Transcript PowerPoint Presentation for chapter 17
Life-Span Development Twelfth Edition
Chapter 16: Socioemotional Development in Middle Adulthood
©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
S TAGES OF A DULTHOOD
• • • • Erikson’s Generativity vs. Stagnation: • • • •
Generativity:
adults’ desire to leave legacies of themselves to the next generation Biological generativity Parental generativity Work generativity Cultural generativity
Stagnation:
develops when individuals sense that they have done nothing for the next generation Research supports Erikson’s theory ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
S TAGES OF A DULTHOOD
©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
S TAGES OF A DULTHOOD
• • • • Levinson’s Seasons of a Man’s Life: • 20’s are a
novice phase
of adult development Exploring the possibilities for adult living; developing a stable life structure 30’s are a time for focusing on family and career • development
Becoming One’s Own Man (BOOM)
By the 40’s, man has a stable career and now must look forward to the kind of life he will lead as a middle-aged adult ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
S TAGES OF A DULTHOOD
• • • • Levinson’s Seasons of a Man’s Life (continued): Transition to middle adulthood lasts about 5 years (ages 40 to 45) and requires that men come to grips with conflicts existing since adolescence: • • • • Being young vs. being old Being destructive vs. being constructive Being masculine vs. being feminine Being attached to others vs. being separated from them According to Levinson, 70%–80% of men find the midlife transition tumultuous and psychologically painful A successful transition rests on reducing the polarities and accepting each as an integral part of one’s being ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
L EVINSON ’ S P ERIODS OF A DULT D EVELOPMENT ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
S TAGES OF A DULTHOOD
• • • How pervasive are midlife crises? Vaillant’s “Grant Study”: • The 40’s are a decade of reassessing and recording the truth about the adolescent and adult years • • Only a minority of adults experience a midlife crisis Reports of general well-being and life satisfaction tend to be high during mid-life • Another study found that 26% of adults experienced a midlife crisis Most attributed this to negative life events rather than aging ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
S TAGES OF A DULTHOOD
• Adults often experience a peak of personal control and power during middle age • Adults’ ability to master their environment, autonomy, and personal relations improve during middle age • • • Adult developmental experts generally agree that midlife crises have been exaggerated In general, stage theories place too much emphasis on crises in development There is often considerable individual variation in the way people experience the stages ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
S TAGES OF A DULTHOOD
©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
S TAGES OF A DULTHOOD
• Individual Variations: • Stage theories do not adequately address individual variations in adult development • Some individuals may experience a midlife crisis in some contexts of their lives but not others • In 1/3 of cases where individuals report experiencing a midlife crisis, the crisis was triggered by life events such as job loss, financial problems, or illness ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
T HE L IFE -E VENTS A PPROACH
• The life-events approach is another major way to • conceptualize adult personality development • • • • •
Contemporary Life-Events Approach:
how life events influence the individual’s development depends on: The life event itself Mediating factors The individual’s adaptation to the life event Life-stage context Sociohistorical context ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
T HE L IFE -E VENTS A PPROACH
• Drawbacks: • Life-events approach places too much emphasis on change, not adequately recognizing stability • It may not be life’s major events that are the • primary sources of stress, but our daily experiences Focus on daily hassles and uplifts rather than major events ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
T HE L IFE -E VENTS A PPROACH
©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
S TRESS AND P ERSONAL C ONTROL
• • • Overall, stress is highest in young and middle aged adults; declines in older adults Middle-aged adults experience more “overload” stressors that involve juggling too many activities at once Middle-aged adults are more reactive to interpersonal stressors (but less reactive to work stressors) than younger adults • • On average, a sense of personal control decreases as adults become older Some aspects increase while others decrease ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
S TRESS AND P ERSONAL C ONTROL
©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
C ONTEXTS OF M IDLIFE D EVELOPMENT • • • Historical Contexts (cohort effects): Changing historical times and different social expectations influence how cohorts move through the life span
Social clock:
the timetable according to which individuals are expected to accomplish life’s tasks • • • • Gender Contexts: Most stage theories are accused of male bias Women’s concerns and stressors are different from those of men Cultural and social attitudes affect women’s roles ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
C ONTEXTS OF M IDLIFE D EVELOPMENT • Gender Contexts (continued): • Early fifties brought a new prime of life for many • • • women More empty nests Better health Higher income • More concern for parents • Stereotype that midlife is a negative age period for women is largely false ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
C ONTEXTS OF M IDLIFE D EVELOPMENT • Cultural Contexts: • In many nonindustrialized societies, the concept of middle age is unclear or absent • Midlife often brings about great change for women • • • in nonindustrialized societies: Often freed from restrictions placed on younger women Right to exercise authority over specified younger kin Eligibility for special status and the possibility of recognition beyond the household ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
C ONTEXTS OF M IDLIFE D EVELOPMENT ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
