Gail Sheehy’s “Predictable Crises of Adulthood” Essay

The Trying Twenties is one of the longer and more stable periods, stable, that is, in comparison with the rockier passages that lead to and exit from it. Although each nail driven into our first external life structure is tentative, a tryout, once we have made our commitments we are convinced they are the right ones. The momentum of exploring within the structure generally carries us through the twenties without

Before I go into the details of my observations I am going to explain Erickson’s Stages of Psychosocial development. These include, stage one: Trust versus mistrust, Stage two: Autonomy versus doubt, Stage three: Initiative versus guilt, Stage four: Industry versus inferiority, Stage five: Identity versus role confusion, Stage six: Intimacy versus isolation, Stage seven: Generativity versus stagnation, and finally Stage eight: Integrity versus despair. Stage one takes place from when a child is born until the age of one. In stage one “the infant is uncertain about the world in which they live”. (Saul

In the magazine article "What Is It About 20-Somethings," Robin Marantz Henig discussed the stagnant transcendence of adolescents into adulthood with society and economy evolve to accomodate people's needs. Most make it into the realm of adulthood once they surpass these milestones: "completing school, leaving home, becoming financially independent, marrying and having a child". However, some linger in a new stage called the "emerging adulthood," where they spend more time than others to explore their identity and to develop "sense of possibilities". Causes for the delay include cultural expectation, dependence on parents, change in hierarchy of needs, and adolescent brain development. And as a result, society become uncertain whether to extend

In his essay “65,” Mark Jacobson references one specific diagram, “The Stages of Man’s Life from the Cradle to the Grave,” which leads him to a small epiphany (113). Basically, according to the analogy, the stages of life are stairs, each stair representing roughly ten years. At the beginning of said stair, a person faces new experiences they aren’t yet qualified to approach. Once the person has learned to master these experiences (after about ten years or so), he/she advances a step. This person is again rendered a beginner to new territory. The same pattern, step after step, repeats for a lifetime.

Late adulthood in Erikson’s life stage theory is the difference between in integrity versus despair. (Ashford & Lecroy, 2013, p. 99) Doris has found her life to be very satisfying. The only thing she wishes could have been changed is the passing of her husband so early. She is content and proud of the way her children have turned out and where her life is currently. We have talked much about how things were as she raised her children and even that of when she was a child. Cappeliez calls this the reminiscence bump, the ability to recall memories from adolescence through young adulthood. (2008, p. 1) She appreciates the life she has been fortunate to have and enjoys sharing the memories she has. I observed the way her face lit up as we talked about her as a child and her children.

There are many different cultural factors that have led to the emergence of emerging adulthood (the transition to adulthood has become so delayed and prolonged that it has spawned a new transitional period extending from late teens to the mid- to late-twenties). First, entry-level positions in many fields require more education than they did in the past, prompting young adults to seek higher education in record numbers and thus delaying financial independence and career commitment. Secondly, wealthy nations with longer-lived populations have no pressing need for young people’s labor, freeing those who are financially able for extended exploration.

Every individual is influenced, in some way, by the people and environment around them. I believe that experiences in one’s life, good or bad, are able to shape the individual into who they want to become. As we can see, emerging adulthood emphasizes these types of learning experiences of exploring and independently living. These times of exploration are available for individuals, who live in a developed and economic society, because these individuals “marry later, have children later, obtain more education, and have a greater range of occupational and recreational opportunities” (Arnett, 2004, p. 24), which is why I claim I am an emerging adult because this is the type of society I live in. Emerging adulthood is becoming the norm because societies advancements have granted young people the chance to extend their time of exploration and have allowed individuals like me to figure what I really want to do in life (Arnett, 2004, p. 24). The key features of emerging adulthood --identity of exploration, age of instability, self-focus, age of feeling in-between, and age of possibilities are qualities I have found that play or have played a part in my life.

