CHAPTER 14
SOCIAL AND PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT
IN EARLY ADULTHOOD
RESOURCES-AT-A-GLANCE
Detailed Outline
Learning
Objectives
Instructor’s Resources
Test Bank
MyPsychLab Connection
Chapter Introduction pp. 349-350
PowerPoint Slides
1-4
Sketchnote Video
Emerging Adulthood
Early Adulthood
Theories of Social and Personality
Development pp. 350-353
Erikson’s Stage of Intimacy versus
14.1
Lecture Enhancer
Young Adult Development
MC 1-8
FI 75–77
SA 90–91
Watch
Early Adulthood: Early Adulthood
Relationships, p. 350
Singlehood
14.8
A Family with Two Fathers,
p. 360
Parenthood and Other
Relationships pp. 361–365
Parenthood
14.9
PowerPoint Slides
30–39
MC 39-54
FI 82-83
SA 98-101
Watch
Transition to Parenthood, p. 362
Middle Adulthood: Portraits
CHAPTER OVERVIEW
In early adulthood, individuals turn away from the preoccupation with self that is characteristic of social
relationships in adolescence. For most, the formation of an intimate relationship with a long-term partner
is a theme that dominates this period of development.
Erikson proposed that the crisis of intimacy versus isolation is the defining theme of early adulthood.
Levinson’s theory suggests that adult development is characterized by alternating periods of stability and
Evolutionary theories of mate selection suggest that women are more interested in long-term relationships
and are more selective than are men in choosing partners because their investment in parenting is greater.
Social role theory emphasizes factors such as gender roles, similarity, and economic exchange in
explaining sex differences in mating. Attachment, love, and personality contribute to marital success.
The transition to parenthood is stressful and is made more so by perceived inequities in the division of
labor between mother and father and several by other factors. Young adults’ social networks are
important sources of support. These networks include friends, as well as an intimate partner and other
family members.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After completing Chapter 14, students should be able to answer the following questions:
14.1 What did Erikson mean when he described early adulthood as a crisis of intimacy versus
isolation?
14.2 What is a life structure, and how does it change?
14.3 What are the characteristics of emerging adulthood?
14.4 What factors do evolutionary and social role theorists emphasize in their theories of mate
selection?
14.5 How do marriage and divorce affect the lives of young children?
14.6 What factors contribute to the relationship between premarital cohabitation and divorce?
14.7 In what ways are gay and lesbian couples similar to and different from heterosexual couples?
KEY TERMS
assortative mating (homogamy) (p. 354)
avoidant couples (p. 358)
career development (p. 367)
emerging adulthood (p. 352)
hostile/detached couples (p. 358)
hostile/engaged couples (p. 358)
intimacy (p. 350)
intimacy versus isolation (p. 350)
INTEGRATED CHAPTER TEACHING NOTES
THEORIES OF SOCIAL AND PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT (pp. 350-353)
MyPsychLab Connections
Watch: Early Adulthood: Early Adulthood Relationships, p. 350
Watch: Early Adulthood: Stress about the Future: Gary, p. 351
Watch: Early Adulthood: Stress about the Future: Amanda, p. 351
Erikson’s Stages of Intimacy versus Isolation
LO 14.1 What did Erikson mean when he described early adulthood as a crisis of intimacy versus
isolation?
For Erikson, the central crisis of early adulthood is intimacy versus isolation. The young adult must find
a life partner, someone outside her own family with whom she can share her life, or face the prospect of
Discussion Launcher (Learning Objective 14.1, p. 350)
What do you think? If identity is not established before reaching early adulthood, is the person
predestined to social isolation?
A poor sense of identity is only one barrier to intimacy. Misunderstanding stemming from sex
Discussion Launcher (Learning Objective 14.1, p. 351)
How can these sex differences in styles of interactions be resolved?
Most adults succeed in establishing some kind of close relationship. For those who have no such
Discussion Launcher (Learning Objective 14.1, p. 351)
Have you experienced periods of loneliness? If so, how do you think the state of your love life at the time
contributed to your feelings?
LO 14.2 What is a life structure, and how does it change?
