Transcript library.dmacc.cc.ia.us

16
Social and Personality
Development in Middle
Adulthood
This multimedia product and its contents are protected under copyright law. The following are prohibited by law:
• any public performance or display, including transmission of any image over a network;
• preparation of any derivative work, including the extraction, in whole or part, of any images;
• any rental, lease, or lending of the program.
© 2009 Allyn & Bacon Publishers
Ageism
• Form of prejudice; beliefs that older adults less
competent than younger ones
– Not supported by research evidence
• A factor in job seeking for middle aged
applicants
– Employer worries that older workers won’t “fit in”
with younger ones
• Appearance cues such as gray hair can trigger
ageism, especially for middle aged women
applicants
© 2009 Allyn & Bacon Publishers
Positive Overall Changes
•
•
•
•
•
Social roles change in middle age
Some workers at epitome of careers
Children often grown and on their own
Roles less constricting
May have more time for oneself
© 2009 Allyn & Bacon Publishers
Theories of Social and Personality Development
Erikson’s Generativity versus Stagnation
• Generativity involves an interest in establishing
and guiding the next generation
– Rearing children, teaching, mentoring, taking
leadership roles in civic, religious or charitable
organizations
– May continue through old age
• Stagnation
– Failure leads to pervading sense of stagnation and
personal impoverishment; possible overindulgence
© 2009 Allyn & Bacon Publishers
Erikson’s Theory
• The impact of childlessness
– How a man responded earlier to his
childlessness was predictive of his
psychological health at age 47
– Suggests that rearing one’s own or another’s
child who calls forth one’s nurturing qualities
may be important for psychological growth
© 2009 Allyn & Bacon Publishers
Erikson’s Theory
Vaillant’s Revision
• Adds a “career consolidation” stage
– Create a new social network
– Generate satisfaction with work-related
choices
• Another new stage: “keeper of the
meaning”
– Preserve values and institutions to benefit
future generations
© 2009 Allyn & Bacon Publishers
Mid-Life Crisis: Fact or Fiction?
Levinson and Erikson argue for a crisis
• Each person must confront a constellation
of difficult tasks at mid-life
– Accepting one’s own mortality
– Recognizing new physical limitations and
health risks
– Adapting to major changes in most roles
© 2009 Allyn & Bacon Publishers
Mid-Life Crisis: Fact or Fiction?
Research offers different conclusions
• Serious mid-life problems are experienced by a
minority—maybe 25% at most
• Possibly triggered by life events rather than an age, for
example, the death of a parent
• Midlife does present some physical challenges
• Variations such as optimism can affect how one
constructs their midlife “life story”
© 2009 Allyn & Bacon Publishers
Role Transitions
• Each of us occupies multiple roles at the same time,
which produces frictions of various kinds
• Role Conflict – any situation in which two or more
roles are at least partially incompatible
– For example, simultaneously caring for teenage
children and aging parents (thus both parent and
child)
• Role Strain – stress that occurs when a person lacks the
resources needed to fulfill a role
– Midlife adult may need to return to college to learn
new work skills, provoking anxiety
© 2009 Allyn & Bacon Publishers
Changes in Relationships
Partnerships
• Marital stability and satisfaction increase in
mid-life.
– Conflicts over child-rearing decline
– Increased sense of control
– Identification of successful problem-solving
strategies
• Use of skilled diplomacy to ease tensions
© 2009 Allyn & Bacon Publishers
Children and Parents
• In middle adulthood the family role involves
giving assistance in both directions of the
generational chain
– Helping grown children
– Supporting aging parents
– The “sandwich generation”
• Must shoulder responsibility for maintaining
affectional bonds
• Between 40 and 65, adults give help more than
they receive in both directions within the family
© 2009 Allyn & Bacon Publishers
Figure 16.1
The “Middle Age Squeeze”
© 2009 Allyn & Bacon Publishers
Emptying the Nest
• When women are asked about positive and
negative transitions in their lives, they more often
describe this event as positive
• “Boomerang” or “Adultescents”—adult children
who use a “revolving door” in and out of parental
home
– Young adults marrying and having children later can
foster this development
• The revolving door may be stressful for middleaged parents
© 2009 Allyn & Bacon Publishers
Grandparenting
• New roles for middle-aged adults
– Becoming in-laws as children marry
– Becoming grandparents
• Grandparenting may shift to a slightly later age
• Most grandparents express high levels of
satisfaction with this role.
