Contexts of Midlife Development
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Transcript Contexts of Midlife Development
Chapter 14
Socioemotional Development in
Middle Adulthood
PowerPoints developed by Nicholas Greco IV,
College of Lake County, Grayslake, IL
(c) 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Erikson’s Middle Adulthood
The crisis of generativity versus stagnation
Generativity -- adults’ desire to leave
legacies of themselves to the next
generation
Stagnation -- develops when individuals
sense that they have done nothing for the
next generation
also known as self-absorption
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Generativity
Commitment to continuation and
improvement of society as a whole
Biological generativity -- bearing offspring
Parental generativity -- nurturing children
Work generativity -- skills to pass on
Cultural generativity -- creating,
renovating, and conserving some aspect
of culture
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Levinson’s Seasons of a
Man’s Life
Results of extensive interviews with
middle-aged men
20s -- novice phase of experimentation
and testing
28 to 33 years -- transition and adoption of
goals
30s -- BOOM -- becoming one’s own man
phase
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Levinson’s Seasons of a
Man’s Life
40 to 45 years -- transition to middle
adulthood requires facing four main issues
being young versus being old
being destructive versus being constructive
being masculine versus being feminine
being attached to others versus being
separated
40s -- middle age
(c) 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Insert Figure 14.1
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Midlife Crisis
Levinson’s view of the crisis
being suspended between past and future
trying to cope with threats to continuity
Vailliant’s “Grant Study”
a time of reassessing and recording the truth
about adolescence and adulthood
only a minority of adults actually experience a
crisis in midlife
(Levinson, 1978; Vailliant, 1977)
(c) 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Life Events Approach
Some events tax ability to cope and force
personality change
Contemporary life events approach
emphasizes considering event as well as
mediating factors, adaptation to the event,
the life-stage context, and the historical
context
May overemphasize change and discount
the importance of everyday stressors
(Holmes & Rahe, 1967)
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Stress and Personal Control in
Midlife
Do middle-aged adults experience stress
differently than young adults and older
adults?
Young and middle-aged adults had more
stressful days than older adults
Middle-aged adults experienced more
“overload” stressors that involved juggling too
many activities at once
(c) 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Contexts of Midlife
Development
Historical contexts -- cohort effects
cohort -- individuals born in the same year or
time period
cohort and context influence values, attitudes,
expectations, and behavior
social clock -- timetable according to which
individuals are expected to accomplish life’s
major tasks; provides a guide for life
(Neugarten, 1986)
(c) 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Contexts of Midlife
Development
Cultural contexts
midlife is unclear and/or absent in many nonindustrialized cultures
some cultures even divide the life course
differently for males and females
midlife is influenced by degree of modernity
and society’s gender roles
Eligibility for certain statuses is influenced by
gender
(c) 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Stability and Change
Big five factors of personality -- openness to experience,
conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and
neuroticism
Three longitudinal studies
Costa and McCrae’s Baltimore Study
Personality traits changed most during early adulthood
The Berkeley Longitudinal Studies
Results from early adolescence through a portion of
midlife did not support either extreme in the debate
whether personality is characterized by stability or
change
Valliant’s Studies
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The Big Five Factors of
Personality
INSERT FIGURE 14.3 HERE
(c) 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Stability and Change
Evidence does not support the view that
personality traits become completely fixed
at a certain age in adulthood
Cumulative personality model -- with time
and age, people become more adept at
interacting with their environment in ways
that promote stability
Some people are likely to change more
than others
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Close Relationships
Love and Marriage at Midlife
affectionate, companionate love increases in
middle adulthood
security, loyalty, and mutual emotional
interest become more important as
relationships mature
even difficult marriages become better
adjusted in middle adulthood
married people express satisfaction
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Close Relationships
Divorce in middle adulthood
couples may be alienated and avoidant
marriages may have become “empty” -- lacking
laughter, love, and interest in one another
divorce may be more positive in some ways and more
negative in others
+ -- often more resources
+ -- children less “damaged” and can cope better
minus -- may be seen as personal failure or as
betrayal
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The Empty Nest and Its Refilling
Empty nest syndrome -- decline in marital
satisfaction after children leave the home;
a time for pursuit of other interests, career,
and time for each other
Refilling of the nest when young adult
children return home to save money or
recover from career setback
Parents continue to provide emotional
and/or financial support
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Sibling Relationships
Sibling relationships persist over the entire
life span
Majority of adults have at least one living
sibling
Most have been found to be close
Siblings who were not “close” tend not to
become closer in midlife
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Friendships
Continue to be important just as they were
in early adulthood
Enduring relationships become deeper
(Antonucci, 1989)
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Grandparenting
Grandmothers have more contact with
grandchildren than grandfathers
Satisfaction -- easier than parenting
Styles and roles -- 3 meanings
source of biological reward and continuity
source of emotional fulfillment
remote role
Differing functions in families and in cultures or
in situations
(c) 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
The Changing Role of
Grandparents
Divorce, adolescent pregnancy, and drug use
have contributed to increasing numbers of
grandparents assuming parental roles
Grandparents who are full-time caregivers for
grandchildren are at elevated risk for health
problems, depression, and stress
Grandparent visitation issues in divorced and
stepfamilies
Grandparents’ legal rights for visitation
(c) 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Intergenerational Relationships
Middle-aged adults share experiences and
transmit values to the younger generation
As children become middle aged, they
develop more positive perceptions of
parents
Family members maintain contact across
generations
Most common conflicts are interaction
style, habits and lifestyle choices, childrearing practices, and values
(c) 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Intergenerational Relationships
Sandwich or Squeeze Generation -responsibilities for adolescent and young
adult children and for aging parents
Relationships between aging parents and
their children are usually characterized by
ambivalence
When necessary, responsibilities are
assumed by daughters
(c) 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.