Abstract
This paper looks at theories of relating to adulthood that explain how the transformation from one stage of adulthood to another can be just as significant as moving from childhood to adulthood. It explains that, just as a child may encounter difficulties as he or she progresses toward adulthood, adults may encounter difficulties as they face each new stage in adult life.

From the Paper
"According to Lucas and Kuhner (1999), development is the process of creating meaning out of the events we experience. The meanings we develop are influenced and restricted by how we perceive those events, and so is subjective. Our perceptions will not exactly match those of others and we may perceive similar events in markedly different ways depending on a number of variables including our individual traits, our prior experiences, and how we perceived and interpreted those events. Thus over time, each person develops his or her own individual lens (Lucas and Kuhner, 1999) through which subsequent events will be viewed. This is an ongoing process that occurs throughout the adult's life."

Tags:adult, stage, life

Abstract
Late adulthood is often mistakenly viewed as a time of relaxation, where everything slows and an individual's life becomes more consistent and less stressful. In reality, late adulthood is a time of great change. Individuals retire, children move away, lifestyles alter significantly and social ties decline. This paper shows that, most significantly, a person's relationships change significantly in late adulthood. This includes relationships with siblings, spouses, friends, children and grandchildren. By considering these relationships and how they change, this paper shows that late adulthood is far from being a time of reduced stress. It may become a time of reduced stress if the individual makes the transition successfully, but the actual process of transition involves many significant changes.

From the Paper
"Peterson (2002) notes that friends play a special role because they link the individual to the larger social world. Individuals meet with friends as a way of keeping up with events in the world and in their own communities. This allows individuals to feel connected and avoids the problem of feeling isolated, alone, or rejected. It is also noted that older individuals have more secondary friends, which are described as "people who are not intimates but with whom they spend time occasionally" (Berk 2004, p. 606). This includes groups meeting to take part in activities such as playing bridge, lawn bowling, quilting, and various other craft activities".

Tags:household, relationship, retirement

Abstract
This paper looks at the life stage developments that occur during the ages of 18 through 35, as well as the characteristics of the members of this age group, and assesses their cognitive and psycho-social skills. It then discusses the psychological disorders that are typical at this age group, such as depression and stress-related disorders. Factors that contribute to the development of these disorders, including relevant life changes, are also discussed. The last section looks at how effective therapy or counseling techniques can help young adults address these common psychological disorders in young adulthood. It also suggests how counseling techniques such as psychoanalysis and cognitive-behavior therapy can be modified in order to address the special needs and disorders associated with this period.

Outline:
Young Adulthood
Common Disorders and Counseling Methods
Depression and Bipolar Disorder
Counseling and Young Adulthood
Works Cited

From the Paper
"In purely physical terms, young adulthood encompasses only minor physiological changes, compared to those that occur at puberty. People can experience additional modest gains in height and in muscle development from their late teens to their early twenties, but generally do not experience major physical changes until middle age. However, young adulthood is a period of profound psychosocial and cognitive developments. Erik Erikson's theory of psychosocial development builds on the work of Sigmund Freud. Like Freud, Erikson basis his theory on the idea that internal, biological factors largely determine one's personality. However, while Freud's theory stops at adolescence, Erikson's psychosocial stages continue into adulthood.
Erikson believed that a person's social and cultural surroundings had a strong influence on one's psycho-social development."

Tags:development, psychological, psychoanalysis, depression

Abstract
This paper investigates the emotional development process in early adulthood. The paper examines the relationship between emotional development during early adulthood and the experiences of love and mate selection. Also addressed are the role that emotional development plays in lifestyle choices and the changes that occur in adulthood.

From the Paper
"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 versus 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)."

Tags:erikson, psycho-social, young, stages, old-age, intimacy, isolation, commitment, love

Abstract
This paper discusses learning in adulthood, with an emphasis on self-directed learning. The paper takes a look at why adults seek education. Then the author presents a literature review of pertinent articles related to self-directed learning in adult education. Various goals of self-directed learning are highlighted at this point. The paper also considers the idea that self-directed learning is a process in which the learner assumes primary control and autonomy. Advice for instructors of adult education courses within a self-directed learning environment is presented. The paper concludes that self-directed learning seems most appropriate in adulthood because individuals are mature and more professionally oriented.

