Page 143 - Understanding Psychology

Adulthood
Reader’s Guide
Exploring Psychology
Questions
I remember sitting in a restaurant in Nags Head, North Carolina, . . . A woman I barely knew came over to me. She shook my shoulder, got right in my face and said “Hey, hey. Did you just find out that life ain’t fair? Hmmm?” All I could do was nod. I had lived to be forty years old. I was a child of an upper-middle-class family, blessed with good health, a good educa- tion, and endless possibilities. Now I was confronting age-old questions: “Where am I going with the rest of my life?” “Who am I?” I vaguely remembered asking these questions as a teenager but had forgotten the answers, if I ever knew them. After that I forgot to ask the questions.
—from Awakening at Midlife by Kathleen A. Brehony, 1996
s Main Idea
Adulthood is a time of transition—it involves shifting priorities and outlooks on life from adolescence and throughout the remainder of life.
s Vocabulary
• menopause
• generativity
• stagnation
s Objectives
• Characterize the physical changes that
take place during adulthood.
• Describe the social and emotional
changes that occur during adulthood.
Like the author above, many people face questions and adjustment in adulthood. What is adulthood like? For one thing, it is a period when opposite factors affect lives. There is change and sameness, success and failure, crisis and stability, joy and sadness. Adulthood can be a time when a person matures fully into what he or she is, or it can be a time when life closes in and what was once possibility is now limitation. How each of us reacts depends on our preparations, circum- stances, and general outlook on life.
Chapter 5 / Adulthood and Old Age 129