Growth and Development in Emerging Adulthood - Essay Example

GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT IN EMERGING ADULTHOOD Emerging Adulthood After birth, infants go througha number of stages that transforms them into little children, adolescents, young adults, adults and finally into the late adulthood period of life. All these stages are important as they mould the transformation of a person into the next stage of development and what they will eventually become in future. Emerging adulthood is a phase of life that bridges individuals from adolescence to the young adulthood developmental stage. Thus, it is a period when young people are out of their adolescence but are yet to attain the adult title. The age span for emerging adulthood ranges from 18 to 25 though this may be extended up to the age of 29. During this period, most young people are always struggling to put various components of their lives in order so that they can achieve the status of being referred to as adults. This paper will be a discussion of various issues as pertains to emerging adulthood. According to Arnett, 2004, “during Emerging Adulthood, young people are in the process of developing the capacities, skills and qualities of character deemed by their cultures as necessary for completing the transition to adulthood”. As such, it is an important period of life since most people going through it have the same aspirations. As a result, all of them have the same characteristics. Insatiability is one common characteristic that people in the emerging adulthood phase of life have. This is showcased with the tendency of changing life plans. People between the ages of 18 to 29 can be observed to constantly change partners, jobs and even residences. This is because they often feel that they have to do much more than they have already achieved. This in turn gives them an aspect of insatiability. Identity exploration is another characteristic that most people in the Emerging Adulthood stage of life have. Here, people are continually trying out a variety of options in an attempt to find out what they would eventually like to become. This is particularly in the areas of romance and relationships. They will keep changing jobs and dating partners so that they can find people that they are compatible with (Arnett, 2004). Along the same line, emerging adults will always delay responsibilities so that they can focus on themselves. Most of them tend to avoid marriage and parenting so that they can have all their time and resources to themselves. Self focus is what seems to be the most important thing to them at during this time (Arnett, 2004). Feeling caught up in between is another characteristic common with emerging adults. This is due to the fact that most of them feel that they are more independent and mature than when they were adolescents t at t same time feel that they are not fully accomplished to be referred to as adults. Lastly, most people in the above age bracket always have a very optimistic view of the future with the belief that they will accomplish all that they have set out to do and eventually become what they would want to be (Arnett, 2004). These are the characteristics that most people in this phase of life irrespective of culture and financial capability have. Generally, the period of emerging adulthood is different from the adolescent and early adulthood phase due to the fact that the reality of emerging responsibility finally begins to dawn on these individuals. During adolescence, people are not responsible of their actions but simply do what will be acceptable in the eyes of their peers. They do not fear rebellion and do not listen to what their parents say. Their decisions are dependent on how their peers will judge them and the aspect of being financially independent does not bother them. They are minors and still live at their parent’s home and are experiencing the physical changes of puberty but people in the emerging adulthood phase have already reached full reproduction maturity. On the other hand, adulthood is characterized by responsibility for oneself, making of independent choices and financial independence too (Arnett, 2004). These people are not considered minors and most of the times live alone, out of their parent’s homes. While these two phases are on the extreme of each other, emerging adulthood is caught in between the two in that people in this phase are trying to move from adolescents to adults who are more responsible and independent minded. Erick Erickson as a psychologist came up with a number of theories with regard to developmental tasks expected of individuals in different stages of life. Being in a rather critical part of life, emerging adults are faced with a number of physical, cognitive and social domain tasks. Physically, this is the time when people in this age group are at their best. They achieve their full height and their bodies get well toned and structured. Common colds that are a frequent occurrence during the adolescent period become rare and they don’t have to visit the hospital regularly. However, Erickson speaks of Identity vs. Confusion during this stage, and people may have various partners as they try to find their identity with the right person (Arnett, 2004). As such, sexual relations with many partners may become common and many people in this stage of life become victims of unwanted pregnancies, abortions, STI’s and sometimes even HIV/AIDS. Confusion also sets in when they are not able to form and maintain committed relationships. According to Erickson, Intimacy vs. Isolation sets in when people are not able to form worthwhile intimate relationships. Emerging adults are always trying to form intimate relationships with people that are equally serious hoping for marriage (Arnett, 2004). However, when this does not happen, they will feel a sense of isolation having not achieved what they wanted. This is coupled by the fact that people around them expect that they settle in marriage. These are the cognitive developmental tasks that are expected of people within the age of 18 to around 29 years old. The society always expects that they gain cognition by settling down in marriage and proper employment yet most emerging adults are always still confused about their identity (Arnett, 2004). They have the feeling that they should act like adults and settle down in marriage and at the same time get scared with the prospect of the coming responsibilities and still want to behave like adolescents. Socially, this is a time when friends really matter, thus most emerging adults will seek the counsel of friends as opposed to the family. Love relationships that are formed are always bent on defining their identity as opposed to the satisfaction of sexual needs. People in this age group always feel that relationships will help them to understand their identities better (Arnett, 2004). Problems may arise if these developmental tasks are not achieved. An individual may feel inadequate and that they are not fit enough to be referred to as adults. In addition to this, problems with the family may arise when for example people in this age group do not show signs of responsibility that the family wants such as marriage and securing of a proper job (Arnett, 2004). Their families may perceive them to be failures thus interfering with the ever important familial bond. In most cultural settings, people are always expected to settle down in marriage by the time they reach the age of 25 years. This is because delay in marriage signifies that a person is not responsible enough to start a family and make independent decisions. As such, it is always a problem to the emerging adults when they are deemed not to pay respect to cultural expectations when they do not get married at this time. As discussed earlier, this is a period of self exploration and most emerging adults are always trying to look for suitable marriage partners and getting financial independence through proper careers before they venture into marriage. Looking at the family situation, most parents would expect that their children have proper employment immediately they finish college. The age during which people are considered to be emerging adults is at a time when young people are from college. Therefore, their families expect that they will secure employment and settle into one career that they choose and strive to develop in that line. However, most of the time this is not the case; the aspect of insatiability always makes emerging adults to switch careers frequently, a factor that puts them into back books with their families (Arnett, 2004). On another note, the aspect of marriage is one factor that mothers are always keen about and when young women are constantly asked when they are getting married, they tend to get offended and sometimes even decide to alienate themselves from their families. As a result, familial relationships that are very important get affected. Attendance of post-secondary education in emerging adults most of the time delays but to some extent enhances the developmental process of people in this age group. The delay occurs because most young people are busy developing their careers and do not want to get into marriage since they feel it will be a hindrance towards achieving their career. In addition to this, pursuance of a project such as masters’ degrees always delays emerging adults from getting into marriage since they want to develop their careers first. Most masters programs always proceed up to the late twenties yet this is the time when people should be thinking about marriage and developing their careers (Arnett, 2004). On the other hand, enhancement may occur when emerging adults pursue what they want first, settle into careers and even meet their preferred partners in the institutions that they attend hence settle into marriage fast. As such, these people develop their careers and settle into marriage as the society desires. Emerging adulthood is an important period in life since it determines the outcome of one’s future. Therefore, emerging adults face a lot of pressure to live up to the expectations of their peers, families and the society in general. As such, it is the responsibility of everyone to understand them and offer support where necessary so that these people can go through this developmental stage of life more comfortably. Reference Arnett, J.J. (2004). Emerging Adulthood: The Winding Road from the Late Teens through the Twenties. New York: Oxford University Press. Read More