Emotion Development in Early Adulthood
Emotional and psychological development is a life-long process tat extends beyond childhood and adolescence into early adulthood, adulthood, and old age. Young adulthood is an important developmental stage in which individuals gain an understanding of who they really are. An important aspect of this stage is the development of relationships with the opposite sex and experiences of love and intimacy. The experiences of mate selection and love are crucial elements of emotional development in young adulthood. In this discussion, emotional and psychological development in early adulthood will be investigated. The relationship between emotional development during early adulthood and the experiences of love and mate selection will also be examined. Also, the role that emotional development plays in lifestyle choices and changes that occur in adulthood will be addressed.
Development in young adulthood
One of the most comprehensive theories of emotional development in early adulthood was postulated by Erikson (Carver & Scheier, 1996). Young adulthood is the sixth stage of psycho-social development outlined by Erikson, which is followed by the stages of adulthood and old-age. Young adulthood occurs through the mid-20s, and conflict at this stage, involving the desire for intimacy vs. isolation, is experienced by individuals (Carver & Scheier, 1996). Intimacy in this context may be defined as a close relationship with someone, which involves a sense of commitment, and these relationships may be sexual or non-sexual in nature (Carver & Scheier, 1996). Erikson believed that a strong sense of identity is a prerequisite for individuals being capable of experiencing true intimacy (Carver & Scheier, 1996). Isolation, on the other hand, involves feelings of being disconnected from others and unable to commit to any relationship. Individuals can shift into isolation if present conditions are not accommodating for intimacy, and no one is available to fulfill intimacy needs (Carver & Scheier, 1996). Also, individuals may consciously withdraw into isolation for various reasons. Withdrawing may have negative consequences such as future difficulties in the establishment of intimate relationships due to self-absorption (Carver & Scheier, 1996).
Individuals need to effectively deal with the presenting conflict of a current developmental stage in order to advance onto the next stage of development. Therefore, young adults need to work out issues of intimacy vs. isolation in order to successfully leave young adulthood and graduate onto adulthood, which presents a different main conflict. Research has indicated that a necessary component for a capacity for intimacy is the achievement of a strong identity, and it has been found that this differs between men and women (Carver & Scheier, 1996). The presence of strong identities was found to be predictive of whether or not men got married, while it predicted the likelihood of a lasting marriage in women (Carver & Scheier, 1996).
Carver and Scheier (1996) describe how there are two distinguishable aspects of isolation, which are social isolation and emotional isolation. Social isolation is the failure of an individual to successfully integrate into society. On the other hand, emotional isolation is the failure to have intimacy in one's life at all. This isolation is commonly perceived as loneliness (Carver & Scheier, 1996). Emotional isolation tends to feed upon itself, as lonely individuals do not open up to others, are less responsive to the people they interact with, do not seem interested in what others have to offer, and are generally difficult to get to know (Carver & Scheier, 1996). Furthermore, intimacy and love, grounded in a strong sense of identity, form the basis for emotional development throughout early adulthood.
Intimacy and love
Intimacy is a necessary component to love, and both of these factors are a necessary part of emotional development in early adulthood. According to Sternberg (1986), love can be conceptualized as being composed of three main components, including passion, intimacy and commitment. These three components are conceptualized by Sternberg as a 'love triangle', which has passion, intimacy, and commitment as the three vertices.
Passion is defined as the motivations that result in romance, physical attraction, and sexual consummation, among other factors (Sternberg, 1986). Intimacy consists of feelings of being close and connected to someone, as well as the bonding that is experienced in loving relationships (Sternberg, 1986). Finally, commitment is a conscious decision made by an individual to love someone else and put in continual effort to maintain that love (Sternberg, 1986).
Several different combinations of these components can be made to character eight types of love (Sternberg, 1986). These types of love include non-love (no passion, no intimacy, no commitment), liking (intimacy only), infatuation (passion only),...
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