Quiz 9 Mid Adulthood Flashcards
Generativity vs. Stagnation
Generativity: Reaching out to others in ways that give to and guide the next generation
vs.
Stagnation: Self-centered, self-indulgent, self-absorbed
Levinson’s Four Tasks of Middle Adulthood
Young-Old: See new ways of being both young and old
Destruction-Creation: Acknowledge past hurtful acts, try to leave legancy, for future generations
Masculinity-Feminity: Balance masculine and feminine parts of self
Engagement-Separateness: Balance engagement with and seperateness from external world.
Vaillant’s View of Midlife
- “Keepers of meaning”: older people as guardians of their culture
- “Passing the torch” to next generation
- Focus on longer-term, less-personal goals
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Physical Development in Middle Adulthood<!--EndFragment-->
- Vision
- Hearing
- Skin
- Skeletal
- Women- menopause
- Men- reproductive changes
- Sexuality
Pracical Problem Solving
- evaluate real-world situations
- analyze how best to achieve goals that have high uncertainty
- aided by expertise
Expertise
- extensive, highly organized knowledge base
- provides efficient, effective approaches to solving problems
- result of years of experience
Job Choice
•affects cognition: complex work enhances cognitive flexibility:
-linked to SES
-designing jobs to promote intellectual challenge
Type A behavior pattern:
- angry, impatient, competitive
- prone to heart disease
- increased risk of high blood pressure, atherosclerosis, stroke
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Coping Styles<!--EndFragment-->
Emotion-Centered Coping
•Internal, private
•Control distress when the situation can’t be changed
Problem-Centered Coping
•Identify and appraise problems
•Choose and implement
potential solutions
Hardiness
Control
•Regard most experiences as controllable
Commitment
•Find interest and meaning in daily activities
Challenge
•View as normal part of life, chance for growth
Gender Identity in Middle Adulthood
- Women increase in “masculine” traits
- Men increase in “feminine” traits
Changes in Big Five Personality Traits with Age
- agreeableness and conscientiousness increase
- neuroticism declines
- extroversion and openness to experience remain the same or decrease slightly
Relationships at Midlife
Often, more close relationships than in any other period:
•ties to both older and younger generations
•well-established friendships
Meanings of Grandparenthood
- Valued elder
- Immortality through descendants
- Reinvolvement with personal past
- Opportunity for indulgence
Midlife Unemployment
•Disrupts generativity and life reappraisal
•Decline in physical and mental health
•Remain jobless longer
•Seldom attain former
status or pay
•Goal of counseling:
-problem-centered
-coping strategies
