Essay Example on Navigating Social Norms in Early Adulthood: A Journey towards Growth and Expansion

Introduction

Sociologists and anthropologists have connected age to social statuses and roles across a wide range of societies. Different societies have norms concerning how people of a particular age should behave and conduct themselves. These societal norms have a great significance in motivating and guiding behaviour. Particularly in Western culture, early adulthood gets described as an expansion and growth stage. In this adulthood stage, individuals work to improve their societal status, whereas, in the middle adulthood stage, security and hazard avoidance are the main issues in life (Staudinger, 2001). During the middle age, individuals take up multiple roles and enter into complex relationships. The stage marks a competition period between family and work demands. Researchers have argued that age no longer makes an impact on people's adult life in Western society. According to them, schedules and lifestyles have become more diverse and that people have tolerated diversity. However, age is still an essential aspect of people's personality and adult lives. This paper targets to discuss the psychological adjustments to aging and lifestyle that occur within individuals during early and middle adulthood.

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Early Adulthood

Early adulthood ranges from 20 to 40 years. This period is also referred to as a stable growth time. In this stage, individuals work to fulfil goals such as sexual fulfilment, choice and establishment of careers, home and family establishment, broadening of one’s social groups, and natural development. The psychosocial advancements associated with this developmental stage include: (1) development of an intimate feeling, that is, a feeling of love and affection, and (2) it is the stage of self-realization where one develops the sense of sharing personal thoughts.

In this early adulthood stage, individuals establish families and homes. They find a place to settle and call home. This self-realization is an essential step for young adults. However, individuals in this developmental stage find themselves in a dilemma on whether to remain single or search for a mate. Those individuals that commit themselves to relationships have choices of either staying in those relationships or quitting. However, young adults who fail to resolve their identity conflicts have significant complications in close relationships. Another characteristic of individuals in the early adulthood stage is friendship selection based on the similarity of life stage. The friendships are either intimate or acquaintances. The forms of friendships developed in the early adulthood stage include proximity, compatibility, respectability, and reciprocity relationships. Reciprocity relationships refer to mutual support and help; respectability refers to the emphasis of values and role modelling; proximity relates to interaction frequency during the relationship period, while compatibility refers to feeling tone of the relationship. The essence of these relationships is to offer emotional stability and support to the involved parties. Also, individuals in the early adulthood stage develop external and internal systems of restraints and controls. These systems so developed help individuals to live, respect, and care for others.

Middle Adulthood

Middle adulthood ranges between 40-60 years. Most people in this stage have experienced much of their life in the early adulthood stage. However, family and career responsibilities still impact most people's lives in middle adulthood. Middle age is always an intermediary between early adulthood and old age. The uniqueness of the middle adulthood stage is manifested in the roles that individuals in the category undertake. The tasks include mid-parenting stage, relationship transition – especially between one’s parents, employment transitions in coordination with changing responsibilities in the family, and later relinquishing the employment role or retiring from employment. Therefore, the middle stage is not only a stage when particular conditions prevail, but a period when critical developmental changes take place. Although socioeconomic groups and cultures bring about various disparities, the following are some of the characteristics of a person living in the middle life stage:

• The individual becomes a significant figure in the society which brings about pressure in the coordination of multiple responsibilities.
• Most individuals acquire maximum status and sophisticated responsibilities in their workplaces, family, or the community in general.
• Individuals in this life stage use power, experience, and skills in the development of personality. For example, achieving identity certainty, being less egocentric, building one's character, and growing spiritually and becoming wiser.

Middle Adulthood Phases

The Ascendant Phase

This is the early stage of middle adulthood. At this stage, individuals are usually motivated and work to find upward mobility to family and self. It is in this phase when social, personal and family responsibilities are at their peak. Therefore, to perform these multiple roles, individuals require commitment, discipline, and sacrifice.

The Executive Phase

This phase marks an individual's maximum social status in a complex environment. Cognitive skills and affective controls continue to take root and become more integrated. However, individuals work under tight schedules and time constraints to meet the daily demands, hence lacking time for leisure. Individuals in this middle adulthood phase have an increased capability of competence and mastery.

The Acceptant Phase

In this phase, individuals relax their efforts to achieving future goals. They are content with the current and lessen their commitment to the public. People mainly focus on their private pursuits. The key realization in this phase is that of aging. The number of family and social responsibilities starts declining. Individuals tend to become more spiritual and less practical. However, the above-described phases of middle adulthood are not universal. Differences occur on how, when, and why people go through the stages.

Effects of Healthy and Unhealthy Habits to Early and Middle Adulthood

The choices that an individual makes during his adolescent stage have significant impacts on his future life. For example, eating a balanced diet, having physical exercises, and having an adequate sleep tends to improve one's lifespan. Most complications that come in the middle adulthood stage are unlikely to affect such an individual. The incidence of life threatening diseases such as the cardiovascular disease that affects the aged get reduced by the above mentioned healthy practices. Individuals who smoke or take alcoholic drinks get in the risk of suffering from chronic complications. Other complications that come as a result of unhealthy living habits include obesity, disability, and type II diabetes (Sierles, 1982).

There exist various reasons for investigating why and how healthy behaviour engagement varies across life stages. One, it is because healthy behaviour incorporated early in life get maintained even in adulthood. Second, when one spends his early life investing in resources, it becomes hard for the individual to shift from the behaviour.

Conclusion

Both early and middle adulthood stages are essential in the development of an individual. The transition from childhood to adulthood entails different life experiences. Children start with going to school to getting spouses and marrying. From marriage, the couple enters into parenthood. All these stages have responsibilities. This paper analyzes the early and middle adulthood stages, and the psychosocial advancements associated with the two life stages. The study gives a brief reflection of any future research related to the topic.

References

Sierles, F. (1982). Early and Middle Adulthood. Clinical Behavioral Science, 297-304. doi:10.1007/978-94-011-7973-7_21

Staudinger, U. (2001). Lifespan Development, Theory of. International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences, 8844-8848. doi:10.1016/b0-08-043076-7/01649-1