MODULE 1
EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT
EMOTION
"Emotion is often defined as a complex state of feeling that results in physical
and psychological changes that influence thought and behaviour".
According to David. G. Meyers human emotion involves "physiological arousal,
expressive behaviours, and conscious experience”
Emotionality is associated with a range of psychological phenomena, including
temperament, personality, mood, and motivation. There are many
different types of emotions that have an influence on how we live and
interact with others.
TYPES OF EMOTION
Basic emotions
Paul Eckman (1970s) identified six basic emotions that he suggested
were universally experienced in all human cultures. The emotions he
identified were
• Happiness
• Sadness
• Disgust
• Fear
• Surprise
• Anger.
He later expanded his list of basic emotions to include such things as
pride, shame, embarrassment, and excitement.
Combined emotions
Robert Plutchik (1980) proposed a "wheel of emotions" that worked
something like the colour wheel. Emotions can be combined to form
different feelings, much like colours can be mixed to create other
shades. According to this theory, the more basic emotions act
something like building blocks. For example, basic emotions such as joy
and trust can be combined to create love.
MAJOR THEORIES OF EMOTION
1. Physiological theories-theories suggest that responses within the
body are responsible for emotions
2. Neurologicaltheoriestheoriesproposethatactivitywithinthebrainleadstoemotionalrespons
es.
3. Cognitive theories- theories argue that thoughts and other mental
activity play an essential role in forming emotions
4. Evolutionary theory of emotion-theory suggests that our emotions
exist because they serve an adaptive role. Emotions motivate people
to respond quickly to stimuli in the environment, which helps
improve the chances of success and survival.
1) PHYSIOLOGICAL THEORIES
1. James Lange Theory
Proposed by William James and Carl Lange(1887)
• Theory states that emotions occur as a result of physiological reactions to
events.
• While seeing an external stimulus, that leads to a physiological reaction.
Emotional reaction depends upon how one interprets those physical
reactions.
• Eg: You are walking down a dark alley late at night. You hear footsteps
behind you and you begin to tremble, your heart beats faster, and your
breathing deepens. You notice these physiological changes and interpret
them as your body’s preparation for a fearful situation. You then experience
fear.
EVENT → AROUSAL → INTERPRETATION → EMOTION
2. Cannon Bard Theory
• Proposed by Walter Cannon and Philip Bard(1927)
• Theory states that stimulating events trigger feelings and physical reactions
that occur at the same time.
• Both of these reactions originate simultaneously in the thalamus.
• Eg: You are walking down a dark alley late at night. You hear footsteps
behind you and you begin to tremble, your heart beats faster, and your
breathing deepens. At the same time as these physiological changes occur
you also experience the emotion of fear.
2) COGNITIVE THEORIES
1. Schachter Singer Theory
• Also known as the two-factor theory of emotion
• Proposed by Stanley Schachter and Jerome E. Singer(1962)
• Theory states that an event causes physiological arousal first. You must
then identify a reason for this arousal and then you are able to experience
and label the emotion.
• Eg: You are walking down a dark alley late at night. You hear footsteps
behind you and you begin to tremble, your heart beats faster, and your
breathing deepens. Upon noticing this arousal you realize that is comes
from the fact that you are walking down a dark alley by yourself. This
behaviour is dangerous and therefore you feel the emotion of fear.
EVENT
THOUGHT
EMOTION
AROUSAL
2. Cognitive Appraisal Theory
• Proposed by Richard Lazarus and Folkman(1984)
• Theory states that a thought must come before any emotion or physiological
arousal.
• Eg: You are walking down a dark alley late at night. You hear footsteps
behind you and you think it may be a mugger so you begin to tremble, your
heart beats faster, and your breathing deepens and at the same time
experience fear.
EVENT
THOUGHT
EMOTION
AROUSAL
3. Facial Feedback Theory
• Theory states that emotion is the experience of changes in our facial
muscles. In other words, when we smile, we then experience pleasure, or
happiness. When we frown, we then experience sadness. It is the changes in
our facial muscles that cue our brains and provide the basis of our
emotions.
• Eg: You are walking down a dark alley late at night. You hear footsteps
behind you and your eyes widen, your teeth clench and your brain
interprets these facial changes as the expression of fear. Therefore you
experience the emotion of fear.
EVENT → FACIAL CHANGES → EMOTION
EMOTIONAL BEHAVIOR IN INFANCY TO MIDDLE ADULTHOOD
1. Infancy
• The expression of emotions during infancy promotes the transition from
complete dependency to autonomy.
• Expressions of joy promote social interaction and healthy attachment
relationships with primary caregivers. The expression of sadness
encourages empathy and helping behaviour, and the expression of anger
signals protest and discomfort.
• Infant’s unique tendency to experience and express particular emotions and
the threshold for expressing those emotions is usually referred to as their
temperament or characteristic emotionality.
• By four to five months of age, infants selectively smile at familiar faces and
at other infants, and their caregivers begin to share positive emotional
exchanges with them.
• During the second six months of life, as infants gain limited cognitive
and memory capacities, they begin to express particular emotions based on
context.
2. Toddlerhood and early childhood
• During the toddler period, in conjunction with rapid maturation of the
frontal lobes and the limbic circuit in the brain, recognition of the self
emerges. As a result, the toddler strives to become more independent, and
the expression of anger and defiance increases in that struggle for
autonomy.
• The ability to differentiate the self from others also promotes basic
empathetic behaviour and moral understanding.
• The emergence of emotional self-regulation is particularly important during
early childhood and occurs in the context of family and peer relationships.
Open expression of positive emotions and warm, supportive relationships
between parents and children promote effective emotional self-regulation.
• Frequent expression of negative emotions in the family increase the
experience of distressing and dysregulated emotions that may lead to
psychopathology.
3. Middle and late childhood
• During middle and late childhood, stable self-concepts based on the child’s
typical emotional experiences emerge. Also during middle and late
childhood, children begin to understand that a single situation or event can
lead to the experience of multiple, mixed emotions. This capacity likely
emerges with the cognitive capacity to understand multiple aspects of a
situation, called decentration.
• Children also learn emotional display rules as they progress through middle
and late childhood. For example, a child learns to look happy even though
she feels upset when a friend or family member gives her an undesirable
gift. The use of display rules tends to increase as children begin to consider
what consequences their actions may have for others.
4. Adolescence
• Adolescents become less emotionally dependent on their parents, but this
emotional autonomy often emerges after a period of conflict and increased
experience of negative emotions.
• Young adolescents often experience more negative affect, girls often
experience a longer period of elevated negative affect than boys.
• Adolescents tend to experience more extreme emotions, both negative and
positive, than their parents even in response to the same event.
• Positive and supportive peer relations during adolescence promote healthy
emotional development and mental health as the adolescent enters
adulthood.
• Dating partners are also prone to experiencing jealousy, particularly when
they make errors in determining the intent of their partner’s actions.
5. Early adulthood
In early adulthood, emotional changes are going to be more noticeable than
the physical ones. This is an important stage in adult emotional and
psychological development, and we strive to find our place in the world.
During this time, important life decisions are made about career and living
arrangements.
6. Young adulthood
Most young adults aged 18 and over will:
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Move into adult relationships with their parents
See the peer group as less important as a determinant of behaviour
Feel empathetic
Have greater intimacy skills
Complete their values framework
Carry some feelings of invincibility
Establish their body image
7. Middle adulthood
• People do undertake a sort of emotional audit, revaluate their priorities,
and emerge with a slightly different orientation to emotional regulation and
personal interaction in this time period.
• Middle adulthood has been regarded as a period of reflection and change.
• Because of the shifting hormone levels, women going through menopause
often experience a range of other symptoms, such as anxiety, poor memory,
inability to concentrate, depressive mood, irritability, mood swings, and
less interest in sexual activity.
TEMPERAMENT
The basic foundation of personality, usually assumed to be biologically
determined and present early in life, including such characteristics as energy
level, emotional responsiveness, demeanour, mood, response tempo,
behavioural inhibition, and willingness to explore.
Temperament has an emotional basis, but while emotions such as fear,
excitement and boredom come and go, temperament is relatively consistent
and enduring
Temperament can be modulated by environmental factors; parental response.
CLASSIFICATION OF TEMPERAMENT
1. Thomas and Chess (1970’s): three general types of temperaments in
children:
a. Easy children- Are generally happy, active children from birth and
adjust easily to new situations and environments.
b. Slow-to-warm- Are generally mellow, less active babies from birth, and
can have some difficulty adjusting to new situations.
c. Difficult- They have irregular habits and biological routines (e.g.,
eating, sleeping), have difficulty adjusting to new situations, and often
express negative moods very intensely.
Goodness of fit-The key to healthy adjustment. The match between child’s
temperament and the environmental demands and constraints the child must
deal with, including caregiver’s temperament.
2. Rothbart and Bates (2006): six dimensions of infant temperament
1) Fearful distress
2) Irritable distress
3) Attention span and persistence
4) Activity level
5) Positive affect
6) Rhythmicity
3. Hippocrates: 4 temperaments
1) Sanguine
2) Phlegmatic
3) Choleric
4) Melancholic
SELF-DEVELOPMENT
• Self concept-self of sense, descriptive and evaluative mental picture
of one’s ability and traits
• Self definition-cluster of characteristics used to describe oneself
• Single representation-first stage in development of self-definition, in
which children describe themselves in terms of individual,
unconnected characteristics and in all-or-nothing terms
• Real Self- The self one actually is.
• Ideal self-The self one would like to be
• Representationalmappings-Secondstageindevelopmentofselfdefinition, in which a child makes logical connections between
aspects of the self but still sees these characteristics in all-or-nothing
terms
• Self esteem-The judgement a person makes about his or herself-worth
1) Role of family in emotional development
➢ We are not born knowing how to behave in society, we have to learn many
of the behaviours from the environment around us growing up.
➢ This learning starts with the family at home. Learning comes in many
forms. Sometimes children learn by being told something directly.
However, the most common way children learn is by observation of
everyday life. A child’s learning and socialization are most influenced by
their family since the family is the child’s primary social group.
A. Mother’s role
• Feeding is not the only, or even the most important things babies get
from their mother.
• Mothering includes the comfort of close bodily contact and, in the
satisfaction of an innate need to cling
B. Father’s role
• The father’s role entails emotional commitment, and often direct
involvement in the care and upbringing of children.
• Responsible fathering-father’s active involvement in meeting a child’s
financial, physical and emotional needs.
• Factors include father’s motivation and commitment his belief about
fathering, his confidence in his parenting skills, his success as a
breadwinner, his relationship with the mother, and the extent to which
she encourages his involvement.
• Ultimately, the family will be responsible for shaping a child and
developing their values, skills, socialization, and security.
➢ Values- We generally understand values to mean an understanding
between what is right and what is wrong. As a society, we have norms
and values, and these function in conjunction with personal values and
norms.
➢ Skills-Once your child is born, they start learning motor skills, language
skills, cognitive skills, and emotional skills.
➢ Socialization-When you bring your child home for the first time, your
family will become their social group. Parents are the first teachers for
children.
➢ Security-Your child gets their primary sense of security from their
family. They rely on you to make sure their basic needs, such as shelter,
food, and clothing, are met.
2) Role of parenting in emotional development
• Children’s early emotional development takes place in the dynamic
interaction between the parent–child relationship and the environment that
they are developing in.
• One aspect of this environment is parenting style, where relatively stable
parental behaviors and attitudes toward children determine the emotional
climate of the family
1. Parenting style
The dimensional approach to parenting styles has typically focused on
the role of three parenting style dimensions in children’s development:
1) Affection, i.e. positive affect, responsiveness, and support in
parent–child relationships;
2) Behavioral control, i.e., the regulation of the child’s behavior
through firm and consistent discipline (e.g., limit setting, maturity
demands, monitoring)
3) Psychological control, i.e., parents’ control of the child’s emotions
and behavior through psychological means (e.g., love withdrawal,
guilt induction)
2. Different parenting style
• Baumrind described three different parenting styles:
1. Authoritative parenting, characterized by a high level of both
parental affection and behavioral control;
2. Authoritarian parenting, characterized by a harsh and punitive
control and low affection;
3. Permissive parenting, characterized by a high affection but low
behavioral control
• Minimizing children’s emotional expression or punishing them for
expressing negative emotions increases children’s intensity of
emotional expression, making them more emotionally reactive and
less emotionally self-regulating.
• A high level of parental psychological control has been shown to
lead to internalizing problems, such as depression, anxiety, and
internalized distress.
3) Role of peer relations in emotional development
• Positive peer relationships make critical contributions to healthy social
emotional development.
• Peer relationships provide a unique context in which children learn a range
of critical social emotional skills, such as empathy, cooperation, and
problem-solving strategies.
• Peer relationships can also contribute negatively to social emotional
development through bullying, exclusion, and deviant peer processes.
• Universal, school-based, social emotional learning programs provide a
strong foundation for promoting healthy social emotional development and
creating positive peer cultures.
• Children experiencing peer difficulties often need additional, systematic,
and intensive social skill coaching.
• Peers can be powerful forces that facilitate or alternatively undermine
group programs.
CLOSE RELATIONSHIPS IN ADULTHOOD
• Adults have many types of relationships: brief relationships with
strangers, relationships with acquaintances, ones with people with
whom they do business, as well as relationships that are commonly
called close relationships.
• Adulthood typically is a time of dramatic change in relationships as
people establish, renegotiate, or cement bonds based on friendship,
love, and sexuality.
• Young adults seek emotional and physical intimacy in relationships
with peers and romantic partners. These relationships require such
skills as self-awareness, empathy, the ability to communicate
emotions, sexual decision making, conflict resolution, and the ability
to sustain commitments.
• Eriks on the development of intimate relationships as the crucial task
of young adulthood. Intimacy may or may not include sexual contact.
An important element of intimacy is self disclosure-revealing
important information about oneself to another.
• The strongest emotions–both positive and negative–are evoked by
intimate attachments.
1. Friendship
During young and middle adulthood tend to centre on work and parenting
activities and the sharing of confidences and advice. Some friendships are
extremely intimate and supportive; others are marked by frequent conflict.
Some friends have many interests in common; others are based on a single
shared activity, such as bowling or bridge.
2. Love
According to Sternberg’s triangular theory of love, the three elements of
love are intimacy, passion, and commitment.
The emotional intimacy and the cognitive decision/commitment
components are typically rather constant in close relationships; once
they are established in a relationship they are apt to endure.
• Passion is considered to be less stable and much less predictable.
• Within this theory, individuals love each other to the extent that they
experience and evidence these three components, and different
combinations of the components will yield markedly different kinds
of love.
• The triangular theory allows for eight types of love:
a. Non‐love
b. Liking
c. Infatuation
d. Empty
e. Romantic
f. Companionate
g. Fatuous
h. Consummate
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3. Cohabitation
• Living together in a sexual relationship before marriage
• Pre-marital cohabitation is viewed as a risk fact or for divorce as it
predicts later marital instability, poorer marriage quality, and less
relationship satisfaction.
• Compared to married couples, cohabiting couples argue more, have
more trouble resolving conflicts, are more insecure about their
partners’ feelings, and have more problems related to their future
goals
Classification of Cohabiting Couples
Willoughby and colleagues (2012) described different cohabitating
couples. They sorted couples into types based on:
1. whether the couples were engaged or not, and
2. Whether couple members agreed on their trajectory towards marriage.
Types of couples:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Incongruent engaged cohabiters- This category describes couples
who are engaged but in disagreement over how quickly they’re
moving towards marriage.
