1. Adulthood: Psychosocial Development
Part VII
Chapter Twenty-Two
Adulthood: Psychosocial Development
Ages and Stages
Intimacy
Generativity
Prepared by Madeleine Lacefield Tattoon, M.A.

2. Adulthood: Psychosocial Development
emotional reactions to events in adulthood are fluid
marriage, parenthood, divorce, and the empty nest, each sometimes joyous and sometimes not, are ages and stages of adult development

3. Ages and Stages

4. Ages and Stages The Social Clock
refers to the idea that the stages of life, and the behaviors “appropriate” to them, are set by social standards rather than by biological maturation—for instance, ”middle age” begins when the culture believes it does, rather than at a particular age in all cultures

5. Ages and Stages Culture, Cohort, and SES culture cohort
the patterns of behavior that are passed from one generation to the next, groups have their own culture—values, customs, clothes, dwellings, cuisine, assumptions--people are influenced by more than one culture
cohort
people born within a few years of one another--these people are affected by the same: values, events, technologies, culture
socioeconomic status (SES)
“social class”--more than money, occupation, education, place of residence--includes advantages and disadvantages

6. Ages and Stages The “Midlife Crisis”
a period of unusual anxiety, radical reexamination, and sudden transformation that is widely associated with middle age but which actually has more to do with developmental history than with chronological age

7. Ages and Stages Personality Throughout Adulthood
personality is a major source of continuity providing coherence and identity, allowing people to know themselves and be known

8. Ages and Stages The Big Five
the five basic clusters of personality traits that remain quite stable throughout adulthood—openness, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness and neuroticism
ecological niche
the particular lifestyle and social context adults settle into that are compatible with their individual personality needs and interests

9. Ages and Stages Culture and Personality
personality variations are more evident between one person and another in the same nation than between one nation and another

10. Ages and Stages Gender Convergence
a tendency for men and women to become more similar as they move through middle age

11. Intimacy intimacy needs are lifelong
adults meet their social needs for social connection with relatives, friends, coworkers, and romantic partners
social convoy
collectively, the family members, friends, acquaintances, and even strangers who move through life with an individual

12. Intimacy
Friends
typically the most supportive members of the social convoy, because they are chosen
research study found that friendships tend to improve with age

13. Intimacy Protection Against Stress allostatic load
the total, combined burden, of stress and disease that an individual must cope with

14. Intimacy Gender Differences linked lives
the notion that family members tend to share all aspects of each other’s lives, from triumph to tragedy

15. Intimacy Family Bonds household
a group of people who live together in one dwelling and share its common spaces, such as kitchen and living room

16. Intimacy A Developmental View familism
the idea that family members should support one another because family unity is more important than individual freedom and success or failure

17. Intimacy Adult Siblings fictive kin
a term used to describe someone who becomes accepted as part of a family to whom he or she has no blood relationship

18. Intimacy Marriage a public commitment to one long-term sexual partner
adults seek committed sexual partnerships to help meet their needs for intimacy, to raise children, share resources, and provide care

19. Intimacy Marriage and Happiness
from a developmental perspective, marriage is useful
adults thrive if another person is committed to caring for them; married people are a littler happier, healthier and richer than unmarried people

20. Intimacy Long-Term Marriage
long-term quality of a marriage relationship is affected by family relationships in childhood
empty nest
a time in the lives of parents when their grown children leave the family home to pursue their own lives

21. Intimacy Homosexual Partners
everything that applies to heterosexual partners applies to homosexual partners who make a commitment to each other

22. Intimacy Divorce Divorce Rates Over the Years, Divorce and Remarriage
marriages never ends in a vacuum—they are influenced by the social and political context
Divorce Rates
the power of the social context is evident in variations in divorce rates
Over the Years, Divorce and Remarriage
divorce is most likely to occur within the first five years
for long-term marriages, divorce is less likely but more devastating when it happens

23. Generativity after intimacy comes generativity,
generativity versus stagnation
when adults seek to be productive in a caring way, usually through work or parenthood (Erikson)
generativity comes with maturity–age is not a necessary marker

24. Generativity Caregiving
Erikson wrote, a mature adult “needs to be needed”
some caregiving is physical
but much is psychological
kinkeeper
the person who takes primary responsibility for celebrating family achievements, gathering the family together, and keeping in touch with family members who do not live nearby

25. Generativity Caring for Children
bearing and raising children is labor intensive
the insistence on dramatizing the dependence of children on adults often blinds us to the dependence of the older generation on the young one

26. Generativity Many paths to parenthood
a parental alliance assumes two cooperating parents
children can develop well in any family
1/3 of North American adults become stepparents, adoptive parents, or foster parents at some point in their lives
the social construction about “real” parents is misleading

27. Generativity Caregiving for Aging Parents sandwich generation
a term for the generation of middle-aged people who are supposedly “squeezed” by the needs of the younger and older generations—some adults do feel pressured by these obligations, but most are not burdened by them, either because they enjoy fulfilling them or because they choose to take on only some of them, or none

28. Generativity Employment Many benefits extrinsic rewards of work
the tangible rewards, usually in the form of compensation, that one receives for a job (e.g., salary, benefits, pension)
intrinsic rewards of work
the intangible benefits one receives from a job (e.g. job satisfaction, self-esteem, pride) that come from within oneself

29. Generativity Human Needs
it is crucial to learn how new work conditions support development—in the functions of family caregiving, personal creativity, satisfaction, and esteem and mentoring of other workers

30. Generativity Diversity
benefit of modern economy is increased diversity
more employed women and minority groups
higher employment rates have helped with those once shut out