middle age

Cultural generativity

(create, conserve, renovates aspects of culture so they go on)

Work generativity

(develop and then teach skills to younger folks)

Biological generativity

(have offspring)

Parental generativity

(nurture & guide children)

Middle Adulthood:

40-45 years of age to about 60-65 years of age An increasing percentage of the population is made up of middle-aged and older adults

Vision and Hearing

Accommodation of the eye (ability to focus and maintain an image) experiences sharp declines between 40-59 years Difficulty viewing close objects Reduced blood supply dec visual field (presbytopia (sp?)) Hearing can start to decline by the age of 40 High-pitched sounds are typically lost first

main cause of death during middle adulthood

Chronic diseases - heart disease - cancer In 2005, cancer was the leading cause of death in 45-64-year-olds followed by cardiovascular disease

Late Midlife (55 to 65) is likely to be characterized by:

Death of a parent Last child leaving the parental home Becoming a grandparent Preparation for and actual retirement

physical skills _____ and responsibility _______ Awareness of the young-old polarity Transmitting something meaningful to the next generation Reaching and maintaining career satisfaction

Declining & increase are they young or old people career peaks

Expertise

Expertise often shows up more in middle adulthood than in early adulthood Rely on accumulated experience Process information automatically and analyze it more efficiently Have better strategies and shortcuts to solving problems Are more creative and flexible in solving problems

Erikson's Generativity vs. Stagnation

Generativity: adults' desire to leave legacies of themselves to the next generation Stagnation: develops when individuals sense that they have done nothing for the next generation; leads to depression

Cardiovascular System

High blood pressure, high cholesterol, and cardiovascular disease

Menopause symptoms

Hot flashes, nausea, fatigue, and rapid heartbeat Not the negative experience it once was

Height and Weight

Individuals lose height and gain weight Both obesity and severe weight loss can pose health risks

Lungs

Lung tissue becomes less elastic at about age 55, decreasing the lung's capacity

Hormonal Changes in Middle-Aged Men

Modest decline in sexual hormone level and activity Erectile Dysfunction: inability to achieve and maintain an erection May stem from physiological problems

Speed of Information Processing

Perceptual speed begins declining in early adulthood and continues to decline in middle adulthood

Practical Problem Solving

Remains stable in early and middle adulthood, then declines in late adulthood

Sexual Attitudes and Behavior

Sexual activity occurs less frequently than in early adulthood Middle-aged men are more interested in sex than middle-aged women Living with a spouse or partner makes all the difference in terms of engaging in sexual activity

Contemporary Life-Events Approach: how life events influence the individual's development depends on:

The life event itself Mediating factors The individual's adaptation to the life event Life-stage context Sociohistorical context developmental change- decide I'm going to become a mother or not at 16

Memory

Verbal memory declines during middle adulthood according to most researchers Linked to changes in working memory and ineffective memory strategies; may be due to accumulated knowledge and information "overload"

Sleep

Wakeful periods become more frequent in the 40's Less deep sleep (stage 4)

Visible Signs of middle age

Wrinkling and sagging of skin Appearance of aging spots Hair becomes thinner and grayer Nails become thicker and more brittle Yellowing of teeth

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 often help

Sarcopenia

age-related loss of muscle mass and strength

Crystallized Intelligence:

an individual's accumulated information and verbal skills (the more you read the more articulate you, the more you are in school, the more intelligent you are) Continues to increase in middle adulthood

Age Identity -

as adults become older, their age identity is younger than their chronological age

Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) is

controversial; long term use should be seriously reevaluated all symptoms are due to a dec in estrogen

Middle adulthood is the age period in which

gains (growth; becoming grandparents) and losses (decline; lose friends, parents, child leaving home) balance each other

Cushions for bone movement become __________

less efficient, often leading to joint stiffness and more difficulty in movement Progressive bone loss (osteoporosis)

midlife crisis

men get a sports car, marry trophy wife women- botox, gym

why is there a decline at 60

retirement, intellectual activity slows down as long as you stay cognitively stimulated, you will stay mentally strong

Fluid Intelligence:

the ability to reason abstractly May begin to decline in middle adulthood

Climacteric:

the midlife transition in which fertility declines

Menopause: Perimenopause:

time in middle age (late 40s to early 50s) when a woman's menstrual periods completely cease; a year past your last period transitional period (around 40); often takes up to 10 years; women are relatively regular become guessing game Heredity and experience influence the onset of menopause