Engaged cohabiters moving fast-These cohabiters are engaged and
in agreement that they are on the fast track towards marriage.
Engaged cohabiters moving slow-They may be engaged, but they
agree they are not moving quickly towards a wedding day.
Incongruent non-engaged cohabiters- These individuals are not
engaged and they differ in their views on the relationship’s future,
i.e., if and when they will get married.
Non-engaged cohabiters without marital plans- As the name
suggests, this group of cohabiters are in agreement that they have
no plans in the work for marriage and do not necessary view
cohabitation as a path towards marriage.
ADULT LIFE CHANGES, MARRIAGE AND FAMILY IN
ADULTHOOD
• Individuals are mostly influenced by family members such as
parents, sibling and spouse. Though children may establish separate
households from their parents, the intergrational bond often
continues to grow in strength and flexibility.
• While ones biological family is inherited, marriage creates a family
that is uniquely chosen. Many middle aged couples report higher
levels of well-being, social integration and overall life satisfaction
when compared to people who are divorced, or single. When adults
reach the stage of empty nesting.
• The “empty nest” refers to the physical and psychological change
in the family when a child leaves home or goes away to college.
• Many relationships improve as time, and finances are set aside for
ones partners rather than children. Financial stressors and life crisis
can have devastating effects on relationships
Family Life Cycle
A stage theory of family development which suggests that every family moves
through a setof stages. In one of the first Family Life Cycle theories, Paul Glick
(1955) suggested most people will grow up, establish families, rear and launch
their children, experience an “empty nest” period, and come to the end of their
lives. This cycle will then continue with each subsequent generation. Evelyn
Duvall, elaborated on the family life cycle by developing these classic stages of
family.
Stage1: Marriage Family…Childless
Stage2: Procreation Family…Children ages 0 to 2.5
Stage3: Preschooler Family...Children ages 2.5 to 6
Stage4: School-Age Family…Children ages 6–13
Stage5: Teenage Family…Children ages 13–20
Stage6: Launching Family...Children begin to leave home
Stage7: Empty Nest Family…Adult children have left home.
Marriage, types of marriage and divorce
Marriage
• According to Lowie, “Marriage is a relatively permanent bond
between permissiblemates.”
• It is the joining of two people in a bond that putatively lasts until
death, but in practice is often cut short by separation or divorce.
• The social construct in the form of a formal union of man and a
woman, typically recognized by law, by which they become husband
and wife.
Types of marriages
1. Monogamy-involving a romantic commitment to only one mate.
2. Group marriage- type of marriage where a group of men marry a
group of women at a time. Every woman is the wife of every man
belonging to the particular groups.
3. Polygamy-being married to more than one person at a time;
a) Polygyny-men with multiple wives
b) Polyandry-women who have multiple husbands
Divorce
• The legal dissolution of marriage, leaving the partners free to remarry.
• Divorce may significantly influence well-being, with many
individuals experiencing depression, loneliness and isolation, selfesteem difficulties, or other psychological distress.
• Parental divorce also has been shown to have negative consequences
on the psychosocial adjustment of children and adolescents
• Divorce has largely become a socially acceptable means of terminating a
marriage.
• Rate of divorce may also vary based upon culture, ethnicity and
demographics.
• After divorce individuals may seek a new relationship through remarriage
• The choice of cohabitation has decreased the rate of remarriage.
Causes of divorce
• Commitment.
• Infidelity.
• Conflict and arguing.
• Marrying too young.
• Financial problems.
• Substance abuse.
• Domestic violence
MODULE 2
SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
PROCESS OF SOCIALIZATION FROM INFANCY TO MIDDLE
ADULTHOOD
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VYGOTSKY’S THEORY OF SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
Like Piaget, Vygotsky emphasized that children actively construct their
knowledge and understanding. In piaget’s theory, children develop ways of
thinking and understanding by their actions and interactions with the physical
world.
In vygotsky’s theory, children are more often described as social creatures
than in piaget’s theory. They develop their ways of thinking and
understanding primarily through social interaction. Their cognitive
development depends on the tools provided by the society, and their minds
are shaped by the cultural context in which they live.
• ZPD (zone of proximal development)
ZPD is vygotsky’s term for the range of tasks that are too difficult for the child
to master alonebut that can be learned with guidance and assistance of adults
or more skilled children. Thus, the lower limit of ZPD is the level of skill
reached by the child working independently. The upper limit is the level of
additional responsibility the child can accept with the assistance of an able
instructor.
The ZPD captures the child’s cognitive skills that are in the process of
maturing and can be accomplished only with the assistance of a more
skilled person. Vygotsky called these the ‘buds’ or ‘flowers’ of
development, to distinguish them from the ‘fruits’ of development.
Vygotsky’s emphasis on the ZPD underscores his belief in the importance
of social influences, especially instruction on children’s cognitive
development.
• Scaffolding
Closely linked to the idea of ZPD is the idea of scaffolding. In cognitive
development, Vygotsky used the term to describe the changing support over
the over the course of a teaching session with the more skilled person
adjusting guidance to fits the child’s current performance.
• Language and thought
According to Vygotsky, children use speech not only for social
communication, but also to help them solve tasks. This use of language for
self regulation is called private speech.
Vygotsky said that language and thought initially develop independently of
each other and then merge. children must use language to communicate with
others before they can focus inward on their own thoughts. Children also
must communicate with externally and use language for along period of time
before they can make the transition from external to internal speech.
Vygotsky believed that children who use a lot of private speech are more
socially competent than those who don’t.Heargued that private speech
represents an early transition in becoming more socially communicative.
Researchers have found that support for Vygotsky’s view that private speech
plays a positive role in children’s development .Researchers have found that
children use private speech more when tasks are difficult, following errors, and
when they are not sure how to proceed. They also have revealed that children
who use positive speech are more attentive and improve their performance
more than children who do not use private speech.
• Social constructive approach
An emphasis on the social context so flearning and the construction of
knowledge through social interaction. Vygotsky’s theory reflects this approach.
ATTACHMENT
Development of attachment
Attachmentisa close emotion albond between two people. There is no
shortage of theories about infant attachment.
• Freud emphasized that infants become attached to the person or object
that provides oral satisfaction. For most infants, this is the mother, since
•
she is most likely to feed the infant. But a study conducted by Harry
Harlow clearly demonstrated that feeding is not the crucial element in the
attachment process and that contact comfort is important.
• Physical comfort also plays a role in Erik Erikson’s (1968)view of the
infant’s development. Recall Erikson’s proposal that the first year of life
represents the stage of trust versus mistrust. Physical comfort and sensitive
care, according to Erikson(1968),are key to establishing a basic trust in
infants. The infant’s sense of trust, in turn, is the foundation for attachment
and sets the stage for a lifelong expectation that the world will be a good
and pleasant place to be.
Types of attachment
Mary Ainsworth created the Strange Situation, an observational
measure of infant attachment in which the infant experiences a series of
introductions, separations, and reunions with the care giver and an
adult stranger in a prescribed order. In using the Strange Situation,
researchers hope that their observations will provide information about
the infant’s motivation to be near the caregiver and the degree to which
the caregiver’s presence provides the infant with security and
confidence.
• Based on how babies respond in the Strange Situation, they are
described as being securely attached or insecurely attached(in one of
three ways)to the care giver:
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1. Securely attached babies use the caregiver as a secure base from which
to explore the environment. When in the presence of their caregiver,
securely attached infants explore the room and examine toys that have been
placed in it. When the caregiver departs, securely attached infants might
mildly protest, and when the caregiver returns these infants reestablish
positive interaction with her, perhaps by smiling or climbing on her lap.
Subsequently, they often resume playing with the toys in the room.
2. Insecure avoidant babies show insecurity by avoiding the caregiver. In
the Strange Situation, these babies engage in little interaction with the
caregiver, are not distressed when she leaves the room, usually do not
reestablish con tact with on her return, and may even turn their back on
her. If contact is established, the infant usually leans away or looks away.
3. Insecure resistant babies often cling to the caregiver and then resist her
by fighting against the closeness, perhaps by kicking or pushing away. In
the Strange Situation, these babies often cling show insecurity by avoiding
the caregiver. In the Strange Situation, these babies engage in little
interaction with the caregiver, are not distressed when she leaves the room,
usually do not reestablish con tact with on her return, and may even turn
their back on her. If contact is established, the infant usually leans away or
looks away anxiously to the caregiver and don’t explore the playroom.
When the caregiver leaves, they often cry loudly and push away if she tries
to comfort them on her return.
4. Insecure disorganized babies are disorganized and disoriented. In the
Strange Situation, these babies might appear dazed, confused, and fearful.
To be classified as disorganized, babies must show strong patterns of
avoidance and resistance or display certain specified behaviors, such as
extreme fearfulness around the caregiver.
Bowlby’s Ethological theory of attachment
The ethological perspective of British psychiatrist John Bowlby
(1969,1989) also stresses the importance of attachment in the first year of
life and the responsiveness of the caregiver.
• Bowlby maintains both infants and their primary caregivers are
biologically predisposed to form attachments. He argues that the new
born is biologically equipped to elicit attachment behavior. The baby
cries, clings, coos, and smiles. Later, the infant crawls, walks, and follows
the mother. The immediate result is to keep the primary care giver
nearby;the long-term effect is to increase the infant’s chances of survival.
• Attachment does not emerge suddenly but rather develops in a series of
phases,moving from a baby’s general preference for human beings to a
partnership with primary caregivers.
• Following are four such phases based on Bowlby’s conceptualization of
attachment (Schaffer, 1996):
• Phase1: From birth to 2months.Infants instinctively direct their
attachment to human figures. Strangers, siblings, and parents are
equally likely to elicit smiling or crying from the infant.
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• Phase 2: From 2 to 7 months. Attachment becomes focused on one
figure, usually the primary caregiver, as the baby gradually learns to
distinguish familiar from unfamiliar people.
• Phase3: From 7 to 24 months. Specific attachments develop. With
increased locomotor skills, babies actively seek contact with regular
caregivers, such as the mother or father.
• Phase4: From 24 months on. Children become aware of others’ feelings,
goals, and plans and begin to take these into account informing their own
actions.
Bowlby argued that infants develop an internal working model of
attachment, a simple mental model of the caregiver, their relationship, and
the self as deserving of nurturing care. The infant’s internal working model
of attachment with the caregiver influences the infant’s and later the child’s
subsequent responses to other people. The internal model of attachment
also has played a pivotal role in the discovery of links between attachment
and subsequent emotional understanding, conscience development, and
self-concept.
Factors affecting attachment
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Basic temperament
Physical contact
Birth processes
Mode of delivery (caesarian or normal)
Breast feeding
Parental mental states
Duration of distress
Maternal age
Socio-economic status
Culture
MARITAL LIFE STYLE & PARENTHOOD IN YOUNG ADULTHOOD
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Marriage (in a variety of forms) is universal and meets basic economic,
emotional, sexual, social, and child raising needs.
Monogamy marriage to one mate-is the norm in most developed societies.
Polygamy- a man's marriage to more than one woman at a time-is
common in Islamic countries, African societies, and parts of Asia
• Married people tend to be happier than unmarried people though those
in unhappy marriages are less happy than those who are unmarried or
divorced.
• The transition to married life brings major changes in sexual functioning,
living arrangements, rights and responsibilities, attachments, and
loyalties. Among other things, marriage partners need to redefine the
connection with their original families, balance intimacy with autonomy,
and establish a fulfilling sexual relationship.
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Sexual activity after marriage
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However, married couples report more emotional satisfaction from
sex than single or cohabiting couples (Waite & Joyner, 2000).
Frequencyofsexualrelationsinmarriagedropssharplyaftertheearlymonth
sandthendeclinesgraduallyastimegoeson.
Satisfaction with the marriage is the second most important factor after
age—though it is unclear whether satisfaction influences frequency of sex
or the other way around.
Some married people seek sexual intimacy outside of marriage,
especially after the first few years, when the excitement of sex with the
spouse wears off or problems in the relationship surface.
It is hard to know just how common extramarital sex is, because there is
no way to tell how truthful people are about their sexual practices, but
surveys suggest that it is much less common than is generally assumed.
In one survey, only about 21 percent of men and 11.5 percent of women
who were ever married reported having had extra marital relations
during their married lives.
• Extra marital activity was more prevalent among younger cohorts than
among those on or before.1940.
• However, fear of AIDS and other sexually transmitted dis-eases may
have curtailed extramarital sex since its reported peak in the late 1960s
and early 1970s.
• In a nationwide survey, only about 2 percent of married respondents
admitted having been unfaithful during the previous year.
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Factors in marital success or failure
• One of the most important factors in marital success is a sense of
commitment.
• Success in marriage is closely associated with how partners communicate,
make decisions, and deal with conflict.
• Arguing and openly expressing anger seem to be good for a marriage;
whining, defensiveness, stubbornness, and withdrawal are signs of trouble.
• Age at marriage is a major predictor of whether a union will last. Teenagers
have high divorce rates; people who wait until their twenties to marry have a
better chance of success. College graduates and couples with high family
income are less likely to end their marriages than those with less education
and income
• Cohabitation before marriage and having divorced parents are predictive of
divorce; so are becoming pregnant or bearing a child before marriage, having
no children, and having stepchildren in the home.
• People who attach high importance to religion are less likely to experience
marital dissolution economic hardship can put severe emotional stress on a
marriage.
• The most frequently cited reasons were incompatibility and lack of emotional
support; for more recently divorced, presumably younger women, this
included lack of career support
• Spousal abuse was third, suggesting that domestic violence may be more
frequent than is generally realized
• A subtle factor underlying marital conflict and ma tal failure may be a
difference in what the man and woman expect from marriage.
• To many women, marital intimacy entails sharing of feelings and confidences.
Men tend to express intimacy through sex, practical help, companionship,
and shared activities.
• The mismatch between what women expect of their husbands and the way
men look at themselves may be promoted by the media. The headlines, text,
and pictures in men's magazines continue to reinforce the traditional
masculine role as breadwinner, while women's magazines show men in
nurturing roles.
Parenthood
• A first baby marks a major transition in parents' lives. This totally dependent
new per- son changes individuals and changes relationships. As children
develop, parents do, too.
• Men’s and Women’s Involvement in Parenthood: Both women and men often
have mixed feelings about becoming parents. Along with excitement, they
May feel anxiety about the responsibility of caring for a child and the
commitment of time and energy it entails.
• Fathers spend considerably more commitment time with children than
mothers in television or video viewing, outdoor play, and coaching or teaching
sports.
• Some fathers do much more, sharing parenting equally with mothers.
• Such choice challenges still-prominent social expectations that fathers are
primarily bread-winners and mothers are primarily responsible for child
raising.
• Equally sharing parents do not reverse roles; instead, both parents make job
adjustments and career choices compatible with their parenting
responsibilites.
• family patterns vary across cultures and have changed greatly in western
societies. Today women are having fewer children and having them later in
life, and an increasing number choose to remain childless.
• Fathers are usually less involved in child raising than mothers, but some
share parenting equally and some are primary caregivers.
• Marital satisfaction typically declines during the childbearing years.
Expectations and division of tasks can contribute to a marriage's deterioration
or improvement
• Nearly two out of three families with children are dual-earner families. Dualearner families show several patterns and offer both benefits and drawbacks.
• Women and men are equally affected by the stress of a dual earner lifestyle,
but they may be affected in different ways. Family-friendly workplace policies
may help alleviate stress.
