Chapter 17
Socioemotional
Development in
Middle Adulthood
Socioemotional Development
in Middle Adulthood
Personality Theories and
Development in Middle
Adulthood
2
Stability and
Change
Close
Relationships
Black Hawk College Chapter 17
Personality Theories and
Development in Middle
Adulthood
Adult Stage
Theories
3
Life-Events
Approach
Contexts
Black Hawk College Chapter 17
Adult Stage Theories
Generativity Versus Stagnation
 Seasons of a Man’s Life
 How Pervasive Are Midlife Crises?
 Individual Variations
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Black Hawk College Chapter 17
Generativity vs. Stagnation
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Erikson believes generativity encompasses
adults’ desire to leave a legacy to the next
generation.
Through generativity, adults achieve a kind of
immortality by leaving their legacy.
Stagnation or self-absorption develops when
individuals sense that they have done nothing
for the next generation.
Through generativity, adults promote and
guide those who follow by parenting,
teaching, leading, doing things to benefit the
community.
Black Hawk College Chapter 17
How to Develop
Generativity
Biological Generativity
 Parental Generativity
 Work Generativity
 Cultural Generativity
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Black Hawk College Chapter 17
Generativity and Identity
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One study showed that middle-aged
adults especially were concerned about
generativity and guiding younger adults.
Another showed that having a positive
identity was linked with generativity in
middle age.
Black Hawk College Chapter 17
Generativity and Identity
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A modification of Erikson’s theory
proposed that his three adult stages—
intimacy, generativity, and integrity—are
best viewed as developmental phases
within identity.
Thus identity remains the central core of
the self’s development across all of the
adult years.
Black Hawk College Chapter 17
Season’s of a Man’s Life
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Daniel Levinson extensively interviewed 40
middle-aged men and compiled information
from the biographies of famous men.
His major interest and focus centered around
midlife change, however, he described a
number of stages and transitions in the life
span.
Levinson emphasizes that development tasks
must be mastered at each of these stages.
Although his original data included no
females, Levinson claimed his theory also
held for women.
Black Hawk College Chapter 17
Levinson’s Stages of
Change
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The 20s are a novice phase of adult
development.
Around age 28 to 33 the man goes
through a transition in which he must
determine his goals.
During the 30s he usually focuses on
family and career development.
Black Hawk College Chapter 17
Levinson’s Stages of
Change
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In the later years of this period, he
enters a phase of Becoming One’s Own
Man (BOOM).
By age 40 he has reached a stable
location in his career and must look
forward to middle adulthood.
Ages 40-45 encompass the change to
middle adulthood.
Black Hawk College Chapter 17
The Four Major Conflicts
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Levinson claimed that middle adulthood is the
time for men to come to grips with four conflicts
that have existed since adolescence:
 Being young versus being old
 Being destructive versus being constructive
 Being masculine versus being feminine
 Being attached to others versus being
separated from them
Black Hawk College Chapter 17
How Pervasive Are
Midlife Crises?
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Levinson views midlife as a crisis—a time when
the adult is suspended between the past and
the future, trying to cope with this gap that
threatens life’s continuity.
A recent study has indicated that the idea of
midlife crises have been exaggerated.
Many studies have shown that middle-aged
adults have a greater sense of control in their
work, greater sense of environmental mastery,
more autonomy, more power, and greater
financial security.
Black Hawk College Chapter 17
Individual Variations
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The stage theories focus on the universals of
adult personality development and do not
address individual variations.
An extensive study of 500 men at midlife
showed that a tremendous amount of
individual variation characterized the men.
George Vaillant’s Grant Study also yielded
findings that showed variations in individual
functioning.
Black Hawk College Chapter 17
Life-Events Approach
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The contemporary life-events approach
emphasizes that how life events influence the
individual’s development depends not only on
the life event, but also on mediating factors, the
life-stage context, and the sociohistorical
context.
Drawbacks of the approach include its
overemphasis on change and its failure to
recognize that the primary sources of stress
may not be major life events but rather our
daily experiences.
