Middle Adulthood

I have not yet entered this stage of development. I have several hopes for this stage however. I hope that I will be able to keep the physical changes that occur during this stage to the minimum. I hope that my vision stays correctable, and that my weight stays manageable. Luckily, I don't have to worry about presbycusis (hearing loss). Genetics already took care of that for me! I hope that I am able to handle aging gracefully and with good humor. I hope that I am not obsessively concerned about appearing less attractive as I grow older. I plan to continue to exercise as much as my body will allow. I plan to continue to spend time with my neices and nephews who keep me humble by always telling me the truth about myself and my appearance.

I hope that I can develop adequate coping strategies in order to face the challenges of middle adulthood. I hope to experience generativity instead of stagnation. I wish to avoid becoming self-centered and self-indulgent. I hope that I can continue to reach out to others and not lose my interest in younger people. I hope that during this stage of my life I will be a parent, a teacher, a leader, or a mentor to someone. I plan to volunteer to causes that I support as much as possible, such as the Special Olympics. I also plan to teach Special Education here in my local community.

I also hope that I can create a better balance for myself. I hope I can become more assertive on my own behalf, and I hope that I have a clear understanding of myself and what makes me happy. I hope to play a greater role in life outside of my home, especially in my community. I hope to continue to strengthen relationships with those important people in my life, my husband and my family. I plan to continue with extensive self-reflections. I plan to continue my education either formally or informally. I plan to make my relationship with my husband a priority by devoting the time necessary to him.

Early Adulthood

This is a very active and busy period of my life. Because I am in my 30's, I am still experiencing the Early Adulthood stage of development. During this stage of my development, I completed my undergraduate degree, got married, and bought my first home. I am also experiencing some physical changes. I have noticed a slow but steady weight gain during this period, although my athletic skills seemed to remain constant (so far!). I did also narrow my vocational options during this period. I completed my Bachelor's degree and entered Graduate school in another field.

However, in review of Levinson's six crucial tasks to be accomplished between high school graduation and the late twenties, I failed to accomplish several of these. I did accomplish leaving my family of origin and forming a love relationship. However, I feel that I either did not accomplish the other critical tasks, or they are still in progress at this time. For example, I am still working to create a stable life structure. I feel that this is a task that I face daily. Balancing the demands of a career and family means I must repeat this task every day. Also, I am not sure what my "dream" is. I have changed careers several times, and I am still working to determine my place in the adult world. I have not yet found a mentor to ask for guidance. This might be a reason I have been unable to settle on a career path. I am in the process of forming an occupation. I am taking the necessary steps via coursework at the university to realize my occupational goal.

Early Adulthood-Intimacy vs. Isolation

Luckily for me the tasks I had completed or begun, including relationship intimacy and career commitment, seem to play major roles in life satisfaction. Also, from the study in the article presented in this course, most people did not report having a mentor. I have received encouragement from many sources, although I would not classify these relationships as "mentor."

Currently I find myself in the middle of the difficult Age-30 transition phase according to Levinson. I have been able to develop a secure identity for myself. This has helped me to achieve intimacy, Erikson's goal for this stage of development. However, I do still struggle with "split dreams" in which I want both a happy marriage and family life and a successful career. I have been able to develop closer relationships with my siblings during this period. I also feel that my marriage is a source of satisfaction for me. In summary, I am making my way through this period of Early Adulthood. My biggest concerns are combining work and family, and I sometimes struggle with role overload. I hope to apply the strategies found in our text to help combine work and family roles in order to experience a happy, fulfilling life.

Adolescence- Identity vs. Role Confusion

This was the period of my life when I tried to begin answering the questions, "Who am I?" and "What is my place in society?" I began to reflect upon my own personal values and began to set vocational goals for myself. I decided that I would attend college in another state. I began to spend more time with my friends and less time with my parents and sisters. I began to form a more defined personal identity. The clique I chose to join was "the cheerleaders." We were part of a larger crowd of "athletes." I was not the leader of the group, but I was invited to all activities of the crowd. I began dating in middle adolescence at the age of 15. I only dated boys who were part of the "athlete" crowd during this phase of my development. Although my enthusiasm for cheer leading waned, I enjoyed belonging to this elite group so I continued in this activity. During this period of my life, I was experiencing Stage 3 of Kohlberg's stages of moral development. I definitely had a "good girl" mentality. At this time it was very important that people viewed me as a "good person" especially friends and family. This corresponds to the conventional level of moral development. My parents had stressed the Golden Rule often while I was growing up, so I had progressed to this stage of moral values.

Adolescence: Self-Understanding

During my adolescence, my self-esteem rose. I was able to identify subtleties within my personality. I began to see myself as more attractive as I received attention from members of the opposite sex. My body experienced dramatic physical changes during this period. The proportions of my body changed. I gained both height and weight during this time. I also began to see myself as more intelligent as I was able to solve problems more creatively and independently. Also, I was able to take on more challenging classwork. As I moved into late adolescence, my romantic relationships began to last longer and felt more emotionally intense. During this period, I also experienced identity moratorium in some areas of my life. I was unsure of my feelings toward premarital sex and the role of women in society. I continued to explore these ideas during my adolescence.

Middle Childhood-Family Relationships

My older sister is 51/2 years older than I am. My younger sister is 4 years younger than I. Although we all participated in many activities during middle childhood, the disparity in our ages kept sibling rivalries to a minimum. From my sisters I learned sharing and compromise. I also taught compromise to my younger sister. My younger sister loved to play "office" and "library." She begged me to play every day. Eventually, we developed a compromise. I got to be the "boss" or "head librarian"; she had to be the "secretary"! She still complains about that to this day. Because we were all the same sex, we were constantly compared both by our parents as well as other adults in our lives. This led to some antagonism on my part as I hated being told I was "just like my sister." However, I learned a lot from my siblings during this period and depended on them for companionship and emotional support.

Middle Childhood

That's me in the striped pants and shirt during a presentation at school. We were doing a presentation about Columbus. I can still remember my line-"Columbus had 3 ships, the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria." My best friend Betsy is standing to my right. During this point in my development, my friends received most of my time and attention. Having a friend in the mainstream classroom helped me be more accepted by other students in my class. Developing friendships also support my feelings of industry. I began to develop work habits and also learned more cooperative behavior and play styles.