Middle Adulthood - Socioemtional Development Flashcards
Generativity vs. Stagnation
Generativity
- Encompasses adult’s desire to leave legacies of themselves to the next generation
- Generative adults commit themselves to the continuation and improvement of society as a whole through their connection to the next generation
Stagnation
- Develops when individuals sense that they have done nothing for the next generation
- Represents feeling so stuck and unproductive, lacking a sense of purpose
4 Types of Generativity:
- Biological generativity: adults have offspring
- Parental generativity: adults nurture and guide children
- Work generativity: adults have developed skills that are passed down to others
- Cultural generativity adults create, renovate, or conserve some aspect of culture that ultimately survives
What is the principle of Levinson’s Seasons of a Man’s Life?
- The success of the midlife transition rests on how effectively the individual reduces the polarities and accepts each of them as an integral part of his being
- Transition from dependence to independence occurs:
Being young vs. being old / Being destructive vs. being constructive / Being masculine vs. being feminine / Being attached to others vs. being separated from them
Stage 1 of Adulthood according Daniel Levinson
1: Early adulthood transition (17 to 22 years old)
- Considered transitional from adolescence to adulthood
- Individual leaves home and family and establishes their independence
- Begin making decisions about their careers and education
Stage 2 of Adulthood according Daniel Levinson
2: Entering the adult world (22 to 28 years old)
- Begin solidifying their goals and decide on a career
- Begin dating and forming intimate relationships leading to marriage
Stage 3 of Adulthood according Daniel Levinson
3: Age 30 transition (28 to 33 years old)
- Defined as a period of reflection and reevaluation
- Reassess choices and make decisions guided by their attitudes and perceptions towards relationships and careers
Stage 4 of Adulthood according Daniel Levinson
4: Settling down (33 to 40 years old)
- Begin to be more involved with the community
- Reinvest in their families and commit to their career
Stage 5 of Adulthood according Daniel Levinson
Midlife transition (40 to 45 years old)
- Marked by a period of reevaluation of family and career
- Sometimes sudden changes are made, and past regrets are vocalized
- Marked by a sudden realization of one’s mortality and results in a cognitive shift referred to a midlife crisis where there is a desire to achieve/gain the things previously desired
Stage 6 of Adulthood according Daniel Levinson
6: Entering middle adulthood (45 to 50 years old)
- Commit to decisions and act on choices made based on the reflective period in preceding stage
Stage 7 of Adulthood according Daniel Levinson
7: Late adulthood (60 to 85 years old)
- Broken up into 2 periods: stable period & transitional period
Principle of the Contemporary life-events approach:
- How life events influence the individual’s development depends on not only the life event itself but also on mediating factors involved such as the adaptation to the life event, life-stage context, & sociohistorical context
- Sociohistorical context makes a difference because people in the current generation may cope more effectively than from previous gens.
- Perceptions on life events differ
STRESS AND PERSONAL CONTROL IN MIDLIFE
- Experience more “overload” stressors that involve juggling too many activities at once
- Middle-aged adults feel a greater sense of control over their finances, work, and marriage than younger adults but have less control over their sex life and children
- Smaller increase in psychological distress
- Women are more vulnerable to social stressors such as those involving romance, family, work
Contexts of Midlife Development:
- Our values, attitudes, expectations, and behaviors are influenced by the period in which we live in
- Social clocks are influenced by social environment
- Stage theories in adult development have a male bias which historically have dominated men’s life choices and life chances more than women’s
- Midlife is diversified, heterogenous period for women and men
- In many cultures, especially non-industrialized cultures, the concept if middle age is not very clear/is absent
- Personality type (OCEAN)
- Sometimes called intellect or imagination, this represents the willingness to try new things and think outside the box
- Imaginative or practical
- Interested in variety or routine
- Independent or conforming
Openness to experience
- Personality (OCEAN)
- The desire to be careful, diligent and to regulate immediate gratification& with self-discipline.
- Organized or disorganized
- Careful or careless
- Disciplined or impulsive
Conscientiousness
