Adulthood Developmental Period Trajectory using Sociological and Psychological Theories

Adulthood Developmental Period Trajectory using Sociological and Psychological Theories
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Adulthood Developmental Period Trajectory using Sociological and Psychological Theories
Introduction
Understanding the different stages of the human developmental cycle is imperative for a successful evaluation of clients within the specific life cycle. Adulthood development period forms the later phase in the lifespan of individuals and in this phase, human beings reach physical maturity, although they continue to experience psychological and biological changes. According to Cavanaugh and Blanchard-Fields (2015), during this stage, changes in individuals are affected by their environment, and their adaptation to the environment continues to change as they go through life. As such, whereas there are limited physical changes regarding growth, other aspects of people’s life keeps on changing as their environment changes. Adult development is influenced by four forces, as noted by Cavanaugh and Blanchard-Fields (2015), which include biological, sociocultural, psychological and life cycle. These forces explain where individuals have varying experiences throughout the life cycle, and especially for adults who have attained some level of maturity.
Sociological and Psychological Theories
Several sociological and psychological theories explain the adult developmental period, and they provide perspectives on the different stages and experiences of adulthood.
Erik Erikson Psychosocial Development Theory
This is one of the earliest theories explaining the different stages that individuals undergo in the course of their life. Erikson, a psychologist in the field of human development, explains that individuals go through 8 stages in life. The focus of this paper is on the last three stages which explain the conflict that individuals undergo during their developmental period as adults. Adult development, as explained by Erikson in his theory, entails human development that covers the period from adolescent to end of life (Gilleard & Higgs, 2015). Thus, the three stages in adult development include early adulthood, midlife adulthood, and late adulthood. The adolescent period was also explained as a stage that involves the transitioning of an individual from childhood into adulthood (Gilleard & Higgs, 2015). This is the stage where an individual stops being concerned with childhood issues and starts embracing adulthood. This stage sometimes referred to as emerging adulthood, is characterized by the need to learn and experiment with different issues and can lead to risky behaviors (Sussman & Arnett, 2014). According to Erikson, each stage involves some crisis which must be resolved, failure to which, the individual is unable to resolve other crises that come in later stages.
In early adulthood stage, which begins at age 18 and ends at age 40, the individual’s major conflict revolves around forming a healthy relationship. The resolution of this crisis leads to the formation of healthy, intimate relationships while failing to resolve this crisis can result to isolation, and at times, individuals can end up being depressed (McLeod, 2018). The midlife adulthood stage, which is between the ages of 40 to 65, is characterized by care which often results in the need to help and nurture things in their life. This can involve partaking activities in community service, raising children, and improving productivity at the workplace (McLeod, 2018). Successful resolution of the crisis leads to a feeling of achievement while failing to resolve leads to a feeling of stagnation. At this stage, individuals feel the need to create an impact in life and leave a legacy, and are therefore under pressure to make contributions in all aspects of life. The last stage, late adulthood, which spans from the age of 65 to end of life, is characterized by wisdom (McLeod, 2018). In this stage, the individual assesses their past lives to determine whether they were accomplished or not. Those individuals who feel that they achieved something substantial in their lives feel a sense of integrity, while those who fail are filled with despair.
This theory is important because it helps one understand the crises that people undergo during adult development. Thus, one can be able to decipher what could be ailing this person to help them improve their mental health. It explains how, in real life, individuals experience life and the emotional and psychological experiences they undergo through these stages.
Levinson’s Theory
The theory, developed by Daniel Levinson, borrows from Erikson’s theory and describes the lifespan of individuals as one entailing pre-adulthood, early adulthood, middle adulthood, and late adulthood (Shehan, 2016). Accordingly, during development, individuals have to go through each season of life as prescribed by Levinson, and in between each season, there is a transitioning period, which was not included in Erikson’s theory. According to Peterson (2014), pre-adulthood entails a transitional stage into early adulthood. This stage is characterized by certain tasks such as looking for a job or deciding which career to pursue. Once the individuals enter the early adulthood period, they get to a stable stage in which they have already identified their career path and are working on becoming established in the career. This stage is followed by a transitional period, still within the early adulthood development period, where they reappraise their life, including careers. The lifespan involves stable and transitional stages that accompany each other. The transitional stages allow the individual to re-adjust and make changes in different aspects of their lives (Shehan, 2016). Certain feelings also accompany each stage. For instance, Peterson (2014) notes that the stable stages are associated with feelings of satisfaction with almost all aspects of life before the need to readjust arises again leading to a transitional stage.
While this theory is similar to Erikson’s theory in some way, it is relatively important to psychologists because it gives a different perspective on what happens in between the different stages of adult development. Understanding each transitional stage increases the understanding of adult development because of the instability associated with the transition periods. For instance, it sheds light on why someone who had already selected a certain career path would want to reconsider their career choices. Further, as noted by Peterson (2014), this theory provides a perspective on the factors that are necessary to enhance a successful transition. Levinson’s theory clarifies on the importance of a support system, mentorship, and availability of options for an individual in each season. A successful transition is not possible if the individual lacks the factors mentioned above. Mentorship is especially important because, as indicated by Alderfer (2014), it is one of the fundamental concepts in adult development in the Levinson theory. Accordingly, the importance of this theory sheds light on how mentorship influence adult development...