Middle Adulthood

Physical Development: Key Highlights

I. MIDDLE AGE: A CULTURAL CONSTRUCT When Is Middle Age?

No consensus on when it begins and ends.

Often defined as 40-65 years of age.

No specific biological or social events that mark its boundaries.

In the US, middle-age is increasingly a state of mind.

Many people in their sixties and seventies consider themselves middle-aged.

Physical Development: Key Highlights

II. SEX AND HEALTH

Menopause: Cessation of menstruation and of the ability to

bear children, typically around age 50. Symptoms: Most common (among 50% of women)…hot flashes.

Other symptoms include…Vaginal dryness, burning, itching.

Sexual appetite remains.

Erectile Dysfunction: Inability of a man to achieve or maintain

an erect penis sufficient for satisfactory sexual performance. Biological Causes: Diabetes High Blood Pressure or Cholesterol Neurological Disorders Kidney Failure Other Causes: Drugs/Alcohol Unsatisfying Relationship Psychological Factors Stress

Physical Development: Key Highlights

III. STRESS AND HEALTH

“It’s not

what

happens, it’s

how

you take it.”

Allostasis: ability to adapt to stress. Allostatic Load: damage that occurs when coping abilities

are inadequate.

Contributing Factors… Positive or negative change Illness Death of spouse or divorce Marriage Unemployment Occupational stress and ‘burnout’

Burnout: Emotional exhaustion and a sense that one

can no longer accomplish anything on the job.

Cognitive Development

Schaie: Middle-aged stages of Cognitive Development

Responsible stage:

Third of Schaie’s seven cognitive stages, in which middle-aged people are concerned with long-range goals and practical problems related to their responsibility for others, such as family members or employees.

Executive stage:

Fourth of Schaie’s seven cognitive stages, in which middle-aged people responsible for societal systems deal with complex relationships on several levels.

Reorganizational stage:

Fifth of Schaie’s seven cognitive stages, in which adults entering retirement reorganize their lives around nonwork-related activities.

Schaie: The Seattle Longitudinal Study

The Flynn Effect: Every decade, raw scores in IQ tests have risen and test

makers have had to make the tests harder to keep the mean score at 100.

Likely due to… (1) Improved health and nutrition, (2) Better education, (3) Increased opportunity for visual-spatial stimulation (TV/Video games), (4) Improved test-taking skills

Horn and Cattell: Fluid and Crystallized Intelligence

Fluid intelligence: Type of intelligence which is applied to novel

problems and is relatively independent of educational and cultural influences.

Crystallized intelligence: Type of intelligence involving the

ability to remember and use learned information; it is largely dependent on education and cultural background.

Expertise

Mature adults show increasing competence solving problems in their field.

Encapsulation:

Information processing becomes dedicated to specific knowledge.

Captures fluid ability for expert problem solving.

Can help buffer age-related declines in cognitive ability.

Expert pattern recognition

Integrative Thought

Mature adults are better at integrating: Logic with intuition and emotion Conflicting facts and ideas New and old information

Creativity

Creative potential: The talent for creativity that is present in

a person, such as a child, but not yet realized in fact.

Creative performance: What, and how much, a creative mind

produces.

Combination of forces: Biological Personal Social and cultural Specific contributions to creativity: Highly organized knowledge of the subject Intrinsic motivation to work Strong emotional attachment to work Willingness to take risks and tolerate rejection

Psychosocial Development

I. CHANGE AT MIDLIFE: CLASSIC THEORETICAL APPROACHES

Proponents of Stability: Freud – Psychoanalytic theory Trait models of personality Proponents of Change: Humanistic theorists (Rogers & Maslow)

Self-actualization:

a state of achieving one’s full potential

. Unconditional positive regard: the acceptance of the person as he or

she is

.

Conditional positive regard: the person is only held in esteem when

they fulfill certain requirements set for them by the other person or society

.

Normative-Stage Models

Erik Erikson: Generativity versus Stagnation Generativity versus stagnation:

In Erikson’s theory, the seventh critical stage of psychosocial development, in which middle-aged adults develop a concern with establishing, guiding, and influencing the next generation or else experiences stagnation (a sense of inactivity or lifelessness).

Care:

The virtue of the seventh crisis in Erikson’s theory, a widening commitment to take care of the persons, the products, and the ideas one has learned to care for.

Kotre’s Four Forms of Generativity:

Biological: Conceiving and bearing children. Parental: Nurturing and raising children. Technical: Teaching skills to apprentices. Cultural: Transmitting cultural values and institutions.

Kotre’s Two Methods for Expressing Generativity:

Communal: the expression of generativity involving care and nurturance

of others.

Agentic: the expression of generativity involving personal contributions

to society.

Valliant, Levinson, & Neugarten Interiority…

An introspective tendency at midlife.

A restructuring of life towards maintaining relationships.

II. THE SELF AT MIDLIFE: ISSUES AND THEMES Is There a Midlife Crisis?

Midlife crisis: In some normative-stage models, stressful life

period precipitated by the review and reevaluation of one’s past, typically occurring in the early to middle forties.

Midlife review: Introspective examination that often occurs in

middle age, leading to reappraisal and revision of values and priorities.

Developmental deadlines:

Time constraints on one’s ability to accomplish certain things, like having a baby.

Ego-resiliency: The ability to adapt flexibly and resourcefully to

potential sources of stress.

Occurrence is rare

Some experience turmoil Others feel they are at their peak Least likely among those with ‘ego resiliency’

Able to adapt to stress Have a sense of mastery and control

Midlife is just one of many transitions.

