SCHAIE Adult Stages: Young Adulthood Transition to adulthood marked by end of schooling, working/becoming financially independent, living apart from family, marriage, and parenthood.

Erikson’s stages: Trust versus mistrust Autonomy versus shame, doubt Initiative versus guilt Industry versus inferiority Identity versus role confusion Intimacy versus isolation Generativity versus self-absorption Integrity versus despair

Erikson’s identity crisis (often occurs during adolescence): Person must integrate new abilities, feelings, roles, and physical appearance into an earlier child identity. Erikson’s stage of intimacy versus isolation marks the transition into adulthood. Task is to establish intimate relationships without losing identity and independence.

Sternberg’s triangular love theory: Intimacy, Passion, and Decision-Commitment. The strength and importance of these components in a love relationship vary across relationships and across time within a relationship.

Women found to emphasize emotional and deep-caring aspects (intimacy). Women focus on logical and practical aspects of love where one’s choice of partner is carefully planned on rationale criteria. Young men tend to focus on an erotic love style (passion).

Intimacy, like identity, is a developmental process. Newly married couples, for example, indicate that their feelings and patterns of behavior changed over the first year of marriage; with positive interactions decreasing.

Interaction patterns observed in the first year of marriage were predictive of marital satisfaction six years later. Positive interactions related to marital stability and satisfaction over the long haul.

Young adults also face the task of determining their relationship with the larger community: Political and Religious identity and commitment.

SCHAIE Adult Stages: Middle Adulthood Havighurst’s Developmental Tasks 1. Accepting and adjusting to physiological changes of middle age. 2. Reaching and maintaining satisfactory performance in one’s occupation. 3. Adjusting to aging parents. 4. Assisting teenage children to become responsible and happy adults.

5. Relating to one’s spouse as a person. 6. Assuming social and civic responsibilities. 7. Developing leisure-timee activities.

Middle age begins about the age of 35 or 40 and ends about 60 or 65. Erikson’s period of generativity (creativity and productivity in family life and career) or stagnation.

One of the few truly normative biologial events of middle age is menopause for women. Menopause, on average, is experienced in the early 50’s. Wide individual differences in onset and progression through menopause. Smoking is associated with early onset of menopause.

Stereotypes of menopausal symptoms: hot flashes and feeling blue. Wide individual and cultural differences in women’s reports of symptoms: personal characteristics (prior depression, premenopausal expectations) influence women’s experience and reporting of symptoms.

Debate over psychological changes in midlife: crises or transitions. Difference probably due to social context. Present theme is that midlife is associated with major transitions, not crises.

Middle age persons are involved with responsibilities for adolescent or young-adult children and their aging parents. These three generations in American society are usually in close touch with one another - giving aid and exerting influence. Middle age parents’ psychological well-being is related to their assessment of how well their adult children “turned out”.

Relatedly, few elderly are in institutions; most are cared for by family members (daughter). Such care giving produces serious strain when added to job, civic, and family duties.

The exceptionally large baby boomer generation (cohort 1946-1964) is now in middle age. Smaller number of children in these cohorts. Women more likely to be in the workforce. Wide individual differences in rates of marriage, educational attainment, and income -- these cohorts are not homogeneous.

SCHAIE Adult Stages: Older Adulthood Havighurst’s Developmental Tasks 1. Adjusting to decreasing physical strength and health. 2. Adjusting to retirement and reduced income. 3. Adjusting to death of a spouse or significant other.

4. Establishing an explicit association with one’s age group. 5. Adopting and adapting societal roles in a flexible way. 6. Establishing satisfactory physical living arrangements.

Vigorous Young-Old (65 to 75 or 80). Slowing Old-Old (75 or 80 to about 90). Frail Very-Old or Oldest-Old (85 to 90 and over). Young-Old remain active and in many ways behave more like the middle-aged, though most have left the workplace.

Old-Old show increasing incidence of physical frailty, but many are still able to live a full life, using both environmental and personal supports. Very-Old are frequently physically or mentally impaired and usually require intensive support systems, often within institutions.

Erikson’s basic developmental concern of later life is the issue of integrity versus despair. Chief impediments to personal integrity is the fear or reality of financial, physical, or emotional dependency.

Many older people, however, experience reasonable financial security and in reasonably good health, with friends and family to combat loneliness. Senior centers and other government-sponsored programs (meals on wheels) have helped alleviate the dependency problem in later life.

Some older people move to retirement communities or nursing homes. The type of retirement community sought is a reflection of dependency needs. Nursing homes are primarily housing for the old-old and very-old. Moving to nursing homes does not necessarily mean severing relationships with family and friends.

Nursing home staff members often encourage dependency among residents. As a defense mechanism (or form of adaptation), some institutionalized older adults reinforce such dependency.

Although most of the remarkable works of scientists and creative artists occur during their 30 and 40’s, there are wide individual differences; productivity for many continues into advanced age. Creative production of older adults benefit from their experience and wisdom.

Often, works created by older adults represent an intellectual integration of the experiences of a lifetime. A society ruled by the old is called a gerontocracy. Altruism and humanitarian concerns typically increase in old age.

Older age can be a time of personal fulfillment; providing opportunities to explore options not available earlier due to pressures of job and family. Successful aging consists of a process of selective optimization and compensation. One must maximize personal, interpersonal, and environmental supports. Older folks function must closer to the limits of their reserve capacity than at younger ages.