What are the two major problems people face in middle adulthood, and how do they differ from those people face as young adults? The two main problems that people face in middle adulthood are generally marriage, starting a family and building one's identity are often largely tied to a stable career. Erik Erikson explained these two major issues faced in middle adulthood as he explains: “Two fundamental aspects of our lives dominate adulthood. Erik Erikson called them intimacy (forming close relationships) and generativity (being productive and supporting future generations).” (Meyers) In middle adulthood, most people in modern Western culture begin to start a family through marriage and the birth of children, which coincides not only with the end of the biological clock of reproductive deterioration, especially in the case of women, but also with the stages of mental development and emotional development. Because at this stage of life development an adult has much less impulsive decision making and a more mature mindset, he or she is better suited and better prepared to deal with these two major issues. In our text we also note that: “Researchers have chosen various terms: affiliation and success, attachment and productivity, connection and competence. Sigmund Freud (1935) explains it very simply: the healthy adult, he said, is one who knows how to love and work”. (Meyers) This echoes Erikson's sediments, and by unpacking two of the most formidable issues that shape a person's life in middle adulthood into work and love as Freud and our text do, we can better examine who is involved in middle age adult. While in modern times young adults take longer to focus on education and take longer periods to establish financial independence… halfway… and achievement.” (Meyers) The text also talks about the difference between personal identity and self-esteem between the two stages stating that: “From adolescence to middle age, people typically experience a strengthening sense of identity, confidence, and self-esteem” (Meyers) The overall difference observed between the stages from young adulthood to middle adulthood and how it affects issues of love and work is that in the transition to middle adulthood everything becomes more well defined not only through physiological developments but through the values ​​of Experience and time gain and apply education to both of these progressions allowing us to further evolve our lives as a whole from what we knew about life at a young age. Works Cited Meyers, David G. Psychology 1st Edition. New York, NY 10010: Worth Publishers, 2011. textbook.