• In most cases, the burdens of a dual-earner lifestyle fall most heavily on the
woman. Whether an unequal division of labor contributes to marital distress
may depend on how the spouses perceive their roles.
• A new theory of gender roles proposes that both men and women generally
benefit from combining multiple roles, but this depends on the number of
roles they carry, time demands, and satisfaction derive.
EMPTY NEST SYNDROME
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An important event in a family is the launching of a child into adult life.
Parents face new adjustments as a result of the child’s absence.
Students usually think that their parents suffer from their absence.
A decrease in marital satisfaction after children leaves home, because
parents derive considerable satisfaction from their
children.(Fingerman & baker, 2006)
In today’s uncertain economic climate, there filling of the empty nest
becoming a common occurrence as adult children return to live at home
after several years of college, after graduating from college, or to save
money after taking a full-time job.
Young adults also may move back in with their parents after an
unsuccessful career or a divorce.
And some individuals don’t leave home at all until their middle to late
twenties because they cannot financially support themselves.
The middle generation has always provided support for the younger
generation, even after the nest is bare. Through loans and monetary
gifts for education, and through emotional support, the middle
generation has helped the younger generation.
Adult children appreciate the financial and emotional support their
parents provide them, at a time when they often feel considerable stress
about their career, work and lifestyle. And parents feel good that they can
provide this support.
However, as with most family, living arrangements, there are both
pluses and minuses when adult children return to live at home.
• A common complaint voiced by both adult children and their parents is a
loss of privacy. The adult children complain that their parents restrict
independence, cramp their sex lives, reduce their music listening, and
treat them as children rather than adults.
Parents often complain that their quiet home has become noisy, that
they stay up late worrying when their adult children will come home,
that meals are difficult to plan because of conflicting schedules, that
their relationship as married couple has been invaded, and that they
have to shoulder too much responsibility for their adult children.
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ATTRACTION, LOVE AND CLOSE RELATIONSHIPS- ADULT
MARRIAGE LIFE
Attraction and Love:
1. Familiarity and similarity
Social psychologists have found that familiarity is a necessary condition for
a close relationship to develop. friends and lovers are people who have
been around each other for a long time; they may have grown up together,
gone to high school or college together, worked together, or gone to the
same social events. Friends and lovers tend to have similar attitudes,
values, lifestyles, and physical attractiveness. For some characteristics,
though, opposites may attract. An introvert may wish to be with an
extravert, or someone with little money may wish to associate with
someone who is wealthy, for example.
2. Consensual validation
Why are people attracted to others who have similar attitudes, values, and
lifestyles?
Consensual validation is one reason. An explanation of why individuals are
attracted to people who are similar to them. Our own attitudes and
behavior are supported and validated when someone else’s attitudes and
behavior are similar to our own.
3. Physical attractiveness
Physical Attractiveness Is a degree to which the physical traits of an
individual human person are perceived as pleasing or beautiful.
4. Matching hypothesis
Matching hypothesis states that although we prefer a more attractive
person in the abstract, in the real world we end up choosing someone who
is close to our own level. A recent study revealed that the matching
hypothesis did not hold for couples once they became married .
Close relationships:
1. Intimacy
• Self-disclosure and the sharing of private thoughts are hallmarks of
intimacy. They are engaged in the essential tasks of developing an identity
and establishing their independence from their parents. Juggling the
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competing demands of intimacy, identity, and independence also becomes a
central task of adulthood.
Erikson’s Stage: Intimacy Versus Isolation. The sixth developmental stage,
which is intimacy versus isolation. Erikson describes intimacy as finding
oneself while losing oneself in another person, and it requires a
commitment to another person. If a person fails to develop an intimate
relationship in early adulthood, according to Erikson, isolation results.
An inability to develop meaningful relationships with others can harm an
individual’s personality. It may lead individuals to repudiate, ignore, or
attack those who frustrate them.
Intimacy and Independence: Development in early adulthood often involves
balancing intimacy and commitment on the one hand, and independence
and freedom on the other.
At the same time as individuals are trying to establish an identity, they face
the challenges of increasing their independence from their parents,
developing an intimate relationship with another individual, and
continuing their friendship commitments.
They also face the task of making decisions for themselves without always
relying on what others say or do. The extent to which young adults develop
autonomy has important implications for them.
The balance between intimacy and commitment on the one hand, and
independence and freedom on the other, is delicate. Some individuals are
able to experience healthy independence and freedom along with an
intimate relationship.
2. Friendship
• Increasingly researchers are finding that friendship plays an important role
in development throughout the human life span.
• Adulthood brings opportunities for new friendships as individuals move to
new locations and may establish new friendships in their neighborhood or at
work.
• Gender Differences in Friendships As in the childhood and adolescent years,
there are gender differences in adult friendship. Compared with men, women
have more close friends and their friendships involve more self-disclosure
and exchange of mutual support.
• Women are more likely to listen at length to what a friend has to say and be
sympathetic, and women have been labeled as “talking companions” because
talk is so central to their relationship.
• Women’s friendships tend to be characterized not only by depth but also by
breadth: Women share many aspects of their experiences, thoughts, and
feelings.
• When female friends get together, they like to talk, but male friends are more
likely to engage in activities, especially outdoors. Thus, the adult male pattern
of friendship often involves keeping one’s distance while sharing useful
information.
• Friendships Between Women and Men Cross-gender friendships are more
common among adults than among elementary school children, but not as
common as same-gender friendships in adulthood.
• Cross-gender friendships can provide both opportunities and problems. The
opportunities involve learning more about common feelings and interests
and shared characteristics, as well as acquiring knowledge and
understanding of beliefs and activities that historically have been typical of
one gender.
• Problems can arise in cross-gender friendships because of different
expectations. One problem that can plague an adult cross-gender friendship
is unclear sexual boundaries, which can produce tension and confusion.
3. Love (Triangular theory of love)
• A different conception of the meaning of love is provided by Sternberg's
triangular model of love. This theory suggest that each love relationship is
made up of 3 basic components.
• One component is Intimacy—the closeness two people feel and the strength
of the bond that holds them together. Intimacy is essentially companionate
love. Partners high in intimacy are concerned with each other’s welfare and
happiness, and they value, like count on, and understand one another.
• The second component, passion, is based on romance, physical attraction,
and sexuality—in other words, passionate love. Men are more likely to stress
this component than women.
• The third component, commitment, represents cognitive factors such as the
decision that you love and want to be with the other person plus a
commitment to maintain the relationship on a permanent basis. defined as
the ideal form, but something difficult to attain.
• In Sternberg’s theory, the strongest, fullest form of love is consummate love
which involves all three dimensions. If passion is the only ingredient in a
relationship (with intimacy and commitment low or absent), we are merely
infatuated. Relationship marked by intimacy and commitment but low or
lacking in passion is called affectionate love, a pattern often found among
couples who have been married for many years. If passion and commitment
are present but intimacy is not, Sternberg calls the relationship fatuous love,
as when one person worships another from a distance. But if couples share all
three dimensions—passion, intimacy, and commitment—they experience
consummate love.
• Romantic love: Also called passionate love, romantic love has strong sexual
and infatuation components and often predominates in the early period of a
love relationship.
• Affectionate love: In this type of love, also called companionate love, an
individual desires to have the other person near and has a deep, caring
affection for the other person.
MORAL DEVELOPMENT
Moral development involves changes in thoughts, feelings and behaviours
regarding standards of right and wrong. Moral development has an
intrapersonal dimension, which regulates a person's activities when she or he
is not engaged in social interaction, and an interpersonal dimension, which
regulates social interactions and arbitrates conflict.
Theories:
1. PIAGET’S THEORY
Piaget watched children play marbles to learn how they used and thought
about the games rules. Piaget concluded that children go through two distinct
stages in how they think about morality.
•from 4 to 7 years of age, children display heteronomous morality ,the first
stage of moral development in piaget’s theory. Children think of justice and
rules as unchangeable properties of the world, removed from the control of
peopl
•from7 to10 years of age, children are in a transition, showing some feature of
the first stage of moral reasoning and some stages of the second stage,
autonomous morality
•from about 10 years age and older , children show autonomous morality, the
second stage of moral development. They become aware that rules and laws
are created by people, and in judging and action, they consider the actor’s
intentions as well as the consequences.
A heteronomous thinker judges the rightness or goodness of behaviour by
considering the consequences of the behavior, not the intentions of the actor
and also believes that rules are unchangeable and are handed down by all
powerful authorities. For the moral autonomist, the actor’s intentions assume
paramount importance and accept change and recognize that rules are merely
convenient conventions, subject to change.
The heteronomous thinker also believes in immanent justice, piaget’s concept
that if a rule is broken, punishment will be meted out immediately.
Piaget’s argued that, as children develop, they become more sophisticated in
thinking about social matters, especially about the possibilities and conditions
of cooperation.
KOHLBERG’S THEORY
Lawrence kohlberg stressed that moral reasoning unfolds in stages. The stages,
Kohlberg believed , are universal. Children, adolescents, and adults construct
their moral thoughts as they pass from one stage to the next.
Stages of kohlberg theory
Level 1: Pre-conventional reasoning
Kohlberg hypothesized three levels of moral thinking, each of which is
characterized by two stages. Pre-convensional reasoning is the lowest level of
moral reasoning, said kohlberg. At this level, good and bad are interpreted in
terms of external rewards and punishments.
• Stage 1
Heteronomous morality is the first stage in pre conventional reasoning. at
this stage, moral thinking is tied to punishment. for example, children
think that they must obey because they fear punishment for disobedience.
• Stage 2
Individualism, instrumental purpose, and exchange is the second stage
ofpre-conventionalreasoning.at this stage, individuals reason that it is okay
to pursue one’s own interests but let others do the same. Thus, they think
that what is right involves an equal exchange.
Level 2: Conventional reasoning
It is the second, or intermediate, level in kohlberg’s theory of moral
development. at this level, individual abide by certain standards, but they are
the standards of others, such as parents or the laws of society.
• Stage 3
Mutual interpersonal expectations, relationships and interpersonal
conformity is kohlberg’s third stage of moral development. at this stage,
individual value trust, caring, and loyalty to others as a basis of moral
judgments. Children and adolescents often adopt their parents moral
standards at this stage, seeking to be thought of by their parents as a good
girl or a good boy.
• Stage 4
Social systems morality is the fourth stage. at this stage, moral judgements
are based on understanding the social order, law, justice, and duty.
Level 3: Post conventional reasoning
It is the highest level in kohlberg’s theory of moral development. at this level,
the individual recognizes alternative moral courses, explores the options ,and
then decides on a personal moral code.
• Stage 5
Social contract or utility and individual rights is the fifth stage. at this stage
individual reason that values, rights and principles under gird or transcend
the law. A person evaluates the validity of actual laws, and social systems
can be examined in terms of the degree to which they preserve and protect
fundamental human rights and values.
• Stage 6
Universal ethical principles is the sixth and highest stage. at this stage, the
person has developed amoral standard based on universal human rights.
When faced with a conflict between laws and conscience, the person will
follow conscience, even though the decision might involve personal risk.
MODULE 3
VOCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
VOCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN EARLY ADULTHOOD
For almost all of us, early adulthood is a period of decisions with lifelong
implications. One of the most critical is choosing a career path. The choice we
make goes well beyond determining how much money we will earn; it also
relates to our status, our sense of self-worth, and the contribution that we will
make in life. In sum, decisions about work go to the very core of a young
adult’s identity.
Young adulthood is marked by a stage of development called career
consolidation.
Career consolidation, a stage that begins between the ages of 20 and 40,
young adults becomes centered on their careers.
Most males follow a development pattern that in their early 20s, the men
tended to be influenced by their parents’ authority. But in their late 20s and
early 30s, they started to act with greater autonomy. They married and began
to have and raise children. At the same time, they began to focus on their
careers—the period of career consolidation.
Super: Stages in Career Planning and Development
Some theorists who take an organismic perspective have proposed that
vocational choice and career development occur in stages.
Donald Super's (1957, 1985) influential theory encompasses eight stages of
career exploration and development from puberty through adulthood, which
evolve along with a person's maturing self-concept.
These stages are (1) crystallization, (2) specification, (3) implementation, (4)
establishment, (5) Conslidation, (6) maintenance, (7) deceleration, and (8)
retirement.
During the crystallization stage, in early adolescence, a person has only vague,
general ideas about a career. According to Erikson's theory of personality
development, identity confusion is typical of the teenage years. As young
people begin to develop a firm sense of self, they develop a concept of
occupation as a defining feature of the self.
In the specification stage, from late adolescence into the college years, young
people learn more about various occupations and about what goes on in the
workplace. They begin to focus on specific career tracks and recognize that
choosing one vocation requires abandoning other possibilities.
The implementation stage begins in the early twenties. Young adults try out
one or more entry-level jobs or start protessional training. Coming face to face
with the actual world of work may lead to changes of mind be fore making a
final career choice.
In the establishment stage, which starts in the mid-twenties, young adults have
made a commitment to a career goal-advancement along a chosen path. They
now see their work as an intrinsic part of their self-concept.
On the basis of expertise developed during the establishment stage, adults in
the mid-thirties move into the consolidation stage. They strive to move up in
their fields as fast and as far as possible, continually consolidating their gains
as a firm footing for the next step up the ladder.
By middle age, career goals either have been met or are now seen as out of
reach, and the urge to advance slackens. During the maintenance stage, which
generally begins in the mid forties, middle-aged people focus on maintaining
rather than acquiring, prestige, authority, and responsibility.
People may reduce their workload as they gradually shift into the deceleration
stage in the late fifties, when they face the need to retire in the not-too-distant
future and gradually begin to distance themselves from their work, both
physically and emotionally. Those whose self-concept is too deeply enmeshed
in work may have difficulty letting go.
Finally the retirement stage, which traditionally begins at age 65, brings
formal separation from the job and requires adjustment to lack of a career as a
defining feature of the self.
Developmental Changes
Many children have idealistic fantasies about what they want to be when they
grow up. For example, many young children want to be superheroes, sports
stars, or movie actors. In the high school years, they often have begun to think
about careers from a somewhat less idealistic perspective. In their late teens
and early twenties, their career decision making has usually turned more
serious as they explore different career possibilities and zero in on the career
they want to enter. In college, this often means choosing a major or
specialization that is designed to lead to work in a particular field. By their
early and mid-twenties, many individuals have completed their education or
training and entered a full-time occupation. From the mid-twenties through
the remainder of early adulthood, individuals often seek to establish their
emerging career in a particular field. They may work hard to move up the
career ladder and improve their financial standing.
VOCATIONAL ADJUSTMENT IN EARLY ADULTHOOD
Vocational adjustment: The degree to which an individual succeeds in
choosing the kind of work or career best suited to his or her interests, traits,
and talents. The term differs from occupational adjustment in emphasizing the
match of career to personal goals and aptitudes, rather than the match of the
individual to objective work conditions.
Vocational Adjustments
For most adult men in America today, Happiness depends to a large extent
upon satisfactory vocational adjustments. The whole pattern of their lives is
dependent on how much they earn and how they earn it.
Because an increasing number of women, both single and married, now work
outside the home, they too must make vocational adjustments. These are likely
to present an even more serious problem for women than for men because
many women, in spite of attempts on the part of the federal government to
eliminate sex discrimination in the work world, can find employment only in
low-paying jobs, which are primarily routine in nature or in lines of work, that
require limited ability and training and have little prestige associated with
them. Even women of superior competence are discriminated against in the
vocational world.
