Socioemotional Development in Middle Adulthood
Stages of Adulthood
Erikson’s Generativity vs. Stagnation:
Generativity: adults’ desire to leave legacies of themselves to the next generation
Biological generativity
Parental generativity
Work generativity
Cultural generativity
Stagnation: develops when individuals sense that they have done nothing for the next generation
Research supports Erikson’s theory
Levinson’s Seasons of a Man’s Life:
20’s are a novice phase of adult development
Exploring the possibilities for adult living; developing a stable life structure
30’s are a time for focusing on family and career development
Becoming One’s Own Man (BOOM)
By the 40’s, man has a stable career and now must look forward to the kind of life he will lead as a
middle-aged adult
Transition to middle adulthood lasts about 5 years (ages 40 to 45) and requires that men come to
grips with conflicts existing since adolescence:
Being young vs. being old
Being destructive vs. being constructive
Being masculine vs. being feminine
Being attached to others vs. being separated from them
According to Levinson, 70%–80% of men find the midlife transition tumultuous and
psychologically painful
A successful transition rests on reducing the polarities and accepting each as an integral part of
one’s being
Successful Aging
Robert Peck (1955) expanded upon Erikson’s psychosocial development in middle and late adulthood.
Erikson stage relating to middle age: Generativity vs Stagnation
Peck identified psychological developments that he considered crucial for a healthy adaptation to aging
Given that aging is a gradual process, psychological development in middle adulthood affect whether one
experiences successful aging.
Valuing wisdom versus valuing physical powers.
Wisdom compensates for diminished physical abilities and loss of youthful appearance.
Socializing versus sexualizing in human relationships.
Middle-aged adults recognize men and women as companions or friends rather than primarily as
sex objects. Individuals are valued for their attributes and unique characteristics.
Emotional flexibility versus emotional impoverishment.
Emotional flexibility involves the shifting of emotional investment between people and between
activities. This is an important ability as people age and change roles (child to adult, parents die, or
one’s spouse dies).
Mental flexibility versus mental rigidity.
It is important to remain mentally flexible and open to new ideas.
How pervasive are midlife crises?
Vaillant’s “Grant Study”:
The 40’s are a decade of reassessing and recording the truth about the adolescent and adult
years
Only a minority of adults experience a midlife crisis
Reports of general well-being and life satisfaction tend to be high during mid-life
Another study found that 26% of adults experienced a midlife crisis
Most attributed this to negative life events rather than aging
Stages of Adulthood
Longitudinal study of more than 2000 found few midlife crises; the emotional instability of individuals
did not significantly increase through middle aged years
Adults often experience a peak of personal control and power during middle age
Adults’ ability to master their environment, autonomy, and personal relations improve during middle age
Adult developmental experts generally agree that midlife crises have been exaggerated
In general, stage theories place too much emphasis on crises in development
There is often considerable individual variation in the way people experience the stages
Individual Variations:
Stage theories do not adequately address individual variations in adult development
Some individuals may experience a midlife crisis in some contexts of their lives but not others
In 1/3 of cases where individuals report experiencing a midlife crisis, the crisis was triggered by life
events such as job loss, financial problems, or illness
The Life-Events Approach
The life-events approach is another major way to conceptualize adult personality development
Contemporary Life-Events Approach: how life events influence the individual’s development
depends on:
The life event itself
Mediating factors
The individual’s adaptation to the life event
Life-stage context
Sociohistorical context
Drawbacks:
Life-events approach places too much emphasis on change, not adequately recognizing stability
It may not be life’s major events that are the primary sources of stress, but our daily experiences
Focus on daily hassles and uplifts rather than major events
Stress and Personal Control
Study using daily diaries found both young and middle aged had more days that were stressful and
characterized by multiple stresses than older adults
Middle-aged adults experience more “overload” stressors that involve juggling too many activities
at once
Daily hassles & Daily uplifts
Middle-aged adults are more reactive to interpersonal stressors (but less reactive to work stressors)
than younger adults
On average, a sense of personal control decreases as adults become older
Some aspects increase while others decrease: more control over finances, work & marriage; less
control over sex life & children
Contexts of Midlife Development
Historical Contexts (cohort effects):
Changing historical times and different social expectations influence how cohorts move through the
life span
Social clock: the timetable according to which individuals are expected to accomplish life’s tasks
Gender Contexts:
Most stage theories are accused of male bias
Women’s concerns and stressors are different from those of men
Cultural and social attitudes affect women’s roles
Early fifties brought a new prime of life for many women
