Developmental Psych Chapter 17

Personality Theories and Adult Development

Stages of Adulthood

Erikson’s Stage of Generativity Versus Stagnation * Generativity: adults’ desire to leave legacies of themselves to the next generation * biological: adults have offspring * parental: adults nurture and guide children * work: adults develop skills that are passed down to others * cultural: adults create, renovate, or conserve some aspect of culture that ultimately survives * generativity in middle age was more strongly related than intimacy to whether individuals would have an enduring and happy marriage at 75-80 * for women, the desire for generativity increased as the participants aged from their thirties to their fifties * participants in the generativity condition who held more positive expectations for mental health during the aging process reported greater perceived social support and lower levels of loneliness * Stagnation: individuals sense that they’ve done nothing for the next generation
Levinson’s Seasons of a Man’s Life * at the end of teenage years, a transition from dependence to independence should occur * marked by the formation of a dream * twenties: novice phase of adult development * 28-33: transition period where a man must face the more serious question of determining his goals * 30s: family and career development * 40-45: transition to middle adulthood * requires the adult male to come to grips with * being young vs being old * being destructive vs being constructive * being masculine vs being feminine * being attached to others vs being separated from them * success of the midlife transition rests on how effectively the individual reduces the polarities and accepts each of them as an integral part of this being
How Pervasive Are Midlife Crises? * middle-aged adult is suspended between the past and the future (Levinson) * Vaillant: only a minority of adults experience a midlife crisis * forties are a decade of reassessing and recording the truth about one’s adolescence and adulthood * many cognitive skills peak in midlife and many individuals reach the height of their career success in midlife * happiness and positive affect have an upward trajectory from early adulthood to late adulthood * the stage theories place too much emphasis on crises in development, especially midlife crises
some individuals may experience a midlife crisis in some contexts of their lives but not others

The Life-Events Approach

contemporary life-events approach: how life events influence the individual’s development depends on the life event and on mediating factors
places too much emphasis on change
life’s major events may not be as stressful as the cumulative effects of our daily experiences * stressful daily hassles are linked to increased anxiety and lower physical well-being * older adults are more likely than younger adults to use proactive strategies to deal with minor daily hassles before they become more stressful

Stress and Personal Control in Midlife

Stress, Personal Control, and Age * middle age is a time when a person’s sense of control is frequently challenged by many demands and responsibilities * less attention is given to self-pursuits and more is given to responsibility for others * middle-aged and older adults showed a smaller increase in psychological distress to interpersonal stressors than did younger adults * a sense of personal control peaks in midlife and then declines * some aspects of personal control increase with age while others decrease
Stress and Gender * women and men differ in the way they experience and respond to stressors * women are more vulnerable to social stressors (romance, family, work) * women are more likely to biome depressed when they encounter stressful life events * women are more likely to seek psychotherapy, talk to friends, read a self-help book, take prescription medication, and engage in comfort eating * men are more likely to attend a support group, have sex, try to fix problems themselves, and not admit to having problems * men face stress in a fight or flight manner * become aggressive, withdraw from social contact, drink alcohol * women face stress in a tend and befriend pattern * seeking social alliances * produce oxytocin

Contexts of Midlife Development

Historical Contexts (Cohort Effects) * cohorts: groups of individuals born in the same year / time period * changing historical times and different social expectations influence how different cohorts move through the lifespan * social clock: timetable on which individuals are expected to accomplish life’s tasks * social environment of a particular age group can alter its social clock * individuals whose lives are not synchronized with social clocks find life to be more stressful than those who are on schedule
Gender Contexts * stage theories of adult development have a male bias * early fifties are a new prime of life for many women * more empty nests, better health, higher income, and more concern for parents * confidence, involvement, security, and breadth of personality

