This document discusses Erikson's stages of psychosocial development in adulthood, including personality development, intimacy, generativity, and integrity. It covers theories of adult personality like Maslow's hierarchy of needs and the Big Five traits. Issues around friendships, marriage, parenting, caregiving, and employment are examined in relation to supporting intimacy and generativity in adulthood. Challenges like divorce, aging parents, work-life balance, and diversity in the workplace are also addressed.

1. Adulthood: Psychosocial
Development
By: Jennifer Van Vliet
Norfolk State University

2. Table of Contents
 Personality Development………….Slide 3-6
-Theories of Adult Personality
-Personality Traits
-Opposing Perspectives
 Intimacy: Friends and Family……..Slide 7-8
-Friends and Acquaintances
-Family Bonds
 Intimacy: Romantic Partners…….Slide 9-12
-Marriage and Happiness
-Partnerships over the years
-Gay and Lesbian Partners
-Divorce and Remarriage
 Generativity……………………….Slide 13-18
-Parenthood
-Caregiving
-Employment
-Accommodating Diversity

3. Personality Development in Adulthood
Theories of Adult Personality (Pg. 631-632).

4. Personality Development in Adulthood
Cont’d
 Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (Pg. 632)
-Maslow did not categorize stages by age.
-Stage of Love and Belongingness is similar
to Erickson’s stage of Intimacy vs. Isolation.
-People can move back and forth through
stages at different times in their lives.
-Most people move through the first 2
stages by adulthood.

5. Personality Development in Adulthood
Cont’d
 Personality Traits (Pg. 364-635)
The Big 5: Research has identified 5 main personality traits appearing in every culture.
1. Openness: Imaginative, curious, artistic, creative, open to new experiences.
2. Conscientiousness: Organized, deliberate, conforming, self-disciplined.
3. Extroversion: Outgoing, assertive, active.
4. Agreeableness: Kind, helpful, easygoing, generous.
5. Neuroticism: Anxious, moody, self-punishing, critical.
 Age and Cohort (Pg. 635).
-Traits that are valued, ie. Conscientiousness, increase slightly with age.
-Pathological traits, ie. Neuroticism, tend to change as people mature.

6. Personality Development in Adulthood
Cont’d
 Opposing Perspectives: Is Personality Inborn or influenced by
Culture? (Pg. 636).
 Some research supports innate personality, the Big 5 traits are found across cultures.
 Personality tends to stay consistent over the lifespan.
 Some research shows environment can impact personality.
 Context may shape personality as well (norms, institutions, history and geography).
 Physical environment may impact personality, specifically stress levels.
 Research shows that people tend to be happier when their personality traits match the
norms of the society they live in.

7. Intimacy: Friends and Family
 Social Convoy (Pg. 637).
-The group of people such as family, friends, acquaintances and strangers who help guide,
encourage, and socialize individuals as they move through life.
 Friends and Acquaintances (Pg. 638-639).
-Friendships improve with age.
-Friendships assist with mental health and physical health.
-Conflicting habits may interfere with friendships.
-Acquaintances also called consequential strangers, are people who are not in an
individual's personal circle yet have an impact.
-Acquaintances can include people of diverse religions, ethnic groups, ages, and political
opinions.
-Acquaintances can help expand a person’s perspective.

8. Intimacy: Friends and Family Cont’d
Family Bonds
Adult Children and Parents (Pg. 639-640).
 Physical separation does not necessarily
weaken family ties.
 Household composition can be a poor
measurement of family closeness.
 Across cultures, parents tend to help
when children have financial, legal, or
marital problems.
 For parents, happiness tends to correlate
with the happiness of adult children.
Siblings (Pg. 640).
 Parenthood tends to increase closeness
between adult siblings.
 Parental favoritism tends to decrease
sibling closeness.
 Government assistance can increase
family closeness when conflict of material
needs is decreased.
 Some adults avoid blood relatives if
relationships are toxic.
 Fictive Kin-A person becomes accepted
as part of another family with no blood
relation.

9. Intimacy: Romantic Partners
 Marriage and Happiness (Pg. 641-642).
-Marriage can have great benefits to children, society,
and can improve the individuals health, wealth and
happiness, if the marriage is positive.
-Divorce rates are rising, some estimated 50% of marriages
end in divorce. Teens and Emerging Adults are more
likey to get divorced than older aged couples.
-Some unhappy couples stay married.
-Some couples cohabitate, live together unmarried.
-Some couples Live Apart Together (LAT). They may have
separate residences but function as a couple.

10. Intimacy: Romantic Partners Cont’d
 Partnerships over the Years (Pg. 642-643).
-3 Aspects of love: Passion, Intimacy, Commitment.
-A long-term committed relationship correlates with health and happiness.
-Partnership happiness varies over time.
-Couples tend to be less happy when a child is born and when the child reaches puberty.
-There are cultural and economic implications for marriage.
-Cohabitating couples separate more often than married couples.
-Empty Nest-Children leave the home, usually improves relationships.
-Economic consequences has a serious impact on marriage and relationships.

