Physical and Cognitive Development
in Middle Adulthood
Boundaries of middle age are
being pushed upward
 More people lead healthier
lifestyles; medical discoveries are
holding off the aging process
 Middle age is starting later and
lasting longer
 Midlife serves as an important
preparation for late adulthood
An increasing percentage of
the population is made up of
middle-aged and older adults
 “Rectangularization” of the age
distribution
Erikson’s Generativity vs. Stagnation (40-65):
•Generativity: adults’ desire to leave legacies of
themselves to the next generation (Money or
property bequeathed to another by will)
•Stagnation: develops when individuals sense that
they have done nothing for the next generation
•Research supports Erikson’s theory
Physical Changes:
 Usually gradual; aging rates vary
 Wrinkling and sagging of skin, age spots,
thinning gray hair, thicker brittle nails,
yellowing of teeth
Height tends to shrink in middle age, due to
bone loss in the vertebrae
Many gain weight, which is a critical health
problem in middle adulthood
Sarcopenia: age-related loss of muscle mass and
strength, specially common in the back and legs -exercise can reduce these declines
•Cushions for bone movement become less efficient,
often leading to joint stiffness and difficulty in
movement
•Progressive bone loss
Ability to focus and maintain
an image declines between 40–
59 years
 Difficulty viewing close objects
 Reduced blood supply decreases
visual field
Hearing can start to decline by
age 40
 Hearing loss occurs in up to 50%
of individuals over the age of 50
 High-pitched sounds are typically
lost first

Blood pressure typically rises in the 40’s and 50’s
 At menopause, a woman’s blood pressure
rises sharply, remaining higher than that
of men into the later years

Metabolic Syndrome: a condition characterized by
hypertension, obesity, and insulin resistance

Exercise, weight control, and a diet rich in fruits,
vegetables, and whole grains can help to reduce
many cardiovascular problems
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oFrequency
oIndividuals
of accidents declines
are less susceptible to
colds and allergies
oStress is a key factor in disease,
especially
oImmune system functioning
decreases with normal aging
oLink between stress and
cardiovascular disease can be
indirect
o Stress can lead to unhealthy lifestyle
choices
o Chronic emotional stress is associated
with high blood pressure, heart disease,
and early death

Chronic diseases are the main cause of death
during middle adulthood
 Heart disease
 Cancer
 Cerebrovascular disease


In the 1st half of middle age, cancer claims
more lives than heart disease; trend is
reversed during the 2nd half of middle age
Men have higher mortality rates than
women
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Climacteric: the midlife transition in
which fertility declines
Menopause: time in middle age
(late 40’s to early 50’s) when a
woman’s menstrual periods
completely cease
 Perimenopause: transitional period;
often takes up to 10 years
 Heredity and experience influence
the onset of menopause
Hormone Replacement Therapy
(HRT) is controversial because it
has been linked to increased risk of
stroke, dementia, and cancer
Hormonal Changes in Men:
 Most men do not lose the ability to father children
 Modest decline in sexual hormone level and activity
 Erectile Dysfunction is common in middle-aged men
 May stem from physiological problems
Sexual Attitudes and Behavior:
 Sexual activity occurs less frequently in middle
adulthood
 Middle-aged men are more interested in sex than middleaged women
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
Fluid Intelligence
 the capacity to think
logically and solve
problems in new
situations, independent
of acquired knowledge
 It is necessary for all
logical problem solving,
especially scientific,
mathematical and
technical problem
solving.

Crystallized Intelligence
 the ability to use skills,
knowledge, and
experience
 one’s lifetime or
intellectual
achievement, as
demonstrated largely
through one's
vocabulary and general
knowledge
Crystallized Intelligence: an individual’s
accumulated information and verbal skills
 Continues to increase in middle
adulthood
Fluid Intelligence: the ability to reason
abstractly
 May begin to decline in middle
adulthood
Some cognitive functions peak during
middle adulthood, while others decline
 Depends on how studies are
conducted
▪ Cross-sectional studies show more decline
than longitudinal studies
Starting in late middle age, more time is
needed to learn new information
 Linked to changes in working memory
(actively holds information in the mind to
do verbal and nonverbal tasks)

