Work is a significant component of adult life, and it usually is a thread that runs and weaves a vital sense of self-responsibility which eventually become ones’ identity. Work therefore functions as an anchor to adult life and creates a path for status, success power, learning, self-satisfaction as well as financial stability. Arnett et al. (52) explain that joining the workplace is an exciting experience for young adults as most have the desire to participate and contribute to the development of society. As young adults embrace their careers, they face many challenges which in most cases hinder their capability of establishing an efficient work identity.
One of these factors is the organizational structure. Typically, a firm’s structure grants young adults the framework for identification and realization. If an organization have poor structures, therefore, a young adult is unable to identify with the occupation and this hinders the establishment of work identity (Arnett et al. 55). Poor leadership and management systems in the workplace also inhibit the formation of work identity for young adults.
When young adults enter the workforce, they become more independent and have the urge to support their families. The Erikson perspective asserts that the young adult stage is characterized by the desire to seek love and companionship (McAdams et al. 85). Young adults desire to establish meaningful relationships when they join the workplace and in case they become unsuccessful, they may suffer isolation which vastly affects their productivity at the workplace. Young adults also suffer competition, underemployment and inflated qualification when entering the workforce.
One of the advantages of entering middle adulthood is that it prepares an individual to establish generativity or the desire to expands one’s commitment and influence to the future generations, community, and family. Hsieh et al. (105) elaborate that the middle adulthood is vastly characterized by formation and guidance of the future generations. Entering middle adulthood also boosts an individual’s cognitive development. Usually, cognitive development is a complex and ever-evolving concept that may be more active when entering middle adulthood.
Therefore, entering the middle adulthood allows one to exhibit more cognitive characteristics. The middle adulthood stage is faced by a significant midlife challenge which entails reevaluation that in most cases results in the questioning of the long-held values and beliefs (Hsieh et al. 108). The midlife challenge may, therefore, result to divorce and separations for spouses, changing occupations or even changing one’s geographical position.
Typically, the crisis occurs in response to the mortality sense where the middle adults get the realization that the youth life is limited and that they have a limited timeframe to achieve all their life objectives. Hsieh et al. (110) further claim that entering the middle adulthood stage also calls for a midlife change and most individuals are stressed in this stage. Failure to develop generativity while in this stage leads to stagnation with the associated invalidism and self-indulgence.
Cuber and Haroff’s research identifies several types of marriages that are still in existence today. One of these marriages is the conflict habituated marriage. Spouses in this type of marriage can hide their inner tension and disputes from the observers. As argued by Gavazzi (147), the disadvantage of this marriage is that the couples are unable to solve their differences and the anger converts to resentment over time. The advantage of this type of marriage is that the couples can sustain their marriage for a lifetime.
The other type of marriage form this research is the vital relationship marriage in which the couples are genuinely in love and enjoy each other’s company. Gavazzi (149) assert that the advantage of is marriage is that the couples can handle their issues and they hardly experience any conflict. However, if the relationship was not vital in the initials stages, the couples may experience no conflict but lack a spark later in their marriage or relationship.
Comparing the two marriages, the vital relationship marriage reports a higher satisfaction and increases the couples’ general happiness compared to the conflict habituated marriage. Unlike the conflict habituated marriage, the vital relationship marriage experiences little or no conflicts, and this has no room for resentment (Gavazzi 150). The vital relationship marriage generally improves the spouses’ relationship and raises the general marital status for a couple.
Military work, specifically the occasional deployments could have vast impacts on the romantic marriages relationships of the military officials. According to Segal et al. (98), the families of the military individuals suffer most as a result of separation as the military are forced to reside and serve far away from home. Each time a family member is away for an extended period, the rest of the family members suffer stress.
For the case of a military operation, the families are even more affected as they are aware that their family member is subjected to potential danger that could even rugger death. The young children of the deployed military members grow up facing a lot of stress as a result of the separation and could suffer mental disorders due to the lack of attachment to their parents(Segal et al. 100). Deployment of a parent to war has long-lasting development effects on young children, especially if the children’s trauma is not treated or addressed.
Works Cited
Arnett, Jeffrey Jensen, and Jennifer Lynn Tanner. “The emergence of emerging adulthood: The
new life stage between adolescence and young adulthood.” Routledge Handbook of Youth
and Young Adulthood. Routledge, 2016. 50-56.
Gavazzi, Stephen M. “For Better and for Worse: Understanding Optimal Campus-Community
Relationships through the Lens of Marriage.” Metropolitan Universities 26.1 (2015): 147-
154.
Hsieh, Kelly, et al. “Impact of adulthood stage and social-environmental context on body mass
index and physical activity of individuals with intellectual disability.” Intellectual and
developmental disabilities 53.2 (2015): 100-113.
McAdams, Dan P., and Claudia Zapata-Gietl. “Three strands of identity development across the
human life course: Reading Erik Erikson in full.” The Oxford handbook of identity
development (2015): 81-94.
Segal, Mady W., Michelle D. Lane, and Ashley G. Fisher. “Conceptual model of military career
and family life course events, intersections, and effects on well-being.” Military Behavioral
Health 3.2 (2015): 95-107.