Early Adulthood: Chapter Analysis

Early adulthood is the time in a person life where they start a family and go on many new adventures. This is the stage where the individual is between the ages of 20 and 40. They are just starting to become competent and independent individuals. Those who are in their 20’s are finishing/starting their education, or heading on their career path of choice leading them on a journey for success. This is the time that primary and secondary aging begins. On chapter 13 page 322, researchers state their findings between the two types of aging and how it comes into play during early adulthood (Boyd & Bee). Primary aging is where physical characteristics start to change, for example hair starts to turn gray, wrinkles began to appear, and their bodies began to slow down. Primary aging is something the body can’t necessarily control and everybody begins the process at some point.

Savannah is now in her 20’s she is starting her secondary education to be a trauma nurse.

She is following in her father’s footsteps to be in the medical field and help people in need. Her biggest influence to be in the trauma department is due to the death of her mother. She feels that since she couldn’t save her mother she wants to try and help save others. College will be a new experience for Savannah and it will be hard to be away from her dad that long. But as it talks about in the book on chapter 13, page 343, going to college provides new socialization skills (Boyd & Bee). Socializing with others help individuals get involved and acquire new knowledge. College has many cognitive and motivational benefits for each and every

individual.
As Savannah continues to age her brain develops more and more each day. A growth spurt begins around the age of 17 and continues till about the age of 22. It continues to mature the brain in the area devoted to logic, planning, and emotion (Page 323-324, Chapter 13) (Boyd & Bee). This growth spurt will help Savannah be able to control all these certain areas and will help her throughout her secondary education. For example in early adulthood Savannah is planning her life and still practicing her mental aspects in college. She is continuing her education and her classes will continue to challenge her brain. The growth spurt is closely tied to Piaget’s formal operational stage. Formal operational stage is the last of the four stages and it consists of thinking more abstractly. Savannah will have to look at the big picture while in college and this growth spurt in her brain will help her to look at things in more than just one aspect.
Graduation day has finally come and Savannah is ready to start her life. Her high school sweetheart has helped her every step of the way and they are finally ready to tie the knot. But Savanna and her fiancé Ronald are experiencing the normal wedding stress. They aren’t sure what to choose for decoration and are in-between on who they should invite to the wedding. Another thing that is adding on to the stress is how much the budget should be for their wedding. Ronald is an electrician and makes pretty decent money, but savannah just graduated and needs to pay off her student loans. There are two ways they can cope with their stress according to the book in chapter 14, page 355, problem-focused coping and emotion-focused coping (Boyd & Bee). Problem focused coping is where they deal the actual source of stress. For example to help manage the stress they need to talk over a budget together and set a firm amount together. Emotion focused coping is to responding to the emotional stress. For example the couple needs a night out together to help relieve some stress. Maybe seeing a movie or sitting in a hot tub can help ease the mind.
The stress of the wedding and going through college hasn’t helped Savannah in the physical aspect of life. Since Savannah had a hard time keeping weight off as a child she continues the problem throughout her life. Having a busy schedule with planning her wedding and having many hours of work doesn’t help her eating habits. She isn’t gaining weight fast and secondary aging is getting the best of her. According to chapter 13, pages 322-323, secondary aging is over environmental influences and not everybody goes through the same experience. With little time to cook she has resorted to fast and easy fast food or processed food. This packs on the weight and could cause CVD in the future. Once the stressful wedding is over Savannah is in hope that here eating habits will change.
The stressful wedding day is finally over, but that doesn’t mean the stress ends here. Savannah is ready to start having kids she feels that they are both pretty stable financially and almost has her loans paid off from school. Ronald on the other hand is nervous to become a parent and isn’t so sure he is ready to start having kids. Although this is a prime discussion between the two, they are actually considered a validating couple. Validating couples rarely have escalated arguments and try their best to listen to each other’s side ( Chapter 14, page 358) (Boyd & Bee) . They understand that neither is perfect in their decisions and each person has a different opinion or outlook on things.
Ronald eventually gave in to having children and now they have 2 kids already. Life has become very difficult for the two of them, but they are still striving to be united as one. It helps that they both have stable jobs and make a fairly decent amount of money. It is difficult to decided on childcare though. For Ronald wants to send them to day care while Savannah wants them to be taken care of by family members. It is a difficult decision for the two, but some how they will figure it out. They have gotten through a wedding and graduation together they will find a why to survive parenthood. Their adventures do not stop here and soon Savannah will have to make the decision on who will take care of her father when he becomes of age or is in bad health.