Chapter Twenty-Two
Middle Adulthood:
Psychosocial Development
PowerPoints prepared by Cathie Robertson, Grossmont College
Revised by Jenni Fauchier, Metropolitan Community College
Personality Throughout
Adulthood
• Personality is a major source of
continuity
– provides coherence and identity
Stable Traits :The Big Five
• Extroversion = outgoing, assertive, and
active
• Agreeableness = kind and helpful
• Conscientiousness = organized,
deliberate, and conforming
• Neuroticism = anxious, moody, and selfpunishing
• Openness = imaginative, curious, artistic,
and willing to have new experiences
Stable Traits :The Big Five, cont.
• Traits determined by
–
–
–
–
genes
culture
early childhood
experiences and choices made during adolescence
and early adulthood
• Ecological niche—the specific lifestyle
and social context adults settle into
that are compatible with their
personality needs and interests
Developmental Changes in
Personality
• Environment generally reinforces
basic temperament
– significant changes can make people act
differently
• death of a spouse, divorce, illness,
career change, etc.
Gender Convergence
• Gender convergence—a tendency
for men and women to become
more similar as they move
through middle age
• Gender crossover—the idea that
each sex takes on the other
sex’s roles and traits in later
life.
Gender Convergence, cont.
• These ideas are partly biosocial,
“shadow side,” and cultural
– Barnett and Hyde (2001) believe that this
change is historically-based
• the past century witnessed changes every
decade and gender roles changed
• today’ middle-aged generation is probably
less likely to converge since male-female
differences in personality less apparent
The “Midlife Crisis”
• Midlife crisis—a period of unusual
anxiety, radical reexamination, and
sudden transformation widely
associated with middle age, but
probably more related to developmental
history than to chronological age
The “Midlife Crisis,” cont.
• The idea was promoted by Sheehy
(1976) and Levinson (1978), but no
large study has found such a crisis
• Why then do people talk about it as
if it really existed?
– myth may allow adults to cope with
disappointment, frustration, sadness caused
by aged-related changes
Family Relationships in
Midlife
• Family is most important support system
• If one’s own family is not doing that job,
“fictive kin” may be found
– treated as family by this group
• Social convoy—group of people who form
relationships with an individual through
which they guide and socialize that
person as he or she moves through life
Partners
• Having an intimate relationship is a
source of happiness, comfort, and
self-respect; for 70 percent of
middle-aged Americans, this
achieved with a spouse
• For some divorced, widowed, or
never-married middle-aged adults,
intimacy may be achieved by
cohabitation
Marital Happiness
• Not all people are in good/happy
relationships
– relationship may be destructive
– but worldwide, spouse abuse far more
common among younger married couples
than among middle-aged spouses
Marital Happiness, cont.
• Often regain some of closeness of early
marriage
– less stress from kids
– higher incomes
– more time together
• Studies in various cultures show that
marital happiness in midlife is true
• In general, marriage relationships likely
to get better over time
Divorce and Remarriage
• Not all couples become closer
– after years of marriage, divorce has more impact
• reduces income, weakens family ties when longterms social bonds especially needed
• Most divorced remarry within 5 years
• Remarriage offers benefits to both men
and women
• Second marriages end in divorce more
often than first marriages do
The Marriage Market for
Middle-Aged Adults
• Marriage is likely to benefit middleaged adults
• Middle-aged women are at a
disadvantage for marrying,
remarrying
– beginning at aged 45, there are more women
than men
– men tend to marry younger women
Other Relatives
• Kinkeeper—the person who takes
primary responsibility for celebrating
family achievements, gathering the
family together, and keeping in touch
with family members who live far
away
– most likely to be middle-aged
– most are women, but men also can take the
role
Aging Parents
• Relationship with Parents
– improves with time
• Familism—the idea that family
members support one another
because family unity is more
important than individual
freedom and success
– stronger with ethnic minorities
Siblings
• Siblings often become closer to
each other in the second half of
life than in early adulthood
• They help one another with
problems with teenage children,
stressful marriages, and family
contacts
Siblings, cont.
• Childhood Echoes—the
relationship in middle and late
adulthood is influenced by family
values instilled in childhood
– closeness can also be affected by
childhood rivalries, but these may be put
aside at this point
Siblings, cont.
