Chapters 13 and 14

Question 1

Characteristics of middle adulthood

Answer 1

declining physical skills and increasing responsibility, an awareness of the young-old polarity, transmitting something meaningful to the next generation, reaching and maintaining career satisfaction, and a reassessment of life priorities

Question 2

Height in middle adulthood

Answer 2

loss in height: women 2 in, men 1 inch

lifting weights may help

Question 3

Increase in __ and decrease in ___

Answer 3

increase in fat, decrease in muscle

muscle decreases 1-2% a year after age 50

Question 4

Blood pressure and cholesterol

Answer 4

both increase

Question 5

Vision

Answer 5

around age 40, vision gets worse

Question 6

Hearing

Answer 6

Hearing loss occurs around age 60, men experience decline earlier than women

Question 7

Menopause

Answer 7

Around age 50, Womens estrogen decreases to the point where menstruation stops
hot flashes, depression, weight gain, decline in sex drive for some women

Question 8

Andropause

Answer 8

modest decline in testosterone production and sperm count for men, fatigue and decline in sex drive for some men

Question 9

Crystallized intelligence

Answer 9

accumulated information and verbal skills. knowledge acquired through life experiences and education; culturally based knowledge. increases in middle adulthood

Question 10

Fluid intelligence

Answer 10

ability to reason abstractly and solve problems independently of past knowledge.
use logic in new situations and identify patterns
may begin to decline in middle adulthood

Question 11

What changes in memory occur in middle adulthood

Answer 11

perceptual speed of processing slows down, working memory capacity becomes limited

Question 12

Longitudinal changes in intellectual abilities during adulthood

Answer 12

most decline occurs in 60s, declines occur earlier compared to cross sectional research

Question 13

Eriksons psychosocial stage: generatively vs stagnation

Answer 13

starting around age 40, people begin to think about what they will leave behind to the next generation. people either work towards leaving their mark or becoming stagnant (a sense that they “done nothing” for the next generation, not growing as a person

Question 14

Midlife crisis - does research support it

Answer 14

idea that middle adulthood is marked by increased anxiety, unhappiness, a critical reappraisal of ones life, possible resulting in dramatic changes
only a minority experience mid-life crisis
25% of people have difficulty during middle adulthood; difficulty is usually due to a specific event rather than a general midlife crisis

Question 15

Spirituality and religious behavior in adulthood

Answer 15

• middle age adults begin to evaluate the meaning of life
• higher sense of meaning linked to psychological well being and physical health
• research shows significant increase in spirituality between middle and late adulthood; more females than males participate in organized and personal forms of religion more

Question 16

Sandwich generation

Answer 16

meaning they care for kids and their elderly relatives

Question 17

Empty nest syndrome

Answer 17

parents experience feelings of unhappiness, worry, loneliness, and depression, marital dissatisfaction resulting from their children departure from home; more of a myth than reality. The real stressor may be when the children return home

Question 18

Benefits of children leaving home

Answer 18

parents can focus more on career, hobbies, more time alone and as a couple, a cleaner house

Question 19

Boomerang children

Answer 19

also called “revolving door syndrome”; males are more likely to move back home than females
Due to unable to find a job, difficulty making ends meet, people marry at a later age, parents reactions are positive/negative
15% of milliners live with parents (2016)

Question 20

Half of all adults become grandparents by what age?

Answer 20

50

Question 21

Involved grandparent

Answer 21

(16%) actively engages in parenting, disciplinarian

Question 22

Companionate grandparents

Answer 22

(50%) more relaxed, act as supporters and buddies to grandchildren

Question 23

remote grandparents

Answer 23

(29%) detached and distant, show little interest in grandchildren

Question 24

Harvard longitudinal study of adult development

Answer 24

participants were sophomores in college and boys from poor neighborhoods
lessons learned from study: social connections are good for us, its the quality of the relationship that matters, not the number, and good relationships help our brain
Suggestions: less screen time, more people time, spice up your relationship and do something different