Psychology 203 Human Development

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Psychology 203 Human Development

• Psychosocial Development
• In
• Middle Adulthood
• Chapter 16

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Middle AdulthoodLooking at Life Course

• Objectively look at trajectories or pathways
• Subjective side people actively construct their
  sense of self and the structure of their lives
• Individual pathways intersect or collide with
  family members, friends and acquaintances, and
  strangers

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Middle AdulthoodLooking at Life Course

• Work and personal roles are interdependent and
  are affected by trends in the larger society
• Life course affected by
• Cohort
• Gender
• Ethnicity
• Culture
• Socioeconomic status

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Change at MidlifeClassic Theoretical Approaches

• Normative-Stage Models
• Carl Jung Individuation and Transcendence (turn
  inward to express previously suppressed aspects
  of personality )
• Healthy midlife development calls for
  individuation, emergence of the true self through
  balancing or integrating conflicting parts of the
  personality
• Women emphasize expressiveness and nurturance
• Men primarily oriented toward achievement

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Change at MidlifeClassic Theoretical Approaches

• Normative-Stage Models
• Erick Erikson Generativity versus Stagnation
  (turning outward)
• Generativity is concern of mature adults for
  establishing and guiding the next generation

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Change at MidlifeClassic Theoretical Approaches

• Timing of Events Social Clock
• Development hinges on important life events
• Launching children
• Becoming grandparents
• Changing jobs or careers
• Retirement

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Self at MidlifeIssues and themes

• The midlife crisis is brought on by the
  awareness of one's mortality
• Midlife Crisis
• Stressful life period precipitated by the review
  and reevaluation of ones past, typically
  occurring in the early to middle forties

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Self at MidlifeIssues and themes

• Identity
• Accumulated perceptions of the self, both
  conscious and unconscious and a persons
  self-perceptions are confirmed or denied
  throughout a person's lifetime and adjustments
  are made to this view

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Self at MidlifeIssues and themes

• Identity Assimilation
• Effort to fit new experience into an existing
  self-concept
• Identity Accommodation
• Adjusting the self-concept to fit new experience
• Challenge to identity schema
• Accommodative people seek to maintain a
  youthful self-image at all costs
• Accommodative people see themselves as old and
  become preoccupied with aging and disease

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Self at MidlifeIssues and themes

• Narrative Psychology Identity as a Life Story
• Gender Identity
• Men more open about
• Feelings
• More interested in intimate relationships
• More nurturing
• Women more
• Assertive
• Self-confident
• Achievement oriented

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Psychological Well-Being

• Positive mental health involves a sense of
  psychological well-being and a healthy sense of
  self. In worldwide surveys, most people of all
  ages, both sexes and all races, report being
  happy with their lives

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Psychological Well-Being

• Six dimensions of Will-Being
• Self-Acceptance
• Positive relationship with others
• Autonomy
• Environmental Mastery
• Purpose in life
• Personal Growth

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Psychological Well-Being

• Milddle age woman
• Prime of Life
• Young enough to be in good health
• Old enough to have launched their children
• Work
• Greater
• Confidence
• Involvement
• Security
• Breadth of personality

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RelationshipsMarriage

• Marriage on the whole is very satisfying
• Some research suggests that marital
  satisfaction over a lifetime appears to follow a
  U-shaped curve this means that satisfaction is
  highest in the early years of a marriage and then
  again in late adulthood

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RelationshipsMarriage

• Married couples are likely to have another
  "honeymoon" period after the last child leaves
  home
• Long-standing marriages build up marital capital
  holding marriages together
• Financial
• emotional

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Relationships with Maturing Children

• Parenthood is a process of letting go
• When the last child leaves home, the father
  that is more involved with his profession would
  be most likely to find the transition difficult 

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Prolonged Parenting

• Revolving door syndrome (boomerang phenomenon)
• Tendency for young adults to return to their
  parents home while getting on their feet or in
  times of financial, marital, or other trouble

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Contact and Mutual Help

• Young adult women how recently married is most
  likely to remain in close contact with parents? 
• Typically, adult children and their elderly
  parents generally get along well with each other

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Becoming a CaregiverFor aging parents

• Middle-aged daughter are more likely to care
  for an ill elderly person  
• The "sandwich generation" refers to adults who
  are caring for children and elderly parents
  simultaneously

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Preventing Caregiver Burnout

• Caregiver Burnout
• Respite care
• Supervised care by visiting nurses or home health
  aids daily, weekly, or for an occasional weekend

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Grandparenthood

• Stepgrandparents 
• May have difficulty establishing close
  relationships with stepgrandchildren.
• May help strengthen the relationship between
  stepchild and stepparent.
• Offer expanded opportunities for love and
  nurturing of the children.

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Grandparenthood

• Raising Grandchildren
• Increasing in US
• Teenage pregnancy
• Parent substance abuse
• Parent Illness
• Parent Divorce
• Parent Death