Personal Perspective on Changes in Adulthood

The changes that occur in adulthood can be very traumatic and enriching at the same time. These changes are physical, social, emotional, and psychological and can have a huge impact on a person's personality development, social interactions, job satisfaction, intimate relationships, physical health, and mental health. What causes these changes are genetic and environmental influences, so while some of these changes vary greatly depending on the individual, some of them are inevitable. The consequences of how the way an individual deals with these changes have been researched for many decades, and theories exist to both extremes, but modern theorists tend to agree that heredity and social influences affect life-span changes. I also view the changes due to aging as an inevitable, ever-changing process that can be enjoyable if dealt with in a healthy psychological manner. If these changes are feared and not dealt with therapeutically, extreme pessimism and dissatisfaction with one's own life can ensue, which can lead to extreme mental health problems in middle and later life.

The changes that occur throughout adulthood are very individualized. While the changes themselves are inevitable, the timing and consequences of the changes depend on many factors, such as culture, gender, geographic location, and the quality of the person's social relationships. I believe that genetics along with environmental influences guide an individual's path through adulthood. The consistency of the existence and timing of some of these changes, especially the physical changes, proves that all humans share a similar genetic makeup. The changes to the sensory system, for example, are fairly constant in their timing across the entire population. Vision and hearing begin to go downhill in the third decade of life, while taste and smell tend to start to diminish in the sixth decade (Berk, 2004). I believe that the emotional, psychological, and social changes that occur throughout adulthood have some genetic influence, but are more guided by the individual's environment. This environment includes the individual's immediate community up to the global community. For example, the concept of finding an intimate partner is in many ways controlled by population flows in certain locations. Consider that if a country had a gender split of 60% male to 40% female, then 20% of that country's male population would have no opportunity to achieve an intimate relationship without turning to homosexuality perhaps? I know this is a huge exaggeration, but gender splits do affect issues such as marriage rates, divorce rates, and birth rates in a country. I believe a huge contributor towards the trend of more satisfied social connections as an individual ages is the development of abstract thought, a process that begins in adolescence. Piaget called this the formal operational stage (Berk, 2004). This stage somewhat compares to Maslow's last tier in his hierarchy of needs, self-actualization (Berk, 2004). This tier involves an individual being able to consider and show empathy for not only their own situation but the plight of others. Realizing and accepting one's strengths and weaknesses brings the individual towards self-actualization as well (Berk, 2004). The ability to think outside the box (abstract thought) is essential to completing this task. As an individual ages they also strengthen and deepen their interpersonal relationships, whether with family, friends, co-workers, or acquaintances from religious and other social events. Simply spending more time and creating more memories in those relationships makes the relationships stronger. Positive life experiences lead to better mental health in later life.

The consequences of the physical, emotional, social, and psychological changes that occur throughout adulthood can be positive or negative, all depending on the individual's perception of the changes. An individual that has been taught to value youth and physical beauty may become depressed about their appearance in middle and late life. In contrast, an individual who is taught the importance of intelligence and social relations may find middle and late life to be the most enjoyable of their life-span. An individual's perception of these changes is due to various factors, such as gender, culture, religion, gender, ethnicity, and socioeconomic background. Women are usually more negatively affected by adverse events in adulthood such as divorce and job loss (Berk, 2004). This feminization of poverty may cause some women to have an exaggerated fear of such events and become dependent on a male counterpart as an aversion tactic. Western cultures tend to be more nervous about the aging process, especially physical aging, than Eastern cultures. Some religions frown upon things that manifest physical attractiveness. Aging in men is not thought of as negatively as aging of women in the United States. Signs of physical aging tend to concern people of higher socioeconomic classes, while these issues are not usually priority for individuals in lower socioeconomic classes. The crossover of traditional gender personality traits in middle age may be more suppressed in Western societies where this would be viewed as weak on the male's part. The individual's current occupation and extracurricular activities affect their perceptions of themselves as well. Individual's with largely public careers who spend lots of time in the "public eye" may focus their out of work time on activities to improve their physical appearance more as they age, while someone with a career in food service may opt for different activities. Basically, the more an individual is accepting of themselves physically and mentally as they age, the more satisfying they will perceive their life in their later years. Negative adaptation to the changes that occur as we age can have devastating effects on an individual's psyche, especially in later life. Feelings of dissatisfaction with one's life is a main cause of declining health, depression, social introversion, and many other issues that affect the elderly population. Having a positive life review is so important that Erikson incorporated this idea into his stage of ego integrity vs. despair (Berk, 2004). Erikson claims that having a satisfying and positive life review leads to acceptance of the end of life and feelings of satisfaction with one's achievements throughout life (Berk, 2004).

Personal observation and experience have influenced my personal perspective on aging in many ways. My work experience has yielded the best objective information. I myself am currently undergoing the changes of early adulthood and I considered that when coming up with my perspectives. Chances are they will change somewhat but not drastically as I myself age. Working at the local health department gave me the opportunity to view many of the changes that occur in middle age objectively. Many of my co-workers there (which were overwhelmingly female) were in middle age and expressed many of the common aspirations and fears of this period in life. Many had children that were just leaving home and parents that were moving in. Some started to pursue their educational aspirations now that their domestic responsibilities were complete, while other committed more time to their social relationships. It always seemed to me that my co-workers that had intimate, long-term relationships coped better with the changes of middle age. I also worked at an assisted living facility and saw first-hand the difficulties of late adulthood, and how hard coping with these changes was for our patients. Combined with the frequent losses the elderly experience (parents, spouses, friends), the physical and psychological changes that occur in late adulthood are in my opinion the hardest of all the changes in adulthood.

Genetic and environmental factors contribute to the changes that comprise adulthood. While change in adulthood is inevitable, some of it is predictable as evidenced by the consistency of some of these changes across all borders. Most of these changes are physical. The emotional and psychological changes of adulthood are mainly due to environmental influences in my opinion. These changes are also influenced by how well the individual dealt with previous changes in earlier stages of life. If proper coping and adaptation skills are developed and honed throughout life, aging can be an interesting and enjoyable process that leads the individual to true self-actualization.

References

Berk, L.E. (2004). Development across the lifespan. Available from the University of Phoenix eBook Collection database.