Early Adulthood

The summer right before I came to BSC

A Gradual Transition: Emerging Adulthood

In emerging adulthood, young adults from about age 18 to 25 are released from parental oversight but have not yet taken on adult roles. During these years of extended exploration, young people prolong identity development as they make frequent changes in educational paths, hobs and love partners.

Increased education required for entry-level positions in many fields, gains in economic prosperity, reduced need for young people’s labor, and globalization have prompted the appearance and spread of emerging adulthood.

Physical Development

Once body structures reach maximum capacity and efficiency in the teens and twenties, biological aging, or senescence, begins. The programmed effects of specific genes may control certain age-related biological changes in DNA and body cells. DNA may also be damaged as random mutations accumulate, leading to less efficient cell repair and replacement and to abnormal cancerous cells.

Release of highly reactive free radicals is a likely cause of age-related DNA and cellular damage. Biological aging may result from a complex combination of programmed effects of specific genes and random events that cause cells to deteriorate.

Genetic and cellular deterioration affects organs and tissues. The cross-linkage theory of aging suggests that over time, protein fibers form links and become less elastic, producing negative changes in many organs. Declines in the endocrine and immune systems may also contribute to aging.

Physical Changes

Gradual physical changes take place in early adulthood and later accelerate. Declines in heart and lung performance are evident during exercise. Heart disease is a leading cause of death in adults, although it has decreased considerably in the past half-century due to lifestyle changes and medical advances. Atherosclerosis is a serious, multiply-determined cardiovascular disease involving fatty deposits on artery walls.

Athletic skills requiring speed, strength, and gross body coordination peak in the early twenties; those requiring endurance, arm-hand steadiness, and aiming peak in the late twenties and early thirties. Less active lifestyles rather than biological aging account for most of the age-related decline in athletic skill and motor performance.

The immune response strengthens through adolescence and declines after age 20. This trend is partly due to shrinking of the thymus gland. Increased difficulty coping with physical and psychological stress also contributes.

After age 35, women’s reproductive capacity declines dramatically due to reduced quality and quantity of ova. Men show a gradual decrease in amount of semen and concentration of sperm in each ejaculation after age 40.

Cognitive Development

Changes in the Structure of Thought

Cognitive development beyond Piaget's formal operations is known as post formal thought. Adult cognition typically reflects an awareness of multiple truths, integrates logic with reality, and tolerates the gap between the ideal and the real.

According to Perry's theory of epistemic cognition, college students move form dualistic thinking, dividing information into right and wrong, to relativistic thinking, awareness of multiple truths. Eventually, the most mature individual’s progress to commitments within relativistic thinking, a perspective that synthesizes contradictions.

Epistemic cognition depends on experiences that encourage young people to consider the rationality of their though processes, resulting in gains in metacognition. Peer collaboration on challenging, ill-structured problems is especially beneficial.

According to Labouvie-Vief's theory, the need to specialize motivated adults to progress from the ideal world of possibilities to pragmatic thought, which uses logic as to pragmatic thought, which uses logic as a tool to solve real-world problems and accepts inconsistency, imperfection, and the need to compromise. As a result of enhanced reflective capacities, adults also gain in cognitive-affective complexity--coordination of positive and negative feelings into a complex, organized structure.

Erickson's Theory: Intimacy

In Erickson's theory, young adults must resolve the conflict of intimacy versus isolation, balancing independence and intimacy as they form a close relationship with a partner. Research confirms that s a secure identity fosters attainment to intimacy. The negative outcome is loneliness and self-absorption.

Young people also focus on aspects of generatively, including contributions to society through work and child rearing.

My Early Adulthood

It has been a long journey, I am kind of old for being freshman, but that is what it is now. I am still worried about when I should go back to Korean and serve for the army for two years which really sucks. I grew up a little bit more, I am now almost 6"1. I've worked out really hard to gain more weights, I used to weight 158 when I was in hight school, but now I weight 165 pounds. I care more about family now, I care more about my school works than I used to in high school. I think it is because I've grown up more and now it is the time for me to think about my future more seriously. Living in another country is really hard. I am trying to enjoy this, I am trying to think positive. I am still trying to meet more people, and it is really interesting that I can meet many people from all over the world. I am really glad that I can experience this another culture, even though I have to fight through my lanague problem every day. By doing this blog work, I had a chance to look back my life. It was really good.