Early to Middle Adulthood

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Early to middle adulthood is a time of independence, identity seeking, and lifestyle forming. This is also the period in time that individuals start to develop a since of freedom, build relationships and establish social and health-affecting habits. Although the basic needs of individuals remain consistent from middle adulthood through young adulthood the social needs embody the attitude of revolution regarding relationships and vocations that moves from flexibility to solidity. Health concerns are factors that play a part in young adulthood such as diet, exercise, and drug use that impacts individuals later in life. Erikson’s theory focused on the belief that people needed constant contact with others throughout their lives. Rather the contact was in the form on romantic intimacy or a relationship developed through a friendship. In romantic relationships, young adults tend to be “serially monogamous” [ (Berger, 2010) ], or remaining emotionally or sexually involved with only one person for a period of time, though the relationship is rarely permanent, and the young adult may have many of these relationships during this stage of his or her life. This is a normal trend for those within that age group which symbolizes their unwillingness to commit permanently to a job, a spouse, or even an educational program. Individuals in young adulthood today show vast characteristics from those in previous generations. In most cases they will marry later and may not start families or enter a permanent vocation until they are well into middle adulthood, or around their late twenties or early thirties; this is in part due to greater life expectancy and more accessible birth control, allowing young adults to experiment before settling down to permanency [ (Berger, 2010) ]. However, since many young adults during this time are pursuing higher education and are not vocationally or
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