young adulthood

• Habits of young adults

  • Tend to become ingrained over time
  • Highly predictive of likelihood of experiencing good health at older ages
• Genes


  • Affect the action of the hormone receptors, stress response systems, and synaptic plasticity
  • May influence a person's ability to respond adaptively to stressful events
• Poor diets and lack of physical activity are among the leading causes of preventable diseases, overweight, and obesity
• WHO recommends Mediterranean-style diet rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and unsaturated fats
• Factors explaining obesity epidemic

  • Increase snacking
  • Availability of inexpensive fast foods
  • Supersized portions
  • Labor-saving technologies
  • High-fat diets
  • Sedentary recreational pursuits
• Bariatric Surgery


  Any surgery that is carried out to induce weight loss, and it generally involves rerouting or removing parts of the stomach or small intestine
• Most common eating disorders in Young Adulthood

  • Anorexia Nervosa
  • Bulimia Nervosa
• Benefits of physical activity

  • Maintain healthy body weight
  • Builds muscles
  • Strengthen heart and lungs
  • Lowers blood pressure
  • Protects against heart disease
• High levels of chronic stress

  Related to a host of physical and immunological impairments
• Stress


  May lead young adults to engage in risky behaviors, eat unhealthily, have poor quality of sleep
• Emotion-Focused Coping


  Manage emotions by refusing to think about an issue or reframing the event in the positive light
• Problem-Focused Coping


  Involves addressing an issue head-on and developing action-oriented ways of managing and changing a bad situation
• College-age women more likely to use emotion-focused strategies
• Among college students, family stress, academic stress

  Associated with high levels of insomnia
• Effects of Sleep Deprivation

  • Impaired attention and vigilance
  • Seriously worsen cognitive performance
  • Linked to depression and insomnia
  • Related to the risk of postpartum depression
• Smoking is the leading preventable cause of death, illness and impoverishment worldwide
• A tendency to addiction may be genetic
• Risky Drinking


  Consuming more than 14 drinks a week or 4 drinks on any single day for men and more than 7 drinks a week or 3 days on any single day for women
• Social Integration


  Active engagement in a broad range of social relationships, activities, and roles
• Social Support


  Material information, and psychological resources derived from the social network on which a person can rely for help in coping with stress
• Alcoholism


  Long term physical condition characterized by compulsive drinking that a person is unable to control
• Most common habit-forming drugs

  • Marijuana
  • Prescription painkillers
  • Cocaine
  • Heroin
• Adolescence and emerging adulthood appear to be sensitive periods for the onset of depressive disorders
• Childhood risk factors for depression

  • Neurological or developmental disorders
  • Dysfunctional or unstable families
  • Childhood behavioral disorders
• Adult-onset group tend to have had low levels of childhood risk factors and to possess more resources to deal with the challenges of emerging adulthood
• Pre-marital sex has been increasing for adults over 18
• Acceptability of homosexual unions is growing, especially in younger cohorts and in women
• Sexual Script


  Stereotyped pattern of role prescriptions for how individuals should behave sexually
• Emerging adults tend to have more sexual partners than in older age groups, but they have sex less frequently
• Most common contraceptives


  • Birth control pills
  • Female sterilization
  • Condoms
• Casual Sex is fairly common
• Sexual assaults are a problem
• Rape


  Forcible sexual intercourse
• Date or Acquaintance Rape


  Coercive sexual activity directed at someone with whom the perpetrator is at least casually acquainted
• Most lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender persons are clear about their sexual identity
• Premenstrual Syndrome


  • Disorder that produces physical discomfort and emotional tension for up to 2 weeks before menstrual period
  • Response to monthly surges of female hormones
  • More typical in women in their 30s or older
• Dysmenorrhea


  Caused by contractions of the uterus which are set in motion by prostaglandin
• Infertility


  • Inability to conceive a baby
  • Common causes in women: failure to produce ova, mucus in the cervix or disease of the uterine lining
• Marital satisfaction


  Typically declines during the child-raising years, and the more children, the greater decline
• Many couples find their relationship becoming more traditional following the birth of a child, with the woman often engaging in the bulk of caregiving and housekeeping