Some women adjust to the frustrations and resentments that are inevitable
when Occupational doors are shut to them or opened only slightly to Comply
with laws against discrimination. One of the common ways they do this is by
helping their husbands to achieve the success they themselves would have
liked to achieve but which, because of barriers in their paths, they realize they
would never have been able to achieve.
Studies have revealed that adjustments must be made in a number of areas.
Each of these adjustments not only depends upon and in turn influences
adjustments in other areas but, even more important, the success or failure the
individual experiences in these adjustments has a tremendous influence on
personal and social adjustments as well as on the degree of life satisfaction. Of
the many areas of vocational adjustment adults must make, the ones described
below are the most common and most important.
1. Selecting A Job
The first major adjustment is the selection of a vocation. While some adults
have made this selection years earlier and have been trained for the work the
vocation demands, many young adults, when they graduate from high school,
college, or even a professional training school are not sure of what they want to
do for the rest of their lives. Even worse, they often find that what they thought
they wanted to do is not available or that they lack the training necessary to
carry out the work required by the vocation they selected.
Today, there is evidence that selection of a vocation becomes increasingly
difficult for each successive generation of young adults. This contributes
heavily to the difficulty they have adjusting to their vocations.
Many young adults who have had little or no training for a particular line of
work go through a period of trying out one job after another, often in different
lines of work. This "job-hopping'" as it is called often goes on during the
twenties or even into the thirties. When the selection of a vocation will be
made depends on certain factors, the most important of which are the
individual's liking for the kind of work selected, evidence of ability to do the
work successfully, and necessity, due to financial or other responsibilities.
Young men who must support a family, for example, often make a vocational
selection earlier than those who have no such financial obligations.
Many young adults claim that they do not want to go into the same line of work
as their parents or other relatives. But even though their first vocational
choices may have little relation to the occupations of their fathers or mothers,
there is evidence that the final choice of a job is more often in that general
occupational group than in a different. The exception to the general trend is
when young adults have had education and training above that of their parents
and thus vocational upward mobility is possible.
Factors Making Vocational Choice Difficult
• The ever-increasing number of different kinds of work from which to
choose
• Rapid changes in work skills due to increased use of automation
• Lack of flexibility in working time which is especially difficult for women
who must adjust their work schedule to their home responsibilities
• Long and costly preparation which makes career shifts impossible
• Sexual stereotypes of certain occupations teaching and nursing as "women's
work" and aviation and engineering as '"men's work"
• Unfavorable stereotypes of some occupations, especially the service
occupations
• A desire for a job that will give a sense of identity rather than one that
makes the individual feel like a cog in a big machine
• Lack of security in work, especially seasonal jobs, which influences women's
vocational selections more than men's
• Ignorance of one's own capacities due to lack of job experience or vocational
guidance
• Insufficient education or training for available jobs
• Unrealistic vocational aims carried over from adolescence or even
childhood
• Unrealistic. values and expectations, especially concerning job prestige and
autonomy
2. Stability of Vocational Selection
The second major adjustment the young adult must make is the stabilization of
the vocational selection. It is not at all uncommon for both men and women to
change jobs-job-hopping-during their twenties and sometimes even into their
thirties.
However, by the late thirties, as Gould has pointed out, "it is too late to make
major changes in a career”. This is especially true of a career that requires
special training unless the individual is in a position to take time out for this
training.
How stable the individual's vocational selection will be will depend largely on
three factors. These are job experience, personal interests, and vocational
values. Of lesser importance is economic necessity which, today, plays a less
dominant role than in the past. This is partly because unemployment
insurance enables the worker to live for a period of time on insurance before
getting another job, and partly because many wives go to work to help support
the husband makes a job or even a career shift.
Adults who have had job experience can make far more satisfactory vocational
choices than those who lack such experience. Even job experience on a parttime basis during high school or college helps individuals to know what to
anticipate in different jobs and gives them an insight into features of a job that
will be or will not be to their liking.
When adults choose vocations related to their personal interests, as reflected
in their choice of academic subjects in high school or college or in their choice
of extracurricular activities, they are usually more satisfied with their decisions
than those whose choices have little or no relationship to their interests. When
personal interests are taken into consideration in the choice of jobs, adults are
less likely to change jobs than when factors other than personal interests have
motivated their choices.
Voçational values are even more important in Vocational stability than job
experience and personal interests. Studies of what work means to different
people have revealed that, regardless of their occupations, work has different
meanings for different people. For some, for example, it may be a source of
prestige and social recognition while for others it may be an opportunity for
social participation, a way of being of service to others, a source of enjoyment
and creative self-expression, or merely a way of earning a living.
However, it is important to realize that both men and women tend to change
their vocational values as a result of experience in the work world. As they
grow older, they often attach more value to stability of a job and the
independence it provides them than they do to more interesting work or
higher salaries. This shift in values becomes especially pronounced as adults
approach middle age.
Factors Influencing Stability of Vocational Selection
There are a number of factors that influence the stability of vocational
selection. Stability has been found to increase with age. Those who change jobs
or careers as they approach middle age do so for economic reasons, or because
their interests have changed, or because they want a job with more prestige, or
a job in some area of the state or country where they and their families prefer
to live.
Job changes within an occupation are more frequent than occupational
changes. Professional workers change jobs least, while those in unskilled or the
higher white-collar occupations change most. Skilled workers find it
increasingly hard to change their occupations because of the difficulty of
acquiring new skills. Individuals who are successful in their careers tend to be
stable in their vocational choices. When such individuals do change jobs, they
usually stay within their original general vocational category, and the change is
the result of mature appraisal of talents and predispositions, based on
experience.
Women tend to be less stable in their vocational choices than men, mainly
because married women, who constitute a large proportion of the female labor
force, often must adapt their vocational interests to their home responsibilities
or to changes in their husbands' jobs
3. Adjustment to Work
The third major adjustment is to the job that has been selected. When adults
have made a vocational selection, they must adjust to the work itself, to the
hours of the work day or work week, to their coworkers and superiors, to the
environment in which the work is done, and to the restrictions the work
imposes on their personal lives.
For many young adults, especially those who have had little or no work
experience during their school or college years, this is often the most difficult
of all vocational adjustments. For example, adults who cut classes during their
student days when they felt like sleeping late often find getting up to get to
work at the appointed time day after day both difficult and frustrating.
Similarly, those who, during their student days, avoided the classmates they
disliked now find that they cannot avoid the coworkers they dislike.
Unquestionably, the factor that influences adjustments to work most is the
workers attitude. Havighurst, from a study of workers' attitudes toward work,
has come to the conclusion that they can be divided into two general categories
which he has labeled "society-maintaining work attitudes" and "ego-involving
work attitudes." The characteristics of these attitudes are explained
Common Work Attitudes
Society-maintaining Work Attitudes: Workers whose attitudes are societymaintaining have little or no interest in their work per se and gain little
personal satisfaction from it. Their main interest is in their paychecks. They
often regard their jobs as heavy and unpleasant burdens and look forward to
their time of retirement.
Ego-involving Work Attitudes: Workers who find their jobs ego-involving
derive great personal satisfaction from them. For some, work is a basis of selfrespect and a sense of worth. For others, it is a means of gaining prestige, a
locus of social participation, or a source of intrinsic enjoyment or creative selfexpression, as well as a way of making time pass in a pleasant, routine manner.
Because work means so much to workers with such attitudes, they may
become preoccupied with it to the exclusion of other interests and dread the
time when they will be forced to retire.
Conditions that affect the vocational adjustments of men and women differ in
many respects, and are discussed separately below. In general, it will be
apparent that the adjustments men must make are less difficult than those
women must make but this is, by no means, always the case.
Men's Adjustments There are a number of conditions, important to them,
that influence men's adjustments to their work.
First, if the job allows them to play the roles they want to play, they will be
satisfied and adjust well to their work. It, for example, a man wants to play the
role of leader and has been accustomed to playing this role in school and
college, he will be satisfied with his work if he is in a position of authority over
others.
Second, satisfaction is attained if men feel that their jobs make use of their
abilities and training. Men who are forced, because of limited education and
training, to do work which they regard as below the level of their abilities, will
derive little satisfaction from their work or from the social group in the
community with which they are associated. This dissatisfaction soon spreads
to all areas of their lives and has an adverse effect on their personal and social
adjustments.
Third, adjustment to work is influenced by how men adjust to authority. Many
boys and young men in high school and college resent the authority of their
teachers and school administrators. They expect to achieve autonomy when
they graduate and enter the work world. How well they can adjust to reality in
a world where hierarchy of authority exists will influence their adjustments to
their work. If they continue to resent the authority of those above them, they
will make poor adjustments to their work.
Fourth, adjustments to work are influenced by pay raises or lack of them.
Adult men expect to be paid more each year than they were the year before and
to move slightly higher up on the vocational ladder. If they get what they
regard as reasonable raises and if they see they are climbing up the vocational
ladder, even if at a slower rate than they had hoped, they are satisfied or at
least partially satisfied. However, even climbing the vocational ladder does not
necessarily guarantee good adjustments. This is especially true if workers
think their advancement is due to "pull" rather than to ability. Under such
conditions, this makes them feel inadequate for the work they are now
expected to do.
Sometimes men can advance vocationally only if they are willing to move to
another community. By doing so, the entire family is uprooted and must make
adjustments to new patterns of living. Because of this, many men today
question whether the satisfaction they gain from vocational advancement
compensates for the adjustment problems their families must face. As a result,
there is a growing trend for workers to say no to job transfers.
Women's Adjustments Just as there are a number of conditions that
influence men's adjustments to their work, so there are a number of conditions
that influence women's adjustments. Among these, six stand out as especially
important.
First, when women are unable to find jobs suited to their abilities, training,
and expectations, they feel frustrated. This militates against good adjustments
to their work and to their coworkers and superiors. If they are forced to take
what are considered "sex-appropriate" jobs-instead of jobs in areas where their
interests and abilities lie but which are regarded as "men's work"-their
frustrations increase.
Second, when women feel they are in dead end jobs, especially as they
approach middle age, they often become what Kanter referred to as "bitchy
bosses" and take out their frustrations on their subordinates.
Third, when women have formed stereotyped occupational aspirations, which
means aspirations below their capacities to avoid rivaling or surpassing male
workers, they tend to become frustrated when they discover that their
capacities and training justify higher occupational aspirations. Whether or not
they will raise their aspirations under such conditions will depend partly on
whether they feel they can do so successfully and partly on whether they are
afraid that serious competition with male coworkers may cost them their jobs.
Fourth, when women are denied leadership roles in their occupations,
especially when they have played such roles in school and college, they are not
only frustrated but resentful when they see these roles going to men, many of
whom, they feel, have less ability and training for them than they have. As
Garland and Price have pointed out, there is bias against women in
management not only at the beginning of their careers but also when they have
superior performance records.
Fifth, many women resent having to carry a double work load-one in the work
world and one in the home. They may feel guilty because they must neglect
many of the homemaking duties other women perform or rely on their
children or outside help to assist them. In addition, they may feel guilty it the
recreational activities of the family must be curtailed Or if they are too busy or
too tired when they return from work to take an active part in their children s
interests.
As a result of these feelings on the part of working wives, their home lives may
be far from satisfactory for the whole family. This adds to the adjustment
problems arising from the work itself, as will be disCussed at greater length
later in the chapter.
Sixth, many women long for the job they gave up when they assumed the roles
of housewife and mother. The more they think back to the calm and peace of
their jobs, their salary checks, and their free time to do as they please, the
more restrictive, hectic and frustrating their jobs in the home seem to be.
CAREER, WORK AND LEISURE IN MIDDLE ADULTHOOD
Career in middle adulthood
Middle-aged workers face several important challenges in the twenty-first
century. These include the globalization of work, rapid developments in
information technologies, downsizing of organizations, early retirement, and
concerns about pensions and health care.
Globalization has replaced what was once a primarily White male workforce
with employees of different ethnic and national backgrounds. To improve
profits, many companies are restructuring, downsizing, and outsourcing jobs.
One of the outcomes of these changes is to offer incentives to middle-aged
employees to retire early—in their fifties, or in some cases even forties, rather
than their sixties.
The decline in defined-benefit pensions and increased uncertainty about the
fate of health insurance are decreasing the sense of personal control among
middle-aged workers. As a consequence, many are delaying retirement.
Some midlife career changes are self-motivated; others are the consequence of
losing one’s job.
Some individuals in middle age decide that they don’t want to spend the rest of
their lives doing the same kind of work they have been.
One aspect of middle adulthood involves adjusting idealistic hopes to
accommodate realistic possibilities in light of how much time individuals have
before they retire and how fast they are reaching their occupational goals.
If individuals perceive that they are behind schedule, if their goals are
unrealistic, they don’t like the work they are doing, or their job has become too
stressful, they could become motivated to change jobs.
A final point to make about career development in middle adulthood is that
cognitive factors earlier in development are linked to occupational attainment
in middle age. In one study, task persistence at 13 years of age was related to
occupational success in middle age.
Work in middle adulthood
For many people, midlife is a time of reflection, assessment, and evaluation of
their current work and what they plan to do in the future.
One important issue is whether individuals will continue to do the type of work
they currently do or change jobs or careers.
The role of work, whether one works in a full-time career, a part-time job, as a
volunteer, or a homemaker, is central during middle adulthood.
Many middle-aged adults reach their peak in position and earnings. However,
they may also be saddled with multiple financial burdens including rent or
mortgage, child care, medical bills, home repairs, college tuition, loans to
family members, or bills from nursing homes.
In the United States, approximately 80 percent of individuals 40 to 59 years of
age are employed. In the 51-to-59 age group, slightly less than 25 percent do
not work. More than half of this age group say that a health condition or an
impairment limits the type of paid work that they do.
Also, a recent study found that difficulty managing different job demands was
associated with poor health in middle-aged adults
Do middle-aged workers perform their work as competently as younger
adults? Age related declines occur in some occupations, such as air traffic
controllers and professional athletes, but for most jobs, no differences have
been found in the work performance of young adults and middle-aged adults
Finnish researcher Clas-Hakan Nygard (2013) found that the ability to work
effectively peaks during middle age because of increased motivation, work
experience, employer loyalty, and better strategic thinking.
It is found that the quality of work done by employees in middle age is linked
to how much their work is appreciated and how well they get along with their
immediate supervisors.
And Nygard and his colleagues discovered that work ability in middle age was
linked to mortality and disability 28 years later.
For many people, midlife is a time of evaluation, assessment, and reflection in
terms of the work they are doing now and what they want to do in the future
Among the work issues that some people face in midlife are recognizing
limitations in career progress, deciding whether to change jobs or careers,
determining how and when to rebalance family and work, and planning for
retirement.
The recent economic downturn and recession in the United States has forced
some middle-aged individuals into premature retirement because of job loss
and fear of not being able to reenter the work force. Such premature
retirement also may result in accumulating insufficient financial resources to
cover an increasingly long retirement period.
Leisure in middle adulthood
Leisure: The pleasant times after work when individuals are free to pursue
activities and interests of their own choosing.
We not only need to learn to work well, but we also need to learn to enjoy
leisure. Midlife may be an especially important time for leisure because of the
physical changes that occur and because of a desire to prepare for an active
retirement.
As adults, not only must we learn how to work well, but we also need to learn
how to relax and enjoy leisure.
Leisure refers to the pleasant times after work when individuals are free to
pursue activities and interests of their own choosing—hobbies, sports, or
reading
In one analysis of research on what U.S. adults regret the most, not engaging
in more leisure was one of the top six regrets.
