Lifespan development chapter 16

Neugarten (1986) holds that the ...

social environment of a particular age group can alter its social clock—the timetable on which individuals are expected to accomplish life's tasks, such as getting married, having children, or establishing themselves in a career. Social clocks provide guidance for our lives; individuals whose lives are not synchronized with these social clocks fnd life to be more stressful than those who are on schedule, says Neugarten. Neugarten argues that today there is much less agreement than in the past on the right age or sequence for the occurrence of major life events such as having children or retiring. Indeed, one study found that between the late 1950s and the late 1970s, there was a dramatic decline in adults' beliefs that there is a "best age" for major life events and achievements

Critics of the daily hassles approach argue that

some of the same problems involved with life events scales occur when daily hassles are assessed. For example, knowing about an adult's daily hassles tells us nothing about physical changes, about how the individual copes with hassles, or about how the individual perceives hassles.

In the contemporary life-events approach, how life events infuence the individual's development depends not only on the life event itself but also on mediating factors (such as

physical health and family supports), the individual's adaptation to the life event (such as appraisal of the threat and coping strategies), the life-stage context, and the sociohistorical context. For example, if individuals are in poor health and have little family support, life events are likely to be more stressful. And a divorce may be more stressful after many years of marriage when adults are in their ffties than when they have been married just a few years and are in their twenties, a finding indicating that the life-stage context of an event makes a difference. The sociohistorical context also makes a difference. For example, adults may be able to cope more effectively with divorce today than in the 1950s because divorce has become more commonplace and accepted in today's society.

When men face stress, they are more likely to ...

respond in a fght-or-fight manner—to become aggressive, withdraw from social contact, or drink alcohol.

how likely are middle-aged adults to repartner?

In a recent study, approximately 22 percent of women and 37 percent of men repartnered within 10 years after a gray divorce (that is, divorce at 50 years of age and older) (Brown & others, 2019). Also in this study, repartnering occurred more through cohabitation than remarriage, especially for men.

Cultural Contexts

In many cultures, especially nonindustrialized cultures, the concept of middle age is not very clear, or in some cases is absent. It is common in nonindustrialized societies to describe individuals as young or old but not as middle-aged (Grambs, 1989). Some cultures have no words for "adolescent," "young adult," or "middle-aged adult." Although the Gusii do not have a clearly labeled midlife transition, some of the Gusii adults do reassess their lives around the age of 40. At this time, these Gusii adults examine their current status and the limited time they have remaining in their lives. Their physical strength is decreasing, and they know they cannot farm their land forever, so they seek spiritual powers by becoming ritual practitioners or healers. As in the American culture, however, a midlife crisis in the Gusii culture is the exception rather than the rule

Although the life-events approach offers valuable insights for understanding adult development, it has its drawbacks.

One drawback is that the life-events approach places too much emphasis on change. It does not adequately recognize the stability that, at least to some degree, characterizes adult development. Another drawback is the possibility that life's major events may not be as stressful as the cumulative effects of our daily experiences (Stensvehagen & others, 2019). Enduring a boring but tense job or living in poverty does not show up on scales of major life events. Yet the everyday pounding from these conditions can add up to a highly stressful life and eventually lead to illness. Greater insight into the source of life's stresses might come from focusing on daily hassles and daily uplifts (Parker & others, 2020; Zawadzki & others, 2019). Researchers have found that young and middle-aged adults experience a greater daily frequency of stressors than older adults do. stressful daily hassles are linked to increased anxiety and lower physical well-being

recent increase in divorce among middle-aged adults has led to divorce in middle adulthood being labeled "gray divorce" when it occurs after 50 years of age What accounts for the increase?

One explanation is the changing view of women, who initiate approximately 60 percent of the divorces after 40 years of age. Compared with earlier decades, divorce has less stigma for women and they are more likely to leave an unhappy marriage. Also compared with earlier decades, more women are employed and are less dependent on their husband's income. Another explanation involves the increase in remarriages, in which the divorce rate is 2½ times as high as it is for couples in frst marriages.

, a research review concluded that the infuence of optimism on positive outcomes for people who have chronic diseases

(such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, and respiratory disease) may involve (a) a possible direct effect on the neuroendocrine system and on immune system function, and/or (b) an indirect effect on health outcomes by increasing protective health behaviors, adaptive coping strategies, and positive mood

By contrast, according to Shelley Taylor and her colleagues ...

