Early Adulthood
Early adulthood is a stage in life that ranges between 20 to 30 years and where grown-ups become self-determining and explore different possibilities of life. The early adults are characterized by self-confidence, maturity, multi-talking, autonomy, receptive to change, and more practical. In the developmental stage of early adulthood, the adults experience many challenges in life, which may be a personal, relationship, and family issues. The conflicts faced by early adults are sometimes hard to overcome and therefore require several interventions to make sure that early adults live a quiet life. The paper is consequently set to discuss the personal developmental task and conflicts, the specific personal life structure that is usually created to overcome the conflicts and tasks, and finally, the influence of peers, culture norms, and family to career and romantic relationships of early adults.
By the time an individual reaches early adulthood, the physical maturation becomes complete. However, weight and heights may increase slightly. In the early adulthood stage, the physical abilities are usually at the peak, including reaction time, cardiovascular functioning, and muscle strength. Many women typically have children, and most professional footballers and athletes perform best during the stage. The aging process starts during adulthood. At around 30, several changes begin to emerge in different body parts. For example, thickening and stiffening of the lens of the eye that affects vision. A decrease in sensitivity to sound. Hair can start to thin and become gray (Furstenberg, 2016). The skin becomes dry, and wrinkles begin to appear as early adulthood goes to an end. The immune system becomes weak in fighting diseases, and reproductive ability begins to drop.
In life, early adults encounter different developmental tasks that sometimes becomes a conflict. Some of the developmental tasks and conflicts include the following; establishing identity: young adults may need to develop their own identity, including preferences, philosophies, likes, and dislikes. Becoming a member of the group in society is another conflict. In role confusion, some adults find it hard and may be left feeling confused, especially what is essential in life. Young adults may participate in several groups in the community. The means through which the young adults may get access in the relevant groups include volunteering and voting. The essential organizations may be church groups and scouts. The parents may also play a crucial role in absorbing the young adults in the relevant groups. Household management and establishment of the residence is another developmental task. The task involves keeping a home maintained by buying the necessary equipment and items for the house or paying house bills such as rent, water, and electricity (Benjet, 2017).
They are learning home responsibility, such as budgeting, cooking, and all other household chores for young women. Achieving autonomy is another important developmental task for the youth. A young adult becomes independent after being given a chance to be self- reliant. Young adults feel ashamed and doubtful when parents provide everything (Kretschmer, et al., 2018). The task is intended to establish self-independence among early adults. Self-dependent comes only when a young adult becomes responsible for everything, no support from the parent, especially financial support, is needed—the establishment of a career. Through education following success, young adults may pursue a good job that will be important in proving income throughout their lifetime. Other developmental tasks include the development of emotional stability, finding intimacy and isolation, and becoming a parent. For example, I’m pursuing higher-level education in the university and hoping to establish a good career that will help in achieving my objectives in life.
The personal life structure involves the designs or underlying pattern of one’s life at any given time. Therefore life structure forms a pattern of involvement of a person in roles, relationships, physical settings, and activities. The life structure is also the bridge between a person’s inner working and demands of the community, hence a product of both sets of forces. The life structure is the link between self and circumstance. The life structure allows an individual to live out and come up with fundamental values, conscious choices, and adapt well to the existing environment. The life structure that is adaptable and suitable to person’s sets of circumstance and is age regarded as typically unsuitable for the next life phase (Aktu & İlhan, 2017). There is a specific personal life structure that may play a significant role in meeting the tasks and conflicts. The structures include the daily structure. The daily structure helps in creating a plan for the day. Daily planning may help reduce time wastage and have enough time doing relevant tasks either at home or in the workplace. The structure, therefore, reduces the conflict of identity and confusion. I always make sure that I follow my daily schedule to avoid a waste of time, especially in my academic and workplace.
A financial structure, on the other hand, tries to explain how an individual stay on top of one’s finance. The structure creates a relevant system that enables tracking of the daily and monthly spending regularly. The structure also demonstrates how to spend money and thus becomes an essential factor in the economy. The structure tries to meet the task and conflict of self-reliance and therefore reduces overdependence. I have my account where I save my own money, and also I regulate how I use the money economically.
In the communication structure, the idea of using email and messages are brought forth. A person might carve out time in the regular schedule so that the person remains on top of messages and email. Communication using phone calls also is critical in the developmental task (Aktu & İlhan, 2017). Young adults should take into consideration time and socialization. Excellent communication will create a relationship with other people, either at work or at home. The superb relationship, therefore, curbs some individual conflicts faced by young adults in society. Making a good relationship with my fellow students and workmates has helped me a lot in gaining more connections and learned a lot like an early adult.
Household and personal maintenance is another private life structure that is required in meeting some specific tasks and conflicts. The young adults should ensure that the house and the surrounding environment is clean. The groceries and menu that he/she take are fresh and cheap. A young adult should also ensure consistency in doing house chores, whether young males or females. Personal hygiene should be maintained and also provide high personal grooming. For example, every day in the morning, take a shower and wear my black suit ready to go for work.
In their lifetime, careers and romantic relationship have become an essential factor affecting most of the early adults. Cultural norms, family, peers, family, and personal values are factors influencing relationships and careers. Culture is an important aspect when coming to romantic relationships. Different people have different cultural norms (Kuperberg & Padgett, 2016). Cultural norms, therefore, affect how people communicate in their relationships. Cultural norms also affect the time of getting married. In some cultures, young adults may get married early or late also play a role in choosing spouses and therefore affecting young adults either positively or negatively. Family and peer become important in giving advisory services to young adults getting married and in choosing good careers. Young adults spent most of the time with the peer, and thus peers influence the living styles of spouses. For example, a classmate can advise his/her university friend to marry a wealthy wife.
In conclusion, many challenges are faced up by young adults throughout their lifetime. Through specific personal life structure, the young adults can manage the life independently. There are important people such as peers and factors, including a culture that plays an essential role in developing the experience of young adults.
References
Amato, P. R., & Patterson, S. E. (2017). The intergenerational transmission of union instability in early adulthood. Journal of Marriage and Family, 79(3), 723-738.
Furstenberg, F. (2016). Social class and development in early adulthood: Some unsettled issues. Emerging Adulthood, 4(4), 236-238.
Benjet, C. (2017). Developmental Psychopathology and the Epidemiology and Expression of Psychopathology from Infancy Through Early Adulthood. In Handbook of Childhood Psychopathology and Developmental Disabilities Treatment (pp. 11-23). Springer, Cham.
Kretschmer, T., Veenstra, R., Branje, S., Reijneveld, S. A., Meeus, W. H., Deković, M., … & Oldehinkel, A. J. (2018). How competent are adolescent bullying perpetrators and victims in mastering normative developmental tasks in early adulthood?. Journal of abnormal child psychology, 46(1), 41-56.
Aktu, Y., & İlhan, T. (2017). Individuals’ Life Structures in the Early Adulthood Period Based on Levinson’s Theory. Educational Sciences: Theory and Practice, 17(4), 1383-1403.
Kuperberg, A., & Padgett, J. E. (2016). The role of culture in explaining college students’ selection into hookups, dates, and long-term romantic relationships. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 33(8), 1070-1096.