Session Four (Adult Development and Parenting) Flashcards
What is different about adult and teenage development?
- Adolescence is very well researched and moderately understood, whereas adult development is more of a mystery
- Teenage development is somewhat universal, adult development is more culture dependent.
What are the two forms of ageing? Why is this important in adulthood?
- Primary = Ageing senescence. The basic underling and inevitable ageing process.
- Secondary = The product of environmental influences, health habits, disease… Neither inevitable nor experienced by all adults. Interaction with social class.
Relevant as Secondary takes over in adult life, two 25 year olds will be of roughly similar health but two 65 year olds will differ greatly. Significant influence on health in adulthood.
What are some major influences on development in adulthood?
- Normative AGE related influences; getting married, having kids
- Normative HISTORICAL influences; war, recession, epidemics
- NON-normative influences; divorce, unemployment, illness.
For these reasons, we normally take a critical life events approach rather than a staged approach (i.e. adult development is affected more by individual events like marriage or a recession rather than set stages as in childhood).
What are thought of as the main tasks of adulthood development?
Happy:
- Occupational and Professional choices
- Marriage and Partnership choices
- Parenthood
Sad:
- Adult limitations and disappointments
- Retirement
How do we develop cognitively and physically in EARLY adulthood?
- Adults’ physical and cognitive peak is normally ages 20-40
- Spurts in brain development between 17-21 and again in our mid to late 20s. Cognitive abilities continue to increase during this time.
- Rates of mental illness higher than in middle adulthood.
How do we develop socially and personality wise in EARLY adulthood?
Erikson and Levinson:
- Formation of an intimate relationship with another adult = central developmental task of adulthood.
- Maintenance of these in spite of conflicting interests
- Individuals take on more new roles in adulthood than at any other stage (social/parental/occupational)
- Need to find ways of resolving complex conflicts between these new roles, cause of significant adulthood stress.
Outline the Motivational Theory of Life Span Development (Heckhausen and Wrosh, 2010)?
- Views the individual as active agent in life-span development
- We must study our agency; the motivational processes involved in goal selection /pursuit / disengagement?
- We must address how our opportunities and constraints vary over the course of our lives.
How do we develop physically and cognitively in our MIDDLE adulthood (40-65)?
- Main changes in bone mass, reproductive functioning e.g. the menopause and in speed of processing
- Many physical signs of ageing begin to appear, but these have little importance in every day life
- Complex problem solving (allowing us to perform skills like driving) peaks in middle age years. Some research suggests this may be due to improvements in our ability to apply creative thinking to complex problems efficiently.
How do we develop socially and physically in our MIDDLE adulthood?
- Become the ‘sandwich generation’, at this age have people younger and older than us that need caring for.
- Marital and job satisfaction, as well as control and power, peak in middle age
- Personality basically stable at this point. Some evidence of mellowing, learning flexibility and variance increasing in middle adulthood.
- Some common sources for stress at this age include off timing of major life events vs expectation or cultural norms (e.g. having a baby too early or late), as well as planning for retirement.
What theories have been proposed regarding how we choose a partner?
Parental Investment Theory (Trivers, 1972):
- Men prefer physically attractive younger women
- Women prefer men with socio-economic status higher than their own
- This has strong cultural consistency, is it based in genetics or social role theory?
Assortive Mating/Monogamy:
- Newer theory
- States that both men and women seek out partners of roughly similar SE status, education, attractiveness…
- Creates issues as now more women than men are going to university, this leaves a large body of men without attainable partners.
Outline Sternberg’s theories of Relationship Quality?
- Emotional affection contributes to relationship quality
- There are 3 key components to a successful relationship;
- Intimacy (feelings that promote closeness and connectedness)
- Passion (feelings of intense longing for union with the other person, including sexual)
- Commitment (over time)
- Discussed how these can fluctuate over time (e.g. passion dropping over two rising) but must remain for the relationship to succeed.
What influences the success of a marriage?
- Personality characteristics of the individuals
- Models of attachment
- Quality of interactions with each other
What are the health effects of marriage?
- People in marriage are generally healthier, both physically and mentally
- Although single women tend to be healthier than single men
How has marriage changed in the last 30 or so years?
