Chapter 13 Emerging adulthood Three criteria define adulthood 1 Accepting responsibility for oneself 2 Making independent decisions 3 Becoming financially independent Emerging adulthood Proposed transitional period between adolescence and adulthood commonly found in industrialized countries Highest poverty rates and lowest level of health insurance Accidents still leading cause of death Influences on health Barriers include genetic influences behavioral influences indirect influences and mental health problems Behavioral Diet Weight control Physical activity Sleep Smoking Alcohol and Drug use and Stress Indirect Socioeconomic status race ethnicity and relationships Diet obesity sleep barriers to healthy lifestyle Diet What people eat affects how likely they are to get sick and even die Those who eat plenty of fruits and vegetables were less likely to develop high blood pressure than those who ate a diet heavy in meat A Mediterranean style diet is recommended and may reduce the chance for a wide variety of cancers and diseases Obesity If overweight and obese are considered together then some 68 percent of US population meets the criteria Increases due to increases in snacking availability of cheap fast food huge portions high fat diets highly processed foods and sedentary recreational pursuits Still an inherited tendency toward obesity that may interact with environmental and behavioral factors Obesity can lead to depression risks of high blood pressure heart disease stroke diabetes gall stones some cancers and diminishes the quality and length of life Food choices affected by environmental cues modify the environment around us Recommended 2 hours 30 minutes of moderate exercise a week less than 30 min a day or 75 minutes of intense exercise Sleep Most young adults go without enough sleep and report high levels of insomnia Sleep deprivation affects physical health cognitive emotional and social functioning Lack of sleep impairs verbal learning memory high level decision making speech articulation and increases distractibility Indirect SES relationships SES Higher income people rate their health as better and live longer than lower income people Education is also important The less schooling people have had the greater the chance they will die from communicable disease injuries or chronic ailments DOE NOT mean income and education CAUSE good health but rather they are related to environmental and lifestyle factors that tend to be causative Better educated and more affluent people tend to have healthier diets better health care exercise more less likely to be overweight smoke less less likely to use drugs and more responsible drinking Relationships Social relationships are vital to health and well being Two interrelated aspects of the social environment that can promote health Social integration and Social support Social Integration Active engagement in a broad range of social relationships activities and roles Social networks can influence emotional well being as well as participation in healthful behaviors exercising eating well refraining from substance use Repeatedly associated with lower mortality rates Benefits may in part be due to the decreases in stress levels that strong social ties can engender Social Support Material informational and psychological resources derived fromt he social network on which a person can rely for help in coping with stress Marriage offers system for both social integration and social support and therefore is associated with health benefits Peak of illicit drug use most popular drug Alcoholism most prevalent substance disorder Use of illicit drugs peaks at ages 18 25 20 of this age group report use Usage rates drop sharply during the twenties and then continues to decline Marijuana is the most popular illicit drug among young adults Smaller numbers report using other drugs such as ecstasy methamphetamines or heroin DEPRESSION Depressive mood extended period of sadness Depressive syndrome extended period of sadness along with a variety of other symptoms such as crying and feelings of worthlessness or hopelessness Major Depressive Disorder Clinical diagnosis with a specific set of symptoms is considered to be the most serious and generally requires medical intervention Infertility 1 cause for men and women Women s fertility affected by age Declining in the late twenties with a substantial decrease during their thirties Men less affected by age Most common cause of infertility in men is production of too few sperm May be caused by blocked ejaculatory ducts or the sperm not able to swim well enough to reach the cervix May have genetic influence Most common cause is blockage of the Fallopian tubes preventing ova from reaching the uterus This blockage may be due to scar tissue from STIs Most common causes of infertility in women include the failure to produce ova or to produce normal ova mucus in the cervix preventing sperm to enter or a disease of the uterine lining which might prevent implantation Being overweight may affect both men and women s fertility rates as well as smoking Post formal Post formal thought Mature type of thinking that relies on subjective experience and intuition as well as logic and allows room for ambiguity uncertainty inconsistency contradiction imperfection and compromise Combines logic with emotion and practical experience in the resolution of ambiguous problems It draws on intuition and emotion as well as on logic to help people cope with a seemingly chaotic world Enable adults to transcend a single logical system and reconcile or choose among conflicting ideas or demands each of which from its perspective may have a valid claim to truth Social and emotional context SCHAIE SEVEN STAGES OF LIFE SPAN MODEL OF COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Acquisition stage childhood and adolescence Acquire info and skills for their own sake Achieving stage late teens or early twenties to early thirties Now use what they know to pursue goals Responsible stage Late thirties to early sixties Use their minds to solve practical problems associated with responsibilities to others Executive stage Thirties or forties through middle age Responsible for societal systems or social movements Deal with complex relationships on multiple levels Reoganizational stage End of middle age Beginning of late adulthood Reorganize their lives and intellectual energies around meaningful pursuits that take place of paid work Reintegrative stage Late adulthood
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