Middle adulthood

Question 1

What stage is middle adulthood in Schaie’s Stages of cognitive development?

Answer 1

Executive or Responsible stage

Question 2

What are the ‘big five’ dimensions of personality?

Answer 2

• Neuroticism: tend to experience negative emotions such as fear, anger and sadness
• Extroversion: sociability, but closely associated with the tendency to experience excitement, joy and good spirits
• Openness to experience: welcoming new experiences; imagination and curious
• Agreeableness: sympathy, trust, cooperativeness and altruism
• Conscientiousness: organsation, scrupulousness, persistence and achievement motivation

Question 3

How is leisure seen for people in middle adulthood?

Answer 3

Freely chosen; enjoyed at own pace, intrinsic reward
Informal or formal
Active or passive
Late-life participation predicted by prior participation
Associated with health; cognitive benefits

Question 4

What is a midlife crisis?

Answer 4

Radical personality changes associated with an adult’s re-examination of goals, priorities and life accomplishments as the midpoint of life is passed. There are wide individual and gender differences but typically for Men changes are experienced in early 40s and Women late 40s–50s.

Question 5

What is primary aging?

Answer 5

Primary ageing: normal age-related changes everyone experiences, such as menopause in women and hormonal changes in men.

Question 6

What is secondary aging?

Answer 6

Secondary ageing: pathological ageing - the effects of illness or disease on the body due to environmental exposure. More variable

Question 7

What is crystallised intelligence?

Answer 7

Learned cognitive processes and primary abilities such as general information and word fluency. It is the intellectual achievement from a lifetime, life experience and product of education.

Question 8

What is fluid intelligence?

Answer 8

The ability to process new information in novel situations. Includes reasoning.

Question 9

What is menopause?

Answer 9

when as previously menstruating women has gone an entire year without a menstrual period

Question 10

What is practical intelligence?

Answer 10

Application of intellectual skills to everyday situations

Question 11

What is the impact of aging on intelligence?

Answer 11

Crystallised intelligence improves with age while fluid intelligence peaks in adolescence and decreases with age. Practical intelligence shows improved performance through middle age

Question 12

Describe how male and female reproductive systems change during middle adulthood?

Answer 12

The climacteric refers to the gradual process of decline in reproductive capacity. In women, it is called menopause and for men, the climactic reduces fertility but does does not lead to sterility.

Question 13

What issues of work become important during the mid and late career stages?

Answer 13

Mid and late career stages call for the reappraisal of early career decisions and new choices that provide continuing challenges. However. many factors can lead to plateauing. Women are more likely to plateau before reaching the top of an organisation because of stereotyping. Unemployment has effects on older workers as they typically remain unemployed longer than do their young counterparts.

Question 14

What is the glass ceiling?

Answer 14

Invisible barriers preventing career advancement of women or ethnic minorities and indigenous workers

Question 15

What is a normative change for women in middle age?

Answer 15

Change in dominance and feminity/masculinity scales or women. There is a change in sex roles and other experimental factors impact on normative change in personality. Typically women become more ’tough’ men ‘nurturing’ (see textbook p864 15.3)

Question 16

In Erikson’s theory, what factors show signs of generativity for someone in middle adulthood?

Answer 16

Place own comfort and security above challenge and sacrifice. Self-centered, self-indulgent, self-absorbed. Lack of involvement or concern with young people. Little interest in work

Question 17

In Erikson’s theory, what factors show signs of stagnation for someone in middle adulthood?

Answer 17

Reaching out to others in ways that give to and guide the next generation. Commitment extends beyond self, Typically realised through child rearing. Other family, work mentoring relationships also generative

Question 18

How does gender identity change for those in middle adulthood?

Answer 18

Women: Increase in “masculine traits”
Men: Increase in “feminine traits”

Theories

• Parental Imperative
• Decline in sex hormones
• Demands of midlife

Question 19

What are the factors in Midlife: Psychological Well-Being? (powerpoint lecture 10)

Answer 19

Good Health
Exercise
Sense of Control
Personal life investment
Positive social relationships
Good Marriage
Mastery of Multiple Roles

Question 20

Describe adult education

Answer 20

A pattern of study, work, rest, unemployment not linear, but cyclical.

