Lesson 5: ADULT DEVELOPMENT ISSUES

Objectives
To identify internal and external challenges of adults
To understand career/life stages

"When I was growing up, people decided what type of job they wanted, and then developed their skills through education or work or both, worked until it was time to retire, got their gold watch and moved to Sun City. Stability was expected; at least that was the norm if you were a man. If you were a woman, hopefully you found your knight in shining armor and followed along, supporting your man in his endeavors." -Author, age 80

We still have further to go, but we have come a long way in a relatively short period of time. First of all, we now know that as adults we continue to develop throughout our lives and that we have predictable, age-linked periods of relative stability and transition.

New concepts have emerged, emphasizing human development as a total life process. Newman and Newman (1984) stated that: "(1) growth occurs at every period of life from conception through old age; (2) individual lives show continuity and change; (3) there is a need to understand the whole person, including physical, intellectual, social, and emotional development; (4) the person must be studied in the context of the relevant settings and relationships in which he or she exists" (p. 4). All who are involved with adult career counseling place a great emphasis on the integration of all life roles over a life span."

Until very recently, adult development was thought to occur in specific chronological stages. Though there was allowance for variance of time and intensity, specific issues were thought to have been addressed in a sequential order. But times have changed.

As we have discussed, career development theories are expanding; the entire life span is one of growth and change. Admittedly, much of the research is based on men. Recent efforts directed toward understanding women address the differences in focus and progression.

The byword of this decade seems to be "change", in ourselves, as well as in our environment and, most recently, in our safe world as we've known it: "The number of adults in career transition has significantly increased over the last three decades. As they search for meaningful work, some adults have experienced a change in needs, a disparity between current work content and reformulated goals, a lack of conformity between personal goals and employer goals, a feeling of isolation in the work environment, despair about the future and the slow economy and downsizing of organizations" (Zunker, 1994, p. 18).

So far, we have covered career development in relationship to human development, in essence, the person's profile and internal factors. But what about the environment? External factors also play an important role in the career development process.

Knowledge of the current trends in all areas (e.g., economic, political, social) is critical and plays a key role in career decision-making. To understand career development theory and patterns of human development, we must constantly be aware of environmental events. We must look at what's happening in the workplace.

For the past few years we have faced record low unemployment. Our society has grown more technologically advanced. However, beginning roughly last April -- about six months prior to September and exacerbated by the events of that day -- many people have lost there job as the technology sector bagan to fall. These people report that they fear that they may no longer have marketable skills; others lack basic skills beyond those used in their high-tech low skill position. Old jobs are out, and "good-paying" new jobs require higher-level skills. There is a critical skill gap between current and emerging job requirements. There is a strong relationship between skill development and employment opportunities. Even with high skills jobs, finding high wage employment in rural areas, like Southern Oregon, may be quite difficult.

A report from the American Society for Training and Development states that, "the association between skills and opportunity for individual Americans is powerful and growing...Individuals with poor skills do not have much to bargain with; they are condemned to low earnings and limited choices" (Workforce In Transition, 1998, p. D-7). Many people are in need of retraining or redirection.

Today, even "skilled" people who thought their jobs would last forever have faced "right sizing" as employers eliminate workers in order to become more cost-efficient. "Downsizing, whether we like it or not, is now part of organizational life" (Knowdell et. al., 1999, p. ix). The best chances for employment are often with smaller companies or in contract work. Charles Hanby, renown British futurist states that by 2010 fifty percent of all workers will be contract workers, 25% management, and the other 25% what he labels as "disposable"--workers with low-skills who float from one temporary job to another.

The world is getting smaller, and we are competing in a global marketplace. Companies must provide both high quality and reasonable cost to remain competitive. In addition, there is an increase of workers from culturally diverse populations, which mandates that we become aware of differences within our human family.

Newspaper articles have keyed into another trend: namely, sons can no longer count on earning more than their fathers earn. Expectations that income increases over the lifetime, and that children are likely to earn more than their parents, are no longer valid.

These constant changes require flexible workers. No wonder America's workforce is stressed! Adults need adaptive skills to negotiate these changes.

Loyalty is no longer as valued as it was in the past, since employers often rely on temporary and contract workers. The company no longer feels the need to guide individual career paths; the responsibility is now in the worker's hands, and that can be frightening if people have not developed the requisite career transition skills. People who have developed career transition skills feel empowered and more in control of their lives.

Check these links:

http://www.aoa.dhhs.gov/aoa/webres/craig.htm

http://www.apa.org/books/gen.html

http://www.radcliffe.edu/murray/data/ds/ds0290.htm

http://www.nald.ca/fulltext/ad/appendd.htm

http://icdl.uncg.edu/ab/092700-03.html

http://www.nald.ca/fulltext/ad/appendc.htm

http://www.uncg.edu/ced/jada/

http://www.mhhe.com/socscience/devel/adult/adult-1.htm

Assignments:

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Please e-mail Susan Roudebush if you have any comments.
Updated January 4, 2002
Copyright 2002, Susan Roudebush