11. Intimacy: Romantic Partners Cont’d
Gay and Lesbian Partners (Pg. 644)
 Political and cultural factors are
changing for same sexed couples.
 Connections to family remain important.
 Same sexed couples marry for many reasons
including intimacy, legal, moral, and financial factors.
 Research is mixed on the divorce rate of
same sexed couples.

12. Intimacy: Romantic Partners Cont’d
Divorce and Remarriage (Pg. 644-655).
FACTS
 Relationships are influenced by social and political contexts.
 People divorce because they believe some aspect of the marriage has become too difficult to
handle.
 People are often unaware of the consequences of divorce (lost friendships, reduced income,
separation from children).
 Often there is a loss of relationships with in laws.
 Women may suffer more economic strain with divorce, men may suffer lack intimacy needs.
 Remarriage is more common when Socio-economic status (SES) rises.
 Ethnicity is a factor, African American women rarely remarry, especially those with less than a
high school education.
 Remarriage can restore intimacy, health, and financial security.
 People who are chronically unhappy in pervious marriage are likely to be unhappy when
remarried.
 Abusive relationships that end in divorce can benefit the victim and children.

13. Generativity: Parenting
Biological Parents (Pg. 647-648)
 Intimacy decreases when children are
born.
 Parenting is a labor intensive expression of
generativity.
 Care can be expressed in different ways.
 Children present new challenges at every
stage of development.
 Grandparenthood has its own particular
challenges.
Adoptive Parents (Pg. 648-649)
 Adoptive parents are legally connected to
their child.
 Strong parent-child attachments especially
when children are adopted as infants.
 DSM-5 Reactive Attachment Disorder may
occur with children who have spent time in
foster care or institutions.
 Supportive parenting is the best predicator
of well adjusted adopted children.
 In interethnic adoptions, preparation and
communication about prejudice assists in
less stress.
 International adoptions, important not to
loose national heritage.

14. Generativity: Parenting
Stepparents (Pg. 649-650)
 Average age of new stepchild is 9 years old.
 Children often maintain strong emotional
connection to biological parents.
 Stepmother hope to heal broken families
with love and understanding. Stepfathers
may believe new stepchildren will become
benevolent disciplinarian.
 Often there are complications and
challenges between stepchildren and
stepparents.
 Stepchildren can add stress to the marriage.
Foster Parents (Pg. 650-651)
 Foster children often have emotional and
behavioral issues.
 Most foster child are with a foster family for
less than a year, this makes developing a
generative attachment difficult.
 When children have experienced
maltreatment they can be distrustful,
making attachment and trust difficult.
 When foster parents are informed and do
not have expectations, positive bonds are
more likely to form.

15. Generativity: Caregiving
Kinkeepers (Pg. 651-652)
 Kinkeeper-a caregiver who takes
responsibility for maintain communication
among family members.
 Typically middle-aged or older mothers.
 Shared kinkeeping is an example of
generativity.
 Sandwich generation-middle generation
is “squeezed” between the needs of
older and younger family members.
Culture and Family (Pg. 652-654)
 Family bonds depend on many variables
(attachments, cultural norms, financial
and practical resources).
 Ethnic minorities are often more closely
connected to family than ethinic
majorities.
 Cultures differ regarding care of the
elderly.

16. Generativity: Employment
 Wages and Benefits (Pg. 654-655).
Work meets generativity needs by:
1. Development and use of personal skills.
2. Expression of creative energy.
3. Aids and advises coworkers, mentoring friends.
4. Supporting the education and health of families.
5. Contributing to the community by providing goods/services.
Rewards for working can be Extrinsic (tangible benefits) or Intrinsic (intangible gratifications).

17. Generativity: Employment
 The Changing Workplace (Pg. 656-658).
Differences in the Workforce: Diversity among workers, job changes, alternate schedules.
-Loss of a job for older adults becomes increasingly more stressful because:
1. Seniority brings status and respect, a job loss may mean a loss of this status.
2. Many skills required for jobs were not taught decades ago, hence older adults are less
likely to be hired.
3. Age discrimination is illegal but does exist.
4. Relocation reduces long standing intimacy and generativity.

18. Generativity: Employment
 Work Schedules (Pg. 658).
-In the US about half of employees work
a 9-5 Monday-Friday job.
-Crucial factor for job satisfaction is weather
employees can choose their own hours.
-Weekend work is especially difficult for fathers.
-Part-time work is underpaid.
 Combining Intimacy and Generativity (Pg. 658-660).
An ideal balance of work and family depends on 3 factors:
1. Adequate Income
2. Chosen Schedules
3. Social Support

19. References
 Berger, K. S. (2014). The developing person through the lifespan (9th ed.). New York, NY:
Worth Publishers.