Leisure can be an especially important aspect of middle adulthood. By middle
adulthood, more money is available to many individuals, and there may be
more free time and paid vacations. In short, midlife changes may produce
expanded opportunities for leisure.
In one study, 12,338 men 35 to 57 years of age were assessed each year for five
years regarding whether or not they took vacations. Then the researchers
examined the medical and death records over nine years for men who lived for
at least a year after the last vacation survey. Compared with those who never
took vacations, men who went on annual vacations were 21 percent less likely
to die over the nine years and 32 percent less likely to die of coronary heart
disease. And a recent Finnish study found that engaging in little leisure-time
activity in middle age was linked to risk of cognitive impairment in late
adulthood (23 years later).
Adults at midlife need to begin preparing psychologically for
retirement.Constructive and fulfilling leisure activities in middle adulthood are
an important part of this preparation. If an adult develops leisure activities
that can be continued into retirement, the transition from work to retirement
can be less stressful.
APPRAISAL OF VOCATIONAL ADJUSTMENT
How successfully young adults adjust to their chosen vocations can be judged
by three criteria: their achievements on the job, the amount of voluntary "jobhopping" or changing jobs they do and the degree of satisfaction they and their
families derive from their work and the socioeconomic status associated with
it. Because of their importance, each of these three criteria will be discussed
separately and in detail below.
1. Achievements
The first criterion of an individual's vocational adjustment is the degree of
success achieved in the job. The desire to "get ahead" and be successful, so
strong in adolescence, usually carries over into adulthood. This motivates
young adults to put forth tremendous effort, often at the expense of their
health, their families, and their personal interests. Because of this effort, they
often reach the peak of their vocational achievements during the mid- to late
thirties.
Those who have not made satisfactory adjustments to their work and who have
not shown at least reasonable success in it by the time they reach middle age
are not likely to do so as they grow older. By middle age, the drive for success
is often replaced by a drive for security. For many adults, having a safe job now
means more than climbing higher on the vocational ladder.
In spite of the desire to achieve success, it is important to realize that relatively
few men and even fewer women realize their vocational aspirations or even
their vocational potentials. There are a number of reasons for this. Adults may
tail in this regard because of an environmental obstacle, such as limited
opportunities for the work they can do best in areas where they Iive; personal
obstacles, such as limited training or an inability to get along with coworkers
inadequate motivation to make the most of their training or abilities;
unrealistically high aspirations, age and sex stereotypes about the jobs they
have selected as their life careers; or fear of success.
There are, for example, many stereotypes about male and female success and
failure in sex-linked occupations. Women, for example, are not supposed to
make as great a success in typically masculine lines of work, such as law and
aviation, as in typically feminine lines of work, such as nursing and teaching .
Similarly, there are stereotypes about age and Success, These stereotypes
depict those approaching middle age as potentially less employable and less
likely to be creative and motivated than those who are younger. This affects
not only employment but also advancement, especially for highly demanding
and challenging positions.
Unquestionably, the most common and most serious obstacle to achieving
what they are capable of is fear of success. Some adults may fear vocational
success because they feel inadequate to assume heavy job responsibilities. For
example, if a man gets a job through "pull," he may realize that he does not
have the ability or the training to handle the job successfully. Under such
conditions, he may rationalize his poor achievements or he may project the
blame on others when he does not do well.
Women's fear of success is far more often the result of a feeling that success
will be damaging to their image and may even lead to social rejection.
2. Voluntary Change of Jobs
The second criterion of vocational adjustment is the number of voluntary
changes the individual makes in jobs or even in lines or work. Put in another
way, the amount of "job-hopping" the individual does can be used as a
criterion of Success or failure in vocational adjustment.
Some job changes are involuntary. A factory or business organization may shut
down and all workers thrown out of their jobs. Under such conditions, it does
not necessarily mean that the worker made a poor adjustment to the job. As a
matter of fact, many contented and successful workers lose their jobs in times
of economic depression or when the organization for which they work is taken
over by another organization that wants to put its own employees in key
positions.
Many job changes among women are involuntary. A working wife, no matter
how successfully she may have adjusted to her job, may have to give it up and
look for another job when her husband's work requires a move to another
community. Or, she may have to take a part-time job if she finds her home
duties and responsibilities demand more time and energy than she can give to
the job she liked and was handling successfully.
When, on the other hand, workers voluntarily give up their jobs and look for
others because they are bored with the work they are doing, dislike the Work
environment, feel they are progressing too slowly, or for some other reason, it
suggests poor vocational adjustment. Either they have unrealistically high
aspirations for their achievements or they have unrealistic concepts of what
working means.
Changing a line of work and taking time off to din for a new career is even
more pronounced evidence of poor vocational adjustment. The older the
individual is when change of line of work is made, the stronger the evidence of
poor vocational adjustmen, becase change of career brings with it more
hardship for the worker and the entire family than change of jobs. This is
especially true when special training for the new career is essential (105).
Women, as a group, do far less voluntary job hopping than men and also are
less likely to change their careers. Only when it is necessary are they likely to
do so, even when the work they are doing is not to their liking nor a challenge
to their abilities and training
There are two common reasons for greater stability in vocations among
women than among men. First, there are fewer job opportunities for women
than for men. Giving up a job in the hopes of finding another more to their
liking may mean a long period of unemployment or a step down the vocational
ladder. Second, most women who work outside the home do so because they
and their families need the money. Recognizing how difficult it is for women to
get jobs, they cling to what they have, regardless of their personal feelings,
when they realize how important their earnings are to them and to their
families. Men, by contrast, can take more chances because more vocational
opportunities are available to them, even in times of economic hardship, than
to women.
3. Satisfaction
The third criterion of vocational adjustment is the degree of satisfaction
derived from work. In fact, this is usually regarded as the best single criterion.
There are age cycles in vocational satisfaction for both men and women. In
their early twenties, most individuals are glad to have a job, even if it is not
entirely to their liking, because it gives them the independence they want and
makes marriage possible. With the confidence of youth, they believe it will be
just a matter of time until they are promoted to a better job or find one that is
more to their liking.
Dissatisfaction usually begins to set in during the mid- to late twenties when
young adults have not risen as rapidly as they had hoped to. If family
responsibilities make it impossible for them to change jobs, or if it is a time of
economic depression when jobs are scarce, their dissatisfaction increases. This
period of unrest and dissatisfaction lasts generally until the early or midthirties, after which there is usually an increase in satisfaction resulting from
greater achievement and better financial rewards. It has been found that most
individuals in their thirties like their work, but they do not "love" it. They enjoy
the social conacts work gives them, the feeling of being a part of the world of
action, the satisfaction they derive from achievement, and, most important of
all, the money they can use to live as they want to live.
Women, as a group, tend to be far less satisfied with their jobs than men. This
is not only because they are usually forced to take jobs below their abilities and
training but also because their working often means carrying a work overload
and dissatisfaction on the part of the family members because they must do
this. Relationships with their husbands are often strained when women work
outside the home and this increases their vocational dissatisfaction.
The degree of satisfaction derived from jobs has a marked influence on the
quality and quantity of young adults' work. Satisfaction increases their
motivation to do what they are Capable of doing and to learn more about the
work so that they can perform it more efficiently. It also increases egoinvolvement in their work and this further increases their motivation. Equally
important, vocational satisfaction decreases absenteeism and job turnover.
Workers who are satisfied with their jobs become dedicated to their work and
loyal to their organization. As a result, they play an important role in keeping
worker morale at a high level. From the personal point of view, job satisfaction
contributes to the worker’s self-satisfaction and this, in turn, contributes to the
workers happiness.
WORK LIFE BALANCING
Work-life balance is about creating and maintaining supportive and healthy
work environments, which will enable employees to have balance between
work and personal responsibilities and thus strengthen employee loyalty and
productivity.
Work life balance can be defined as the perfect integration between work and
life both not interfering with each other.
The performance of any organization depends on its employees, which in turn
depends on numerous other factors. They can be work related or family related
or personal. How a person manages various aspects of his life helps in
achieving balance at work and in private life. A major portion of an individual
is spent at the work. Any problem either at work place or at personal life will
definitely affect the balance and thus it is very much essential that both are
maintained well.
Factors influencing Work life balance
There can be many factors that affect the balance of work and life. The first
such factor is the attitude of the employee. Attitude defines ones likes and
dislikes. Attitude is the way of thinking or feeling about something. Balance is
considerably affected by various psychological factors. How one reacts to a
particular situations, handles that situation, how he manages work and peer
pressure are some aspects of psychological behaviours. Emotions management
also plays an important role in achieving and maintaining such balance.
Another important factor is the environment in which the individual stays. The
working environment should be comfortable or it can negatively affect
efficiency. Similarly , the environment at home should be calm and congenial.
The type of job can also influence balance. A job, which is monotonous and not
challenging can make the worker lethargic. The job profile should match the
employee’s profile, in order to enhance his work efficiency and give him job
satisfaction. Since balance is related to both personal and professional life,
factors like, family background, financial and social status of the family, life
stage of the employee, financial standing, family structure, daily routine,
friends circle and social life would also affect his work life. An employee who is
struggling financially or who has a large family to support or other family
problems may spend more time in taking care of those issues. To focus on his
work it is necessary that he is free from any domestic encumbrances. It is
equally important to create a healthy working environment at the work place.
The comfort and ease at the working place enhances the efficiency as well as
the effectiveness of the performance.
Need for Work life balance
The outcomes of imperfect work-life balance faced in the day-to-day life are :
• Stress: employees must be ever performing and ever learning to adapt
themselves to the dynamic market conditions. Adding to this is the constant
pressure from the superiors to meet the targets. Thus, employees have no
other choice but to sacrifice their personal space. The entire process is creating
stress on the employees which are the root cause for many other problems.
• Physical problem: The numbers of employees suffering from physical
ailments like hypertension, diabetes, heart attacks have grown considerably in
the past. Women employees are the worst affected due to the long and stressful
working hours and are facing severe gynaecological problems like cancer and
abortions, etc.,
• Relational problems: since employees are spending more time at work rather
than at home, spouses, parents, children are no longer given the time they
deserve.
• Hangover: working for longer hours at the office, increases employee
interaction. The employees tend to stay in their professional world (mentally)
though they are at home. The effect of professional anger is carried to home.
• Unethical practices: to handle the stress, the employees tend to adopt
Unethical practices like boozing, smoking, drugs, improper relation etc. Also
there are chances that the employee may resort to unfair means to get their
work done ultimately by hook or crook.
• Disturbed families: the worst hit is the family members of the employees.
Fighting with the target achievement may sometimes result in neglecting the
family. The number of broken family has gone up drastically.
• Decreased performance: employees in the organization are never at peace.
When they are at work place issues at home are a concern and vice-versa.
Unknowingly, the employees get into a frustration and cannot give their best
to their profession.
• Organization in jeopardy: it all starts with stress and ultimately the employee
ability and performance is at crossroads. The output to the situation may be
that the organization may not achieve its goals or the employee is no longer
satisfied with the organization. In either case, the entire organization is in
jeopardy.
VOCATIONAL ADJUSTMENT IN MIDDLE ADULTHOOD
In the past, as has been pointed out before, relatively few people lived to
middle age, and even fewer were Vocationally active during this entire period.
Furthermore, changes in vocational patterns and in working conditions took
place at a much slower rate than they do now. Thus relatively few workers
were affected by such changes, and those who were affected suffered only
slightly.
Sex Differences in Vocational Adjustment
Now that ever-increasing numbers of women are entering the work world
during middle age, vocational adjustment problems are no longer experienced
mainly by men. Women have many of the same problems men do and also
many that are unique to themselves.
Normally, the height of vocational success for men comes during the forties
and early fifties. Not only does the worker reach the peak of his status in the
organization at this time, but his income reaches its peak also. Middle-aged
men, as a group, are better satisfied with their jobs than younger men, partly
because they are glad to have jobs and partly because they normally have
better jobs than they had when they were younger .
However, some middle-aged men who have achieved status vocationally are
still dissatisfied with their work. Under such conditions, some of them look
around for jobs more to their liking and others not only change jobs but even
change lines of work .
Vocational instability in the early forties stems from a number of causes, the
most important of which are the general restlessness characteristic of this
period of lite; the ending of responsibility for the support of the children,
which frees the worker from a burden he has carried for many years; and the
realization that it he wants to change jobs, he must do it now or never.
As the number of middle-aged women in the professions, business, and
industry increases, so do their adjustment problems. One of the major
problems involves full equality with men in terms of hiring, promotion, and
salary. Most women, regardless of their training and ability, find it more
difficult to get jobs and to be promoted than do men. This is true in all except
"women's fields," such as elementary school teaching, nursing, and beauty
culture, where women encounter less competition from men than in other
lines of work.
Because of these conditions, not only do many middle-aged women derive less
satisfaction from their work, but they also have less desire to remain in the
same job or to get another job as middle age advances. Some feW, especially
those in the higher levels of work, decide not only to change jobs but even
careers in mid-lite. This usually requires a period of several years of retraining
which, for most women, is financially impossible unless they have
accumulated savings or unless their husbands can pay for the training.
CHANGED WORKING CONDITIONS THAT AFFECT MIDDLE AGED
WORKERS
1. Unfavorable Socíal Attitudes
While older workers used to be respected for the skills they had acquired
through years of experience, today the tendency is to regard them as too old to
learn new skills or keep pace with modern demands, as uncooperative in their
relations with coworkers, and as subject to absenteeism and accidents because
of failing health.
2. Hiring Policies
Because of the widespread belief that maximum productivity can be achieved
by hiring and training younger workers and because employers want to spend
the minimum amount for retirement pensions, middle-aged workers have
greater difficulty getting jobs than younger ones, although this varies for
different kinds of work. Thus changing jobs becomes increasingly more
hazardous with each passing year.
3. Increased Use of Automation
Automated work requires a higher level of intelligence, more training, and
greater speed than work that is not automated. This has an adverse effect on
middle-aged men and women of lower levels of intelligence, with training for
specific lines of work only, or whose health causes them to work more slowly
than younger workers.
4. Group Work
Training in the home, neighborhood, and school puts more stress on social
adjustments now than in the past; thus younger workers can usually get along
better with their superiors and coworkers than can middle-aged workers.
5. Role of the Wife
As the man becomes more successful, the wife must act as a sounding board
for his business problems, she must be an asset to him at social functions
related to his work, and she must become active in community affairs.
6. Compulsory Retirement
With compulsory retirement now coming in the mid-to late sixties, the chances
of promotion after fifty are slim, and the chances of getting a new job are even
slimmer, except at a lower level and with lower pay.
7. Dominance of Big Business
Many small business and industrial organizations are now being taken over by
bigger ones. Middle aged workers whose companies merge with others may
find that there is no place for them in the new organizations or that their jobs
are on lower levels than before. This is especially true of jobs in the managerial
level.
8. Relocation
With the consolidation of small businesses into big Corporations, many
workers are forced to relocate as factories and offices are moved near the
parent company, Middle-aged workers who must move in order to keep their
jobs often have more difficulty in adjusting to the new location than younger
workers have. Furthermore, such moves tend to be traumatic experiences for
middle-aged wives and teenage children.
CONDITIONS INFLUENCING VOCATIONAL ADJUSTMENT IN
MIDDLE AGE
1. Satisfaction with Work
Middle-aged men and women who like their work will make far better
vocational adjustments than those who have stayed on jobs they disliked
because of earlier family responsibilities and who now feel "trapped."