According to Levinson, a life structure includes all the roles an individual occupies, all of his or her
relationships, and the conflicts and balance that exist among them. Like Erikson, Levinson theorized that
each of these periods presented adults with new developmental tasks and conflicts. He believed that
Discussion Launcher (Learning Objective 14.2, pp. 351-352)
Give examples of events that call for life structures. Describe the three phases of adjustment to return to
stability.
Emerging Adulthood
LO 14.3 What are the characteristics of emerging adulthood?
A growing number of developmentalists view the period between 17 and 22 as a transitional one. Jeffry
Discussion Launcher (Learning Objective 14.3, p. 352)
Give examples of young adults making decisions with more maturity than they did in their late teens.
Glenn Roisman hypothesized that emerging adults must address developmental tasks in five domains:
▪ Academic
▪ Friendship
Discussion Launcher (Learning Objective 14.3, p. 352)
What do you think about emerging adulthood as a developing period?
Critical Thinking Question (Learning Objectives 14.1-14.3, pp. 350-353)
What are the similarities and differences among Erikson’s, Levinson’s, and Arnett’s approach to early
adulthood?
INTIMATE RELATIONSHIPS (p. 353-361)
MyPsychLab Connections
Watch: Dating and Finding a Mate, p. 353
Watch: Early Adulthood: Marriage and Love Relationships across Cultures, p. 356
Watch: A Family with Two Fathers, p. 360
Theories of Mate Selection
LO 14.4 What factors do evolutionary and social role theorists emphasize in their theories of mate
selection?
Evolutionary Theories
Evolutionary explanations of behavior focus on survival value. Heterosexual relationships ensure the
survival of the species because they are the context in which conception takes place. When choosing a
mate, however, heterosexuals do not simply look for someone of the opposite sex. Instead, mating is a
selective process, and evolutionary theorists often site research on sex differences in mate preferences and
mating behavior in support of their views. Cross-cultural studies conducted over a period of several
decades suggest the following sex differences:
The reasons behind men’s and women’s divergent mating goals are explained by parental investment
theory. This theory proposes the following:
▪ Men value health and availability in their mates and are less selective because their minimum
investment in parenting offspring—a single act of sexual intercourse—requires only a few minutes.
Evolutionary theorists argue that both men and women realize that a truly adaptive approach to child–
rearing requires much more than a minimum investment. Human offspring cannot raise themselves.
▪ Men value health and youth in their mates because a young, healthy woman is likely to live long
Discussion Launcher (Learning Objective 14.4, pp. 353-354)
Conduct a class debate of the following topic: Are these sex differences in mate preferences and mating
behavior due to nature (genetic) or nurture (environmental)? Give examples to support your answer.
Social Role Theory
Social role theory provides a different perspective on sex differences in mating. According to this view,
such sex differences are adaptations to gender roles that result from present-day social realities rather than
from natural selection pressures that arose in a bygone evolutionary era.
Researchers have also found that college-educated women with high earning potential prefer to date and
marry men whose income potential is higher than their own. The more a woman expects to earn herself,
Discussion Launcher (Learning Objective 14.4, p. 354)
What do you think? Do “opposites attract,” or do “birds of a feather flock together”?
Marriage
LO 14.5 How do marriage and divorce affect the lives of young adults?
The often-quoted statistic of a 50% divorce rate represents a cohort effect in that it is based on marriages
that occurred during the 1970s, a period of upheaval in family life that sociologists and researchers in
other fields still don’t fully understand. Longitudinal studies of marital duration that include marriages
that took place from the 1980s through the early 2000s suggest that only one-third of first marriages end
in divorce before the tenth anniversary.
On average, married couples:
Discussion Launcher (Learning Objective 14.4, p. 354)
How do you explain these benefits of marriage?
Feature Box Activity (Learning Objective 14.5, p. 355)
No Easy Answers: Wedding Stress Management
What do you think? Would you buy marriage insurance?
Feature Box Activity (Learning Objective 14.5, p. 356)
Research Report: Sex Differences in the Impact of Marriage
How do you explain these differences in health and happiness based on marital status?
Relationship Quality
Many powerful influences on marital success exist before a marriage even begins. Each partner brings to
the relationship certain skills, resources, and traits that affect the emerging partnership system. The
personality characteristics of the partners seem to be especially important. Another important factor
appears to be the security of each partner’s attachment to his or her family of origin.