More than 70% of middle-aged
adults are religious and
consider spirituality a major
part of their lives

Increase in spirituality tends to
occur between late middle
adulthood and late adulthood

Women have consistently
shown a stronger interest in
religion than males

Religious commitment helps to
moderate blood pressure and
hypertension and is associated
with increased longevity
How pervasive are midlife crises?
 Vaillant’s “Grant Study”:
▪ The 40’s are a decade of reassessing and
recording the truth about the adolescent and adult
years
▪ Only a minority of adults experience a midlife
crisis (a time where adults come to realize their
own mortality and how much time is left in their
life)
▪ Reports of general well-being and life satisfaction
tend to be high during mid-life
 Another study found that 26% of adults
experienced a midlife crisis
▪ Most attributed this to negative life events rather
than aging
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
The Baltimore Study used the big five factors of
personality to study 1,000 college-educated
persons aged 20 to 96 starting from the 1950s and
continuing today:
 Considerable stability in the five personality factors
 sociability and carefulness increased in early and
middle adulthood
 Openness to experience increased in adolescence/early
adulthood and then decreased in late adulthood
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
Openness to experience
 Appreciation for art, emotion, adventure, unusual ideas,
curiosity, and variety of experience
 Eg: I have a rich vocabulary

Conscientiousness
 A tendency to show self-discipline, act dutifully, and aim for
achievement
 Eg: I am always prepared

Extraversion
 Energy, positive emotions, assertiveness, sociability
 Eg: I feel comfortable around people.
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
Agreeableness
 A tendency to be compassionate and cooperative rather
than suspicious and antagonistic towards others.
 Eg: I sympathize with others' feelings.

Neuroticism
 The tendency to experience unpleasant emotions easily,
such as anger, anxiety.
 Eg: I get irritated easily.
©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
•
Berkeley Longitudinal Studies: more than 500
children and parents studied in the 1920s
through midlife:
• No support that personality is characterized by
changes or stability from adolescence to midlife
• Intellectual orientation, self-confidence, and
openness to experience were the more stable
traits
• Ability to nurture and self-control changed most
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Vaillant’s Studies: conducted three
longitudinal studies from the 1920s
through today:
• Alcohol abuse and smoking at age 50
was the best predictor of death
between ages 75 and 80
• Factors at age 50 which are best
predictors of
“happy-well” between ages 75 and
80:
• Regular exercise and avoiding being
overweight
• Well-educated and future oriented
• Having a stable marriage and good
coping skills
• Being thankful, forgiving, and
empathetic
• Being active with other people
Romantic love is typically strong in
early adulthood
Affectionate love increases during
middle adulthood
Most married individuals are satisfied
with their marriages during midlife
Divorce in midlife can be less intense
due to increased resources and
narrowed child-rearing responsibilities
• However, emotional and time commitment to a
long-lasting marriage is typically not given up
easily
• Staying married because of the children is a
common reason for waiting to get a divorce
Empty Nest Syndrome: a decline
in marital satisfaction after the
children leave the home
• For most parents, marital
satisfaction actually increases
during the years after child rearing
• Refilling of empty nest is becoming
a common occurrence
•
• Adult children are returning to live
at home for financial reasons
• Loss of privacy is a common
complaint for both parents and
adult children
Many adults become
grandparents during middle age
 Grandmothers have more contact
with grandchildren than
grandfathers
Three prominent meanings:
 Source of biological reward and
link
 Source of emotional selffulfillment
 Remote role
The grandparent role and its
functions vary among families,
ethnic groups, and cultures
Three Grandparenting Styles:
• Fun-seeking style
• Distant-figure style
• Formal style
An increasing number of U.S. grandchildren live
with their grandparents
• 2.3 million in 1980; 6.1 million in 2005
• Most common reasons are divorce, adolescent
pregnancies, and parental drug use
• Tends to be more stressful for younger grandparents,
when grandchildren have physical and psychological
problems, and when there is low family structure
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Differences in gender:
• Mothers and daughters have closer
relationships during their adult years
than mothers and sons, fathers and
daughters, and fathers and sons
• Married men are more involved with
their wives’ families than with their
own