1. Chapter 12
Socioemotional Development in Early Adulthood
20s & 30s
PowerPoint's developed by Jenni Fauchier,
Butchered by Professor Carney

2. Integrating Emotional
Experiences into Enjoyable
Relationships
• Fewer mood swings than
adolescence
• More responsible
• Less risk-taking
• Links between
• childhood temperament
• adult personality
20s & 30s

3. Childhood Temperament Linked to
Adult Personality
• Easy temperament age 3 - 5
• Likely well-adjusted young
adults
• Inhibited temperament in
childhood
• Less likely assertive
20s & 30s

4. Ability to Control Emotions
• Age 3
• Control emotions & cope well
stress
• Continues into adulthood
• Low emotional control & not resilient
• Problems as young adults
20s & 30s

5. Attachment
• Attachment important in
socioemotional development
• Securely attached infants
• Used caregiver as secure base to explore
• Securely attached as adults
• See partners similarly
• Secure base
• Return to & obtain comfort & security when
stressed
20s & 30s

6. Conceptualizing & Measuring
Adult Attachment
• Attachment-related anxiety
• Extent to which individuals feel
secure or insecure
• Question:
• Will partner
• be available
• responsive
• attentive
20s & 30s

7. Conceptualizing & Measuring
Adult Attachment
• Attachment-related avoidance
• Degree to which individuals feel
• Secure/insecure relying on others
• Opening up
• Being intimate
20s & 30s

8. Attraction: Physical
Attractiveness
• Force of similarity also operates at a
physical level
• Matching hypothesis
• Abstract
• Prefer more attractive person
• Real world
• End up with someone close to our level of attractiveness
• Men & women differ on importance of
good looks
20s & 30s

9. Friendship
• Friendship
• Important role in development throughout life
• Functions of friendship:
•
•
•
•
•
•
Companionship
Intimacy/affection
Support
Source of self-esteem
Buffer from stress
Better emotional support than family
• Adult friends usually same age group
20s & 30s

10. Gender Differences in Friendships
• Women have more:
• Close friends
• Self-disclosure
• Exchange of mutual support
• Men:
• Want practical solutions to their problems
• Rather than sympathy
• Friendships more competitive
20s & 30s

11. Falling Out of Love
• Collapse of a close relationship may feel
tragic
•
•
•
•
•
•
Depression
Obsessive thoughts
Sexual dysfunction
Inability to work effectively
Difficulty making new friends
Self-condemnation
20s & 30s

12. Adult Lifestyles: Single or
Cohabiting
• More adults remaining single longer
• Cohabitation
• Living together in sexual relationship without
being married
• Many view their cohabitation as an
ongoing lifestyle
20s & 30s

13. Cohabitation
• Relationships tend to be more equal
• Disadvantages
• disapproval by parents
• difficulty owning property jointly
• legal rights on dissolution of relationship
less certain
20s & 30s

14. Marriage
• Changing norm of male-female equality
means marriages:
• More fragile
• More intense
• Marry
• Over 90 % of U.S. women
• Projections: rate will drop 80 - 90 % range
• Average duration of marriage in U.S.
• 9 years
20s & 30s

15. Happy versus Unhappy
Marriages
• Happily married people:
• Live longer
• Healthier
• Happier
• Men happier being married
• People in unhappy marriages may have:
• High blood pressure
• Heart disease
• Psychological problems
• Anxiety
• Depression
• Substance abuse
20s & 30s

16. Divorce
• Increases in divorce correlated with:
•
•
•
•
•
•
Youthful marriage
Low educational level
Low income
Not religious
Divorced parents
Baby before marriage
20s & 30s

17. Divorce
• Both divorced women & men complain of:
•
•
•
•
Loneliness
Diminished self-esteem
Anxiety about unknowns
Difficulty forming new intimate relationships
• Divorced adults remarry within 4 yrs
• Men remarry sooner
20s & 30s

18. Gay Male & Lesbian Adults
• Relationships similar to heterosexual
relationships in
•
•
•
•
Satisfactions
Loves
Joys
Conflict
20s & 30s

19. Making Marriage Work: Gottman
• 7 principles determining marriage will work:
• Establishing love maps
• Nurturing fondness & admiration
• Turning toward each other instead of away
• Letting your partner influence you
• Solving solvable conflicts
• Overcoming gridlock
• Creating shared meaning
20s & 30s