Young Adulthood
Young adulthood spans the ages of 20 to 40. This is the time of peak physical and cognitive abilities. After this peak, the abilities gradually decline at a rate of about 1% per year.
This is also the time of numerous relationships, fun times, and the separation from parental care.
This is also a time of reassessment of career choices. Women especially reassess life plans as they perceive their childbearing years getting shorter.
In the 30s, young adults begin to settle down and think of marriage and family. They also begin to assume the responsibilities of managing a home and children.
Middle Adulthood
Middle adulthood spans the ages of 40 through 65.
Erikson believed the greatest challenge in this stage is generatively, or being open and supportive of the next generation.
Many people experience a mid-life transition between the ages of 40 and 45. These people see themselves as having lived half of their lives and wanting something different for the next half.
Some middle adults experience a mid-life crisis. This is a more severe situation than a midlife transition.
Males may see younger workers advance over them in their jobs. Women may feel that their role of Supermom is not needed anymore as their children are in high school and beyond.
Middle adults may experience an empty nest syndrome, which are feelings of emptiness and loss after their children leave home.
Women may also feel loss of femininity due to menopause because they see it as an end to their reproductive abilities. Other women find it as a positive situation with less worry about reproduction.
The idea that all people in middle adulthood are depressed or sad is not true. Many adults find new hobbies, go back to school, or go to work, or change jobs and find it exhilarating.
Many adults also reconnect with children in new ways and enjoy them.
Late Adulthood
Late adulthood begins at age 65. As science and medicine have advanced, the lifespan is getting longer and longer, and people are living into their 80s, 90s and beyond.
One of the greatest problems found in late adulthood is physical changes. Decline in the senses and motor abilities are profound.
Cognitive developments are also affected by aging. Learning new things is harder, but recall and memory do not sharply decline.
The serious disease Alzheimer's, which is a progressive form of mental deterioration, affects about 10% of people over the age of 65. But its occurrence increases as people get older.
Alzheimer's is not a normal part of aging. As we have learned before, a problem with Alzheimer's is that if affects the formation of new memories.
It hits a part of the brain called the hippocampus, and people are not able to take short-term memory to long-term memory.
There's been an ongoing study with Notre Dame nuns that has very much affected Alzheimer's research. The reason that these women were chosen is that the occurrence of Alzheimer's is very low amongst these women.
It was found that these women work and were cognitively engaged their entire lives. The research found that elderly people need to stay cognitively engaged. Therefore we are seeing an increase in older people going back to college and taking classes.
A social change that is faced in late adulthood is retirement. More important is how this change is faced.
Many people see it as a great opportunity to enjoy their spouses, travel, and engage in fun activities. Others, though, see it as the beginning of the end, and will despair and distress over it.
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