DEVELOPMENTAL CRISIS IN EARLY ADULTHOOD: A ...

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Thomson, 1994). For example, the self is appraised after experiencing crisis or trauma as stronger, more resilient, but also more vulnerable and fragile (Aldwin, 1994; Linley and Joseph, 2004; Tedeschi and Calhoun, 1994). What might bring about this new clarity of self-perception? Taylor considers in her book Positive Illusions that the self is habitually plagued by distortion and bias in favour of positive self-regard and a heroic self-narrative. A difficult episode “can shatter these perceptions of personal invulnerability and alter the assumptions about the world on which these beliefs are based.” (Taylor, 1989, p.163). 2.9 Discourse and the Relational Self The above review of the ‘me’ self assumes its nature is an internal cognitive construction. An alternative theoretical position sees the self not as an internal cognitive schema, but as a fluid property of situated human interaction. This alternative view, originating in a social constructionist philosophy, has manifested in psychology as the relational self (Chen, Boucher and Tapias, 2006) or dialogical self (Hermans and Kempen, 1993). These theories view the self as a property of dialogical exchange between persons within socially contextualised discourses, rather than as an individual mental property; it exists between people. The social constructionist position generally rejects the notion of inherent individual mental properties, instead preferring to view psychological terms such as ‘self’, ‘crisis’ or ‘development’ as elements of socially formed discourses which provide sense-making frameworks for persons and cultures. These discourses are formed in the socio-political sphere and may have power agendas and implied social and gender relations, which makes their adoption a political as well as psychological act (Gergen, 1995). Social constructionism views the self as more interpersonal than personal, and more embedded process than internal entity. This interpersonal emphasis becomes salient in later chapters, as data analysis presented in Chapters 6-8 presents a challenge to the idea of the internal self-system as described in sections 2.5 – 2.7 of this chapter. Social discourses that influence ideas of identity and self are not insulated from psychological theory, but rather are strongly influenced by psychological theories that reach the mainstream. Ideas from psychoanalysis such as complexes, ego, fixation, narcissism, persona and the unconscious have become major contributions to the discourse of self-definition in the twentieth century, and ideas from humanistic theory such as self-actualisation and human potential have become widely accepted 29
terms. These kind of popularised theoretical terms are highly likely to emerge when individuals are spontaneously asked about their own sense of identity and changes therein. This inter-relation of theory and lay self-definition is in evidence in the data presented in Chapters 6-8 of this thesis, and demonstrates the importance of shared discourses in the process of describing crisis and the self. 2.10 Early Adulthood The constructs of crisis, development and self, and their inter-relationships, will be investigated within the context of the early adulthood lifestage in this thesis, and it is to this specific segment of human development we now turn. Early adulthood is one part of Levinson’s tripartite division of adulthood into early adulthood (20-40), middle adulthood (40-60) and late adulthood (60+). This threeway division has now become standard in lifespan development psychology, with key textbooks in the field such as those of Santrock (2006) and Boyd and Bee (2006), being organised according these life stages. Each lifestage is broken down further into a set of substages. In Levinson’s model (1976), early adulthood has two main stable phases, one mid-stage transition and two boundary transitions (see Figure 3). Figure 3. The Substages of Early Adulthood Entering the Adult World (22-28) Settling Down (33-40) Early Adult Transition 17-22 Age 30 Transition (28-33) Mid Life Transition (40-45) Life up until early adulthood is an open field of alternatives, many of which are pursued ephemerally in adolescence. A teenager or student can entertain visions of an ideal partner, ideal house and ideal job. All this can be done without having to make any committed choices that may restrict his life or turn wistful potentiality into dull actuality. He/she can flout routine, structure and convention and in so doing can develop autonomy and a unique identity (Marcia et al. 1993). While passionate commitments may be made, these are often temporary and in no sense provide a longterm restriction on activities. 30
Page 1 and 2: DEVELOPMENTAL CRISIS IN EARLY ADULT
Page 3 and 4: Acknowledgements I would like to th
Page 5 and 6: 7 Study 2: Rescuing the Hijacked Se
Page 7 and 8: considered to be a constructive par
Page 9 and 10: models, psychodynamic theory, socia
Page 11 and 12: This literature review will act as
Page 13 and 14: stable structures, by the assimilat
Page 15 and 16: goal-directed sense, but there is a
Page 17 and 18: “Where such a Dream exists, we ar
Page 19 and 20: Table I. Caplan’s Four Phases of
Page 21 and 22: Table III. O’Connor and Wolfe’s
Page 23 and 24: “Having a crisis at the time is n
Page 25 and 26: 1. Undergoing stressful experiences
Page 27 and 28: The store of self-knowledge provide
Page 29 and 30: has, according to Booker (2005), ev
Page 31 and 32: of which represents a more complex
Page 33: isolated set of me-facts but is dee
Page 37 and 38: involves genuine integration of com
Page 39 and 40: Figure 5. Births within marriage an
Page 41 and 42: ecorded by the US Bureau of Labor S
Page 43 and 44: group data and statistical analysis
Page 45 and 46: cognitive dissonance theory on a si
Page 47 and 48: testing and theory-exemplification
Page 49 and 50: human agendas that shape knowledge.