Discussion Launcher (Learning Objective 14.5, pp. 356-357)
Give examples of how attachment in childhood could affect relationships in adulthood.
The relationship between attachment security early in life and intimate relationships in adulthood is not a
simple, direct one. Attachment security is one of several variables that work together to influence
relationship satisfaction later in life. These variables include the quality of partners’ peer relationships,
life stresses such as unemployment, and patterns of interaction between partners that develop over the
duration of the relationship.
Emotional affection contributes to relationship quality as well. Robert Sternberg argues that love has
three key components:
Discussion Launcher (Learning Objective 14.5, pp. 357-358)
Think about your own current and previous relationships. How would you classify each of them using
Sternberg’s theory?
How a couple manages conflict is also an important predictor of relationship quality. Psychologists have
identified three quite different types of stable or enduring marriages:
▪ Validating couples have disagreements, but the disagreements rarely escalate. The partners express
Psychologists find two types of unsuccessful marriages:
▪ Hostile/engaged couples, like volatile couples, have frequent hot arguments, but they lack the
Discussion Launcher (Learning Objective 14.5, p. 358)
Give examples of the behaviors in each of the types of marriages.
Divorce
Divorce is clearly a major source of stress and is associated with increases in both physical and emotional
Discussion Launcher (Learning Objective 14.5, p. 358)
Another possible explanation of these negative consequences is that people who are already more
depressed or unhealthy are more likely to divorce. What kind of evidence would you have to have to rule
out this explanation?
The psychological effects of divorce are often significantly exacerbated by serious economic effects,
particularly for women. Because most men have had continuous work histories, they commonly leave a
Cohabiting Heterosexual Couples
LO 14.6 What factors contribute to the relationships between premarital cohabitation and
divorce?
A significant proportion of unmarried couples in the United States live together, and most such couples
plan to marry. Studies show that those who cohabit before marriage are less satisfied with their
Other developmentalists believe that these findings result from the tendency of researchers to lump all
kinds of cohabiting couples into a single category, which may distort a study’s findings. It ignores that
there are two rather distinct types of heterosexual cohabitation:
▪ One type involves couples who are fully committed to a future marriage and choose to live together
Discussion Launcher (Learning Objective 14.6, pp. 358-359)
What do you think? Does cohabiting lead to less satisfaction in marriage? Support your answer with
examples.
Gay and Lesbian Couples
LO 14.7 In what ways are gay and lesbian couples similar to and different from heterosexual
couples?
Developmentalists have become interested in whether the same factors that predict satisfaction and
stability in heterosexual partnerships also relate to these variables in same-sex partnerships.
Relationship Satisfaction
Similarities include the following:
▪ Attachment security is just as important to same-sex unions as it is to opposite-sex relationships.
Differences include the following:
▪ Social Support: Gay and lesbian couples are often more dependent on one another for social support
than men and women in heterosexual partnerships. Many homosexuals are isolated from their
families, and they build families of choice for themselves.
Same-Sex Marriage
A few studies have examined whether the health benefits associated with traditional marriage are evident
in legally recognized unions of same-sex couples. These studies generally show that gays and lesbians in
Singlehood
LO 14.8 How do singles accomplish Erikson’s psychosocial task of intimacy?
Many adults are single by preference. The impact of singlehood on an adult’s life often depends on the
reason for his or her relationship status. Continuous singlehood is associated with greater individual
autonomy and capacity for personal growth than a life path that has included divorce or loss of a spouse.
Critical Thinking Question (Learning Objectives 14.4-14.8, pp. 353-361)
A statement that is widely attributed to anthropologist Margaret Mead is, “One of the oldest human needs
is having someone to wonder where you are when you don’t come home at night.” In what way does the
research in this section suggest that Mead made a profoundly accurate statement about human nature?
PARENTHOOD AND OTHER RELATIONSHIPS (pp. 362-365)
MyPsychLab Connections
Watch: Transition to Parenthood, p. 362
Watch: Middle Adulthood: Portraits of Marriage and Parenthood, p. 363