, when women experience stress, they are more likely to engage in a tend-and-befriend pattern, seeking social alliances with others, especially friends. Taylor argues that when women experience stress, their bodies produce heightened levels of the hormone oxytocin, which is linked to nurturing in animals.

In today's uncertain economic climate, the reflling of the empty nest is becoming a common occurrence as adult children return 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 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 support themselves fnancially. Numerous labels have been applied to young adults who return to their parents' homes to live, including "boomerang kids" and "B2B" (or Back-to-Bedroom)

With each new generation, personality characteristics, attitudes, and values are replicated or changed

. As older family members die, their biological, intellectual, emotional, and personal legacies are carried on in the next generation. Their children become the oldest generation and their grandchildren the second generation. As adult children become middle-aged, they often develop more positive perceptions of their parents (Field, 1999). Both similarity and dissimilarity across generations are found. For example, similarity between parents and an adult child is most noticeable in religion and politics, least in gender roles, lifestyle, and work orientation.

Sibling relationships persist over the entire life span for most adults

. Eighty-fve percent of today's adults have at least one living sibling. Sibling relationships in adulthood may be extremely close, apathetic, or highly rivalrous (Bedford, 2009). The majority of sibling relationships in adulthood are close (Cicirelli, 2009). Those siblings who are psychologically close to each other in adulthood tended to be that way in childhood. It is rare for sibling closeness to develop for the frst time in adulthood Friendships are as important in middle adulthood as they were in early adulthood (Blieszner & Roberto, 2012b). It takes time to develop intimate friendships, so friendships that have endured over the adult years are often deeper than those that are newly formed in middle adulthood.

The grandparent role may have different functions in different families, in different ethnic groups and cultures, and in different situations

. For example, in one study of White, African American, and Mexican American grandparents and grandchildren, the Mexican American grandparents saw their grandchildren most frequently, provided the most support for the grandchildren and their parents, and had the most satisfying relationships with their grandchildren in Chicago, grandmothers had closer relationships with their children and grandchildren and gave more personal advice than grandfathers did

increase in longevity is infuencing the nature of grandparenting

. In 1900, only 4 percent of 10- year-old children had four living grandparents, but in 2000 that fgure had risen to more than 40 percent. And in 1990 only about 20 percent of people who were 30 years of age had living grandparents, a fgure that is projected to increase increases in longevity are likely to support this trend in the future, although the current trend in delayed childbearing is likely to undermine it

the personality trait that changed the most as a result of psychotherapy intervention was emotional stability, followed by extraversion (

. In this review, the personality traits of individuals with anxiety disorders changed the most and those with substance use disorders the least. In general, changes in personality traits across adulthood also occur in a positive direction. Over time, "people become more confdent, warm, responsible, and calm" Such positive changes equate with becoming more socially mature. In sum, recent research contradicts the old view that stability of personality begins to set in at about 30 years of age

(continued from card 33) Extraversion.

. Individuals high in extraversion are more likely than others to live longer, engage in social activities, be more satisfed in relationships, have fewer sleep problems, show less negative affect to stressors, have a higher level of perceived wellbeing

Because Levinson interviewed middle-aged men, we can consider the data about middle adulthood more valid than the data about early adulthood.

. When individuals are asked to remember information about earlier parts of their lives, they may distort and forget things. The original Levinson data included no women, although Levinson (1996) reported that his stages, transitions, and the crisis of middle age hold for women as well as men.

1. daily hassles most frequently reported by college students were ... 2. , the daily hassles reported most often by middle-aged adults were

1. wasting time, concerns about meeting high standards, and feeling lonely (Kanner & others, 1981). Among the uplifts reported most frequently by college students were entertainment, getting along well with friends, and completing a task 2. concerns about weight and the health of a family member, while their most frequently reported daily uplifts involved relating well with a spouse, lover, or friend. And the middle-aged adults were more likely than the college students to report that their daily hassles involved economic concerns (rising prices and taxes, for example)

We will examine four longitudinal studies that can help us understand the extent to which there is stability or change during adult development: Costa and McCrae's Baltimore Study, the Berkeley Longitudinal Studies, Helson's Mills College Study, and Vaillant's studies.

