Module 10/11: Adult Development

Content

Part 1

1. Erikson’s three crises that occur across adult development

2. Different types of friendships in young adulthood (same sex, other sex, sibling)

3. Sternberg’s triangular theory of love

4. How different attachment styles impact adult relationships

5. Different types of marriages

6. Impact of divorce on adult development

Part 2

1. Neurological conditions that affect wellness in late adulthood

2. Theories pertaining to psychosocial development in late adulthood

3. Social Theories of aging

4. Meaning, and factors contributing to “successful aging”

Erikson’s Crises

Intimacy vs Isolation

Intimacy

• Requires identity achievement

• Implies willingness to:

  • Show vulnerability

  • Give up some independence

  • Redefine identity

  • Finding oneself then losing oneself in another

Isolation

• Lonely, self-absorbed

• Hesitant to form close ties

• Fear losing independence and identity

Generativity vs Stagnation

Generativity

• Giving and guiding next generation

• Commitment beyond self

• Typically child rearing

• Core ego quality: care, love given without expectation of return

• Too much generativity: overextension; no time for self

Stagnation

• Put own comfort and security ahead of challenge and sacrifice

• Self-centred, self-indulgent, self-absorbed

• Lac of involvement or concern with young people

• Little interest in work productivity

Ego Integrity vs Despair

Ego Integrity

• Feel whole, complete, serene

• Adapted to success, failure, loss

• Accept life’s course and ageing

• Death loses it’s “sting”

Despair

• Realise made wrong choices, too late to repair

• Bitterness, defeat, hopelessness

• May express anger and contempt towards self

• Dread death

• Core psychopathology: disdain for life

Sternberg’s Theory of Love

Suggests that love consists of three core components that combine in different ways to form different types of relationships

1. Passion (physical and romantic attraction) - physical and emotional component

   • Intense sexual attraction, excitement, and romantic desire

   • Fueled by physiological and psychological factors

   • strongest in the early stages of a relationship

2. Intimacy (emotional connection) - emotional component

   • Warm, trusting communication, self-disclosure, and mutual care

   • Fosters a deep sense of closeness and connection between partners

3. Commitment (long-term dedication) - cognitive component

   • Conscious decision to maintain love over time

   • Provides stability and dedication, helping relationships endure beyond fluctuation of passion

Types of Love

• Liking (intimacy): deep friendships, without romantic attraction or commitment

• Passionate love/Infatuation (passion only): intense attraction without emotional closeness or commitment

• Empty love (commitment only): staying together out of duty

• Romantic love (Intimacy + passion)

• Companionate love (intimacy + commitment): deep friendship based love

• Consummate love (all 3): ideal love

Western cultures emphasise passion and intimacy, whereas eastern cultures emphasise companionship and practicality (intimacy and commitment)

Childhood Attachment

1. Secure Attachment → Healthy, stable relationships

   • Develops from consistency, responsive caregiving in childhood

   • Tend to have trusting, emotionally supportive relationships

   • Feel comfortable with intimacy and independence

   • More likely to communicate openly, resolve conflicts constructively, and maintain long-term relationships

2. Insecure-Resistant Attachment → Clingy, fear of abandonment

   • Develops from inconsistent caregiving, where a child sometimes receives love, but other times is ignored

   • Fear of abandonment, excessive need for reassurance, emotional fluctuations

   • Prone to jealousy, overanalysing a partner’s actions, seeking validation

   • May fall in love quickly

   • May stay in toxic relationships due to fear of being alone

3. Insecure-Avoidant Attachment → Emotionally distant, independent

   • Develops from emotionally unavailable or rejecting caregivers, leading to self-reliance (working model of self as disliked)

   • Avoid deep emotional connections, struggle with vulnerability, and prioritise independence

   • Often withdraw during conflicts, fearing dependence on partner

   • May have commitment issues and prefer casual relationships over deep emotional bonds

4. Disorganised Attachment → Conflicted, unstable love patterns

   • Develops from trauma, neglect, or abuse, leading to conflicting feelings about closeness

   • Crave intimacy, but fear getting hurt

   • May push partners away when feel too close, but fear abandonment

   • Often struggle with trust, self-worth, emotional regulation

Types of Marriages

Longitudinal study by E.M. Hetherington at University of Virginia, which operationalised 5 types of marriages

Gottman and Divorce

Four Horsemen of Divorce

1. Criticism

2. Defensiveness

3. Contempt

4. Stonewalling

Magic Ratio: for every 1 negative, we have to provide 5 positive.

