Psychology of Young Adults: Good and Bad Decisions

Running head: PSYCHOLOGY
Psychology
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Introduction
The young adults are often heralded as the flag bearers of tomorrow and are the
leaders who will lead the change in the society. The young adults especially who are in their
teens or 20s, are struggling to find a meaningful work environment and also nurture an
aspiration towards getting heard. The young adults are often the first person to highlight
improper feelings (Furnham, 2015). Young adults are the best person to propose and
implement solutions that produces shift towards the needle and has an enduring impact.
However, young adults are not always right and this might be attributed to their lack of
proper exposure and experience about the society. The individuals from this present
generation are always not right and they also tend to make mistakes (Furnham, 2015). The
following essay aims to analyse the good and bad decisions taken by young in under context
of the existing developmental or psychological theories. The essay will mainly highlight two
most prominent theories Erikson Theory of Psychosocial Development and Vaillant’s Model
of the Adult psychological Development. The essay will initiate with a brief focus on the
theories followed by a detailed insight of the each developmental stages of the theory that
coincide with the decision making process of the young adults (Furnham, A., 2015).
Erikson Theory of Psychosocial Development
Erikson Theory of Psychosocial Development states that during each stage of life
individuals experiences a psychosocial crisis that have both positive and negative impact on
the development of personality. Erikson is of the opinion that the psychological crisis mainly
arise due to needs of the society personal requirement. The Erikson classified eight different
stages of the psychosocial crisis. The fifth stage of the Erikson theory is identity Vs role
confusion (12 to 18 years) and sixth stage of intimacy vs. isolation (18 to 40) coincides with
the psychosocial developmental crisis of the young adults (Dunkel and Harbke 2017).

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Figure: Erikson Stages of the Psychosocial Development
(Source: Dunkel and Harbke 2017)
According to the Identity Vs Role Confusion during adolescence there occurs
transition from childhood to adulthood. The individuals gradually become more independent
and start looking at their career, relationships and families seriously. There generates a need
to belong or match with the current trend prevailing in the society. This development of a
sense of independence promotes a development of a strong sense of social awareness and this
helps the adolescents or the young adults to take active participation in the social activities
(Dunkel and Harbke 2017). Yamamoto, Kushin and Dalisay (2015) are of the opinion that at
this stage, the young adults or the adolescents become indulge in social media and generates

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an opinion to judge between right and wrong. This independence of selection lead to
generation a strong sense of the political identity and thereby helping them to indulge in
developmental social work. Smith et al. (2013) argued that the development of the political
though process or political identity is mainly assisted by the political beliefs of the family
members. The young adults or the adolescents who have political family is bound to develop
a strong political identity and thereby having greater tendency to make decision in favour of
the social work for social development.
At fifth stage of the Erikson psychosocial development theory highlighted that at this
is the stage where there occurs development of the personal values, goals and beliefs. It is at
this stage that the adolescents develop their own personal identity and this is mainly guided
by sexual identity and occupational identity (Karkouti 2014). The research conducted by
Vanden Abeele et al. (2014) highlighted that the main victims of the pornography addiction
are the adolescences. At this stage they are on the verge of developing sexual identity such
that there occurs a change in the gender role, there occurs an in-dominatble curiosity for
understanding the sexual relationships. The individuals at this stage developing addiction to
pornography and other sexual activities like sexual messages through mobile phones. Vanden
Abeele et al. (2014) stated that teens that are more popular with other sex and in a greater
need of popularity due to identity crisis are more likely indulge in distribution of sexual
material and videos through mobile phone communication. Vandenbosch and van Oosten
(2017) stated that adolescents who are more exposed to the pornography videos at times
suffer from dis-oriented sexual behaviour along with a tendency of women objectification.
This a reason behind the reported cases of the rape by the young adults or adolescents.
Identity Vs Role Confusion, the child has to learn the roles that he or she will occupy
as an adult. It is at this stage, the adolescent tend to re-examine his or her identity and search
for finding his or her roles in the society. Dunkel and Harbke (2017) stated at the end of the