Lecture Notes/Chapter Outine Chapter 13 – Young Adult Personality & Sociocultural Development

Chapter 13 – Young Adult Personality & Sociocultural Development

As we enter adulthood, we become socialized into new roles

Ø Maslow’s Self-Actualization Theory
Ø Carl Rogers

Facets of Self
Family member
Worker – intrinsic; extrinsic
Youthful “ideal”
Must be integrated into self-identity

Close Relationships: Friendships & similarity to Love

Ericson: Intimacy vs. Isolation

Sternberg’s Triangular Theory of Love
Components:
1. Intimacy
2. Passion
3. Decision to commit/commitment

Taxonomy:
1. liking
2. infatuated love
3. empty love
4. companionate love
5. fatuous [foolishly self-satisfied] love
6. consummate [perfect] love

Mate selection & marriage
Why & how people choose mates - various theories
Freud: acceptable focus for oedipal feelings

Instrumental theory of mate selection – based on gratification of needs,
attraction based on similar or complementary needs

Stimulus-Value- Role Theory: stimulus stage, value-comparison stage, role stage [determine if marriage/relationship roles can/will endure]

Family Systems perspective: focus on boundaries & redefining relationships with friends & family, as well as couples own relationship

Marriage vs. cohabitation
90% of men & women marry at some point in their lives
Cohabitation - overtly focus that they are not married.
1/3 of cohabitating couples eventually marry

Parenting & development
Family cycles
Transition to parenthood
1. changes in identity & inner life
2. shifting roles & relationship in the marriage
3. shifts in general roles & relationships [grandparent factor]
4. Changing roles outside of family [work, friends, etc.]
5. new parenting role & relationship – navigating new responsibilities

Parents’ developmental stages
1. Image-making stage [conception to birth, what kind of parent will I be?]
2. Nurturing stage – birth to 2 [until the kid says “NO”]
3. Authority stage – 2-5 [often question their parenting skills, know they aren’t perfect]
4. interpretive stage – middle years 6-12 [parents reexamine & test out their ideas about parenting
5. Interdependence stage – adolescence [redefine their authority relationship]
6. departure stage – letting go & accepting experiences as a parent

Single Parenthood
Tremendous change – in 70’s one in 7 kids lived in a home with no father
Single –parent families have increased 10X faster than 2-parent families since then. 1995 1/3 (33.3%)of all families headed by single mother.

why?
1. In the 70’s & early ‘80’s – divorce was at its peak. That was why then. In ‘99 it was 12% lower than in ’79. In ’95 2 out 5 [40%] of marriages expected to fail. Most divorces happen during early adulthood
2. Now: large increase in unmarried mothers [in ’98 almost 1/3 of births were to unmarried women – nearly 70% among black women]
3. increase in # of mothers separated but not divorced

Single fathers & Gay & Lesbian families
Single fathers still rare but getting more common. 10% gain custody after
divorce; 16% joint custody]

Gay & Lesbian very new phenomenon


Occupation / career cycles
Stages of vocational life:
1. id. with. a worker [5-10]
2. acquiring “habits of industry” [10-15]
3. Develop Id. as a worker [15- 25
4. becoming productive person [25 –40]
5. maintaining/contributing to productive society [40 – 70]
6. contemplation of productive & responsible life [70 - ]

Women in the workforce
Myths