By: Shawn Cox
Submitted: 2010-06-22 20:02:56 | Word Count: 908
Throughout life, every person whether young or old, goes through growth and development that shape their lives. Psychological development is very apparent in children who experience a continuous process of development which have clear developmental points. This drastically changing phase seems to end at around the age of eighteen and results in what we call adulthood, or coming of age. Often, turning 18 seems to be a culmination but in effect it is just the start of adulthood which has various stages although quiet dissimilar to childhood phases. Children are guided as they go into their challenges but adults are expected to know what to do when they face these challenges. This often is not the case, and this has resulted in maladjustments in adults. It is therefore important that adults, especially young adults recognize, understand and accept this impending process so as to make the most of the challenges, new skills and equip them with adapting well to new adult situations. The paper will review my learning experiences in adult development with the theories of Erik Erikson, Alfred Adler and Jean Piaget as a background in relation to the changes that I have adapted to in my adult development. I will further review the development process I have experienced and see how cognitive skills were further developed, used and perfected in adulthood, trying to validate if being prepared for a particular change resulted in more effective results for me.
Children’s growth and development is focused more on physical and cognitive development that eventually leads to adult development. This is defined as an ongoing, continuous process wherein the individual interacts with the environment, changing constantly, tackling increasingly complex tasks and developing an understanding of the environment. This ongoing process is made up of events that gives us experiences to learn lessons, allows individuals to claim an understanding to life’s mysteries, and results in who we are as unique individuals. Development is further defined as an increase in complexity of functions and skill progression (Kozier, 2007). Young adults, as they establish their identity and lives that is independent of their parents, as well as building their own careers, marriage, family and experiencing the loss of loved ones, they may encounter difficulties as they progress. Life experiences teach us naturally about how our minds and body interact with environment to result in development, but we will now review how we can increase the effectivity of learning activities by being prepared for the changes to come.
Erik Erikson's theory in adult development encompasses three stages, the young adult (from 18 to 25 years old), adulthood (25 to 65 years old) and maturity (65 years onwards) (Kozier, 2007). The young adult needs to make a resolution in intimacy and solidarity versus isolation, the adult (sometimes called middle adulthood) will cross the generativity versus self absorption or stagnation while mature adult will resolve issues in ego integrity and despair (Tabers, 2001). I feel that I have successfully crossed young adulthood in that I was able to develop intimacy and found satisfying companionship and love, and resulted in a family that I am very much involved with now with my 15 and 11 year old teenage sons. Going into marriage and having children was an undertaking that we undertook without much planning and forethought. I was only eighteen when I gave birth to my firstborn. In the first few years of marriage and parenting, I faced a magnitude of experiences that allowed me to learn. These learning experiences allowed me to develop a variety of life skills which I previously didn’t possess. Looking back now, I went into marriage and child-rearing as an untrained individual. But that is life, and I really do not think that we can prepare ourselves particularly well for “life”. It is supposed to happen, and it did happen in succession for me, getting married, adapting, having a child, adapting, rearing a child, adapting, having another child and adapting. Even if I had taken a full course in “life adaptation” would the learning I gained have been more effective, or would I have made less mistakes, or have gone through a less rocky living? Would an ideal, picture-perfect journey with smooth sailing stand to have a better acceptability as compared to one where there are some surprises, mistakes and even “blessings in disguise”. I personally think the latter has more learning and adjustment experiences that will make it just as acceptable or effective as the picture-perfect journey.
Now in
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my middle adulthood phase in my early thirties, I find that I am somewhat unconsciously trying to achieve generativity. I think this is done unconsciously, although it is an effect of my getting to the end of my learning experiences with balance which I do consciously. With my very active schedule due to the school and extra-curricular activities of two teenagers, I find that there is probably not much chance to develop self-absorption or stagnation. I can hardly become self-absorbed as I hardly have time for myself; I am just desperately catching up on the boys, school, work, meal preparation and home maintenance. My basic strength, true enough is production or work which has become a crucial component of my life aside from that of my family. Erikson correctly postulated that middle-age is the time that individuals become pre-occupied with “creative and meaningful work, as well as issues surrounding family” (Kozier, 2007).
