ABSTRACT
Transitions between most of the stages of development are gradual, and in many ways that is true of the transition from adolescence into adulthood. In other ways, however, the move to adulthood is marked as different. Erik Erikson, in the 1950s, described three stages of adulthood: Early adulthood, Middle age and Late adulthood. More people choose to avoid goals concerned with families, more voluntarily leave work early, or change careers in mid or later adulthood, and many more do not accept the notion that late adulthood is devoted to looking back. Physically, for example, it is seen in changes in the skin, and in the decline in many aspects of physical performance from early adulthood onwards. There are pathological causes of cognitive decline in older people which the people look at in Topic L6. Older people have other life changes to cope with. Involuntary retirement has been rated as one of the 10 most stressful events that adults face..