Black Hawk College Chapter 17
Contexts of Midlife
Development
 Historical
Contexts
 Gender Contexts
 Cultural Contexts
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Black Hawk College Chapter 17
Historical Contexts
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Some believe that changing historical
times and different social expectations
influence how different cohorts move
through the life span.
Our values, attitudes, expectations, and
behaviors are influenced by the period
in which we live.
Black Hawk College Chapter 17
Historical Contexts
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Trying to tease out universal truths and
patterns about adult development from
one cohort to another is complicated.
Neugarten believes that the social
environment of a particular age group
can alter its social clock.
Black Hawk College Chapter 17
The Social Clock
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The timetable according to which individuals
are expected to accomplish life’s tasks—
marrying, having children, establishing
themselves in a career.
Social clocks provide guides for our lives.
Individuals whose lives are not synchronized
with these social clocks find life to be more
stressful than those who are on schedule.
There is much less agreement today on the
right age or sequence for the occurrence of
major life events.
Black Hawk College Chapter 17
Gender Contexts
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As the roles of women have become more
complex and varied, defining a normative
sequence of development for them has
become difficult, if not impossible.
Basic changes in social attitudes regarding
labor force participation, families, and gender
roles have begun to broaden the
opportunities available for women in middle
adulthood.
Midlife is a diversified, heterogeneous period
for women, just as it is for men.
Black Hawk College Chapter 17
Cultural Contexts
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In many cultures, particularly
nonindustrialized cultures, the concept
of middle age is not very clear, or in
some cases is absent.
Nonindustrialized cultures tend to
describe individuals as young or old, but
not middle-aged.
Black Hawk College Chapter 17
Cultural Contexts
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Movement from one status to the next in
these cultures is due primarily to life
events, not age.
Middle age tends to be more
advantageous to women in many
nonindustrialized societies.
Black Hawk College Chapter 17
Stability and
Change
Longitudinal
Studies
23
Conclusions
Black Hawk College Chapter 17
Longitudinal Studies
 Neugarten’s
Kansas City Study
 Costa and McCrae’s Baltimore
Study
 Berkeley Longitudinal Studies
 Helson’s Mills College Study
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Black Hawk College Chapter 17
Neugarten’s Kansas City
Study
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This study looked at individuals 40 to 80
years of age over a 10-year period.
Subjects were given personality tests,
questionnaires, and were interviewed.
Neugarten concluded that both stability and
change characterized adults as they aged.
The most stable were: styles of coping, being
satisfied with life, and being goal-directed.
As individuals aged, they were found to
become more passive and were more likely
to be threatened by the environment.
Black Hawk College Chapter 17
The Baltimore Study
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Costa and McCrae focused on the big five
factors of personality:
 emotional stability
 openness to experience
 extraversion
 agreeableness
 conscientiousness
Black Hawk College Chapter 17
The Baltimore Study
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The study followed approximately 1000
college-educated men and women aged 20-96
over many years
They concluded that considerable stability
occurs in the five personality factors
Black Hawk College Chapter 17
Berkeley Longitudinal
Studies
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This series of studies is by far the longestrunning longitudinal inquiry, and initially
included more than 500 children and their
parents.
The most stable characteristics were found to
be the degree to which individuals were
intellectually oriented, self-confident, or open
to new experiences.
The characteristics that changed the most
included the extent the individuals were
nurturant or hostile and whether they had
good self-control or not.
Black Hawk College Chapter 17
Helson’s Mills College
Study
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This study distinguished three main groups
among the women studied:
 family oriented
 career-oriented
 those who followed neither path
Despite these differences, women in all three
groups experienced some similar psychological
changes over their adult years.
Those in the third group changed less than the
others.
Black Hawk College Chapter 17
Other Findings of
the Mills Study
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Between age 27 and the early forties,
there was a shift toward less
traditionally feminine attitudes.
Researchers in the Mills study
concluded that rather than being in a
midlife crisis, women were experiencing
a midlife consciousness.
Black Hawk College Chapter 17
Other Findings of
the Mills Study
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They found that commitment to a career
or family helped women learn to control
their impulses, develop interpersonal
skills, become independent, and work
hard to achieve goals.