Factors of Divorce:

• Ineffective problem-solving

  • Demand-withdraw pattern (pursuer-distancer style)

• Little conflict, but separate lives (disengaged)

• Major problems

  • Infidelity, money issues, substance abuse

• Background factors

  • Age, religion, prior divorce, family history of divorce

Consequences of Divorce

• Immediate

  • Disrupted social networks

  • Increased anxiety, depression, impulsive behaviour

  • Loneliness

• Women: drop in income

• Traditional Women: identity loss

• Noncustodial Fathers: distress from loss of contact with children

• Women generally adjust better over time

• Longer term:

  • Re-partnering increases life satisfaction

  • Higher risk of subsequent divorce

The “New” Old Age

In Australia the life expectancy has grown. People born in 2013-2015 may live 33-34 years longer. For Aboriginal Australians, the life expectancy is expected t be about 10 years lower than that of the non-indigenous population.

Within 5 generations we have added almost an entire lifetime to our life expectancy, yet health disparities remain

Families are the major (70-80%) care providers for older relatives with chronic impairments

What Makes a Good Life?

Robert Waldinger spearheaded the Harvard longitudinal study of adult development, a 2 cohort study spanning 75 years.

• Harvard cohort: 268 male Harvard students

• Boston cohort: 456 inner-city adolescent males

Recruited in 1939-44, and followed until present day

It was found that the quality of relationships is the biggest predictor of successful ageing. Not only dodging it predict mental and physical health outcomes, but also the general satisfaction with life.

Cognitive Changes

1. Information Processing

Speed: steady decline from 20s to 90s (< 1s)

More difficulties on complex tasks

• Neural Network View:

  • Neurons die, connections lost

  • Brain forms new connections

  • New connections are less efficient

• Information Loss View

  • Greater loss of info at each step of the cognitive system

  • While system slows down to inspect, interpret info

  • Processing speed correlates with memory, reasoning, and problem solving

  • Higher correlation with fluid than crystallised IQ

    2. Dementia

Is not a normal and inevitable part of ageing

• Syndrome of progressive decline in memory and other intellectual abilities

  • Acquired

  • Persistent

  • Involves impairment in multiple domains of functioning

  • Patterns of symptoms vary - depends on site of brain damage

Alzheimer’s Dementia - Most common

• Onset typically at 65

• Insidious and gradual onset and progression

• May have insight in early stages

• Insight lost as disease progresses

Characteristics:

• Memory loss, especially episodic

• Problems with new learning, verbal fluency, naming, language comprehension

• Disorientation

• Depression

• Deterioration in bodily functions, personality, behaviour

Brain Changes:

• Amyloid Plaques

  • Accumulation of degenerative nerve endings

  • May interfere with communication between neurons

  • May be toxic to healthy cells

• Neurofibrillary Tangles

  • Twisted bands of proteins in bodies of nerve cells

  • Interfere with cell metabolism - leads to cell death

• Decreases in Neurotransmitter Levels

  • Serotonin - may contribute to sleep disturbance, aggressive outbursts, and depression.

Different Types

• Familial

  • Early onset

  • Genetic basis to amyloid build up

• Sporadic

  • Heredity plays a different role

  • Approx. 50% have abnormal gene which results in excess levels of ApoE4 which carries cholesterol to blood

    • Affects insulin regulation

    • Insulin deficit and glucose build up associated with brain damage and amyloid build up

    • Diabetics at high risk