HSH206 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Backtracking, Cardiac Output, Cognitive Development
The independence years: young adulthood
Young adulthood
• A critical juncture in the lifespan
• Adjustment in childhood and adolescence is important in adjusting to adulthood
• Taking hold of some kind of life
Physical development
• Physical changes slow down
• Ageing becomes apparent from about 26 years
• Lifestyle factors become influential: choices of foods, alcohol and smoking and exercise
Physical changes slow down. For example, maximum height is reached by females at age 18 and
males by age 20. Between the ages of 19 and 26, internal organs reach their greatest physical
potential and young adults are in prime condition in terms of strength and speed. At age 26, the
body starts slowing down.
Spinal discs settle, resulting in a decrease in height. Fatty tissue often increases, leading to an
increase in weight. Muscle strength decreases, reaction times stabilise and cardiac output declines.
The brain continues to increase in weight and reaches its maximum potential by the adult years.
With all the body's systems reaching peak functioning during early adulthood, young adults are
healthier than older adults in almost every way. While good health is obviously related to age,
genetics and the health services available, there are also a range of lifestyle factors that impact on
health and development during this stage of the lifespan. Although young adults generally know
what it takes to achieve good health and prevent illness, they don't tend to fare very well when it
comes to applying information to themselves. They often don't stop to think about how their
personal lifestyles will affect their health now and later In life.
Lifestyle factors common among adolescents
• Skipping breakfast
• not eating regular meals
• relying on snacks
• Taking up smoking and alcohol use
• Failure to engage in regular physical activity
• Only a few hours of sleep per night
Cognitive development
• Piaget's formal operational stage
• Changes in intellectual development; shit from dualism (individual believes that things are
absolutely right or wrong and answers can be achieved by going to authorities with absolute
knowledge) to relativism(Individuals believes that anything can be right or wrong depending
on the situation; all views can be equally right) to commitment (Individual realises that
certainty is impossible but that commitment to a certain position is necessary. In making
commitments, the individual experiences the implications of their decisions and their identity
is affirmed)
• Influenced by workforce participation
Piaget's formal operational stage
Piaget proposed that at approximately 11 to 15 years of age, individuals enter into the formal
operational stage, which is characterised by logical, abstract and idealistic thinking. Piaget also
believed that young adults are more quantitatively advanced in their thinking, in the sense that they
have more knowledge than adolescents and also that they increase their knowledge in a particular
area.
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Document Summary
Young adulthood: a critical juncture in the lifespan, adjustment in childhood and adolescence is important in adjusting to adulthood, taking hold of some kind of life. Physical development: physical changes slow down, ageing becomes apparent from about 26 years. Lifestyle factors become influential: choices of foods, alcohol and smoking and exercise. For example, maximum height is reached by females at age 18 and males by age 20. Between the ages of 19 and 26, internal organs reach their greatest physical potential and young adults are in prime condition in terms of strength and speed. At age 26, the body starts slowing down. Spinal discs settle, resulting in a decrease in height. Fatty tissue often increases, leading to an increase in weight. Muscle strength decreases, reaction times stabilise and cardiac output declines. The brain continues to increase in weight and reaches its maximum potential by the adult years.
