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PART SIX

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Adulthood

We now begin the sixth part of this text. These three chapters cover 47 years (ages 18 to 65), when bodies mature, minds master new material, and people work productively.

No decade of adulthood is exclusively programmed for any one event: Adults at many ages get stronger and weaker, learn and produce, nurture friendships and marriages, care for children and aging relatives. Some experience hiring and firing, wealth and poverty, births and deaths, weddings and divorces, windfalls and disasters, illness and recovery. Adulthood is a long sweep, punctuated by events, joyful and sorrowful.

There are some chronological norms, noted in these chapters. Early in adulthood, few people are married or settled in a career; later, most people have partners and offspring. Expertise at a particular job is more likely at age 50 than 20.

Past development is always relevant: Adults are guided by their nature and nurture, as they choose partners, activities, communities, and habits. For the most part, these are good years, when each person’s goals become more attainable.

The experience of adulthood is not the same everywhere. In some nations and cultures, dominant influences are families, economics, and history; in others, genetic heritage and personal choice predominate. Economic forces are particularly strong when governments provide no safety nets, whereas genes and choice are stronger when governments and cultures help everyone. For example, virtually everyone marries in some nations, but genetic heritage and the ability to make a broader range of personal choices are stronger influences elsewhere. Many adults in such countries are not married.

The following three chapters describe adulthood: the universals, the usual, and the diverse. As this introduction explains, be careful: Generalities are often wrong.