection and commitment prior to the first childs birth are likely ro maintain a stable level of satisfaction after the birth and personal characteristics such as attachment levels can moderate the experiences of new parents the key to making this transition less stressful may be to have realistic expectations about parental responsibilities
      3. Adjusting to the Empty Nest

         Annotations:

         • Empty nest- all children leave the house This period was formerly thought to be a difficult transition for many parents especially mothers who were familiar with only the maternal role. Recent evidence suggests that most parents adjust effectively to the empty nest transition There is some evidence however that parents may experience problems if their children return to the once empty nest, recent stats indicate that his is an increasing issue for families
   3. Aging and Physiological Changes

      Annotations:

      • The life expectancies for Canadian women and men have increased in recent years The aging Canadian population has raised concerns with regard to health care, physical deterioration leading to loneliness, how to test for capacity, the quality and availability of retirement living and the possibility that suicides among seniors may rise With increasing age comes increasing attention to the physical changes associated with age. Evidence suggests that feeling younger than ones real age is associated with better health and cognitive functioning and reduced mortality risk In sensory domain, the key developmental changes occur in vision and hearing Age related changes also occur in hormonal functioning during adulthood (menopause)
   4. Aging and Neural Changes

      Annotations:

      • The amount of brain tissue and brain weight decline gradually in late adulthood, mostly after age 60. These trends appear to reflect both a decrease in the number of active neurons in some areas of the brain and shrinkage of still active neurons, with neuron loss perhaps being less important than once believed
      • Dementia is an abnormal condition marked by multiple cognitive deficits that include memory impairment Alzheimers disease is accompanied by major structural deterioration in the brain
   5. Aging and Cognitive Changes

      Annotations:

      • The evidence indicates that general intelligence is fairly stable throughout most of adulthood, with a small decline in average test scores often seen after age 60. First, group averages can be deceptive in that mean scores can be dragged down by a small minority of people who show a decline Second, even when age related decreases in intellectual performance are found, they tend to be small in all but a few individuals Third, some forms of intelligence are more vulnerable to aging than others Fluid Intelligence-which refers to basic information processing skills Crystalized Intelligence-refers to the application of accumulated knowledge Research suggests that fluid intelligence is much more likely to decline with age, whereas crystallized intelligence tends to remain stable Most researchers maintain that memory losses associated with normal aging tend to be moderate and are not experienced by everyone In the cognitive domain, aging does seem to take its toll on speed first. Many studies indicate that speed in learning, solving problems, and processing information tends to decline with age. the evidence suggests that the erosion of processing speed may be a gradual lengthy trend beginning in middle adulthood Although mental speed declines with age, problem solving ability remains largely unimpaired if older people are given adequate time to compensate for their reduced speed