Women who didn’t commit to either of
these did not develop as fully as the
other women.
Black Hawk College Chapter 17
Conclusions
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Humans are adaptive beings.
We are resilient throughout our adult
lives.
We do not develop entirely new
personalities.
Amid change is some underlying
coherence and stability.
Some people change more than others.
Black Hawk College Chapter 17
Close
Relationships
Love and
Marriage at
Midlife
33
The Empty
Nest and Its
Refilling
Parenting
Conceptions
Siblings
and Friends
Intergenerational
Relationships
Black Hawk College Chapter 17
Love and Marriage at Midlife
 Affectionate
Love
 Marriage and Divorce
34
Black Hawk College Chapter 17
Affectionate Love
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Affectionate or companionate love
increases during middle adulthood.
Black Hawk College Chapter 17
Affectionate Love
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Security, loyalty, and mutual emotional interest
become more important as relationships mature.
A relationship is believed to mature when
partners:
 share knowledge with one another.
 assume responsibility for each other’s
satisfaction.
 share private information that governs their
relationship.
Black Hawk College Chapter 17
Marriage and Divorce
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For married individuals in midlife, most
voiced considerable satisfaction with
being married.
A recent large scale study found that
72% of married midlife individuals
reported that their marriage was either
“excellent” or “very good.”
Black Hawk College Chapter 17
Marriage and Divorce
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Getting married in midlife lowered men’s
anxiety, depression, and feelings of
vulnerability.
Women who married in midlife felt more
positive emotions than they had previously.
Couples who divorce in midlife tend to be
cool, distant, and have suppressed emotions.
Black Hawk College Chapter 17
Consequences of Divorce
in Midlife
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Many individuals perceive divorce in
midlife as failing in the best years of
their lives.
Men who divorced in their 40s became
more depressed and had lower
achievement goals.
Women who divorced in middle age
showed a surge in positive emotions.
Black Hawk College Chapter 17
Consequences of Divorce
in Midlife
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The perils of divorce in midlife may be
fewer and less intense than for younger
individuals.
They have more resources and can
simplify their lives.
Black Hawk College Chapter 17
The Empty Nest and Its
Refilling
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Characterized by a decrease in marital
satisfaction due to the children’s departure
which leaves parents with an empty feeling.
Parents who live vicariously through their
children are more likely to experience the empty
nest syndrome.
Most parents do not experience less marital
satisfaction, in fact for many it increases after
their children have left home.
Black Hawk College Chapter 17
Coming Home
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More adult children are returning to live
at home after an unsuccessful career or
divorce.
One study showed that 42% of middleaged parents had serious conflicts with
their resident adult children.
Black Hawk College Chapter 17
Coming Home
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One of the most common complaints
voiced by both parents and adult
children is a loss of privacy.
When adult children return home to live,
a disequilibrium in family life is created,
requiring considerable adaptation on
both parties’ parts.
Black Hawk College Chapter 17
Parenting Conceptions
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Middle-aged parents felt as their children
became adults they gained a new sense
of appreciation for their commitment and
influence as parents.
Black Hawk College Chapter 17
Parenting Conceptions
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Many parents of adult children regret not
having had more involvement and better
relationships with their children.
Research findings suggest that during
middle adulthood we restructure our
perceptions of our own parents, viewing
them more as unique individuals.
Black Hawk College Chapter 17
Siblings and Friends
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The majority of sibling relationships in
adulthood have been found to be close.
Siblings who are close to each other in
adulthood tended to be that way as children.
It is rare for sibling closeness to develop for
the first time in adulthood.
Friendships continue to be as important in
midlife as they were in early adulthood.
Black Hawk College Chapter 17
Intergenerational
Relationships
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For the most part, family members
maintain considerable contact across
generations.
A consistent finding is that parents and
their young adult children differ in the
way they describe their relationship.
Black Hawk College Chapter 17
Intergenerational
Relationships
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Gender differences exist, as mothers
and daughters tend to have closer
relationships.
Middle-aged adults are often described
as the “sandwich” generation, caught
between aging parents and their young
adult children.
Black Hawk College Chapter 17