Introduction; Purpose of Self-Directed Learning
Literature Review
Discussion
Factors to Consider in the Process of Designing Self-Directed Learning Environments
Recommendations for Effective Self-Directed Learning
Conclusion

From the Paper
"Yet the factor of confusion still exists when it comes to self-directed learning in adulthood. One of the main reasons for such confusion is the absence of a coherent theory of self-directed learning. This type of learning is a term recognizing outside factors that prompt the learner to take primary responsibility. At the same time, the importance of internal factors should not be ignored, as they relate to the responsibility that the adult takes for learning-related thoughts and actions (Grow, 1991). A starting point for comprehending self-direction in learning is considering individual personality characteristics as well as the social context in which learning activities are created. "

Tags:adult education, self-directed learning, innovation, creativity, goals, professional development

Abstract
This paper begins with a definition of bereavement and grief. Loss of a spouse is rated as the most stressful life event across all ages and cultural backgrounds. The paper continues to explore the myriad of literature on the topic of dealing with grief in late adulthood. In conclusion, it explores the diagnosis, symptoms and treatment of grief.

From the Paper
"At least 10 -20 percent of widows and widowers develop clinically significant depression during the first year of bereavement, and without treatment, such depressions tend to persist, become chronic and lead to further disability and impairments (Older pp). Bereavement-associated depression often coexists with another type of emotional distress, which has been termed traumatic grief, the symptoms of which, although not formalized as a mental disorder in DSM-IV, appear to be a mixture of symptoms of both pathological grief and post-traumatic stress disorder (Older pp). Such symptoms are extremely disabling, associated with functional and health impairment and with persistent suicidal thoughts, and may well respond to pharmacotherapy (Older pp)."

Tags:death, literature, grief, Freud, spouse

Abstract
This paper describes the six stages of adulthood that, according to Gail Sheehy, we must all go through in order to become integrated, whole, and fulfilled adults.

From the Paper
"Sheehy called the first stage of adulthood pulling the roots. It's from the age group of 18 -22 years old. She implied that after 18, people intend to go distance with their parents. This is the stage were young adults go through a series of activities "in the attempt to separate our view between family and base of our one's own" (Sheehy 159). In this stage, the hunger for independence emerges. We feel that we could now take care of ourselves and could make the right decisions. This is also the stage where we become confuse with ourselves and have an identity crisis, making us feel very unstable with our emotions."

Tags:trying, twenties, catch-30, rooting, extending, deadline, decade, midlife, crisis, renewal, resignation

Abstract
This paper examines how the human body experiences a wide range of fundamental changes during the transition from prenatal to adult periods of life. It traces the development from conception through adulthood, using prenatal factors, factors of infancy and childhood, and factors of puberty concerning the chromosomal, hormonal, brain structure, gross anatomy, and self-perception changes that are experienced during these phases.

From the Paper
"The prenatal period of anatomical development usually last for 40 weeks (ten lunar months) and can be divided into a period of cleavage (this is the distribution of the zygote's contents into smaller and smaller cells); an embryonic stage (this stage extends from the second week through the eighth week of development and is characterized by the formation of the placenta, the development of the main internal organs, and the appearance of the major external body structures (Hole 1990). The term embryo describes the fertilized egg during its first seven weeks of existence; the human embryo is usually termed a fetus after the eighth week of development, when the limbs and external features of the head are recognizable."

Tags:adolescence, gender, hormones

Abstract
In human development, the early adulthood stage is the sixth stage of the period of development of humans. This paper looks at a few theorists and their concepts of the type of development that occurs in this stage of life. The writer concludes that in this stage, an individual learns to recognize alternative moral courses and learns to develop a personal moral code.

From the Paper
"Under the early adulthood stage, cognitive development of early adults has already reached its formal operational stage, according to Jean Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development. Under the formal operational stage, the operational thoughts of humans are more "abstract, idealistic, and logical," and adults are no longer confined to concrete thoughts, which are the operational thoughts common among children (Santrock 2000 335). Aside from thinking abstractly, early adulthood stage brings about among humans the ability to solve problems and test solutions, which are the characteristics of hypothetical-deductive reasoning. Piaget formally defines hypothetical-deductive reasoning as "the ability to develop hypotheses, or best hunches, about ways to solve problems" (Santrock 2000 335). Piaget notes that the operational thoughts of adults in this stage is no different from adolescents' operational thoughts, but adults in the early adulthood stage have more methods and ways in approaching and solving the problems presented to them or they encounter."

Tags:morality, growth, personality, adolescence, character

Abstract
This paper explores the life cycle stages every individual goes through as they grow older. The paper illustrates how the stages of adulthood can be categorized by the progression of the family stages. The paper focuses primarily on the theories of Erikson, Levinson and Jung.

From the Paper
"Throughout most of history, it has been assumed that adults reside on a developmental plateau. The supposition was made that during the time between adolescence and old age, there were no systematic changes occurring. This mode of thought remained in place until the early 20th century, when studies began to reveal significant developmental influences across the life span."

Tags:erikson, jung, levinson, maturity, development, empty, nest, syndrome, crisis