Question 21

What is work-life like for people in middle adulthood?

Answer 21

Mid-career

• Establishment and consolidation
• Generativity – mentoring, leadership
• Reappraising, reaffirming or modifying goals

Late career
- Preparing for retirement, life balance

Question 22

What ages are considered middle adulthood?

Answer 22

40-65

Question 23

What are work concerns for middle adulthood?

Answer 23

Plateauing: reach a point that’s it
Role conflict: parent and work 
Burnout or “workaholism” 
U-shape job satisfaction
Middlescence
Discrimination: Glass ceiling

Question 24

What is the impact of underemployment?

Answer 24

Shock, disbelief, effort, frustration, resignation
Negative impact on physical, mental and social well-being
The psychological impact often greater for men
Job loss response is like grief reaction

Question 25

Describe the normative crisis model

Answer 25

Explanations that view developmental change in terms of a series of distinct period or stages influenced by physical and cognitive performance.

Question 26

What is the impact of divorce?

Answer 26

Wives usually experience a lower standard of living
- Effect stronger if they have children

Husbands usually have reduced contact with children
- Long term effects: lack support

Kinkeeping skills are important

Question 27

What is generally associated with an empty nest household?

Answer 27

Improved well-being and marital satisfaction

Question 28

What is a sandwich generation?

Answer 28

Middle-aged adults caught between the needs of their children and their aging parents

Question 29

What impact does a sandwich generation have?

Answer 29

• Daughters most likely to provide care
• Men make a big commitment
• Parental death normative in midlife
• Highly stressful
• Often starts suddenly
• Work and costs increase
• Hard to witness a parent’s decline
• Support needed

Question 30

What are the surrogate parenting roles for grandchildren?

Answer 30

Feel more experienced and relaxed
Have more time and energy
Challenges in roles and health
Feeling unprepared
Being unsure of their rights
Managing grandchildren’s behaviors

Question 31

What are the four caregiving styles as stated by Goodfellow and Laverty (2003)?

Answer 31

Avid caregivers - grandchildren were the focus of their lives

Flexible caregivers - who prioritised personal as well as
family time

Selective caregivers - who believed grandparenting was an important but not defining part of their identity

Hesitant caregivers - who did not anticipate caring for grandchildren and who recognise that the need to balance multiple roles in their lives

Question 32

Describe the beanpole family structure

Answer 32

The contemporary family structure which has more generations but fewer people in each generation because of increased longevity and a decreased birth rate

Question 33

What stage of Erikson’s is middle adulthood associated with?

Answer 33

Generativity versus Stagnation. A person must balance ther feeling their life is personally satisfying and socially meaningful with feelings of purposelessness

Question 34

List some motivations for adults to learn

Answer 34

• Job or occupation
• Managing home and family
• Curiosity, hobby or leisure
• Transition

Question 35

Define burnout

Answer 35

Disillusionment and exhaustion on the job that may result from stress caused by multiple role commitments, discrimination based on ethnicity or gender, or other factors.

Question 36

Define climacteric

Answer 36

The gradual reduction in sex hormone production that is an aspect of primary ageing during middle adulthood, leading to menopause in women and to reproductive system changes in men that decrease fertility

Question 37

Describe the themes of homosexual identity according to Kertzner

Answer 37

• Self realisation- awareness and disclosure of sexual orientation and the way this has been negotiated across the lifespan.
• Transformation referred to the expansion of personal identity into arenas that valued awareness, compassion, creativity or activism.
• Accommodation described the views of midlife gay men who said they were satisfied with their lives and relationships, but who thought traditional family life and heterosexual orientation would have led to an easier life.
• Encumbrance described the view that homosexual identity was a burden and would lead to negative ageing outcomes.

Question 38

Describe the Primary Mental Abilities (PMA) according to Schaie and his associates (Seattle Longitudinal Study)

Answer 38

• Verbal meaning (understanding what a word or a sentence means)
• Spatial orientation (being able to use a map)
• nductive reasoning (finding the guiding rule to make a decision, such as reading a bus timetable)
• Number skill (using numbers in simple arithmetic)
• Word fluency (being able to readily think of a word).