2. Opportunities for Promotion
Each year, as workers approach the age of compulsory retirement, their
chances for promotion grow slighter and they are likely to be pushed aside to
make way for younger workers. This has an adverse effect on vocational
adjustments.
3. Vocational Expectations
As retirement becomes imminent, middle-aged workers assess their
achievements in light of ear lier aspirations. This assessment, whether favor
able or unfavorable, has a profound effect on vocational adjustments.
4. Increased Use of Automation
Certain aspects of automation militate against good vocational adjustment on
the part of middle aged workers, such as boredom and lack of pride in their
work, the possibility of losing their jobs to younger workers, increased speed
required on the job, which makes many older workers nervous, and an
unwillingness to retrain because of the imminence of retirement.
5. Attitude of Spouse
If a wife is dissatisfied with her husband's status at work, his pay, or the fact
that his work takes him away from home and she is lonely-now that the
children are grown-the husband too may be come dissatisfied. Women whose
husbands object to their working and constantly complain about their being
out of the home may als0 experience job dissatisfaction.
6. Attitude toward "Big Business"
Workers who take pride in being associated with big Prestigious companies
will make better adjustments to their work than those who regard themselves
merely as little cogs in big machines.
7. Attitudes toward Coworkers
Middle-aged workers who resent the treatment they receive from their
superiors or their subordinates and who regard younger workers as shiftless
and careless will have less favorable attitudes toward their work than those
who are on friendlier terms with their coworkers.
8. Relocation
How workers feel about moving to another community in order to keep their
present jobs or be promoted to better ones will have a profound influence on
their vocational adjustments.
Factors Influencing Vocational Adjustment in Middle Age
Good vocational adjustment in early adulthood will not necessarily guarantee
the same in middle age because the conditions contributing to good
adjustment at one age often differ from those at another.
Assessment of Vocational Adjustment
Vocational adjustment in middle age, like that in early adulthood, can be
assessed in terms of the success men and women achieve in their work and the
degree of satisfaction they derive from it. Unless both of these conditions are
taken into consideration, an assessment of their vocational adjustments will
not be accurate.
Achievements Many middle-aged workers enjoy a degree of success that
gives them the income, the prestige, the authority, and the autonomy they had
hoped for. Others, also trained and experienced, find themselves in less
rewarding jobs below their capacities. Still others may be successful in that
they have made the most of their abilities and training, but regard themselves
as failures because they have not achieved the success they had hoped for
when they were younger. his lack of satisfaction with their achievements
makes them discontented with their jobs and with themselves as workers.
Women, far more often than men, fail to achieve the vocational success they
are capable of during middle age. This is just as true of women who have
worked continuously since they finished their education as of women who left
their jobs after they were married and then returned to work after their home
and parental duties diminished. This failure is due not lo lack of ability and
training but to prejudice against women in positions of responsibility.
Satisfaction Among industrial workerS, the forties are the "critical age" for
job satisfaction. This age comes slightly later for workers in business and the
professions. By the end of the fifties and early sixties, there is usually a sharp
drop in vocational satisfaction.
About five years before the compulsory retirement age, whether it is sixty,
sixty-two, sixty-five, or seventy, there is usually a sharp drop in the satisfaction
men experience in their work. The reason for this drop is that men now feel
that they have little chance for advancement, no matter how hard they may
work or how faithful they may be about keeping absenteeism to a minimum.
Job satisfaction also wanes as middle age progresses because men begin to feel
the pressures of work as à result of their general slowing down and in Creased
tendency toward fatigue, both of which are natural accompaniments of aging.
In addition, they resent the attitudes of some younger workers who not only
can do the work more easily than they but who often seem to be counting the
days until the older men retire and they can take their places. None of these
factors contributes to job satisfaction.
Middle-aged women, even more than men, fail to derive the satisfaction they
should from their work. And, like men, their dissatisfaction increases with
each passing year until they welcome the compulsory retirement age. Their
dissatisfaction is due to many of the same factors that cause dissatisfaction in
men, but it is intensified by their resentment at not being given equal
opportunities for advancement when their abilities justify it. Members of
minority groups, both men and women, also experience job dissatisfaction for
this reason.
When satisfaction is high, workers will do all they possibly can to keep their
work up to previous standards, even though they may have to press themselves
to do so; they will be loyal to their employers and not take unnecessary time off
from work; they will try to bolster the morale of their coworkers, and they will
not complain, even when things are not to their liking.
CONDITIONS INFLUENCING VOCATIONAL SATISFACTION IN
MIDDLE AGE
• Achievement or near achievement of a vocational goal set earlier.
• Satisfaction on the part of family members, especially the spouse, with the
worker s vocational achievements.
• Opportunities for self-actualization on the job.
• Congenial relationships with coworkers.
• Satisfaction with treatment from management and direct superiors.
• Satisfaction with the provisions made by management for ilIness, vacations,
disability, retirement, and other fringe benefits.
• Feelings of security about the job.
• Not being forced to relocate to hold a job, advance in it, or get a new job.
MODULE 4
LATE ADULTHOOD
Old age is not a curse but a blessing in its true sense for it is the “look back”
time when one can recollect his achievements and stay calm. In order to attain
a peaceful old age one should ensure that his developmental tasks are met and
he has his own positive vision of life. The wisdom of a gray hair is matchless
and hence old age is the wisdom age which should be spent wisely.
Old age is usually considered to be closing period of life span. It is the later
part of life' the period of life after youth and middle age usually associated with
deterioration. The concept of old age is one of attention from time
immemorial. Old age is subdivided in the modern world as early old age (60 70) and advanced old age (70 till death). The period of old age during which
physical and mental decline is gradual and when compensations can be done
for these decline is called senescence and the period during which a more or
less complete decline of mental and physical decline takes place is called
senility.
When old age begins cannot be universally defined as it shifts according to the
context. UN suggests that 60+ years may be usually denoted as old age, which
is the first attempt at an international definition of old age. However the WHO
has recognised that the developing world defines old age, not by years, but by
new roles, loss of previous roles or inability to make active contribution to
society. Most of the developed countries set the age of 60 to 65 for retirement
and old age social programs eligibility. However, various countries and
societies reckon the onset of old age as anywhere from the mid 40 to the 70s.
CHARACTERISTICS OF LATE ADULTHOOD
1. A period of decline: The old age is one marked by decline; both of
physical and mental activities. During old age changes are involutional,
involving a regression to the earlier stages which is a natural
accompaniment of aging. The period of old age during which physical and
mental decline is gradual and when compensations can be done for these
decline is called senescence and the period during which a more or less
complete decline of mental and physical decline takes place is called
senility.
2. Individual differences in the effects of ageing: Aging is common to
all but its effect varies from person to person depending on the varied life
situations and mental dispositions. Thus, it seems out of point to specify
some typical trait of old age.
3. Poor adjustment: Many elderly develop unfavourableself concepts owing
to the unfavourable social attitudes towards them. This result in
maladjustivebehaviours of different degree. Increased loss of status in the
society, a desire to escape helplessness etc. prompts them to behave
indifferently.
4. Stereotypes of old age people: The common stereotype of the aged is
that of men and women who are worn out physically and mentally, who are
unproductive, accident-prone, crotchety and hard to live with, and who,
because their days of usefulness are over, should be pushed aside to make
way for younger people. According to this stereotype, "Young is beautitul
and old is ugly". This unfavorable stereotype, it should be apparent, makes
it difficult to see aging as anything but a negative phase in the life span.
5. Social attitude towards old age: Stereotypes about old age have a
pronounced influence on social attitudes toward both old age and old
people. And because most stereotypes are unfavorable, social attitudes
likewise tend to be unfavorable.
6. The elderly have a Minority Group Status: In spite of the tact that the
number of old people in America today is growing, they occupy a minoritygroup status-a status that excludes them to Some extent from interaction
with other groups in the population and which gives them little or no
power.
This minority-group status is primarily the result of the unfavorable social
attitudes toward the aged that have been fostered by the unfavorable
stereotypes of them.
This "second-class citizenship" puts the elderly on the defensive and has a
marked effect on their personal and social adjustments. It makes the latter
years of life far from. '"golden" for most people, and it causes them to be
victimized by some members of the majority group.
7. Ageing requires role changes: Just as middle-aged people must learn
to play new roles, so must the elderly. In the American culture of today,
where efficiency, strength, speed, and physical attractiveness are highly
valued, elderly people are often regarded as useless. Because they cannot
compete with young people in the areas where highly valued traits are
needed, the social attitude toward them is unfavorable.
8.
Furthermore, it is expected that old people will play a decreasingly less
active role in social and community affairs, as well as in the business and
professional worlds. As d result, there is a marked reduction in the number
of roles the elderly person is able to play, and there are changes in some of
the remaining roles. While these Changes are due in part to the individual's
preferences, they are due mainly to social pressures.
9. Poor adjustment in characteristics of old age: Because of the
unfavorable social attitudes toward the elderly that are reflected in the way
the social group treats them, it IS not surprising that many elderly people
develop unfavorable self-concepts. These tend to be expressed in
maladjusted behavior of different degrees of severity. Those who have a
history of poor adjustments tend to become more maladjusted as age
progresses than those whose earlier personal and social adjustments were
more favorable.
10. Desire for rejuvenation: People had been trying to stay young from
time immemorial. Witchcraft, potions etc. were used for this end in the
ancient time. Today the elderly tries to remain young using medicines. The
desire for remaining young is a general characteristic of the elderly.
GERONTOLOGY
Gerontology is the study of the social, cultural, psychological, cognitive, and
biological aspects of ageing. The word was coined by IlyaIlyich Mechnikov in
1903, from the Greek word, geron, "old man" and logia, "study of".
Gerontology is the study of aging and older adults. The science of gerontology
has evolved as longevity has improved. Researchers in this field are diverse
and are trained in areas such as physiology, social science, psychology, public
health, and policy. A more complete definition of gerontology includes all of
the following:
• Scientific studies of processes associated with the bodily changes from
middle age through later life;
• Multidisciplinary investigation of societal changes resulting from an
aging population and ranging from the humanities (e.g., history,
philosophy, literature) to economics; and
• Applications of this knowledge to policies and programs.
The Difference between Gerontology and Geriatrics
Gerontology is multidisciplinary and is concerned with physical, mental, and
social aspects and implications of aging. Geriatrics is a medical specialty
focused on care and treatment of older persons. Although gerontology and
geriatrics have differing emphases, they both have the goal of understanding
aging so that people can maximize their functioning and achieve a high quality
of life.
Why Study Gerontology?
With an understanding of gerontology, an individual can make plans for her or
his own life course and needs, and communities and legislators can make
necessary public policy choices. Public policy decisions are critical because of
the tremendous growth of our population aged 65. Georgia’s older adult
population is the fourth fastest growing in the nation and currently numbers
1.2 million. The South added nearly 2.5 million older adults between 2000 and
2010. Nationally, it is projected that the older population will double to 89
million by 2050 – a rate of growth that is twice as fast as the under age 50
population. The demand for professionals with expertise in gerontology will
mirror these increases.
Making a difference in the lives of aging adults
Professionals working in aging-related disciplines report great satisfaction in
addressing the challenges of community members who are growing older and
helping to maintain the quality of their lives. The benefit flows both directions:
those who work with aging adults enjoy the wit, wisdom, and creativity of the
older persons with whom they come in contact.
DEVELOPMENT IN LATE ADULTHOOD
A. Physical development in late adulthood
The physical decline that accompanies aging usually occurs slowly, and
sometimes lost function can even be restored.
1. The aging brain
• The Shrinking, Slowing Brain: On average, the brain loses 5 to 10
percent of its weight between the ages of 20 and 90. Brain volume also
decreases.
• A study found that the volume of the brain was 15 percent less in older
adults than younger adults.
• Some areas of the brain shrink more than others (The prefrontal cortex
is one area that shrinks the most with aging, and recent research has
linked this shrinkage with a decrease in cognitive functioning and slower
motor behavior in older adults)
• A general slowing of function in the brain and spinal cord begins in
middle adulthood and accelerates in late adulthood. Both physical
coordination and intellectual performance are affected. For example,
after age 70 many adults no longer show a knee jerk reflex
• Aging has also been linked to a reduction in synaptic functioning and
the production of some neurotransmitters, including acetylcholine,
dopamine, and gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)
2. Sleep
• Fifty percent or more of older adults complain of having difficulty
sleeping, which can have detrimental effects on their lives
• Sleep time and sleep efficiency declined in older adults
• Poor sleep is a risk factor for falls, obesity, a lower level of cognitive
functioning, and earlier death
• Many of the sleep problems of older adults are associated with health
problems
• Trouble holds a chronic prevalence in old age and results in daytime
sleepiness.
3. Immune system
• Less efficient immune function is a mark of old age.
• The extended duration of stress and diminished restorative processes in
older adults may accelerate the effects of aging on immunity
• Exercise can improve immune system functioning.
• Because of the decline in the functioning of the immune system that
accompanies aging
• Chronic diseases: Most older persons have at least one chronic condition
and many have multiple conditions.The most frequently occurring
conditions among older persons are uncontrolled hypertension,
arthritis, and heart disease.
4. Physical appearance and movement
• In late adulthood, the changes in physical appearance that began
occurring during middle age become more pronounced. Wrinkles and
age spots are the most noticeable changes.
• Also become shorter as we get older because of bone loss in their
vertebrae
• Weight usually drops after we reach 60 years of age. This likely occurs
because of muscle loss, which also gives our bodies a “sagging” look
• Older adults move more slowly than young adults
• Regular walking decreases the onset of physical disability and reduces
functional limitations in older adults
• Bone and joint: Old bones are marked by thinning and shrinkage. This
results in a loss of height (about two inches by age 80), a stooping
posture in many people, and a greater susceptibility to bone and joint.
• Diseases such as osteoarthritis and osteoporosis.
• Dental problems: Less saliva and less ability for oral hygiene in old age
increases the chance of tooth decay and infection.
5. Sensory development (hearing, smell & taste, touch & pain)
• Vision With aging, visual acuity, color vision, and depth perception
decline. Several diseases of the eye also may emerge in aging adults.
Visual Acuity In late adulthood, the decline in vision that began for most
adults in early or middle adulthood becomes more pronounced. Visual
processing speed declines in older adults. Night driving is especially
difficult, to some extent because of diminishing sensitivity to contrasts
and reduced tolerance for glare. Dark adaptation is slower. Eyesight:
Diminished eyesight makes it more difficult to read in low lighting and
in smaller print. Speed with which an individual reads and the ability to
locate objects may also be impaired.
• Hearing impairment usually does not become much of an impediment
until late adulthood. Only 19 percent of individuals from 45 to 54 years
of age experience some type of hearing problem. 63 percent of adults 70
years and older had a hearing loss defined as an inability to hear sounds
at frequencies higher than 25 dB with their better ear. Hearing loss in
older adults is linked to declines in activities of daily living, cognitive
functioning, and language
• Smell and Taste Most older adults lose some of their sense of smell or
taste, or both. These losses often begin around 60 years of age. A
majority of individuals age 80 and older experience a
significantreduction in smell
• Touch and Pain with aging, individuals could detect touch less in the
lower extremities (ankles, knees, and so on) than in the upper
extremities (wrists, shoulders, and so on)
6. The circulatory and respiratory systems
• Heart: becomes less efficient in old age with a resulting loss of stamina.
In addition, atherosclerosis can constrict blood flow.