Costa and McCrae's Baltimore Study = ongoing study of adult personality development is being conducted by Paul Costa and Robert McCrae (1998, 2013; McCrae & Costa, 2003, 2006). They focus on what are called the Big Five factors of personality, which are openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism (emotional stability); these personality factors are described in Figure 7. (Notice that if you create an acronym from these factor names, you will get the word OCEAN.)

Gender Contexts

Critics say that the stage theories of adult development have a male bias. For example, the central focus of stage theories is on career choice and work achievement, which historically have dominated men's life choices and life chances more than women's The stage theories do not adequately address women's concerns about relationships, interdependence, and caring (Gilligan, 1982). The adult stage theories have also placed little importance on childbearing and child rearing. Women's family roles are complex and often have a higher salience in their lives than in men's lives. The role demands that women experience in balancing career and family are usually not experienced as intensely by men.

A survey by AARP (2004) of 1,148 people between the ages of 40 and 79 who were divorced at least once in their forties, ffties, or sixties found that staying married because of their children was by far the main reason many people postponed divorce.

Despite the worry and stress involved in going through a divorce, three out of four of the divorcees said they had made the right decision to dissolve their marriage and reported a positive outlook on life. Sixty-six percent of the divorced women said they had initiated the divorce, compared with only 41 percent of the divorced men. The divorced women were much more afraid of having fnancial problems (44 percent) than were the divorced men (11 percent). Following are the main reasons the middle-aged and older adult women cited for their divorce: (1) verbal, physical, or emotional abuse (23 percent); (2) alcohol or drug abuse (18 percent); and (3) cheating (17 percent). The main reasons the middle-aged and older men cited for their divorce were (1) no obvious problems, just fell out of love (17 percent); (2) cheating (14 percent); and (3) different values, lifestyles (14 percent)

In 2014, 10 percent (7.4 million) of children in the United States lived with at least one grandparent, a dramatic increase since 1981 when 4.7 million children were living with at least one grandparent (

Divorce, adolescent pregnancies, and drug use by parents are the main reasons that grandparents are thrust back into the "parenting" role they thought they had shed. One study revealed that grandparent involvement was linked with better adjustment in single-parent and stepparent families than in two-parent biological families Less than 20 percent of grandparents whose grandchildren move in with them are 65 years old or older. Almost half of the grandchildren who move in with grandparents are raised by a single grandmother. These families are mainly African American (53 percent). When both grandparents are raising grandchildren, the families are overwhelmingly non-Latino White.

In the Mills college study ...

During their early forties, many of the women shared the concerns that stage theorists such as Levinson found in men: concern for young and old, introspectiveness, interest in roots, and awareness of limitations and death. However, the researchers in the Mills College Study concluded that rather than being in a midlife crisis, the women were experiencing midlife consciousness. The researchers also discovered that commitment to the tasks of early adulthood —whether to a career or family (or both)—helped women learn to control their impulses, develop interpersonal skills, become independent, and work hard to achieve goals. Women who did not commit themselves to one of these lifestyle patterns faced fewer challenges and did not develop as fully as the other women did In the Mills College Study, some women moved toward becoming "pillars of society" in their early forties to early ffties. Menopause, caring for aging parents, and having an empty nest were not associated with an increase in responsibility and self-control

Two prominent theories that defne stages of adult development are Erik Erikson's life-span view and Daniel Levinson's seasons of a man's life.

Erikson (1968) proposed that middle-aged adults face a signifcant issue—generativity versus stagnation, which is the name Erikson gave to the seventh stage in his life-span theory. Generativity encompasses adults' desire to leave legacies of themselves to the next generation (Moieni & others, 2020). Through these legacies adults achieve a kind of immortality. By contrast, stagnation (sometimes called "self-absorption") develops when individuals sense that they have done nothing for the next generation. 2. Daniel Levinson reported the results of extensive interviews with 40 middle-aged men. Levinson emphasizes that developmental tasks must be mastered at each stage.

Factors not linked to divorce are ...

Factors that were not linked to divorce in these older adults were the onset of an empty nest, the wife's or husband's retirement, and whether the wife or husband had a chronic health condition.

Should midlife and the years beyond be feared by women as a time of declining youth and opportunity? Or is middle adulthood a new prime of life, a time for renewal, for shedding preoccupations with a youthful appearance and body, and for seeking new challenges, valuing maturity, and enjoying change?

