TrOn – Adaptations in adult life

Adult life follows adolescence and leads into old age; however, both these boundaries may have shifted (to the right) in the UK population in recent times. For example, Jeffrey Arnett has proposed a new transitional development period between the ages of 17 and 22, which he has termed 'emerging adulthood' (Arnett, 2000). At all stages, and perhaps especially at transition points when larger psychological changes are required to successfully adapt, psychological distress may occur. If this is more serious, overt psychopathology may result from the interation or a range of genetic and environmental influences. How the environments affects the expression of genes in the human (i.e. how the genotype is manifest in the phenotype) is beyond the scope of this module,

Freud (1856 to 1939) and later Erikson (1902 to 1994) developed theories in order to contribute to an understanding of human development. They studied factors that influence development after birth, especially during childhood. Both focused on the influences of nature as well as external experience (nurture).