Stability and Change

Longitudinal Studies

Costa and McCrae’s Baltimore Study * Big Five factors of personality (OCEAN) * extraversion, openness, and agreeableness were lower in early adulthood, peaked between 40 and 60 years of age, and decreased in late adulthood * conscientiousness showed a continuous increase from early adulthood to late adulthood * optimism is linked to better adjustment, improved health, and increased longevity
Helson’s Mills College Study * women were experiencing midlife consciousness * commitment to the tasks of early adulthood helped women learn to control their impulses, develop interpersonal skills, become independent, and work hard to achieve goals

Conclusions

greatest change in personality traits occurred in early adulthood
people show more stability in their personality when they reach midlife than when they were younger adults
cumulative personality model of personality development: with time and age people become more adept at interacting with their environment in ways that promote increased stability of personality
changes in personality traits across adulthood occur in a positive direction

Close Relationships

Love, Marriage, and Divorce at Midlife

romantic love is strong in early adulthood * physical attraction, romance, and passion are more important in new relationships
affectionate love increases during middle adulthood * security, loyalty, and mutual emotional interest become more important as relationships mature
Marriage * middle-aged partners are more likely to view their marriage as positive if they engage in mutual activities * middle-aged married individuals have a lower likelihood of work-related health limitations * positive martial quality was linked to better health for both spouses * for both husbands and wives, negative emotional behavior decreased and positive emotional behavior increased with age
Divorce * divorce rate increased for young adults but decreased for middle-aged and older adults * could be because of changing view of women: divorce has less stigma now, women are less dependent on husbands * divorce was more likely to occur when they had been married fewer years, their marriage was of lower quality, they did not own a home, and they had financial problems

The Empty Nest and Its Refilling

empty nest syndrome: decline in marital satisfaction after children leave the home
for most parents, marital satisfaction increases after children leave the home * marital partners have time to pursue career interests and to spend time with each other (increased quality of time)
adult children are returning to home to save money after college * common complaint: loss of privacy * disequilibrium in family life that requires considerable adaptation by parents and their adult children

Sibling Relationships and Friendships

majority of sibling relationships in adulthood are close
it is rare for sibling closeness to develop for the first time in adulthood
adult siblings provide practical and emotional support to each other
men who had poor sibling relationships in childhood were more likely to develop depression by age 50
friendships that have endured over the adult years are often deeper than those that are newly formed in middle adulthood

Grandparenting

the increase in longevity is influencing the nature of grandparenting
US grandparents are characterized by higher parental efficacy, more role satisfaction, better well-being, and more attachment than Chinese grandparents, who are characterized by better resilience and more authoritative parenting
grandparents play important roles in grandchildren’s lives especially when family crises occur
many adults become grandparents for the first time during middle age
grandmothers have more contact with grandchildren than grandfathers do
Grandparent Roles and Styles * grandparenting can provide a sense of purpose and a feeling of being valued during middle and late adulthood when generative needs are strong * grandmothers have closer relationships with their children and grandchildren and give more personal advice than grandfathers do
The Changing Profile of Grandparents * grandparents are sometimes thrust back into a parenting role - divorce, adolescent pregnancies, and drug use by parents * grandparent involvement was linked with better adjustment in single-parent and stepparent families than in two-parent biological families * grandparents who are full-time caregivers for grandchildren are at elevated risk for health problems, depression, and stress * full-time grandparent caregivers are often characterized by low-income, minority status, and by not being married * when children live with grandparents this arrangement benefits low-income and single parents * grandparents who are part-time caregivers are less likely to have the negative health status that full-time caregivers have * more states have passed laws giving grandparents the right to petition for visitation rights w their grandchildren (in cases of divorce and remarriage)

Intergenerational Relationships

more than 80% of middle-aged and older adults reported that adults have a duty to care for their parents in time of need later in life
middle-aged adults have responsibilities to their adolescent and young adult children as well as their aging parents
many middle-aged adults experience considerable stress when their parents become very ill and die
middle-aged parents are more likely to provide support to their grown children than to their parents * when their parents have a disability, their support for that parent increases
relationships between aging parents and their children are usually characterized by ambivalence
gender differences characterize intergenerational relationships * women’s relationships across generations are typically closer than other family bonds
when adults immigrate to another country, intergenerational stress may increase