In one study, the early ffties were indeed a new prime of life for many women (Mitchell & Helson, 1990). In this sample of 700 women aged 26 to 80, women in their early ffties most often described their lives as "frst-rate." Conditions that distinguished the lives of women in their early ffties from those of women in other age periods included more "empty nests," better health, higher income, and more concern for parents. Women in their early ffties showed confdence, involvement, security, and breadth of personality. In sum, the view that midlife is a negative age period for women is stereotypical, as so many perceptions of age periods are.

Age-related stages represent one major way to examine adult personality development. A second major way to conceptualize adult personality development is to focus on life events

In the early version of the life-events approach, life events were viewed as taxing circumstances for individuals, forcing them to change their personality (Holmes & Rahe, 1967). Events such as the death of a spouse, divorce, marriage, and so on were believed to involve varying degrees of stress, and therefore likely to influence the individual's development. stressful life events were associated with cardiovascular disease in middle-aged women (Kershaw & others, 2014). And a meta-analysis found an association between stressful life events and autoimmune diseases, such as arthritis and psoriasis

When adults immigrate into another country, intergenerational stress may increase

In the last several decades, increasing numbers of Mexicans have immigrated into the United States, and their numbers are expected to increase. The pattern of immigration usually involves separation from the extended family (Parra-Cardona & others, 2006). It may also involve separation of immediate family members, with the husband coming frst and then later bringing his wife and children. Those who were initially isolated, especially the wife, experience considerable stress due to relocation and the absence of family and friends. Within several years, a social network is usually established in the ethnic neighborhood. As soon as some stability in their lives is achieved, Mexican families may sponsor the immigration of extended family members, such as a maternal or paternal sister or mother who provides child care and enables the mother to go to work. In some cases, the older generation remains behind and then joins their grown children in old age. The accessibility of Mexico facilitates visits to and from the village for vacations or at a time of crisis, such as when an adolescent runs away from home.

One study using daily diaries over a one-week period found that both young and middle-aged adults had more days that were stressful and that were characterized by multiple stresses than older adults did

In this study, although young adults experienced daily stressors more frequently than middle-aged adults, middle-aged adults experienced more "overload" stressors that involved juggling too many activities at once. Another study also revealed that middle-aged and older adults showed a smaller increase in psychological distress to interpersonal stressors than did younger adults, and middle-aged adults were less physically reactive to work stressors than were younger adults

(Continued from card 33) Conscientiousness.

Individuals high in conscientiousness are more likely to live longer, ; experience optimal aging, including positive affect, life satisfaction, and positive psychological well-being, ; have a lower risk of dementia in African and non-Latino White older adults, have better health and less stress, engage in superior problem focused coping, ; have a higher level of marital satisfaction, maintain better-quality friendships, achieve higher grade point averages in college ; be more successful at accomplishing goals, engage in less substance abuse ; experience less negative affect to stressors and gamble less. They also are less likely to have an alcohol addiction, experience cognitive decline in aging, develop Internet addiction and if they are nursing professionals they tend to have lower work burnout rates

As we have seen, there is conclusive evidence that midlife is not a time when a majority of adults experience a tumultuous crisis, but if they do experience a midlife crisis it is often linked to stressful life events. Do middle-aged adults experience stress differently from young adults and older adults?

Margie Lachman and her colleagues (2016) have explored how personal control changes when individuals move into middle age. In their view, middle age is a time when a person's sense of control is frequently challenged by many demands and responsibilities, as well as physical and cognitive aging. By contrast, young people are more likely to have a sense of invulnerability, to be unrealistic about their personal control, and to be unaware of the aging process. Many young people focus primarily on self-pursuits and don't worry much about responsibilities for others. But in middle age, less attention is given to self-pursuits and more to responsibility for others, including people who are younger and older than they are.

more about adults providing care for their aging parents.

One study found that middle-aged adults positively supported family responsibility to emerging adult children but were more ambivalent about providing care for aging parents, viewing it as both a joy and a burden (Igarashi & others, 2013). However, a study in the Netherlands revealed that affection and support, refecting solidarity, were more prevalent than ambivalence in intergenerational relationships

Many middle-aged adults experience considerable stress when their parents become very ill and die.

