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Chapter 16: Middle Adulthood. Module 7 Social and Personality Development in Middle Adulthood. SOCIAL AND PERSONLITY DEVELOPMENT IN MIDDLE ADULTHOOD. How does personality development occur in middle adulthood?. Two Perspectives on Adult Personality Development.
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Chapter 16: Middle Adulthood Module 7 Social and Personality Development in Middle Adulthood
Two Perspectives on Adult Personality Development Normative-Crisis Versus Life Events • Views personality development in terms of fairly universal stages, tied to a sequence of age-related crises 398
Two Perspectives on Adult Personality Development • Normative-Crisis Versus Life Events • Revenna Helson • Suggest that timing of particular events in adult's life, rather than age per se, determine course of personality development 398
Other Views Erikson • Critics argue that normative-crisis models are outdated • Model came from time when gender roles were more rigid 399
Erik Erikson • GENERATIVITY VERSUS STAGNATION • People consider their contributions to family, community, work, and society. Generativity = looking beyond oneself to continuation of one's life through others Stagnation = focusing on the triviality of their life 399
Psychiatrist Roger Gould • Adults pass through series of seven, age-related stages • People in late 30s and early 40s begin to feel sense of urgency in attaining life’s goals • Descriptions not research supported 399
Gould’s Approach 400
George Valliant • Keeping meaning versus rigidity • Occurs between the ages of 45 and 55 • Adults seek to extract meaning from their lives by accepting strengths and weaknesses of others • Those who are rigid become increasingly isolated from others 400
Levinson Seasons of Life Theory • Most people are susceptible to fairly profound midlife crisis • Late 30s • Early 40s • Between 40 and 45 400
Midlife Crisis • Stage of uncertainty and indecision brought about by realization that life is finite • Gender differences • Despite widespread acceptance, evidence for midlife crisis does not exist 400
Non-Midlife Life Crisis • For majority of people, transition is smooth and rewarding • Many middle-aged people find their careers have blossomed • They feel younger than they actually are 401
Developmental Diversity Middle Age: In Some Cultures It Doesn’t Exist • Model of aging of Oriyan women • High caste Hindu women • Life course based on nature of one’s social responsibility, family management issues, and moral sense at given timenot on basis of chronological age • Domestic work is highly respected and valued 402
PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT Does personality change or remains stable over course of development? • Erikson and Levinson = substantial change • Paul Costa and Robert McCrae = stability in traits across development 402
Stability and Change in the Big Five Personality Traits • Big Five traits are relatively stable past age 30 with some variations in specific traits • Neuroticism, extraversion, and openness to experience decline somewhat from early adulthood through middle adulthood • Agreeableness and conscientiousness increase to a degree • Findings are consistent across cultures 403
If You’re Happy and You Know It… • Sense of subjective well-being or general happiness remains stable over life span • Most people general “set point” for happiness • Regardless of where they stand economically, residents of countries across the world have similar levels of happiness 404
Review and Apply REVIEW • In normative-crisis models, people pass through age-related stages of development; life events models focus on how people change in response to varying life events. 405
Review and Apply REVIEW • Levinson argues that the transition to middle age can lead to a midlife crisis, but there is little evidence for this in the majority of people. • Broad, basic personality characteristics are relatively stable. Specific aspects of personality do seem to change in response to life events. 405
Review and Apply APPLY • How do you think the midlife transition is different for a middle-aged person whose child has just entered adolescence versus a middle-aged person who has just become a parent for the first time? 405
Middle Age Marriages • Most frequent pattern of marital satisfaction is U-shaped • Marital satisfaction begins to decline after marriage and falls to its lowest point following the birth of children • Marital satisfaction begins to grow after children leave adolescence and reaches its highest point when kids leave home 405
What do the newer findings suggest? • Unhappy marriages tend to terminate so earlier cross-sectional methods not representative • Long-married couples were older and were married during when marriage was more highly valued • Different couples have different levels of marital satisfaction even at outset 406
And so… • Why might couples who have children tend to experience better marital satisfaction later in life than do childless couples? • Given these findings, how might you advise a newlywed couple on what to expect as their years of marriage progress?
