 Socioemotional Development in Middle Adulthood

 The crisis of generativity versus stagnation  Generativity -- adults’ desire to leave legacies of themselves to the next generation  Stagnation -- develops when individuals sense that they have done nothing for the next generation o also known as self-absorption

 Commitment to continuation and improvement of society as a whole  Biological generativity -- bearing offspring  Parental generativity -- nurturing children  Work generativity -- skills to pass on  Cultural generativity -- creating, renovating, and conserving some aspect of culture

 Results of extensive interviews with middle-aged men  20s -- novice phase of experimentation and testing  28 to 33 years -- transition and adoption of goals  30s -- BOOM -- becoming one’s own man phase

 40 to 45 years -- transition to middle adulthood requires facing four main issues o being young versus being old o being destructive versus being constructive o being masculine versus being feminine o being attached to others versus being separated  40s -- middle age

 Levinson’s view of the crisis o being suspended between past and future o trying to cope with threats to continuity  Vailliant’s “Grant Study” o a time of reassessing and recording the truth about adolescence and adulthood o only a minority of adults actually experience a crisis in midlife (Levinson, 1978; Vailliant, 1977)

 Some events tax ability to cope and force personality change  Contemporary life events approach emphasizes considering event as well as mediating factors, adaptation to the event, the life-stage context, and the historical context  May overemphasize change and discount the importance of everyday stressors (Holmes & Rahe, 1967)

 Do middle-aged adults experience stress differently than young adults and older adults? o Young and middle-aged adults had more stressful days than older adults o Middle-aged adults experienced more “overload” stressors that involved juggling too many activities at once

 Historical contexts -- cohort effects o cohort -- individuals born in the same year or time period o cohort and context influence values, attitudes, expectations, and behavior o social clock -- timetable according to which individuals are expected to accomplish life’s major tasks; provides a guide for life (Neugarten, 1986)

 Cultural contexts o midlife is unclear and/or absent in many non- industrialized cultures o some cultures even divide the life course differently for males and females o midlife is influenced by degree of modernity and society’s gender roles o Eligibility for certain statuses is influenced by gender

 Big five factors of personality -- openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism  Three longitudinal studies o Costa and McCrae’s Baltimore Study Personality traits changed most during early adulthood o The Berkeley Longitudinal Studies Results from early adolescence through a portion of midlife did not support either extreme in the debate whether personality is characterized by stability or change o Valliant’s Studies

 Evidence does not support the view that personality traits become completely fixed at a certain age in adulthood  Cumulative personality model -- with time and age, people become more adept at interacting with their environment in ways that promote stability  Some people are likely to change more than others

 Do you think the idea of “gender convergence” occurs earlier than what was first hypothesized?  Have the concepts of what makes an ideal man and woman changed from previous generations?  What characteristics/behaviors have changed and what has remained constant?

 Love and Marriage at Midlife o affectionate, companionate love increases in middle adulthood o security, loyalty, and mutual emotional interest become more important as relationships mature even difficult marriages become better adjusted in middle adulthood married people express satisfaction

 Divorce in middle adulthood o couples may be alienated and avoidant o marriages may have become “empty” -- lacking laughter, love, and interest in one another o divorce may be more positive in some ways and more negative in others + -- often more resources + -- children less “damaged” and can cope better minus -- may be seen as personal failure or as betrayal

 Empty nest syndrome -- decline in marital satisfaction after children leave the home; a time for pursuit of other interests, career, and time for each other  Refilling of the nest when young adult children return home to save money or recover from career setback  Parents continue to provide emotional and/or financial support

 Sibling relationships persist over the entire life span  Majority of adults have at least one living sibling  Most have been found to be close  Siblings who were not “close” tend not to become closer in midlife

 Continue to be important just as they were in early adulthood  Enduring relationships become deeper (Antonucci, 1989)

 Grandmothers have more contact with grandchildren than grandfathers  Satisfaction -- easier than parenting  Styles and roles -- 3 meanings o source of biological reward and continuity o source of emotional fulfillment o remote role  Differing functions in families and in cultures or in situations

 Divorce, adolescent pregnancy, and drug use have contributed to increasing numbers of grandparents assuming parental roles  Grandparents who are full-time caregivers for grandchildren are at elevated risk for health problems, depression, and stress  Grandparent visitation issues in divorced and stepfamilies o Grandparents’ legal rights for visitation

 Middle-aged adults share experiences and transmit values to the younger generation  As children become middle aged, they develop more positive perceptions of parents  Family members maintain contact across generations  Most common conflicts are interaction style, habits and lifestyle choices, child-rearing practices, and values

 Sandwich or Squeeze Generation -- responsibilities for adolescent and young adult children and for aging parents  Relationships between aging parents and their children are usually characterized by ambivalence  When necessary, responsibilities are assumed by daughters

 Retirement o Average age is 62 in the U.S. o Have you thought about it? o At what age do you want to retire? o What are we giving up when we retire? o How does retirement affect the individual? Is it all fun and games? o Are we really “retired” or just “slowing down”?