More empty nests
Better health
Higher income
More concern for parents
Stereotype that midlife is a negative age period for women is largely false
Cultural Contexts:
In many nonindustrialized societies, the concept of middle age is unclear or absent
Midlife often brings about great change for women in nonindustrialized societies:
Often freed from restrictions placed on younger women
Right to exercise authority over specified younger kin
Eligibility for special status and the possibility of recognition beyond the household
Stability and Change
The Baltimore Study used the big five factors of personality to study 1,000 college-educated persons
aged 20 to 96 starting from the 1950s and continuing today:
Emotional Stability(Neuroticism), Extroversion, Openness to experience, Agreeableness, and
Conscientiousness
Considerable stability in the five personality factors
Agreeableness and conscientiousness increased in early and middle adulthood
Neuroticism decreased in early adulthood
Openness to experience increased in adolescence/early adulthood and then decreased in late
adulthood
In general, personality traits changed most during early adulthood
Berkeley Longitudinal Studies: more than 500 children and parents studied in the 1920s
through midlife:
No support that personality is characterized by changes or stability from adolescence to midlife
Intellectual orientation, self-confidence, and openness to experience were the more stable traits
Ability to nurture and self-control changed most
Helson’s Mills College Study: studied 152 women from the 1950s through their 30’s, 40’s, and 50’s
Three main groups:
Family-oriented
Career-oriented
Neither path
Midlife crisis was really midlife consciousness
Identity certainty and awareness of aging increased from their 30’s through 50’s
Similarities in concerns found between women in their early 40s and Levinson’s findings
Vaillant’s Studies: conducted three longitudinal studies from the 1920s through today:
Alcohol abuse and smoking at age 50 was the best predictor of death between ages 75 and 80
Factors at age 50 which are best predictors of
“happy-well” between ages 75 and 80:
Regular exercise and avoiding being overweight
Well-educated and future oriented
Having a stable marriage and good coping skills
Being thankful, forgiving, and empathetic
Being active with other people
Conclusions:
Evidence does not support the view that personality traits become completely fixed at a certain age
Change is typically small and limited; stability peaks in the 50’s and 60’s
Cumulative personality model: with time and age, people become more adept at interacting with
their environment in ways that promote the stability of personality
Some change still characterizes personality in middle age and late adulthood
Love and Marriage
Romantic love is typically strong in early adulthood
Affectionate love increases during middle adulthood
Most married individuals are satisfied with their marriages during midlife
Divorce in midlife can be less intense due to increased resources and lessened child-rearing
responsibilities
However, emotional and time commitment to a long-lasting marriage is typically not given up
easily
Staying married because of the children is a common reason for waiting to get a divorce
The Empty Nest
Empty Nest Syndrome: a decline in marital satisfaction after the children leave the home
For most parents, marital satisfaction actually increases during the years after child rearing
Refilling of empty nest is becoming a common occurrence
Adult children are returning to live at home for financial reasons
Loss of privacy is a common complaint for both parents and adult children
Sibling Relationships and Friendships
Sibling relationships continue over the entire life span
The majority of sibling relationships in adulthood are close
Friendships continue to be important in middle adulthood
Friendships that have endured over the adult years tend to be deeper than those that have just been
formed in middle adulthood
Grandparenting
Many adults become grandparents during middle age
Grandmothers have more contact with grandchildren than grandfathers
Three prominent meanings:
Source of biological reward and continuity
Source of emotional self-fulfillment
Remote role
The grandparent role and its functions vary among families, ethnic groups, and cultures
Three Grandparenting Styles:
Fun-seeking style
Distant-figure style
Formal style
An increasing number of U.S. grandchildren live with their grandparents
2.3 million in 1980; 6.1 million in 2005
Most common reasons are divorce, adolescent pregnancies, and parental drug use
Tends to be more stressful for younger grandparents, when grandchildren have physical and
psychological problems, and when there is low family cohesion
Concern over grandparent visitation of children has become more common
Intergenerational Relationships
Middle-aged and older adults typically express a strong feeling of responsibility between generations in
their family
They share their experiences and transmit values to the younger generation
Family members typically maintain considerable contact across generations
When conflicts arise, parents most often cite habits and lifestyle choices, while adult children cite
communication and interaction styles
Differences in gender:
Mothers and daughters have closer relationships during their adult years than mothers and sons,
fathers and daughters, and fathers and sons
Married men are more involved with their wives’ families than with their own
Maternal aunts and grandmothers are cited as the most important or loved relative twice as often as
their paternal counterparts