Exploration of an individual’s social and cognitive wellbeing is crucial in understanding their worldviews in relation to different phenomena. Young adulthood is among the most critical developmental stages in shaping the life of a person. Referred by developmental scholars as an enterprising stage, young adulthood presents significant challenges. People between the age of 20 and 35 years face numerous and difficult responsibilities such as acquiring a home, starting a family, and finding a sustainable stream of income. The stage defines the individual capacity to make their mark on the world, hence, comes with substantial pressure. A 2014 report on young adults by the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine advanced that there is need for young adults between 18 and 26 years to be given special treatment in policy and research. The young adult’s population segment is at a critical development stage when successes or failure potentially determine how an individual turns out in life. In this report, the focus is on a 25-year old male young adult. The report focuses on the interviewee social and cognitive processes by relating their experience to with upbringing and parenting, familial relationships, romantic relationships, career goals, and challenges in life. The aim of the report is to understand these factors in the context of the developmental complexities faced by people in young adulthood development stage.
Answers to Interview Questions
My name is Jacob Alexander. I was born on November 25, 1995. I just celebrated my 24 th birthday the other month.
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I was born in Detroit, Michigan. Yes, I did enjoy my childhood life while living in Detroit. Metro Detroit, which I later learnt is among America’s populous and largest economies, had all socioeconomic classes defined by neighborhoods. My family fit best into our neighborhood where I made lots of friends, some of whom we are in contact to date.
I have one sister. She is 18 and lives with my parents in Detroit. We get along very well and I visit them frequently. We were close during our childhood years because we attended the same school and mostly played together as our parents were busy people.
I get along with my parents. However, we were not very close during my childhood because they had very demanding jobs that required them to work night shifts. We depended on our house help for many things.
Ahahaha! No. I do not have any children. About planning to have them in the future, I am not sure. In fact, I have not entertained the idea of having a family, as I am currently focused on making something for myself. However, when that time comes, you never know. Hehe!
I am in a relationship, but we have only communicated on phone over the last one year. I can describe it as distant because from Detroit, we each moved to different cities and seem to be focused on building our careers first.
I am currently an entry level management employee at a logistics firm that deals with door-to-door deliveries. I enjoy the job because it presents me with new challenges every day that we must address to be competitive. The team I work with is superb and very innovative, providing us with new ideas constantly on how to improve service delivery.
My biggest challenge at the moment is finances. My parents are retired and I have to help with their upkeep and medical care. My sister also depends on me to fund her through college. Being at this startup firm implies I cannot have enough money for all these responsibilities.
My goal in life is to operate my own business. I have I always had a liking for hotel business.
My parents’ health that has been deteriorating for the last two years, and I am afraid of losing them. They are the only family I know. On my last visit, my sister was very distraught about their condition.
Summary of Interview
Jacob Alexander is at the critical stage of young adulthood. However, his life is defined by some of the experiences of early childhood. Despite enjoying life in his birth city of Detroit, it is evident that Alexander never got enough of his parents love and attention. The current relationship he shares with his parents is testament to this observation. From the interview, it is also evident that Alexander’s experiences with his parents during childhood may have contributed to his approach to his current romantic relationship, which he describes as distant. Alexander has a sense of independence that might have developed during his childhood stage because of the parents’ prolonged absence. The independence is also depicted in Alexander’s sense of responsibility to his parents and sister. The responsibilities are the primary factors driving Alexander to seek financial stability before anything else.
Application of Human Development Concepts to the Interview
Alexander’s observation that he is a romantic relationship, which he describes as distant because they only communicate on phone, can be analyzed using Erikson’s concept of Intimacy versus Isolation (Colarusso & Nemiroff, 2013) . The argument is further supported by the fact that Alexander maintains contact with the friends he grew up with. According to Erickson, a significant proportion of young adults seek intimacy through friendships rather than committed romantics relationships. Intimacy in this case does not necessarily imply romance, but entails a caring relationship where an individual can show care for the other person and share himself or herself without losing their personal identity. Young adults undergo the developmental crisis of intimacy versus isolation, whose outcome is dependent on the resolution of the identity versus role confusion crisis. Alexander’s apparent willingness to stay far from his romantic partner can be attributed to the childhood experiences with parents, and the prospects that he might still be struggling with identity issues. Moreover, the reluctance to have a close and serious romantic relationship is characteristic of young adulthood developmental stage.
Young adulthood is a stage of maturation and change defined by psychological transformation in decision-making. Young adults are contemplative and take longer when deciding on solutions for complex problems. They also have high impulse control compared to adolescents (National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine, 2014). The application of the decision-making process is evident in Alexander’s statement, “No. I do not have any children. About planning to have them in the future, I am not sure. In fact, I have not entertained the idea of having a family, as I am currently focused on making something for myself.” The statement is consistent with Daniel Levison’s Seasons of Life theory (Colarusso & Nemiroff, 2013) , particularly the entering the adult world stage when an individual assumes the responsibility of making vital decisions about their career, friendships, lifestyle, and values.
In reference to the number of siblings, Alexander added, “She is 18 and lives with my parents in Detroit. We get along very well and I visit them frequently.” The statement can be analyzed form the perspective of Valliant’s theory of Adult Life Tasks (Colarusso & Nemiroff, 2013) . Alexander may be at the developing identity task that marks the transition from adolescence to adulthood through separation from parents. Alexander may have developed an identity of values, passions, and beliefs that encouraged a sense of independence, hence, the decision to move to away from Detroit, his birth city.
Conclusion
The interview that led to the development of the report depicts social and psychological attributes synonymous with theoretical conceptualizations of young adulthood. The pertinent issues highlighted in the interview revolve around the effects of child-parent relationship during childhood for individuals entering early adulthood. The interview also demonstrated how the cognitive and socioemotional development in young adulthood shape a person’s decisions on romantic relationships, friendships, and career. Application of development theories to the concepts showed that young adulthood is a defining stage full of complexities that can make or break an individual.
References
Colarusso, C. A., & Nemiroff, R. A. (2013). Adult development: A new dimension in psychodynamic theory and practice . Springer Science & Business Media.
National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine. (2014). Young Adults Ages 18 To 26 Should Be Viewed As Separate Subpopulation: In ‘Critical Development Period,’ They Face Economic And Social Challenges While Brain Is Still Maturing. Retrieved from http://www8.nationalacademies.org/onpinews/newsitem.aspx?RecordID=18869
