2. 2
1. Introduction
2. Fact or Fiction?
3. Ages and Stages
4. Intimacy
5. Generativity
6. Closing Thoughts
PART VII: MIDDLE ADULTHOOD
TOPIC 22: Psychosocial Development
3. Fact or Fiction? Fiction Fact
1. Most middle-aged men experience a midlife
crisis that provokes radical reexamination of
their lives and leads to change.
2. The longer a couple have been married,
the happier they are.
3. Divorce in middle adulthood is generally easier
to cope with than divorce earlier or later in life.
4. As people near retirement, the extrinsic
rewards associated with their jobs become more
important than the intrinsic rewards.
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PART VII: Middle Adulthood
TOPIC 22: Psychosocial Development
4. The Social Clock
How do adults transition from one stage to another in adulthood?
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
4Source: Maslow, 1954.
5. Self-actualization
Need to live up to one’s
fullest and unique potential
1. Physiology
Need to satisfy hunger and thirst
2. Safety
Need to feel that the world is organized and predictable;
need to feel safe, secure, and stable
3. Love and belonging
Need to love and be loved, to belong and be
accepted; need to avoid loneliness and alienation
4. Success and esteem
Need for self-esteem, achievement,
competence, and independence; need for
recognition and respect from others
PART VII: Middle Adulthood
TOPIC 22: Psychosocial Development
5. Imaginative, curious,
artistic, creative, open
to new experiences
Openness
ConscientiousnessExtroversion
Agreeableness
Neuroticism
Personality through Adulthood
What are the clusters of personality traits in the Big Five?
Openness
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Big Five: The five
basic clusters of
personality traits
that remain quite
stable throughout
adulthood.
The degree to which one is…
PART VII: Middle Adulthood
TOPIC 22: Psychosocial Development
10. Marriage
empty nest: The time in the lives of parents when their
children have left the family home to pursue their own lives.
What are typical stages in a marriage with children?
Marital Happiness over the Years
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Interval After Wedding Characterization
Honeymoon period—happiest of all
Happiness dips; divorce is common; usual time for birth of first child
Happiness holds steady
Happiness dips as children reach puberty
Happiness rises when children leave the nest
Happiness is high and steady, barring serious health problems
First 6 months
6 months to 5 years
5 to 10 years
10 to 20 years
20 to 30 years
30 to 50 years
PART VII: Middle Adulthood
TOPIC 22: Psychosocial Development
11. 11
Marriage
Video:
John and Julie Gottman Examine Marital and
Family Stress
PART VII: Middle Adulthood
TOPIC 22: Psychosocial Development
12. Before marriage
Divorced parents
Either partner under age 21
Family opposed
Cohabitation before marriage
Previous divorce of either partner
Large discrepancy in age,
background, interests, values
(heterogamy)
During marriage After marriage
Divergent plans and practices
regarding childbearing and
child rearing
Financial stress, unemployment
Substance abuse
Communication difficulties
Lack of time together
Emotional or physical abuse
Relatives who do not support
the relationship
High divorce rate in cohort
Weak religious values
Laws that make divorce easier
Approval of remarriage
Acceptance of single parenthood
Divorce
What factors make
divorce more likely?
12Photo credits: Left: PhotoAlto/SuperStock; Right: Radius/SuperStock
PART VII: Middle Adulthood
TOPIC 22: Psychosocial Development
13. Family Bonds
What kinds of relationships did the subjects of a
study report they had with their adult children?
Amicable
Close relationship with
adult child
Gets along well
High communication
Detached
Distant relationship with
adult child
Low on communication
Disharmonious
Conflict in relationship
with adult child
Critical
Arguing
Ambivalent
Both close and critical
relationships with adult child
High on communication
familism: The belief that family members should support one another, sacrificing
individual freedom and success, if necessary, in order to preserve family unity.
13Photo credits, top to bottom: iStockphoto/Thinkstock; Blend Images/SuperStock; bikeriderlondon/Shutterstock
PART VII: Middle Adulthood
TOPIC 22: Psychosocial Development
14. Caring for biological children
Labor-intensive expression of generativity
Transformative experience with more costs
than benefits when children are young
(Umberson et al., 2010)
Caregiving nonbiological children
About 1/3 of all North American adults
become stepparents, adoptive parents, or
foster parents
Caregiving aged parents
The “Sandwich Generation” is the generation
of middle-aged people who are supposedly
squeezed by the needs of the younger and
older members of their families.
kinkeeper: A caregiver
who takes responsibility
for maintaining
communication among
family members.
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Caregiving
joSon/Digital Vision/Getty Images
PART VII: Middle Adulthood
TOPIC 22: Psychosocial Development
15. Employment
As people get older, intrinsic rewards, rather than
extrinsic rewards may take on greater value
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intrinsic rewards of work:
The intangible gratifications
(e.g., job satisfaction, self-
esteem, pride) that come
from within oneself as a
result of doing a job.
extrinsic rewards of work:
The tangible benefits,
usually in the form of
compensation (e.g., salary,
health insurance, pension),
that one receives for doing
a job.
PART VII: Middle Adulthood
TOPIC 22: Psychosocial Development
16. Closing Thoughts
If you were in a debate about the effects of the social clock
during middle adulthood—that is, the prescribed timetable for
marriage, parenthood, and the like—how would you support an
argument that there is not one clock that reflects the experience
of the middle adult years?
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iStockphoto/Thinkstock
PART VII: Middle Adulthood
TOPIC 22: Psychosocial Development
Instruction:Click to reveal each question, then the category.
Please note, this page is available to use with a clicker system.
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Instruction:
Click each interval to reveal a typical characterization.
Generally speaking, married people are a little happier, healthier, and richer than never-married ones—but not by much. Over time, some troubled marriages rebound, with spouses becoming happy again as they learn to understand and forgive each other (Fincham et al., 2007).
The long-term quality of a marriage is affected by many factors, including the childhood experiences of both spouses (Overbeek et at., 2007), cohabitation before marriage (decreasing happiness), and the partners’ personalities.
As the table shows, contrary to outdated impressions, empty next often improves a relationship (Gorchoff et al., 2008).
Click each interval to reveal the definition of EMPTY NEST
Click to play a video about marital and family stress.
Instructions:
Click to play video.
Explain how this couple deals with stress.
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In your response, consider the social clocks that are set by society and culture, cohort and generation, as well as family and the individual.