Chapter 14: Socioemotional dev in middle adulthood Flashcards
What are 2 prominent theories that define stages in adult development
- Erik Erikson’s life-span view
- Daniel Levinson’s seasons of a man’s life
What’s Erikson’s Stage related to this stage
Generativity vs Stagnation
What did Erikson propose in his Generativity vs Stagnation Stage
He proposed that middle-aged adults face a significant issue-
Generativity: encompasses adults’ desire to leave legacies of themselves to the next generation.
Through these legacies, they achieve some type of immortality.
Stagnation (or self absorption): develops when individuals sense that they have done little or nothing for the next generation.
What do Generative adults commit themselves to
Generative (generativity) adults commit themselves to the continuation and improvement of society through their connection to the next generation.
What are the several ways adults can achieve generativity
- Biological generativity: have offsprings
- Parental generativity: nurture and guide children
- Work generativity: develop skills that are passed down to others
- Cultural generativity: create, renovate, conserve some aspect of culture that ultimately survives.
Does research support Erikson’s theory that generativity is an important dimension of middle age?
Yes it does.
What does Levinson see the 20s as
As a novice phase of adult development.
What is Levinson’s novice phase of adult development
It is a time of free experimentation and of testing the dream in the real world.
In early adulthood, the 2 major tasks to be msatered:
- exploring the possibilities for adult living
- developing a stable life structure
What is BOOM for Levinson
After men go through a transition period, during their 30s, they usually focus on family and career development. Then in the later years of this period, they enter BOOM
BOOM: Becoming One’s Own Man
According to Levinson, how much does the transition to middle adulthood last and what conflicts must the male come to grip with
About 5 years.
Ages 40 to 45.
4 Conflicts:
- being young vs being old
- being destructive vs constructive
- being masculine vs feminine
- being attached to other vs separated from them
What does Levinson see midlife as
a crisis- believing that middle-aged adult is suspended between the past and the future
What is Vaillant’s study
the Grant study
What did the Grant study involve
Involved men in their early 30s and late 40s who initially were interviewed as undergraduates.
He said that just as adolescence is a time for detecting parental flaws and discover truth about childhood.
The forties are a decade of reassessing and recording the truth about adolescence and adulthood.
Did Vaillant think midlife was a crisis
No, he though only a minority of adults experience a midlife crisis.
Who believe that midlife is a crisis
Levinson
Age-related stages represent one major way to examine adult personality development, but what’s a second major way to conceptualize adult personality development
=> to focus on life events.
What’s the contemporary life-events approach
-> emphasizes that how life events influence the individual’s development depends not only on the life event itself, but also on:
MEDIATING FACTORS (physical health, family support, etc)
INDIVIDUAL’S ADAPTATION TO THE LIFE EVENT (coping strat, ..)
LIFE-STAGE CONTEXT
SOCIOHISTORICAL CONTEXT
What are the drawbacks of the Contemporary life-events approach
- It places too much emphasis on change
- Its failure to recognize that our daily experiences may be the primary sources of stress in our lives
How does personal control change when individuals move into middle age
- middle age is a time when personal control is frequently challenged by many demands and responsibilities as well as physical and cognitive aging.
Might health and aging be predicated by self-control in childhood
Adults who have shown better self control in childhood aged more slowly and showed fewer signs of aging in their brain during middle age
How do women and men differ in response to stressors
Women - more vulnerable to social stressors
Men- more likely to attend support group meetings, have sex or use pornography, try to fix the problems themselves and not admit to them having problems
How are men likely to respond when they face stress
In a fight or flight manner- to become aggressive, withdraw from social contact, drink alcohol.
How are women likely to respond when they face stress
According to Shelley Taylor.
More likely to engage in tend-and-befriend pattern: seeking social alliances with other (friends usually)
When women experience stress, their bodies experience higher levels of the hormone OXYTOCIN (linked to nurturing in animals)
What are 3 longitudinal studies to help us understand the extent to which there is stability or change in adult personality development.
- Costa and McCrae’s Baltimore Study
- The Berkely Longitudinal Studies
- Vaillant’s studies
What is COsta and McCrae’s baltimore study’s FOCUS
The Big Five factors of Personality.
As part of the Costa and McCrae’s baltimore study, how do the Big Five traits change or/and affect adulthood
- Openness to experience: high in it => tend to live longer, better cognitive functioning, achievement, IQ across life span
- Conscientousness: more likely to live longer, lower risk of dementia, better health and less stress
- Extraversion : more likely to be satisfied in rltps
- Neuroticism: More likely to die younger, to developp Alzheimer, worst health, drug dependant, heart disease, lower marital satisfaction
What did the Berkley Longitudinal Studies show
Did not support either extreme in the debate about whether personality is characterized by stability or change.
But some characteristics were more stable than others.
MOST: degree to which individuals were intellectually oriented, self-confident and open to new experiences.
What question do the longitudinal studies by George Vaillant explore ?
Does personality in middle age predict what a person’s life will be like in late adulthood?
he conducted 3 studies
What were the findings of George Vaillant’s studies
- Alcohol abuse and smoking at age 50 were the best predictors of which individuals would be dead at 75 to 80.
- Factors linked to being ‘happy-well’: regular exercise, not overweight, well educated, stable marriage, future oriented, thankful and forgiving, good coping skills etc
Generativity was more strongly related to intimacy adn whether good marriage
What can be concluded about stability and change in personality dev during adult years?
Evidence doesn’t support that personality traits become completely fixed at a certain age, but they argue that change is typically limited, and small.
Age is also positively related to stability and stability peaks in 50s or 60s.
these finding support the cumulative personality model.
What does the cumulative personality model of development state
States that with time and age, people become more adept at interacting with their env in ways that promote stability.
What relationships, what becomes important in middle adulthood relationships
Security, loyalty and mutual emotional interest.
What is ‘gray divorce’
Recent increase in divorce among couples age 50 and older.
What is empty nest syndrome
Includes a decline in marital satisfaction after children leave home
but for most parents, it doesn’t decline. it increases
What are parents who dont let go of their children when they should called
permaparenting
What’s a label that describes parents who hover too closely in their effort to ensure that their children succed
Helicopter parents
What are lawn mower parents
goes to great lengths to prevent their child from experiencing adveristy, stress or failure,
