DEVELOPMENTAL TASKS OF ADULTHOOD
DEFINITIONS OF ADULT
- A time of life requiring effort and attention as the individual strove to become freer of the self to gain the highly respected wisdom of old age.
- A constant state of dynamic change and flux, a continual need to define the adult self, a preoccupation with time as an expression of awareness of a limited life span and individual mortality, and a struggle between love of self and responsibility to the society in which one lives.
- Adult developmental tasks are the psychological responses to such major life experiences as work achievement, parenthood, and retirement, which, as the result of actual occurrences or psychological considerations, produce intrapsychic changes in all persons in a particular age group
WHAT WE DO
- Separate psychologically from the parents of childhood and self-sufficiency in the adult hood
- Find a gratifying place in the world of work
- Experience sexual and emotional intimacy within a committed relationship
- Become a parent
- Accept the aging process in the body
- Integrate the growing awareness of time limitation and personal death
- Maintain physical and emotional intimacy in the face of powerful physical, psychological and environmental pressures of midlife
- Facilitate the emergence of children into adulthood
- Develop and sustain friendships with individuals of different ages and background
- Continue to play
- Leave a legacy for future generations by facilitating the development of younger individuals
BROAD DESCRIPTION OF TASKS
- Age 15 – set your heart upon learning
- Age 30 – Plant your feet firmly on the ground
- Age 40 – No longer suffer from perplexities
- Age 50 – Know the biddings of heaven
- Age 60 – Allow yourself to follow the dictates of your heart
DEVELOPMENTAL TASKS OF YOUNG ADULTHOOD
- To develop a young adult sense of self and other
- To develop adult friendships
- To develop the capacity for intimacy; to become a spouse
- To become a biological and psychological parent
- To develop a relationship of mutuality and equality with parents while facilitating their midlife development
- To establish an adult work identity
- To develop adult forms of play
- To integrate new attitudes towards time
DEVELOPMENTAL TASKS OF MIDDLE ADULTHOOD
- To integrate the potential for attachment and loss
- To accept the aging body
- To accept the time limitation and personal death; time sense in middle adulthood
- To reappraise relationships; to let children go, achieve a relationship of equality with them, and integrate new members into the family
- To accept the reversal of roles with elderly parents
- To develop midlife friendships
- To become a generative mentor and plan for retirement
- To give play new meanings and purposes
- To become a grandparent
WISDOM, MATURITY AND FULFILLMENT
- Maturity is a mental state, not an age
- Detailed knowledge of the parameters of human existence
- Sophisticated level of self-awareness based on honest appraisal of one’s own experience within those basic parameters
- The ability to use this intellectual and emotional knowledge and insight caringly in relation to one’s self and others
- Learning from the past, full engagement in the life in the present and anticipation of the future
- The body must be cared for
- Human beings are independent individuals
- We exist in a framework of interdependence
- Change is constant in life
- All human beings are on the same developmental course
- Most individuals are important to self and few others
- Personal time is limited
- Money and possessions have limited intrinsic value
- Work occupies a central position in adult life
- Love, work and play have to be successfully balanced to bring fulfillment
- Joys of life do not last forever
