Adulthood

Adulthood may be considered from a legal, biological, or developmental standpoint—for instance, an individual who is eighteen years old in the United States is considered a legal adult. Biologically, adults are typically sexually mature and full grown, while developmentally, self-sufficiency and independence are often considered hallmarks of adulthood.

In the fields of sociology and psychology, adulthood is commonly studied through the lens of developmental stages. Researchers study when, exactly, adulthood begins; are concerned with the permanence or changeability of personality traits over a lifetime; and whether personalities are more influenced by biological or environmental and social factors. Although adulthood was once thought to be a largely fixed period in relation to human development, researchers now know that personality traits continue to change through many different influences. Another common factor in sociological research into adulthood is the way that relationships change over a lifetime. Many developments in this field of study are relatively recent, and new theories about how and why humans navigate adulthood the way they do continue to emerge.

Background

Contemporary theory regarding adult development is largely based on research conducted by Erik Erikson, a twentieth-century psychologist who was a student of Sigmund Freud. Erikson was a psychoanalyst who developed the theory on psychosocial development. While Freud focused his theories on psychosexual development, Erikson instead focused on social behavior.

Erikson's theory postulated eight stages of development: five stages from birth to eighteen years of age, and then three stages of adult development beyond that. He believed that an individual's personality continued to develop throughout a lifetime, but that at each stage of development, a crisis—or a turning point—occurs, and only a successful resolution of that crisis leads to the development of a healthy personality. Erikson envisioned two opposing views of the world that must be resolved at each stage; for instance, the first stage in infancy is defined as trust versus mistrust, where infants learn from a primary caregiver whether they should view the world as either a safe or dangerous place. For each successive stage of development to occur appropriately, Erikson argued, the prior must be resolved.

The three stages of adulthood include intimacy versus isolation (approximately eighteen to forty), generativity versus stagnation (forty to sixty-five), and ego integrity versus despair (sixty-five and older). Before Erikson's theory, scientists generally accepted that adulthood was, at best, a stagnant period during which developmental changes ceased to occur and, at worst, when individuals gradually deteriorated and lost certain abilities of younger age.

Some critics of Erikson's theory have argued that it is an observation of life stages rather than an analysis of how crises are resolved and why it must occur in this particular sequence. Another twentieth-century psychologist, Jean Piaget, also theorized what is known as the developmental stage theory, which is based on a combination of genetic and environmental influences and can be understood as the development of reasoning based on cause and effect.

Overview

Ongoing research in adult development continues to focus largely on personality changes throughout one's lifetime. Personality traits are made up of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Sociologists tend to agree that personality traits do change, primarily during what is known as early adulthood (eighteen to forty) when most individuals seem to increase in emotional stability, conscientiousness, and agreeableness: ultimately, becoming more mature. In addition, people tend to be warmer, more self-confident, more open, and have more self-control as they age. In fact, research has shown that people who develop these traits seem to be more successful in their lives overall concerning work, health, and longevity. These traits all fall into what is known as the Big Five factors of personality: extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability, and openness to experience. However, not everyone changes at the same rate, or to the same degree.

Researchers then consider whether these trait changes are primarily caused by genetics—biology—or whether they are based on external factors, such as living environment. Another theory, called social investment theory (SIT), argues that personalities in adulthood change as a result of certain major life transitions, such as starting work, getting married, or having children, because of the expectations of society that are linked to these particular situations. Other researchers argue that influences from religion, politics, and even social media can have an impact on personality.

Another frequent topic of study in adulthood is the quality of relationships. Although older adults typically have fewer relationships than younger adults do, they often report that their relationships, and by extension their social lives, have become more satisfying and positive as they have aged. This is noteworthy because, until the mid-1990s, researchers thought that because older adults have smaller social networks, they had a higher risk of feeling lonely and dissatisfied. Instead, older adults actually have far fewer conflicts and experience less negative emotions when they do have a disagreement. Studies have shown that overall, people are simply more likely to treat each other kindly and actively look for more positive and rewarding relationships than in younger adulthood. This is sometimes referred to as the positivity bias. Other researchers argue that this positivity-seeking behavior in relationships can also be explained by a skill known as social expertise; with their increased life experience, older adults are better at assessing potential friends and partners and avoiding specific traits that are more likely to cause conflicts in a relationship.

In 2000, researcher Jeffrey Jensen Arnett added to Erikson's theory with a new developmental stage called emerging adulthood. Arnett focuses on eighteen- to twenty-nine-year-olds who are between adolescence and young adulthood. Arnett identifies emerging adulthood by five traits: identity explorations, instability, self-focus, feeling in-between, and possibilities/optimism. Arnett argues for the necessity of this additional stage by stating that, in the 1960s, it was typical for a twenty-one-year-old to be married and have children; today, most twenty-one-year-olds may be pursuing an education, focusing on work, or delaying marriage and children for other reasons—most do not pursue those paths until much later in their twenties, if at all. Some researchers also refer to this period more negatively as prolonged adolescence or arrested adulthood. Still, critics argue that such a view is based on a particular standard of adulthood that may not be applicable as social norms continue to change in the twenty-first century.

Bibliography

Arnett, Jeffrey Jensen. Emerging Adulthood: The Winding Road from the Late Teens through the Twenties. 3rd ed., Oxford UP, 2024.

Blatterer, Harry. "Reconceptualising an Uncontested Category: Contemporary Adulthood and Social Recognition." Frontiers of Sociology, 2005, pp. 1–26, www.swedishcollegium.se/IIS2005/total‗webb/tot‗html/papers/reconceptualising‗an‗uncontested‗category.pdf. Accessed 18 Dec. 2024.

Bleidorn, Wiebke. "What Accounts for Personality Maturation in Early Adulthood?" Current Directions in Psychological Science, vol. 24, no. 3, 2015, pp. 24–252, Association for Psychological Science, doi.org/10.1177/0963721414568. Accessed 18 Dec. 2024.

Kallio, Eeva. "From Causal Thinking to Wisdom and Spirituality: Some Perspectives on a Growing Research Field in Adult (Cognitive) Development." Approaching Religion, vol. 5, no. 2, 2015, pp. 27–41, doi.org/10.30664/ar.67572. Accessed 18 Dec. 2024.

Luong, Gloria, et al. "Better with Age: Social Relationships across Adulthood." Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, vol. 28, no. 1, 2011, pp. 9–23, HHS Public Access, doi.org/10.1177/0265407510391. Accessed 18 Dec. 2024.

McLeod, Saul. "Erik Erikson’s Stages of Psychosocial Development." Simply Psychology, 25 Jan. 2024, www.simplypsychology.org/erik-erikson.html. Accessed 18 Dec. 2024.

Roberts, Brent W., and Daniel Mroczek. "Personality Trait Change in Adulthood." Current Directions in Psychological Science, vol. 17, no. 1, 2008, pp. 31–35, doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8721.2008.00543.x. Accessed 18 Dec. 2024.

Sokol, Justin T. "Identity Development throughout the Lifetime: An Examination of Eriksonian Theory." Graduate Journal of Counseling Psychology, vol. 1, no. 2, 2009, pp. 1–12, epublications.marquette.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1030&context=gjcp. Accessed 18 Dec. 2024.