Chapter Twenty Two

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Chapter Twenty Two

• Middle Adulthood
• Psychosocial Development

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Changes During Middle Age

• Midlife ? about age 40 when you have about as
  much life ahead of you as behind you
• Middle age ? 40 to about 60
• Sandwich Generation ? being squeezed from both
  sides
• Midlife Crisis ? radical reexamination/sudden
  transformation in public or personal lives or
  reaffirmation that all is ok

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Sandwich Generation

• Children living at home (1/2 of middle age
  parents have an adult child living with them)
• Children needing financial assistance and
  childcare for grandchildren
• For parents providing care for frail, elderly
• Women more likely to fall into the role of
  kinkeeper

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Personality through Adulthood

• Stable Traits (Big Five)
• Extroversion tendency to be outgoing, assertive
  and active
• Agreeableness tendency to be kind and helpful
• Conscientiousness tendency to be organized,
  deliberate and conforming

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• Neuroticism tendency to be anxious, moody and
  self-punishing
• Openness tendency to be imaginative, curious,
  artistic and willing to have new experiences

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• Traits determined by
• genes
• culture
• early childhood
• experiences and choices made during adolescence
  and early adulthood
• We are who we are, even if buffeted by event ?
  stability

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Developmental Changes in Personality

• Environment generally reinforces basic
  temperament
• Significant changes can produce significant
  results in personality shift
• Death of a spouse, divorce, illness, career
  change, etc.
• Gender convergence
• Gender cross over
• Partially biosocial, partially shadow side

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Family Dynamics in Middle Adulthood

• Kinkeepers
• Aging parents
• Relationship with parents
• improves with time
• Familism
• stronger with ethnic minorities
• Adult Children
• Relatinship with children
• improves with maturity of children

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Grandchildren

• Remote, but respected and loved
• emotionally distant grandparents
• Involved grandparents
• active in day to day life, live near, see often
• Companionate grandparents
• independent with own lifestyle and household,
  choose how generational interaction occurs

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• Diversity in Grandparenting
• Personality
• Ethnic traditions
• National background
• 25 of Mexican-born households include
  grandchildren
• 18 of Asian refugee households include
  grandchildren
• 15 of Caribbean born households include
  grandchildren

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• Bond closer
• grandchild young
• parent is first to have children
• grandparent is not too young or too old to spend
  time/energy interacting

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Grandparents as Surrogate Parents

• If parents are
• Too poor, too young, drug or alcohol addicted,
  single, newly divorced
• Possibility of surrogate parent increases
• Grandparents furnish stability, guidance and
  patience
• Takes a toll if it lasts too long
• Grandparent visitation rights

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Partners

• Marriage in Middle Adulthood
• Often recapture some of closeness of early
  marriage
• Through more time in companionship and marital
  intimacy
• Marital equity improves
• Accumulation of shared experiences

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• Divorce and Remarriage
• Not all couples become closer
• Those that did things separately may experience
  marital problems
• Divorce is difficult after a long period,
  increases loss of self-esteem
• Most divorced remarry within 5 years
• Offers benefits to both men and women

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Work

• Need to achieve continues
• Usual peak of career in 40s and 50s
• Less likely to experience role overload

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• Workaholics
• Addicted to long hours and hard work
• No balance between work, family and self
• Happens to both men and women

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• Scaling Back
• Begin balancing work life with other concerns
• Places limits on work hours or responsibilities
• One works part-time or at a less critical lower
  paying job
• Taking turns
• Mentoring
• Rethinking and shifting toward retirement

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