• Cardiovascular disorders increase in late adulthood
• 57 percent of 80-year-old men and 60 percent of 81-year-old women
had hypertension, and 32 percent of the men and 31 percent of the
women had experienced a stroke
• A rise in blood pressure with age can be linked to illness, obesity,
stiffening of blood vessels, stress, or lack of exercise
• Lungs: expand less providing lesser amount of oxygen as compared to
the normal rate and results in lesser energy.
7. Sexuality
• Decreases significantly with age, especially after age 60, for both
women and men. Sexual drive in both men and women decreases as
they age.
• In the absence of two circumstances—disease and the belief that old
people are or should be asexual—sexuality can be lifelong. Aging,
however, does induce some changes in human sexual performance,
more so in males than in females
• Orgasm becomes less frequent in males with age
• More direct stimulation usually is needed to produce an erection
• Digestive system: About 40% of the time, old age is marked by digestive
disorders such as difficulty in swallowing, inability to eat enough and to
absorb nutrition, constipation and bleeding.
• Pain: afflicts old people
increasing with age up. Most pains
are rheumatological or malignant.
• Skin: loses elasticity, becomes drier, and more lined and wrinkled.
• Taste buds: diminish so that by age 80 taste buds are down to 50% of
normal. Food becomes less appealing and nutrition can suffer.
• Voice: In old age, vocal chords weaken and vibrate more slowly. This
results in a weakened, breathy voice.
B. Cognitive development in late adulthood
• Cognitive mechanics (the neurophysiological architecture, including
the brain) are more likely to decline in older adults than are cognitive
pragmatics (the culture-based software of the mind).
• Speed of processing declines in older adults.
• Older adults’ attention declines more on complex than simple tasks.
• Regarding memory, in late adulthood, explicit memory declines
more than implicit memory; episodic memory declines more
than semantic memory;
• working memory also declines. Components of executive function—
such as cognitive control and working memory—decline in late
adulthood.
• Decision making is reasonably well preserved in older adults.
• Wisdom is expert knowledge about the practical aspects of life that
permits excellent judgment about important matters. Baltes and his
colleagues have found that high levels of wisdom are rare, the time frame
of late adolescence and early adulthood is the main window for wisdom to
emerge, factors other than age are critical for wisdom to develop, and
personality-related factors are better predictors of wisdom than cognitive
factors such as intelligence.
• Successive generations of Americans have been better educated.
Education is positively correlated with scores on intelligence tests. Older
adults may return to college for a number of reasons. Successive
generations have had work experiences that include a stronger emphasis
on cognitively oriented labor. The increased emphasis on information
processing in jobs likely enhances an individual’s intellectual abilities.
• Poor health is related to decreased performance on intelligence tests
byolder adults. Exercise is linked to higher cognitive functioning in older
adults.
• Researchers are finding that older adults who engage in cognitive
activities, especially challenging ones, have higher cognitive functioning
than those who don’t use their cognitive skills.
C. Socio-emotional development in late adulthood
1. Adaptable: describes most people in their old age. In of spite the
stressfulness of old age, they are described as “agreeable” and
“accepting.” However, old age dependence induces feelings of
incompetence and worthlessness in a minority.
2. Caution: marks old age. This trend towards “risk-taking” stems from
the fact that old people have less to gain and more to lose by taking risks
than younger people.
3. Depressed mood: According to Cox, Abramson, Devine, and Hollon,
old age is a risk factor for depression caused by prejudice. When people
are prejudiced against the elderly and then become old themselves, their
anti- elderly prejudice turns inward, causing depression. Old age
depression often result in suicide.
4. Fear: of crime in old age, especially among the frail, sometimes weighs
more heavily than concerns about finances or health and restricts what
they do. The fear persists in spite of the fact that old people are victims of
crime less often than younger people.
5. Mental disorder: afflict about 15% of the old aged people according to
estimates by the World Health Organization. A good number of the old
aged people suffer from illness like dementia, alzheimers and
depression.
THEORIES THAT FOCUS ON SOCIO-EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT
IN LATE ADULTHOOD
1. Erikson’s theory
Integrity Versus Despair Integrity versus despair is Erikson’s eighth
and final stage of development, which individuals experience during late
adulthood. This stage involves reflecting on the past and either piecing
together a positive review or concluding that one’s life has not
been well spent. Through many different routes, the older adult may
have developed a positive outlook in each of the preceding
periods. If so, retrospective glances and memories will reveal a picture of
a life well spent, and the older adult will be satisfied (integrity). But if the
older adult resolved one or more of the earlier stages in a negative way
(being socially isolated in early adulthood or stagnating in middle
adulthood, for example), retrospective glances about the total worth of his
or her life might be negative (despair).
Life Review Life review is prominent in Erikson’s final stage of integrity
versus despair. Life review involves looking back at one’s life experiences,
evaluating them, interpreting them, and often reinterpreting them. Life
reviews can include sociocultural dimensions, such as culture, ethnicity,
and gender. Life reviews also can include interpersonal, relationship
dimensions, including sharing and intimacy with family members or a
friend
2. Activity theory
Activity theory states that the more active and involved older adults are,
the more likely they are to be satisfied with their lives. Researchers have
found strong support for activity theory
When older adults are active, energetic, and productive, they age more
successfully and are happier than if they disengage from society.
Activity theory suggests that many individuals will achieve greater life
satisfaction if they continue their middle-adulthood roles into late
adulthood. If these roles are stripped from them (as in early retirement),
it is important for them to find substitute roles that keep them active and
involved.
3. Socio-emotional Selectivity theory
Socioemotional selectivity theory states that older adults become
more selective about their social networks. Because they place a
high value on emotional satisfaction, older adults spend more time with
familiar individuals with whom they have had rewarding relationships.
Developed by Laura Carstensen (1998), this theory states that older adults
deliberately withdraw from social contact with individuals
peripheral to their lives while maintaining or increasing contact with
close friends and family members with whom they have had enjoyable
relationships. This selective narrowing of social interaction maximizes
positive emotional experiences and minimizes emotional risks as
individuals become older.
Socioemotional selectivity theory challenges the stereotype that the
majority of older adults are in emotional despair because of their social
isolation. Rather, older adults consciously choose to decrease the total
number of their social contacts in favor of spending increasing time in
emotionally rewarding moments with friends and family. That is, they
systematically refine their social networks so that available social partners
satisfy their emotional needs.
4. Selective Optimization with Compensation Theory
Selective optimization with compensation theory was proposed by Paul
Baltes and his colleagues (Baltes, 2003 )
Selective optimization with compensation theory states that successful
aging depends on three main factors: selection, optimization, and
compensation (SOC). The theory describes how people can produce new
resources and allocate them effectively to the tasks they want to master.
Selection is based on the concept that older adults have a reduced capacity
and loss of functioning, which require a reduction in performance in most
life domains.
Optimization suggests that it is possible to maintain performance in
some areas through continued practice and the use of new technologies.
Compensation becomes relevant when life tasks require a level of
capacity beyond the current level of the older adult’s performance
potential. Older adults especially need to compensate in circumstances
involving high mental or physical demands, such as when thinking about
and memorizing new material in a very short period of time, reacting
quickly when driving a car, or running fast. When older adults develop
an illness, the need for compensation is obvious.
DEVELOPMENT OF PERSONALITY AND SELF
1. Personality
Researchers have found that several of the Big Five factors of personality
continue to change in late adulthood (The Big Five factors of personality are
openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and
neuroticism.) and in another study older adults were more conscientious
and agreeable than middle-aged and younger adults
A higher level of conscientiousness has been linked to living a longer life
than the other four factors
Following are the results of three other studies of the Big Five factors in
older adults:
• The transition into late adulthood was characterized by increases in
these aspects of conscientiousness: impulse control, reliability, and
conventionality.
• Perceived social support predicted increased conscientiousness in older
adults.
• More severe depression in older adults was associated with higher
neuroticism and lower extraversion and conscientiousness
• Elevated neuroticism, lower conscientiousness, and lower openness
were related to an increased risk of older adults’ developing Alzheimer
disease across a period of six years
Affect and outlook on life are also linked to mortality in older adults.
Older adults characterized by negative affect don’t live as long as those
who display more positive affect, and optimistic older adults who have a
positive outlook on life live longer than their counterparts who are more
pessimistic and have a negative outlook on life.
2. Self
a. Self-esteem rose considerably in the fifties and sixties, and then dropped
significantly in the seventies and eighties. Why might self- esteem decline in
older adults? Explanations include deteriorating health physical and
negative societal attitudes toward older adults
b. Possible Selves Possible selves are what individuals might become, what
they would like to become, and what they are afraid of becoming (Bolkan&
Hooker, 2012; Markus &Nurius, 1987). Acceptance of ideal and future
selves decreases and acceptance of past selves increases in older adults
c. Self-Control Although older adults are aware of age-related losses, most
are able to maintain a sense of self-control. In developed countries such as
Denmark, the United States, and Great Britain, adults in their sixties and
seventies reported having more control over their lives than did their
counterparts in their forties and fifties. Older adults in Denmark reported
the highest perceptions of control. Self-control plays an important role in
older adults’ engagement in healthy activities.
FAMILY AND RELATIONSHIPS
1.
Life style diversity
Older adult men are more likely to be married than older adult women.
Retirement alters a couple’s lifestyle and requires adaptation.
Married older adults are often happier than single older adults.
There are social, financial, and physical consequences of divorce for older
adults. More divorced older adults, increased longevity, and better
healthhave led to an increase in remarriage by older adults.
Some older adults perceive negative pressure about their decision to
remarry after becoming widowed or divorced, although the majority of
adult children support the decision of their older adult parents to remarry.
An increasing number of older adults cohabit.
2.
Attachment
Older adults have fewer attachment relationships than younger adults;
attachment anxiety decreases with increasing age; attachment security is
linked to psychological and physical well-being in older adults; and
insecure attachment is associated with a greater perceived negative
caregiving burden in caring for Alzheimer disease patients.
3.
Older adult parents and their adult children
Approximately 80 percent of older adults have living children, many of
whom are middle-aged. Increasingly, diversity characterizes the
relationships of older parents and their adult children. Adult daughters are
more likely than adult sons to be involved in the lives of aging parents. An
important task that adult children can perform is to coordinate and
monitor services for an aging parent who becomes disabled. Ambivalence
can characterize the relationships of adult children with their aging
parents.
4.
Great grand parenting
Because of increased longevity, more grandparents today are also greatgrandparents. One contribution of great-grandparents is knowledge of
family history. One research study found that young adults have a more
involved relationship with grandparents than with great-grandparents.
5.
Friendship
There is more continuity than change in friendship for older adults.
6.
Social support and social integration
Social support is linked with improved physical and mental health in older
adults. Older adults who participate in more organizations livelonger than
their counterparts who have low participation rates. Older adults often
have fewer peripheral social ties but a strong motivation to spend time in
relationships with close friends and family members that are emotionally
rewarding.
7.
Altruism and volunteering
Altruism is linked to having a longer life. Volunteering is associated with
higher life satisfaction, less depression and anxiety, better physical health,
and more positive emotions.
AGEING
Ageing is the process of becoming older. It represents the accumulation of
changes in a person over time. Ageing in humans refers to a multidimensional
process of physical, psychological, and social change. Some dimensions of
ageing grow and expand over time, while others decline. Reaction time, for
example, may slow with age, while knowledge of world events and wisdom
may expand. Research shows that even late in life, potential exists for physical,
mental, and social growth and development. Ageing is an important part of all
human societies reflecting the biological changes that occur, but also reflecting
cultural and societal conventions. Ageing is among the largest known risk
factors for most human diseases.
Types of ageing
Age is measured chronologically. However the term “ageing” is ambiguous to a
great extent. There can be multiple types of ageing.
1. Universal ageing: Age changes that all people share.
2. Probabilistic ageing: Age changes that may happen to some, but not all
people as they grow older.
3. Social ageing: Cultural age-expectations of how people should act as they
grow older.
4. Biological ageing: An organism’s physical state as it ages.
5. Proximal ageing: Age-based effects that come about because of factors in
the recent past.
6. Distal ageing: Age-based differences that can be traced back to a cause
early in person’s life, such as childhood poliomyelitis.
7. Functional ageing: Two people may be of the same age, but differ in their
mental and physical capacities according to their circumstances.
8. Population ageing: The increase in the number and proportion of older
people in society.
BIOLOGICAL THEORIES OF AGEING
Many theories have been proposed to explain the process of aging, but neither
of them appears to be fully satisfactory. The traditional aging theories hold
that aging is not an adaptation or genetically programmed.
Modern biological theories of aging in humans fall into two main categories:
programmed and damage or error theories.
A. Programmed theories
The programmed theories imply that aging follows a biological timetable
(regulated by changes in gene expression that affect the systems
responsible for maintenance, repair and defense responses)
1. Programmed longevity theory is the idea that aging is caused by
certain genes switching on and off over time.
2. Endocrine theory is the idea that regular changes in hormones
control aging. Biological clocks act through hormones to control the
pace of aging.
3. Immunological theory states that the immune system is
programmed to decline over time, leaving people more susceptible to
diseases.
B. Damage or Error theories
Damage or error theories emphasize environmental assaults to living
organisms that induce cumulative damage at various levels as the cause of
aging
1. Wear and tear theory asserts that cells and tissues simply wear out.
Cells and tissues have vital parts that wear out resulting in aging. Like
components of an aging car, parts of the body eventually wear out from
repeated use, killing them and then the body. So the wear and tear
theory of aging was first introduced by Dr. August Weismann, a
German biologist, in 1882, it sounds perfectly reasonable to many
people even today
2. Rate of living theory is the idea that the faster an organism uses
oxygen, the shorter it lives. The greater an organism's rate of oxygen
basal metabolism, the shorter its life span
3. Cross linking theory states that cross-linked proteins accumulate
and slow down the body's processes. The cross-linking theory of aging
was proposed by Johan Bjorksten in 1942 (8). According to this theory,
an accumulation of cross linked proteins damages cells and tissues,
slowing down bodily processes resulting in aging.
4. Free radicals theory asserts that free radicals in the environment
cause damage to cells, which eventually impairs their function (Free
radicals are a byproduct of normal cell function. When cells create
energy, they also produce unstable oxygen molecules. These molecules,
called free radicals, have a free electron, which makes the molecule
highly unstable). This theory, which was first introduced by Dr.
Gerschman in 1954, but was developed by Dr. Denham Harman (10,
11), proposes that superoxide and other free radicals cause damage to
the macromolecular components of the cell, giving rise to accumulated
damage causing cells, and eventually organs, to stop functioning. The
macromolecules such as nucleic acids, lipids, sugars, and proteins are
susceptible to free radical attack.
5. Somatic DNA damage theory is the idea that genetic mutations
cause cells to malfunction. This theory, which was first introduced by
Dr. Gerschman in 1954, but was developed by Dr. Denham Harman
(10, 11), proposes that superoxide and other free radicals cause damage
to the macromolecular components of the cell, giving rise to
accumulated damage causing cells, and eventually organs, to stop
functioning. The macromolecules such as nucleic acids, lipids, sugars,
and proteins are susceptible to free radical attack.
VOCATIONAL ADJUSTMENT IN LATE ADULTHOOD
Two of the most difficult developmental tasks of old age relate to areas that are
especially important for all adults-work and family life. Elderly people face
adjustment problems in these areas that are similar in some respects to those
they faced earlier but that are unique in many ways. For example, not only
must they adjust to working conditions but they must also adjust to the
realization that their usefulness to their employers is lessened as they grow
older and that, as a result, their status in the work group decreases.