Middle age may be stressful But no more than other stages of life

Turning Points: Psychological transitions that involve significant change

in the person’s life… happen throughout the lifespan.

Identity Development: Current Theoretical Approaches

Susan Krauss Whitbourne: Identity as a Process Identity process model:

Whitbourne’s model of identity development based on processes of assimilation and accommodation.

Identity: Schema that individuals use to interpret their experiences. Identity assimilation: effort to fit new experience into an existing

self-concept.

Identity accommodation: adjusting the self-concept to fit new experience.

Identity style: characteristic ways of confronting, interpreting, and

responding to experience.

Assimilative identity style: A person who uses assimilation more than

accommodation in adapting a self-concept.

Accommodative identity style: A person who uses accommodation

more than assimilation in adapting a self-concept.

Balanced identity style: Healthiest style, in which identity is flexible

enough to change when warranted but not unstructured to the point that every new experience causes the person to question fundamental assumptions about the self.

Narrative Psychology: Identity as a Life Story

Narrative psychology: Field that views the development of

the self as a continuous process of constructing one’s own life story.

Goals… Exploratory

Goals aimed at a mature understanding of self

Intrinsic

Goals aimed at well-being and/or happiness

Generativity script: Life story in which generativity plays a key role,

and which gives the life story a happy ending.

Gender Identity

Men’s Gender Identity

In middle age many men become more interested in:

Expression of feelings Intimate relationships Nurturing

(Traits traditionally labeled as feminine)

Women’s Gender Identity

In middle age many women become more:

Assertive Self-confident Achievement-oriented

(Characteristics traditionally labeled as masculine)

Gender Crossover

Once active parenting is over, there is a reversal of roles

Men explore their ‘feminine’ side Women become more dominant and independent

Psychological Well-Being and Positive Mental Health

Emotionality

Decline of negative emotions

Anger Fear

In middle to late adulthood, both men and women see a surge in positive emotions.

Although women are slightly more negative at all ages.

Life Satisfaction: Coping and Adapting

Most people report being satisfied with life, regardless of age.

Positive emotions from pleasant memories tend to persist.

Negative emotions from unpleasant memories tend to fade

.

Ethnic conservatism: Tendency to resist accommodation and

cling to familiar values and practices that give meaning to life.

Other factors…

III. RELATIONSHIPS AT MIDLIFE Theories of Social Contact

Social convoy theory: Theory of aging which holds that people move

through life surrounded by concentric circles of intimate relationships or varying degrees of closeness, such as close friends and family members, on which people rely for assistance, well-being, and social support.

Socioemotional selectivity theory: Theory that people select social

contacts throughout life on the basis of the changing relative importance of social interaction as a source of information, as an aid in developing and maintaining a self-concept, and as a source of emotional well-being.

Cohabitation and Mental Health

Men:

More depressed than married counterparts

Women:

No differences in mental health from married counterparts

Why the gender difference?

Women may want intimacy without obligation of caring for a husband Men may benefit from the kind of care wives traditionally provide

Midlife Divorce

Marital capital: Financial and emotional benefits built up

during a long-standing marriage, which tend to hold a couple together.

IV. RELATIONSHIPS WITH MATURING CHILDREN Adolescent Children: Issues for Parents

When Children Leave: The Empty Nest Empty nest:

Transitional phase of parenting following the last child’s leaving the parents’ home.

Women heavily invested in mothering find this transition difficult.

Most women find the transition liberating… A relief from the “chronic emergencies” of parenthood.

Parenting Grown Children

Tight-knit: Intergenerational families in which the members live physically

close and are emotionally close.

Sociable: Intergenerational families in which there is less emotional affinity

or commitment, although the members live physically close to one another and will occasionally engage in social activities together.

Obligatory: Intergenerational families in which there is a lot of interaction

but little emotional attachment.

Estranged: Intergenerational families in which there is little to no interaction

despite living physically close.

Detached: Intergenerational families in which members are geographically

and emotionally far away from each other.

Intimate but distant: Intergenerational families in which members live far

away from each other or spend little time with each other, but retain warm feelings.

Prolonged Parenting: The “Cluttered Nest”

Revolving door syndrome: Tendency for young adults to return to their

parent’s home (sometimes more than once) while getting on their feet or in times of financial, marital, or other trouble.

V. OTHER KINSHIP TIES

Relationships with Aging Parents

Filial maturity: Stage of life in which middle-aged children, as the outcome

of a filial crisis, learn to accept and meet their parents’ need to depend on them.

Sandwich generation: Middle-aged adults squeezed by competing needs

to raise or launch children and to care for elderly parents.

Caregiver burnout: Condition of physical, mental, and emotional exhaustion

affecting adults who care for aged persons.

Caring for aging parents can bring siblings closer or cause resentment.

Grandparenthood

Grandparenting often begins before the end of active parenting Average grandparent:

Starts at age 48, Has 6 grandchildren, Still has living parents

The Grandparent’s Role

68% see at least 1 grandchild every 2 weeks Grandmothers tend to be ‘kinkeepers’

Keep in touch with the grandchildren Have warmer relationships than grandfathers

Grandparents are the nation’s primary childcare providers Many spend money on educational needs of children

Grandparenting after Divorce and Remarriage

After grandchildren’s parents divorce: Maternal grandparents: tend to have more contact with grandchildren

than paternal grandparents.

Paternal grandparents: Remarriage of mother further decreases chances

for contact.