What is emerging adulthood? What makes young adults go through this stage, and why should it be considered a stage? Robin Marantz Henig, a freelance journalist, author, and science writer, explains in her article, “What is it about 20-somethings?”, along with Dr. Jeffrey Jensen Arnett, a psychology professor at Clark University. Henig and Arnett discuss the reasons why many 20-somethings struggle to transition from adolescence to adulthood. Arnett calls this period of time “emerging adulthood”, and believes that it should be considered a stage of life. Because many young adults go through this and feel different, emerging adulthood should be recognized as a new stage of life, as it explains to people why it is okay to transition into adulthood

According to Erikson stages of human development, late adulthood stage is between the ages 65 to death (Erikson, 1982). This stage is ego integrity versus despair involves individual to look back over one’s life and feel a sense of contentment and satisfaction (Erikson, 1982). Success at this stage leads to feeling of wisdom and failure to achieve results in bitterness, regret, and despair. This negative resolution manifests itself as a fear of death, a sense that life is too- short, and depression (Erikson, 1982).

There are several causes of emerging adulthood. First, since the standard of living has gone up, it has become more attractive for young adults to remain with the relative security of their parents’ homes instead of moving towards complete independence. In addition, society’s standards for sexual morality have loosened. It’s no longer the standard practice to marry right after high school; now, adults are more hesitant to enter a committed relationship.

Sheehy goes on to tell us more about the crisis of life. The next three crises I cannot relate to since I’m in the trying twenties. Catch-30 emphasizes major growth towards becoming a mature adult. We tend to outgrow our current career and our trying twenty tendencies. Everything takes a turn in your thirties. I think this is where you really start to mature as an adult. I know a lot of factors can force responsibility on you to reach this peak earlier such as having a baby or getting married young. Sheehy states “One of the common responses is tearing up of the life we spent most of twenties putting together” (7). We turn our goals into more realistic ones and we yearn for change. Whether it’s changing jobs or creating a family. In our thirties men and women feel as if they are restricted and have a need to go above and beyond. Couples mutuality and grow in separate directions.

1.1 The stages of a lifespan is infancy, childhood, adolescence, adulthood and older adult. Infancy is before childhood when they are babies, describes the growth and development of the child from about the fourth week through the second year of life. (reference FROM http://www.education.com/reference/article/infant-development-stage-period/) . Childhood is the time before you turn 13, childhood is the stage between infancy and puberty. Adolescence is between the age of 13 – 18 this is the transition before people develop into an adult. Adulthood is where a person is fully developed physically, mentally, intellectually etc. The adulthood stage is at the age ranges of 18 – 40. An older adult is the final stage in a person’s life, this is where a person is at an advanced age where their health might start to deteriorate the age ranges of an older adult is 65+.

The final stage of Erikson's theory is later adulthood (age 60 years and older). The crisis represented by this last life stage is integrity versus despair. Erikson proposes that this stage begins

The five features proposed that make emerging adulthood distinct are the age of identity explorations, the age of instability, the self-focused age, the age of feeling in-between, and the age of possibilities. Emerging adulthood includes things that do not fit into adolescence or early adulthood, like puberty and living with their parents for adolescence and a stable job and marriage for early adulthood. It is too long and important of a time period to be called a transition, which refers to the transitional changes at the end or beginning of a developmental period. Many people now have agreed that growing up is not as easy as it used to be and that therefore adulthood is being pushed into later ages. Some people view moving straight from adolescence to adulthood as having negative effects and that the period of emerging adulthood brings on a new perspective which sets adulthood into a later age at which those development changes are more

Adulthood is when an individual is past the stage of being considered to be a teenager or “young adult”. In America, adulthood starts at the age of 18, but in certain circumstances it has limited access. The fact that many adolescents have relied on another individual for about eighteen years, it will take more than two years for one to transit into their 20’s when it comes down to getting their life together. Many expectations are expected for people in their 20’s, but one person’s expectations may be different from another. This new generation have a mind of their own, which makes it hard to compare them to the earlier generations. From a young age, young adults learned the strategy of lacking deep connection with their surroundings, which makes it harder for them to mature into their 20’s. At that point of age, one should only be learning the strategies of relying on their self, in which Robin Henig elaborate more on through Jeffrey Jensen Arnett theory. Arnett consider the 20’s to be the stage of emerging adulthood. Arnett believes that emerging adulthood is “identifying exploration, instability self-focus, feeling in-between, and rather poetic characteristic, he calls “a sense of possibilities” (Henig 200). One must first experience these things before becoming an actual adult. There is an extreme amount of individuals in there 20 something’s that may be taking longer to fully develop into an adult, but it helps them figure out who they are as an individual, develop