Chapter Notes: Module 11

PSYC 200 Chapter Notes

Chapter 7: Emerging and Early Adulthood (pages 230-248)

Developmental psychologists now note that the transitional bridge from adolescence to adulthood (approximately 18 to 25 years of age) is aptly categorized as “emerging adulthood.”  The authors reference the work of Jeffrey Arnett (page 230) in describing five common features of emerging adulthood:  identity exploration, instability, self-focused, feeling in-between, and the age of possibilities.   Here’s an interesting side-note:  other terms for emerging adults include twixters, kidults, adultescence, permakids, quarter-life crisis, thresholders, boomerang kids, and “start-up” adults!

Moving on to physical development, though people in this time of life may be at the peak of their physiological development, there are still many health-related concerns.  For example, even though college students know how to take care of themselves physically, it doesn’t always happen.  A Harris longitudinal study revealed that most bad health habits engaged in during adolescence increased in emerging adulthood.  This is not good news.  The next few pages offer reminders about obesity--specifically causes and consequences.

The topic of alcohol abuse and non-alcohol substance abuse begins on page 238. If we were together in the classroom, it would be interesting to discuss some of research findings related to this important topic. The statistics on alcohol abuse and college students is staggering and in truth,  very sobering. 

Many people discuss two major approaches to understanding and responding to addiction:  the disease model and the non-disease model (or the life-process model).  The controversy around these two distinct approaches rages still.  Thankfully, some helping professionals are beginning to draw from each of these views of addiction to offer counsel and intervention.

The section on gender and gender identity begins on page 240.  I especially appreciate the inclusion of information on transgender individuals and the discrimination they often face.  Sexuality in early adulthood begins on page 242.  Though it may be review, please read through the information on sexually transmitted infections.  Having worked at an agency which focused on supporting individuals living with HIV/AIDS and preventing new infections, I feel strongly about these matters.  In reference to HIV, it is important to remember that 75% of new HIV infections annually are caused by the 25% who don’t know they are infected.  It’s important to know your and your partner’s risk status.  At this point, HIV/AIDS is not curable, but it is 100% preventable.

In the brief discussion of sexual orientation, we are reminded of the consistent research that accurately conceptualizes sexual orientation on a continuum rather than a strict dichotomy of gay or straight. Other aspects of sexual orientation include bisexuality, pansexuality, polysexuality, and asexuality.

Please spend time reading the material related to the development of sexual orientation, and especially the unsettling section on sexual orientation discrimination.  Because this chapter includes some of the cruel realities of the effects of antigay discrimination, I’ll close with a tragic story I read recently in a book by John Spong about a young man who was gay. He writes:

“This young man grew up in a family where the father and mother both expressed vehement negativity about homosexuality. Both parents were frequently heard to say that they would rather see their son dead than to know he was gay.  So their son, knowing himself to be homosexual, hid deeper and deeper in his closet of security.  When the time came for him to enter a university, he chose an academic setting on the other side of the country.  University activities crowded his summers and holidays so that he was able to return home for only brief visits.  When he graduated, he took a position near his university. Contact with his family was minimal.  He drifted into the gay ghetto and ultimately contracted AIDS.  When it was finally diagnosed, he faced the fact that he would not live much longer.   His deepest hope was to reconcile himself with his parents before he died.  The relationship was so estranged, however, that he did not know how to do it.  That was when he sought the counsel of this Methodist chaplain.  After some conversation, they decided together that the best way to approach this young man’s parents was through a letter that would tell him that he was gay and dying with AIDS and would convey his dying wish to visit them and seek reconciliation.  The letter was carefully crafted, addressed and mailed.  About ten days later, a reply was received.  The young man did not want to open this letter alone, so back to the Methodist chaplain he went.  When the envelope was opened they discovered that it contained a blank piece of paper that when unfolded revealed the torn pieces of a printed document.  It was the remains of this young man’s birth certificate.”