• Grandparents can positively influence children’s
development
– Especially important source of stability for children of
divorced parents
© 2009 Allyn & Bacon Publishers
Grandparenting
29% of grandparents have remote relationships
• See grandchildren infrequently
• Little direct influence on their development
• Most common reason cited is physical distance
© 2009 Allyn & Bacon Publishers
Grandparenting
• Just over half of grandparents report having a
companionate relationship
– Warm, pleasurable relationships
– Glad they no longer have day-to-day responsibilities
• 16% report involved relationships
– Everyday participants in rearing their grandchildren
– Living in multi-generational housing
– Nearly full-time care
– More common in poor families
© 2009 Allyn & Bacon Publishers
Grandparenting
• Full-time custodial grandparenting more likely
when grandchild’s mother is unmarried
– Daughter can continue school or work
• Role of grandmother broader and more intimate
than that of grandfather
• For most adults in middle age, grandparenthood
not central to their lives, their sense of self, or to
their overall morale
© 2009 Allyn & Bacon Publishers
Questions to Ponder
• Which kind of relationship do you have
with your grandparents? What kinds of
influence do they try to exert upon your
life?
• From your viewpoint, do people go
through a mid-life crisis? Are they major
events or minor adjustments? Please give
examples.
© 2009 Allyn & Bacon Publishers
Caring For Aging Parents
• Adults feel strong sense of filial
responsibility – when parents need help,
children try to provide it
• Parents symbolically important as “elders”
• Caregivers report more depression and less
marital satisfaction than comparison
groups: “caregiver burden”
© 2009 Allyn & Bacon Publishers
Caring For Aging Parents
• Caregivers more often don’t have children at
home and live closer to aging parent
• 90% of caregivers for those with Alzheimer’s
disease are daughters or daughters-in-law
• Intervention can help ease caregiver burden by
providing information about resources or
encouraging support groups
© 2009 Allyn & Bacon Publishers
Friends
• Total number of friends is less in middle
adulthood than at earlier points
• Friendships may be more intimate and
close at this age
• Friendships endure, even with less
frequent contact
© 2009 Allyn & Bacon Publishers
Continuity and Change in Personality
The “Big Five”: OCEAN
• Openness
• Conscientiousness
• Extraversion
• Agreeableness
• Neuroticism
© 2009 Allyn & Bacon Publishers
Continuity and Change in Personality
• The Big Five are relatively stable from
childhood through old age
• Openness, extraversion, neuroticism
decline as adults age
• Agreeableness and conscientiousness tend
to increase through age 70
© 2009 Allyn & Bacon Publishers
Mid-Life Career Issues
• Work satisfaction is at its peak despite few
work promotions in middle age
• Quality of work performance remains high in
spite of declines in some cognitive or physical
skills
• Middle aged workers experience less burnout
than younger ones
• Careers are more stable in middle age
© 2009 Allyn & Bacon Publishers
Job Performance
• Remains high throughout middle adulthood
– Exceptions are jobs that require speedy reactions or
physical strength
• Baltes and Baltes argue that adults engage in
selective optimization with compensation to
remain highly productive
• Link between selection, optimization, and
compensation and the quality of work
performance strengthens with increasing age
© 2009 Allyn & Bacon Publishers
Unemployment and Career Transitions
• Can be more difficult in middle age
– Must overcome ageism in obtaining new
employment
• Involuntary career changers
– Experience heightened anxiety, depression
and health risks after job loss
•
•
•
•
Changes in family relationships
Loss of self-esteem
Good coping skills are critical
Reemployment restores sense of well-being
© 2009 Allyn & Bacon Publishers
Unemployment and Career Transitions
Voluntary career changers
• May not wish to pursue advancement in current
occupations
• Express a new side of their personality
• But the transition can still be stressful
© 2009 Allyn & Bacon Publishers
Voluntary Career Changers
• Twin studies suggest genetic basis for
voluntary career changes in mid-life
• Studies suggest voluntary changes are a
product of personality.
– Better sense of control
– Higher tolerance for risk-taking
– Not stressed by job-seeking
© 2009 Allyn & Bacon Publishers
Preparing for Retirement
• Boomers projected to be the healthiest, best
educated, and longest-living retirees in history
• Baby Boom cohorts who are now middle-aged
make retirement plans for both wives and
husbands
– Expect to retire in early 60’s and live into the 80’s
– May not have saved enough and have accumulated
too much debt for their desired lifestyle
© 2009 Allyn & Bacon Publishers
Planning for Retirement
•
•
•
•
•
Dychtwald’s Survey of Baby Boomers
Wealth Builders
Idealists—interested in volunteer work
Empowered Trailblazers—travel, courses
Stretched and Stressed Boomers—
concerned about sufficient finances
Leisure Lifers—recreational pursuits
© 2009 Allyn & Bacon Publishers