Page 51 and 52: 4. A Composite Qualitative Methodol
Page 53 and 54: thesis, and I shall later in this c
Page 55 and 56: Nonetheless it could also be argued
Page 57 and 58: IPA can employ any written data sou
Page 59 and 60: ecommended to use a homogenous samp
Page 61 and 62: Case summaries are another written
Page 63 and 64: similarities that bind clusters tog
Page 65 and 66: conclusions and findings in order t
Page 67 and 68: d) Resonance / Impact / Applicabili
Page 69 and 70: 3. A consent form detailing the key
Page 71 and 72: Dear all, I am currently in the 1 s
Page 73 and 74: accurately restructure the events,
Page 75 and 76: for the whole gender, and then with
Page 77 and 78: Neil 30 IT manager N.A. Violet 36 A
Page 79 and 80: areas were covered spontaneously as
Page 81 and 82: indication of important development
Page 83 and 84: starting with female clusters and t
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6. Study 1 Results: An Emerging Cri
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This vignette is illustrative and i
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“By the time I moved into my own
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New vocational role In Phase 4, cri
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As Mary’s crisis emerges in her l
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Angela similarly learned to stand u
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university to do a degree in psycho
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of my building, heated through by i
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married with two children and was a
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acceptable.” (p.8). George was li
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“You know, I’d failed, it was t
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Phase 4 - Post-Crisis: Resolution A
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Phase 1 - Early Crisis: Constrictio
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In his early thirties, Leon finally
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Phase 1 - Early Crisis: Locked In A
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Phase 3 and 4: Exploration and Reso
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6.6 Summary of the 4-Phase Pattern
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can also subtly undermine personal
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George developed a party-guy person
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sense of self, but meanwhile the se
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process in order to help account fo
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Data Collection In order to gain su
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Brainstorm memo #2 - “Guy: proces
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Results 7.3 Summary of Key Events i
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“That’s a realisation looking b
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efore the crisis Guy had lost the f
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that were pushing upon me that this
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Guy relates this behaviour to his s
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“I’ve stopped allowing myself t
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ecause an over-riding life emphasis
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transformation and development, rat
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8. Study 3: Crisis, Persona and the
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Peer pressure Need for social acce
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At the time of the crisis, Frank wa
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Frank’s young Dream was to become
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sham or an act. This dissonant dysf
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the ranks. Nobody tells you that yo
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“What I often refer to is a dress
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Claire described the business world
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a cellar, it’s really suffocating
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environment, during which time she
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and is no longer so concerned with
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understanding early adult crisis. T
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it leads to a lack of inner-outer b
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they can be channelled to support a
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9. A Conjectural Model of Early Adu
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The motivation for entering into th
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Phase 2: Separation Life Situation:
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training programme, a philosophy de
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“But I am going for jobs for diff
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9.3 Eight Theoretical Precepts on C
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homogeneity. For Jung, the removal
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assertiveness, for to act in accord
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throughout, and while this may glos
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lifespan and the context of relatio
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oth phases there is the description
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“In order to make commitments to
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Interactive Model and Smith’s Int
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economic groups get married earlier
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The Participant Feedback Exercise Y
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Question 3 asked whether the model
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10.9 Reflexive Considerations: The
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work that suggested crisis does occ
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may be of benefit to bring others i
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In sum, the current study provides
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References Ainsworth, M. (1967). In
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Cabrera, N.J., Tamis-LeMonda, C.S.,
Page 219 and 220:
Festinger, L., Riecken, H.W. & Scha
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Hudson, W.C. (1978). Persona and De
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Lincoln, Y.S. & Guba, E.G. (1985).
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Polkinghorne, D.E. (1988). Narrativ
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Smith, J. (1991). Conceiving Selves
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Appendices 224
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SELF - process and structure • Wh
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“Dancing became absolutely phenom
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STUDY 3 - First Interview Schedule
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o How would you describe your new j
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Materialism • How do you think yo
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• Are you still as driven by mone
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Mark Interview 2 Schedule Pre-Crisi
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Victoria - Interview 2 guide Pre-Cr
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Claire - Interview 2 guide Pre-cris
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Lilly - Interview 2 Schedule Pre-Cr
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Information Sheet for Studies 1 and
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APPENDIX C School of Psychology Bir
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and so there was unused freedom. Lo
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5/02/05 As the crisis progresses, G
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Violet memos 09.02.05 Once again we
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acceptance of genuine possibility,
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All these ladies and gents went bac
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accompany the post-partition state.
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lack of available time to pursue an
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Pragmatism and Pluralism properties
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Cyclical and iterative nature of re
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Gemma Interview 10 Case Summary Gem
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Coding Frame and Quotes 1. Backgrou
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were trying to crush it too.” 4
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3d) Separation from old self 3e) Ne
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Rob kids Working as advertising exe
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Table XIX: Case Ordered Matrix of P
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