Answer to Question 1
Cross-cultural considerations suggest that the storm and stress of the transition to adult life is a consequence of the affluence, education, and independence of young people in Western, industrialized societies. In other cultures, an individual's life course may be determined by parental authority or economic necessity, neither of which allows for an identity crisis. In the not-too-distant past, people also assumed adult roles at much younger ages in the United States. In some families and socioeconomic groups, they still do.
Answer to Question 2
There are fairly predictable challenges that occur during adult life in relationships, work, life goals, and personal identity. Several theorists divide adult development into three periods: early, middle, and later life. Consistent with this division, we highlight three major life-cycle transitions struggles in moving from one stage of adult development to the next. The transition to adult life is a time for grappling with the major issues related to identity, career, and relationships. Family transitions in the middle adult years may include very happy events like the birth of the first child, or very unhappy ones, like a difficult divorce. The transition to later life may involve major changes in life roles such as retirement, grief over the loss of loved ones, and inner conflicts about aging, mortality, and the life one has lived.
Continental Drift—An Early Idea
Cross section of the wrist showing tendons and nerves involved in carpal tunnel syndrome.
Demographic Crisis
A Punnett square generating the F2 ratio of the F1 x F1 cross
Cross-regulatory interactions among gap genes
Concepts related to cancer affect the types of cancer