Good Marriages • Many couples state that their spouse is their "best friend“ • They also view marriage as a long-term commitment • They believe their spouse has grown more interesting over the years • Most feel their sex lives (although frequency goes down) are satisfying 406
Struggling Marriages • About 1 woman in 8 will get divorced after 40 • People are more individual, spending less time together • Many feel concerned with their own personal happiness and leave an unhappy marriage • Divorce is more socially acceptable • Feelings of romantic, passionate love may subside over time 407
Divorce • Divorce can be especially hard for traditional women over 40 who stayed home with kids and never worked outside the home • 75 percent to 80 percent of divorced people eventually remarry • It's harder for a middle-aged woman to remarry.90 percent of women under 25 remarry • While 75 percent of white women remarry, less than half of African American women remarry • Less than 33 percent over the age of 40 remarry 407
Marriage Gradient • The marriage gradient pushes men to marry younger women • Older women are victims of the harsh societal standards regarding physical attractiveness • A major reason many remarry is that being divorced carries a stigma 408
Second Time Around • Older couples are more mature and realistic • Roles are more flexible • Couple looks at marriage less romantically and is more cautious • Divorce rate is higher for second marriages • More stress especially with blended families • Once divorce experienced it is easier to walk away a second time 407
Family Evolutions: From Full House to Empty Nest • When parents experience feelings of unhappiness, worry, loneliness, and depression resulting from their children's departure from home • More myth than reality 408
When children leave home… • Parents can work harder • More time alone • House stays cleaner • Phone doesn't ring as often 408
Boomerang Children: Refilling the Empty Nest • Young adults who come back to live in homes of their middle-aged parents • Men are more likely to do it than women • Parents tend to give sons more freedom than daughters • Unable to find a job • Difficulty making ends meet 409
Sandwich Generation • Fulfill needs of both their children and their aging parents • Couples are marrying and having children later • Parents are living longer 409
Caring for Aging Parents • Care of aging parents can be psychologically tricky • Significant degree of role reversal • Range of care varies • Financial • Managing household • Providing direct care • Influenced by cultural norms and expectations 409
Becoming a Grandparent: Who, Me? • Involved (actively engaged and have role in raising/teaching) • Companionate (supportive roles, occasionally take the grandchildren) • Remote (detached and distant) 410
Are all grannies the same? • Marked gender differences in ways people enjoy grandparenthood • Grandmothers are more interested and experience greater satisfaction than grandfathers • African American grandparents are more apt to be involved 410
Family Violence: The Hidden Epidemic • Prevalence • Characteristics of abuser and abused 411
Factors • Low SES • Growing up in a violent home • Families with more children have more violence • Single parent families with lots of stress 411
Neil Jacobson and John Gottman • Husbands who abuse fall into two categories: • “Pit bulls” confine violence to those they love and strike out against their wives when they feel jealous or when they fear being abandoned • “Cobras” are likely to be aggressive to everyone, are more likely to use weapons, and are more calculating, showing little emotion or arousal 412
Lenore Walker • Marital abuse by a husband occurs in three stages: • Tension-building stage where a batterer becomes upset and shows dissatisfaction initially through verbal abuse • Acute battering incident when the physical abuse actually occurs • Loving contrition stage where the husband feels remorse and apologizes for his actions 412
Why Women Stay • Wife feels somewhat at fault • This explains why women stay in abusive relationships • Some stay out of fear 412
Cycle of Violence Hypothesis • Abuse and neglect of children leads them to be predisposed to abusiveness as adults • About one-third of people who were abused or neglected as children abuse their own children • Two-thirds of abusers were not abused as children 412
Cultural Differences • Cultural correlates • Status • Low status they = easy targets • High status = threat to husbands 412
Becoming an Informed Consumer of Development Dealing with Spousal Abuse • Teach both wives and husbands that physical violence is NEVER acceptable • Call the police • Understand that the remorse shown by a spouse, no matter how heartfelt, may have no bearing on the possibility of future violence • If you are the victim of abuse, seek a safe haven • If you feel in danger from an abusive partner, seek a restraining order • Call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 for immediate advice. 413