- Increased divorce rate (up to about 50%)
- However, after 8 years of marriage the rate drops significantly
- Marriage overall has dropped off, 30% in the last 30 years
- Age at first marriage in 2019 is 30 for women, 32 for men.
Outline Gottman’s 3 ways couples manage conflict?
Gottman (1994) described 3 types of couples:
- Validating (have disagreements but rarely let them escalate, partners express mutual respect and listen to each other)
- Volatile (squabble a lot and don’t really listen to each other when they fight BUT more positive than negative overall and display high levels of laughter and affection)
- Avoidant (conflict minimisers, agree to disagree, revitalising)
Gottman also stated that people internalise their parent’s still of conflict resolution as ‘normal’, if their relationship’s differs they can find this distressing.
What characteristics are often seen in couples who divorce?
Tend to be either:
- Hostile-engaged (frequent hot arguments with no balancing forces)
- Hostile-detached (fight regularly, rarely look at each other lack affection and support)
What is the prevalence and impact of divorce on the modern couples?
- About 40-50% of marriages end in divorce
- 30-40% of those divorcing report significant increases in depression and anxiety levels.
- Vulnerability greater among those with a history of mental health problems but lessened by social support
- Single mothers experience a 40-50% decline in income and are twice as likely to experience depression
How are homosexual couples distinct from heterosexual couples?
- Homosexual couples generally require a greater deal of attachment security.
- Homosexual individuals often build a ‘family of choice’; a stable parter and extremely close circle of friends they hugely rely on emotionally.
- Neuroticism is a threat to the quality and length of any relationship.
- But those sharing similar backgrounds and equally committed to the relationship report high levels of satisfaction.
- Other than that, no real distinction between gay and straight couples
What does single hood usually mean for an individual in 2019?
- Many adults remain single by preference
- Associated with greater autonomy and capacity for personal growth
- Tend to enjoy closer relationships with friends and families and can still participate in intimate relationships that don’t involve cohabiting or marriage
- Women tend to function better as have more intimate relationships than men
What has been said about the changes that occur in women’s lives specifically in adulthood?
- Levinson (1986) described a “gender splitting” in adult development i.e. men have a unified vision of the future focused on their career while women tend to split their vision of the future between their career and marriage/parenthood.
- Durkin (1995) found women are at a greater risk of disappointment and developmental tension as their investment in others goals conflict with their personal needs.
- Women experience more conflict than men and view themselves as mothers and wives all day even when working, while in men family plays a supportive.
What discrepancies can be seen in people’s desires to become a parent?
- 90% of women aged 18-34 either are or expect to become a parent, but only 80% will.
- This gap between life expectations and reality could potentially be a source of stress for these women.
- Furthermore, more men want to be parents than women.
In both cases the desire is very strong, as evidenced by the high levels of emotional attachment expecting parents experience for their unborn children.
What is the “madness of modern parenting”?
- The huge levels of anxiety people feel around not being a perfect parent and not getting absolutely everything absolutely perfect.
- This is contrasted with the neglectfulness over parents might exhibit
What does society expect of women in pregnancy and after? What is the effect of these societal constructs?
- Motherhood and pregnancy as the idealised state; that’s it’s the most natural thing in the world and all women find it easy.
- Performing femininity; Super-mum /super-wife /super-everything.
- Discrepancies between this myth and the reality can cause psychological distress
- Result can be hidden anxiety and depression due to fear of being seen as a failure
Outline Raphael-Leff’s 2001 theory on the 3 types of mothers?
3 Types:
- Facilitators (revolve life around baby, often not putting it down to sleep or after feeding it)
- Regulators (make baby fit into their life)
- Reciprocators (happy middle between the two)
RL claimed this parenting style was influenced by their childhood and their relationship with their mother, as well as unconscious processes.
He also claimed that certain styles were associated with particular mental health issues later on.
What evidence exist for Raphael-Leff’s theory on the 3 types of mothers, specifically how they relate to mental health?
- Regulator mothering associated with an increased risk of depression (Sharp et al 2004)
- Faciliator mothering associated with separation anxiety
What sort of women are at greater risk of pregnancy related death?
Vulnerable and socially excluded women:
- Women from poorer backgrounds 20 times more likely to die of pregnancy related conditions
- Women from minority ethnic groups three times more likely to die
- Leading cause = suicide
