Question

Discuss the major developmental forces (biological, psychological, sociocultural, and life cycle) that influence emerging, middle and late adulthood. Share specific examples for each force, being sure to connect your thoughts directly to research. Please list reference. word count 250

Answer 1

Emerging adulthood, viewed through the lens of life course health development, has the potential to be a very positive developmental stage with post industrial societies giving adolescents and emerging adults a greater opportunity for choice and exploration but also greater challenges with greater educational and social role requirements. The loss of supports and structures offered by schools, families, and child- and family-oriented health and social services means that the emerging adult must rely more on his/her own resources in a less structured environment. This increased agency in the context of less structure is occurring as the human brain is still developing higher-level capacities such as executive functioning. The person-context interactions during EA are many and complex, leading to multiple different pathways through emerging adulthood. Those with sufficient economic and adult supports as well as personal resources and maturity will be more likely to choose well and embark on a positive trajectory during EA. Those lacking these resources, or those with physical and mental health or intellectual disabilities, may struggle during this period and experience a negative trajectory in the spheres of education, vocation, relationships, and health status. The life course health science of EA requires more detailed and deeper analysis of the relationship between family, peers, and societal supports and personal internal resources in order to help promote successful developmental trajectories during EA.

Development

In science, we like to think of everything as discrete and non-interactive. In Newtonian physics, force equals mass times acceleration. Simple, discrete, but it fails to consider the interaction of air pressure, the composition of the mass, and other effects like gravity and drag. Of course, all those specifics here aren't important - what I'm trying to convey is the idea that the world is interactive and complicated.

When it comes to development, we like to pretend and write about the factors and forces as if each one is separate. We will write about each one, but really they are interactive, additive, and multiplicative. What I mean is, it isn't nature versus nurture, it is nature and nurture. The four main forces of development are biological, psychological, sociocultural, and life-cycle. We will look at each one separately, but they are not actually apart.

Biological

Biological forces are a group of physiological developments leading to maturity. This includes things such as genes, hormones, nutrition, and more. The biological force is concerned with the body and how it develops. And even after puberty your body will continue to be affected by this force.

Let's look at two that are easy to understand: genes and nutrition. Say you were born and grew up with a good set of genes. You age well and you haven't developed any cancerous tissues. You grow to a good height and your body is in pretty good shape. That is biological force working for you.

Let's say that you start eating a lot of fast food and drinking way too many energy drinks. You are never hungry for real food, so you just stick to your diet of fast food and energy drinks. Over time, you body will begin to break down. The cells of your body need more than is offered, and you're basically starving yourself.