• New Challenges—keeping up
the relationship even though
there are challenges such as
primary caregiving of a parent
by one sibling
– death of a parent can increase
problems—like inheritance
Adult Children
• Relationship with Children
– improves with maturity of children
• Seven-nation survey: 75 percent
of middle- aged parents
communicated with adult children
several times a week
Adult Children, cont.
• Forms of Parental Support
– monetary
– various services like babysitting
• Some children return home, referred
to as “swollen nest”
• Young adult children less likely to
leave home, especially if parents in
good health and they themselves are
financially needy
Grandchildren
• Personality, ethnicity, national
background, and past parent-child
relationship affect nature of
grandparent-grandchild relationship as
does child’s age and personality
• Bond closer if
– grandchild young
– parent is first to have children
– grandparent neither too young nor too old to spend
time/energy interacting
Types of Grandparents
• Remote grandparents—respected and loved
– emotionally distant grandparents
• Involved grandparents—active in day to
day life, live near, see often
• Companionate grandparents—independent,
with own lifestyle and household, choose
how generational interaction occurs
• Most grandparents want to be companions
Immigrant Grandparents
• Happily become involved, especially
when all speak a common language
• Often live in the same household
• Children seem to develop better
when they are cherished and
guided by a large family
Immigrant Grandparents, cont.
• Many immigrant and minority families
do not trust the majority culture to
transmit their values, beliefs,
language, and customs (culture)
– grandparents best source of cultural
continuity
Surrogate Parents
• Surrogate parents—grandparents
who take over the raising of their
grandchildren as a result of their
adult children’s extreme social
problems
– if parents too poor, too young, drug or
alcohol addicted, single, newly divorced,
then—
– possibility of surrogate parenting increases
Surrogate Parents, cont.
• Grandparents furnish stability,
guidance, and patience
• Responsibility takes a toll if it
lasts too long
– can impair health and well-being
After Adult Children Divorce
• More than one in three grandparents
witness divorce of an adult child
• Grandparents typically provide extra help
when their newly divorced child receives
custody of children
• If their adult child does not have
custody, they may be shut out
– grandparents in such situations may sue for
visitation rights
The Myth of the Sandwich
Generation
• Sandwich generation—generation of
middle-aged people who are supposedly
“squeezed” by the needs of the younger
and older generations
– Some do feel pressured, but most are not burdened
by such obligations
• they enjoy filling needs or—
• may choose to take on some (or no)
responsibilities
The Myth of the Sandwich
Generation, cont.
• Most choose not to provide financial or
caregiving help to older generation
– one study shows less than 20 percent provided help
of any kind
– assistance 3 times more likely by African-American
couples
• Personality may be as influential as need
in determining whether to provide
substantial help to either generation
Work in Middle Adulthood
• 90 percent of men and 75 percent
of women in the United States are
employed
• Worldwide, work is a welcome part
of life
• Most jobs provide more joy than
stress
Overall Trends
• Meaningful work becomes more
important as an individual ages
– salary and benefits tend to rise with
seniority
– lower rates of
• absenteeism
• being fired or quitting
• seeking a new job
Overall Trends, cont.
• Many middle aged workers have
worked for the same employer
for more than five years
• There may be unexpected job
loss as a result of downsizing and
restructuring or relocation of
company
Balancing Work and Family
• Unlike young men, middle-aged
men are no longer more
concerned with work than with
their family life
– parental/family role usually considered
more important than work role
Dealing with Job Stress
• Some people addicted to long hours and
hard work, or “workaholism”
• Both men and women are physically and
psychologically healthier if they have
multiple roles
• Stress in one area of life can be relieved
by support from other areas
Scaling Back
• Begin to deliberately balance work life
with other concerns
– Place limits on work hours or responsibilities
• One partner may work part-time or at a
less critical and lower paying job
• Or partners may take turns; one focuses
on employment, the other on child care
• Rethinking and shifting toward
retirement
Retirement
• Planning and actual event usually occur
in middle age
• Retirement generally anticipated with
more joy than dread
• The decision to retire is usually mutual,
since both husband and wife are
working
• Main planning consideration is financial