LD

• Emerging adulthood


  Transition from adolescence to adulthood, occurring from approximately 18 to 25 years of age, characterized by experimentation and exploration
• Emerging adulthood


  • Identity exploration, especially in love and work
  • Instability, self-focused, and feeling in-between
  • The age of possibilities, a time when individuals have an opportunity to transform their lives
• Markers of becoming an adult

  • Holding a full-time job
  • Economic independence
  • Taking responsibility for oneself
• Transition from high school to college

  1. Top-dog phenomenon

  2. Movement to a larger school structure

  3. Interaction with peers from more diverse geographical and ethnic backgrounds

  4. Increased focus on achievement and assessment
• Positive features of transition to college


  • Intellectual challenges, time with peers, different lifestyles, independence
• Negative features of transition to college

  • Stress and depression
• Physical performance and development

  • Peak physical performance typically occurs between 19 and 26
  • Muscle tone and strength usually begin to decline ~ age 30

  
• Health in emerging adulthood

  • Emerging adults have mortality rate twice that of adolescents
  • More chronic health problems
  • Engage in more health-compromising behaviors
  • More likely to be obese
  • More likely to have a mental disorder than adolescents
• Obesity


  • Linked to increased risk of hypertension, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease
  • Associated with mental health issues
  • Factors involved: heredity, environmental factors (e.g. decline in activity, low SES vs. higher SES)
  • Dieting vs. dieting and exercise programs
• Binge Eating Disorder (BED)


  • Recurrent binge eating without purging, feeling a lack of control
  • Overweight from frequent binges without purging
  • Afflicts females more than males
  • Biological and psychological factors: genes, neurotransmitter dopamine, afflicts adolescents from families with ineffective emotional connections
  • Cognitive behavior and interpersonal therapy help
• Regular exercise


  • Helps prevent chronic disorders
  • Aerobic exercise: sustained exercise stimulates heart and lung activity
  • Exercise benefits both physical and mental health (e.g. anxiety and depression)
  • Strategies: reduce screen time, chart progress, get rid of excuses, imagine the alternative
• Substance abuse


  Addiction: overwhelming involvement with using a drug and a preoccupation with securing its supply
• Alcohol


  • Pregaming: men and women drinking at home before events
  • Binge drinking: more than five drinks in a row in the past two weeks
  • Extreme binge drinking: 10 to 15 or more drinks in a row in the last two weeks
  • Alcoholism: long-term, repeated, uncontrolled, compulsive, and excessive alcohol use impairing user's health and relationships
• Cigarette smoking and nicotine, e-cigarettes

  • Smoking linked to cancer deaths, heart disease deaths, and chronic pulmonary disease deaths
  • Though adult smokers would like to quit, addiction to nicotine makes quitting challenging
• Strategies used by successful and unsuccessful dieters

  • Successful: reduced calorie intake, increased physical activity
  • Unsuccessful: reduced calorie intake only

  
• About 60% percent of individuals have experienced sexual intercourse with at least one partner by end of emerging adulthood
• Casual sex in emerging adulthood

  "Friends With Benefits"
• 3.8% of U.S. adults report being gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transsexual
• Sexual orientation


  • A continuum from exclusive male-female relations to exclusive same-sex relations, and some people are bisexual
  • Most likely a combination of genetic, hormonal, cognitive, and environmental factors
  • Whether heterosexual, gay, lesbian, or bisexual, a person cannot be talked out of his or her sexual orientation
• Attitudes and behavior of lesbians and gays

  • Many gender differences that appear in heterosexual relationships occur in same-sex relationships
  • Lesbians have fewer sexual partners and less permissive attitudes about casual sex than gay men
  • Hate crimes and stigma-related experiences are a special concern
  • 20% of sexual minority adults have experienced a person or property crime related to their sexual orientation
  • 50% have experienced verbal harassment
• Sexually transmitted infections (STIs)

  • HIV of biggest global concern
  • 37 million individuals living with HIV around the world
  • Half of all new infections in the 15- to 24-year-old age cohort
  • Effective strategies for protecting against HIV: know your risk status and that of your partner, obtain medical examinations, have protected sex using condoms, do not have sex with multiple partners
• Rape: forcible sexual behavior and sexual harassment
• Gender differences in same-sex relationships


  • Many gender differences that appear in heterosexual relationships occur in same-sex relationships
• Lesbians


  • Have fewer sexual partners and less permissive attitudes about casual sex than gay men
• Hate crimes and stigma-related experiences are a special concern for sexual minorities
• 20% of sexual minority adults have experienced a person or property crime related to their sexual orientation
• 50% of sexual minority adults have experienced verbal harassment
• Sexually transmitted infections (STIs)

  Diseases contracted primarily through sex
• HIV is of biggest global concern
• 37 million individuals living with HIV around the world
• Half of all new HIV infections are in the 15- to 24-year-old age cohort
• Effective strategies for protecting against HIV

  • Know your risk status and that of your partner
  • Obtain medical examinations
  • Have protected sex using condoms
  • Do not have sex with multiple partners
• Rape


  Forcible sexual intercourse with a person, female or male, who does not give consent
• 60% of rape victims, especially college students, do not acknowledge it, and nearly 200,000 rapes are reported per year in the U.S.
• Rape is an act of violence and humiliation
• Higher level of men's sexual narcissism


  Linked to likelihood of assault
• Trauma from rape can cause post traumatic stress disorder, depression, suicidal thoughts, and substance abuse
• Gonorrhea


  Commonly called the "drip" or "clap". Caused by the bacterium Neisseria gonorrhoeae. Spread by contact between infected moist membranes (genital, oral-genital, or anal-genital) of two individuals. Characterized by discharge from penis or vagina and painful urination. Can lead to infertility.
• 500,000 cases of gonorrhea annually in U.S.
• Syphilis


  Caused by the bacterium Treponema pallidum. Characterized by the appearance of a sore where syphilis entered the body. The sore can be on the external genitals, vagina, or anus. Later, a skin rash breaks out on palms of hands and bottom of feet. If not treated, can eventually lead to paralysis or even death.