S TABILITY AND C HANGE
• • • The Baltimore Study used the
big five factors of personality
to study 1,000 college-educated • persons aged 20 to 96 starting from the 1950s • and continuing today: Considerable stability in the five personality factors Agreeableness and conscientiousness increased in early and middle adulthood Neuroticism decreased in early adulthood Openness to experience increased in adolescence/early adulthood and then decreased in late adulthood ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
S TABILITY AND C HANGE
• Berkeley Longitudinal Studies: more than 500 children and parents studied in the 1920s through midlife: • No support that personality is characterized by changes or stability from adolescence to midlife • Intellectual orientation, self-confidence, and openness to experience were the more stable traits • Ability to nurture and self-control changed most ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
S TABILITY AND C HANGE
• • • • • Helson’s Mills College Study: studied 152 women from the 1950s through their 30’s, 40’s, and 50’s Three main groups: • • Family-oriented Career-oriented • Neither path Between age 27 and early 40’s, women shifted toward less traditional feminine attitudes Midlife crisis was really midlife consciousness Similarities in concerns found between women in early their early 40s and Levinson’s findings ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
STABILITY AND CHANGE
• • Vaillant’s Studies: conducted three longitudinal • studies from the 1920s through today: Alcohol abuse and smoking at age 50 was the best predictor of death between ages 75 and 80 • • • • • Factors at age 50 which are best predictors of “happy-well” between ages 75 and 80: Regular exercise and avoiding being overweight Well-educated and future oriented Having a stable marriage and good coping skills Being thankful, forgiving, and empathetic Being active with other people ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
S TABILITY AND C HANGE
©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
S TABILITY AND C HANGE
• • • • • Conclusions: Evidence does not support the view that personality traits become completely fixed at a certain age Change is typically small and limited; stability peaks in the 50’s and 60’s
Cumulative personality model:
with time and age, people become more adept at interacting with their environment in ways that promote the stability of personality Some change still characterizes personality in middle age and late adulthood ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
S TABILITY AND C HANGE
©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
L OVE AND M ARRIAGE
• • • Romantic love is typically strong in early adulthood Affectionate love increases during middle adulthood Most married individuals are satisfied with their marriages during midlife • • • Divorce in midlife can be less intense due to increased resources and lessened child-rearing responsibilities However, emotional and time commitment to a long-lasting marriage is typically not given up easily Staying married because of the children is a common reason for waiting to get a divorce ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
T HE E MPTY N EST
• •
Empty Nest Syndrome:
a decline in marital satisfaction after the children leave the home • For most parents, marital satisfaction actually increases during the years after child rearing • • Refilling of empty nest is becoming a common occurrence Adult children are returning to live at home for financial reasons Loss of privacy is a common complaint for both parents and adult children ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
S IBLING R ELATIONSHIPS AND F RIENDSHIPS • Sibling relationships continue over the entire • life span The majority of sibling relationships in adulthood are close • • Friendships continue to be important in middle adulthood Friendships that have endured over the adult years tend to be deeper than those that have just been formed in middle adulthood ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
G RANDPARENTING
• • Many adults become grandparents during middle age Grandmothers have more contact with grandchildren than grandfathers • • • • Three prominent meanings: Source of biological reward and continuity Source of emotional self-fulfillment Remote role • The grandparent role and its functions vary among families, ethnic groups, and cultures ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
G RANDPARENTING
• • • • Three Grandparenting Styles: Fun-seeking style Distant-figure style Formal style • • • • An increasing number of U.S. grandchildren live with their grandparents 2.3 million in 1980; 6.1 million in 2005 Most common reasons are divorce, adolescent pregnancies, and parental drug use Tends to be more stressful for younger grandparents, when grandchildren have physical and psychological problems, and when there is low family cohesion ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
G RANDPARENTING
• Grandparents who take in grandchildren are in better health, are better educated, are more likely to be working outside the home, and are younger than grandparents who move in with their children • Concern over grandparent visitation of children has become more common ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
I NTERGENERATIONAL R ELATIONSHIPS • • Middle-aged and older adults typically express a strong feeling of responsibility between generations in their family They share their experiences and transmit values to the younger generation • • Family members typically maintain considerable contact across generations When conflicts arise, parents most often cite habits and lifestyle choices, while adult children cite communication and interaction styles ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
I NTERGENERATIONAL R ELATIONSHIPS • Differences in gender: • Mothers and daughters have closer relationships during their adult years than mothers and sons, • fathers and daughters, and fathers and sons Married men are more involved with their wives’ families than with their own • Maternal aunts and grandmothers are cited as the most important or loved relative twice as often as their paternal counterparts ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.