Furthermore, they have the problem of adjusting to retirement which, for most
elderly people, comes soon after old age sets in.
In the family, older men and women must adjust to depending on each other
for companionship to the lack of contact with, and influence over, their
children; and often to the loss of a spouse.
Unmarried elderly people often face adjustment problems that are more
serious than the ones confronting those who are married or who have lost a
spouse.
Vocational and family adjustments in old age are complicated by economic
factors which play a far more important role now than they did earlier.
Vocational Adjustments in Old Age
Older men are more interested in steady work than in advancement which they
realize is not likely to be forthcoming. As a result, they are usually more
satisfied with their jobs than younger men. Even knowing that retirement is
imminent does not affect their attitudes toward their work if they enjoy what
they are doing and are anxious to work.
Even women who did not work during early adulthood when they were
preoccupied with house work and child care, often return to work during
middle age and find it a satisfactory Compensation for diminished home and
family responsibilities. However, they tend to be less satisfied with their jobs
than men, primarily because the only jobs available to middleaged women who
reenter the labor force are even less interesting and less challenging than those
available to middle-aged men who shift to other jobs during middle age. As a
result, older women are less satisfied with the jobs they have and are less
disturbed at the thought of retirement than older men.
ADJUSTMENT TO RETIREMENT IN LATE ADULTHOOD
Retirement may be the termination of a pattern of life or a transition to a new
pattern of life. It always involves role changes, changes in interests and values,
and changes in the whole pattern of the individual's life.
Kinds of Retirement may be voluntary or compulsory, regular or early. Some
workers retire voluntarily, often before the age of compulsory retirement. This
they do because of health or a desire to spend the remaining years of their lives
doing things that are more meaningful to them than their jobs. For others,
retirement is involuntary or compulsory. The organization for which the
individual works sets an age at which all its workers must retire, regardless of
whether they want to or not. Those who would prefer to remain on the job but
are forced out at the compulsory retirement age often show resentment and, as
a result, have little motivation to make good adjustments to retirement.
While most workers retire at the regular compulsory retirement age, there is a
growing trend to take an early retirement. Those who take early retirement
may do so, as in the case of voluntary retirement, For health reasons or
because they want to spend the remaining years of their lives doing things that
are more meaningful and more enjoyable to them than jobs. Sometimes early
retirement is compulsory because management wants to make changes and its
older workers out to make way for new ones, and Sometimes it is voluntary.
Some workers may resent being forced out of their jobs and into retirement
before the compulsory retirement age but others are satisfied to do so. Their
satisfaction depends not somuch on their desire to continue working as on
their financial situation in the form of a pension and whether or not they have
outside interests.
Attitudes toward Retirement
Until recently, retirement was a problem that affected relatively few workers.
Today, however, with the widespread acceptance of compulsory-retirement
policies and the growing tendency for men and women to live longer than ever
before, retirement is becoming one of the major social problems of our culture.
Each year, the gap between the total life span and the span of the working lite
tor men and women is widened. As a result, the length of the retirement period
grows longer and longer for more people.
To the younger person, whose days are so often overly crowded with duties
and responsibilities, the years of retirement or semiretirement seem like a
golden period of life. By middle age, thoughts of retirement grow increasingly
strong, not only because men and women find the burden of work becoming
heavier and heavier as their strength and energy diminish but also because
they realize that they are waging a losing battle in their competition with
younger workers.
When retirement actually comes, however, it may seem far less desirable than
it did earlier. Elderly people may find that their pensions are insufficient to
enable them to live as they had planned and hoped to live. As a result, they are
forced to try to find jobs to supplement their incomes. This means that, for
most elderly people, there is a marked difference between the expectations and
the realities of retirement. As Beverley has explained, on the basis of material
gathered from a nationwide survey of attitudes of elderly people, "Retirement
looks better to the younger group than to those already in it. The value placed
on leisure time appeared to increase in direct proportion to income and
education'" .
Havighurst has divided elderly people into two general categories on the basiS
of their attitudes toward retirement. The first category he labeled the
transformers-those who are able and willing to change their lifestyles by
reducing their activities by choice and by creating for themselves new and
enjoyable lifestyles. This they do by dropping old roles and undertaking new
ones. They seldom relax and do notning but, instead, they develop hobbies,
travel and become active in community affairs. The second category, the
maintainers, Havighurst has explained, hold onto work by pursuing parttime
assignments after retirement and by supplementing this with other activities
to fill their time. They, like the transformers, seldom relax and do nothing but
what they do is a continuation of what they have done for years-some form of
work for which they are paid as they were throughout their working years.
Conditions Affecting Adjustment To Retirement
• Workers who retire voluntarily adjust better than those who are forced to
retire, especially if they want to continue to work.
• Poor health at the time of retirement facilitates adjustment while good
health is likely to militate against it.
• Most workers find that tapering off is better than abruptly ending patterns
of work and living established many years earlier.
• Preretirement counseling and planning aid adjustment.
• Workers who develop interests in substitute activities that are meaningful
to them and which provide many of the satisfactions they formerly derived
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from work will not find adjustment to retirement as emotionally disturbing
as those who fail to develop substitute interests.
Social contacts, like those provided in many homes for the aged, aid in
adjusting to retirement. Remaining in their own homes or in the homes of
relatives usually cuts retired people off from social contacts.
The less change in the pattern of living retirement necessitates, the better
the adjustment will be.
A good economic status, which makes it possible to live comfortably and
enjoy meaningful recreations, is essential to good adjustment to
retirement.
A happy marital status aids adjustment to retirement while a frictional one
militates against it.
The more the workers like their work, the poorer their adjustment to
retirement. There is an inverse relationship between work satisfaction and
retirement satisfaction.
Place of residence affects adjustment to retirement. The more the
community offers for companionship and activities tor the elderly, the
better they will adjust to retirement.
The attitudes of family members toward retirement have a profound effect
on workers' attitudes. This is especially true of the attitudes of spouses.
FACING DEATH AND LOSS
All deaths are different, just as all lives are different. The experience of dying is
not the same for an accident victim, a patient with terminal cancer, a person
who commits suicide, and someone who dies instantaneously of a heart attack.
Yet, all people are human, and just as there are commonalities in adults’ lives,
there are similarities in the way adults face death at different ages.
Approaching death
1. Physical and Psychological issues:
Psychological changes often begin to take place even before there are overt
physiological signs of dying. Terminal drop in intellectual functioning often
appears at this time. Terminal drop is sometimes attributed to chronic
ailments that sap mental energy and motivation. It affects abilities that are
relatively unaffected by age, such as vocabulary, and it is seen in people who
die young as well as those who die at a more advanced age.Personality changes
also show up during the terminal period.
Kubler-Ross five stage theory
Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, a pioneer in the study of death and dying, suggested
that people pass through five stages as they adjust to the prospect of death:
denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Although research
shows that people who are dying do not necessarily pass through each of these
stages in the exact order, all of these reactions are commonly experienced.
Stage 1: Denial
Denial is thought to be a person’s initial reaction on learning of the diagnosis
of terminal illness. Denial is a defense mechanism by which people avoid the
implications of an illness. They may act as if the illness were not severe, it will
shortly go away, and it will have few long-term implications. In extreme cases,
the patient may even deny that he or she has the illness, despite having been
given clear information about the diagnosis. Denial, then, is the subconscious
blocking out of the full realization of the reality and implications of the
disorder.
Denial early on in adjustment to life threatening illness is both normal and
useful because it can protect the patient from the full realization of impending
death. Usually it lasts only a few days. When it lasts longer, it may require
psychological intervention.
Stage 2: Anger
A second reaction to the prospect of dying is anger. The angry patient is
asking, “Why me? Considering all the other people who could have gotten the
illness, all the people who had the same symptoms but got a favorable
diagnosis, and all the people who are older, dumber, more bad-tempered, less
useful, or just plain evil, why should I be the one who is dying?”
The angry patient may show anger toward anyone who is healthy, such as
hospital staff, family members, or friends. Angry patients who cannot express
their anger directly by being irritable may do so indirectly by becoming
embittered. Bitter patients show resentment through death jokes, cracks about
their deteriorating appearance and capacities, or pointed remarks about all the
exciting things that they will not be able to do because those events will
happen after their death.
Anger is one of the harder responses for family and friends to deal with. They
may feel they are being blamed by the patient for being well. The family may
need to work together with a therapist to understand that the patient is not
really angry with them but at fate; they need to see that this anger will be
directed at anyone who is nearby, especially people with whom the patient
feels no obligation to be polite and well behaved. Unfortunately, family
members often fall into this category.
Stage 3: Bargaining
Bargaining is the third stage of Kübler Ross’s formulation. At this point, the
patient abandons anger in favor of a different strategy: trading good behavior
for good health. Bargaining may take the form of a pact with God, in which the
patient agrees to engage in good works or at least to abandon selfish ways in
exchange for better health or more time. A sudden rush of charitable activity
or uncharacteristically pleasant behavior may be a sign that the patient is
trying to strike such a bargain.
Stage 4: Depression
Depression, the fourth stage in Kübler-Ross’s model, may be viewed as coming
to terms with lack of control. The patient acknowledges that little can now be
done to stay the course of illness. This realization may be coincident with a
worsening of symptoms, tangible evidence that the illness is not going to be
cured. At this stage, patients may feel nauseated, breathless, and tired. They
may find it hard to eat, to control elimination, to focus attention, and to escape
pain or discomfort.
Kübler-Ross refers to the stage of depression as a time for “anticipatory grief,”
when patients mourn the prospect of their own deaths. This grieving process
may occur in two stages, as the patient first comes to terms with the loss of
past valued activities and friends and then begins to anticipate the future loss
of activities and relationships. Depression, though far from pleasant, can be
functional in that patients begin to prepare for the future. Depression can
nonetheless require treatment, so that symptoms of depression can be
distinguished from symptoms of physical deterioration.
Stage 5: Acceptance
The final stage in Kübler-Ross’s theory is acceptance. At this point, the patient
may be too weak to be angry and too accustomed to the idea of dying to be
depressed. Instead, a tired, peaceful, though not necessarily pleasant calm may
descend. Some patients use this time to make preparations, deciding how to
divide up their remaining possessions and saying goodbye to old friends and
family members.
Facing Bereavement
Bereavement is the loss of someone to whom one feels close, and the process
of adjustment to it. Bereavement can affect practically all aspects of a
survivor’s life, starting with a change in status and roles- for example, from a
wife to a widow or from a son or daughter to an orphan.
Grief is the emotional response experienced in the early phases of
bereavement; it can take many forms, from rage to a feeling of emptiness.
Mourning refers not to feelings but to behavior- the ways, usually culturally
accepted, in which the bereaved and the community act while adjusting to a
death.
Traditional cultures help people deal with bereavement through customs that
have well-understood meanings and provide a reassuring anchor amid the
turbulence of loss. These customs vary greatly from culture to culture. In
Japan, religious rituals encourage survivors to maintain contact with the
deceased. Muslims in Egypt express grief through sorrow; Muslims in Bali are
encouraged to laugh, be joyful, and suppress sadness.
There is no one “best” way to cope with loss. What works for one culture or one
family may not work for another. In helping people handle grief, counselors
need to take both ethnic traditions and individual differences into account.
2. Pattern of grieving
Grief is a highly personal experience. Recent research has challenged earlier
notions of a single, “normal” pattern of grieving and a “normal” timetable for
recovery. For example, a widow talking to her late husband might once have
been considered emotionally disturbed; now this is recognized as a very
common and helpful behavior. And while some people recover fairly quickly
after bereavement, others never completely get over it.
• Anticipatory grief
The family and friends of a person who has been ill for a long time prepare
themselves for the loss through anticipatory grief, symptoms of grief
experienced while the person is still alive. Anticipatory grief may help
survivors handle the actual death more easily.
• Grief work: Three stage pattern
Perhaps the most common and most widely studied pattern of grief after
death is that the bereaved person accepts the painful reality of the loss,
gradually lets go of the bond with the dead person, readjusts to life without
that person, and develops new interests and relationships. This process of
grief work generally takes place in 3 phases- though, as with Kubler-Ross’
stages, they may vary.
➢ Stage 1: Shock and disbelief
This first phase may last several weeks, especially after a sudden or
unexpected death. Immediately following a death, survivors often feel
lost and confused. Their shock, and their inability to believe in the
death, may protect them from more intense reactions. Shortness of
breath, tightness in the chest or throat, nausea, and a feeling of
emptiness in the abdomen are common. As awareness ofthe loss sinks
in, the initial numbness gives way to overwhelming feelings of sadness,
which are commonly expressed by frequent crying.
➢ Stage 2: Pre-occupation with the memory of the dead
The second phase may last 6 months or longer. The survivor tries to
come to terms with the death but cannot yet accept it. Frequent crying
c0ntinues, and often insomnia, fatigue, and loss of appetite.
➢ Stage 3: Resolution
The final phase has arrived when the bereaved person renews interest
in everyday activities. Memories of the dead person bring fond feelings
mingled with sadness, rather than sharp pain and longing. A widower
may still miss his dead wife; but he knows that life must go on, and he
becomes more active socially. He gets out more, sees people, pick up
old interest, and perhaps discovers new ones.
• Grief therapy
Most bereaved people eventually are able, with the help of family and
friends, to come to terms with their loss and resume normal lives. For
some, however, grief therapy- treatment to help the bereaved cope with
their loss- is indicated. Professional grief therapists help survivors express
sorrow, guilt, hostility, and anger. They encourage clients to review the
relationship with the deceased and to integrate the fact of the death into
their lives so that they can be free to develop new relationships and new
ways of behaving toward friends and relatives.
3. Special losses
Surviving a spouse
Widowhood is one of the greatest emotional challenges that can face any
human being. It means not only the loss of a life partner but the disruption of
virtually every aspect of the survivor’s life. In a classic ranking of stressful life
events, the event identified as requiring the most adjustment was death of a
spouse. Yet widowhood can be seen as a developmental experience.
Many studies have found older adults to be better adjusted to widowhood than
younger adults. A common interpretation is that loss of a spouse is more
traumatic in young adulthood, when it is less expected. In the short term,
younger widows do have more psychological problems. Burdened with full
responsibility for breadwinning and parenthood, and often with a drastically
reduced standard of living, they may lack the time or energy to develop a new
social life. They may find themselves resenting their children and feeling guilty
about their resentment. Physical health, however, is more likely to be
adversely affected when occurs in middle age.
Remarriage
Elderly widowers are more likely to remarry than widows, much as men of any
age are more likely than women to remarry after divorce. Men have more
potential partners. And men usually feel more need to remarry mainly in need
of companionship and relief from loneliness; women more frequently can
handle their own household needs, are sometimes reluctant to give up
survivors’ pension benefits, or do not want to end up caring for an infirm
husband.
Losing a parent
On a deeper level, the death of a parent can be a maturing experience. From an
organismic perspective, it can push adults into resolving important midlife
developmental issues: achieving a stronger sense of self and of personal choice,
along with a greater sense of responsibility, commitment and attachment to
others and a more pressing realistic awareness of their own mortality.
Losing a child
The death of a child, no matter at what age, comes as a cruel, unnatural shock,
an untimely event that, in the normal course of things, should not have
happened. The parents may feel that they have failed, no matter how much
they loved and cared for the child, and they may find it hard to let go.
The death of a child can weaken and destroy a marriage. On espouse may
blame the other. Unresolved issues stemming from a child’s death may lead to
a divorce, even years later.