One survey found that when adults enter midlife, 41 percent have both parents alive, but that 77 percent leave midlife with no parents alive (Bumpass & Aquilino, 1994). By middle age, more than 40 percent of adult children (most of them daughters) provide care for aging parents or parents-in-law. However, two studies revealed that middle-aged parents are more likely to provide support to their grown children than to their parents (Fingerman & others, 2011a, 2012). When middle-aged adults have a parent with a disability, their support for that parent increases (Fingerman & others, 2011b). This support might involve locating a nursing home and monitoring its quality, procuring medical services, arranging public service assistance, and handling fnances. In some cases, adult children provide direct assistance with daily living, including such activities as eating, bathing, and dressing.

OCEAN

Openness = Imaginative or practical Interested in variety or routine Independent or conforming Conscientiousness = Organized or disorganized Careful or careless Disciplined or impulsive Extraversion = Sociable or retiring. Fun-loving or somber Affectionate or reserved Agreeableness = Softhearted or ruthless Trusting or suspicious Helpful or uncooperative Neuroticism (emotional stability) = Calm or anxious Secure or insecure Self-satisfed or self-pitying

evidence for the importance of the Big Five factors indicates that they are related to such important aspects of a person's life as health, intelligence and cognitive functioning, achievement and work, and relationships. The following research supports these links:

Openness to experience: Individuals high on openness to experience are more likely to have better health and well-being, be tolerant, have superior cognitive functioning, achievement, and IQ across the life span, show creative achievement in the arts, experience less negative affect to stressors, have greater success as entrepreneurs, eat more fruits and vegetables, and as older adults they show declining openness as they approach death

Another important personality characteristic is optimism, which involves having a positive outlook on the future and minimizing problems.

Optimism is often referred to as a style of thinking. Researchers increasingly are fnding that optimism is linked to better adjustment, improved health, and increased longevity. A study involving adults 50 years of age and older revealed that being optimistic and having an optimistic spouse were both associated with better health and physical functioning another study of married couples found that the worst health outcomes occurred when both spouses decreased in optimism across a four-year time frame . In another study, a higher level of optimism following an acute coronary event was linked to engaging in more physical activity and experiencing fewer cardiac readmissions Also, in a recent study, lonely individuals who were optimistic had a lower suicide risk than their counterparts who were more pessimistic

An important event in a family is the launching of a child into adult life

Parents undergo adjustments as a result of the child's absence. College students usually think that their parents suffer from their absence. In fact, parents who live vicariously through their children might experience the empty nest syndrome, which includes a decline in marital satisfaction after children leave the home. For most parents, however, marital satisfaction does not decline after children have left home but rather increases during the years after child rearing (Fingerman & Baker, 2006). With their children gone, marital partners have time to pursue career interests and to spend with each other. One study revealed that the transition to an empty nest increased marital satisfaction due to an increase in the quality of time—but not the quantity of time—spent with partners

(Continued from card 33) Neuroticism.

People high in neuroticism are more likely to die at a younger age (Graham & others, 2017); have worse health and report having more health complaints (Strickhouser, Zell, & Krizan, 2017); feel more negative emotion than positive emotion in daily life; experience more lingering negative states and have more stressor-related negative affect, People high in neuroticism are more likely to die at a younger age (Graham & others, 2017); have worse health and report having more health complaints (Strickhouser, Zell, & Krizan, 2017); feel more negative emotion than positive emotion in daily life; experience more lingering negative states and have more stressor-related negative affect , research indicates that a combination of a higher level of conscientiousness and a lower level of neuroticism is linked to better health (Turiano & others, 2013). And a recent study found that individuals characterized by high neuroticism avoided engaging in selfe-posting and selfe-editing, while those with high extraversion and agreeableness engaged in more selfe-posting and selfe-editing

(Continued from card 33) Agreeableness.

People who are high in agreeableness are more likely to live longer (Graham & others, 2017); be generous and altruistic (Caprara & others, 2010); have more satisfying romantic relationships (Donnellan, Larsen-Rife, & Conger, 2005); view other people positively (Wood, Harms, & Vazire, 2010); show more positive affect to stressors (Leger & others, 2016); lie less about themselves in online dating profles (Hall & others, 2010); are less likely to engage in physical activity (Hearon & Harrison, 2020); and have a lower risk of dementia

Helson's Mills College Study

Ravenna Helson and her colleaguesy initially studied 132 women who were seniors at Mills College in California in the late 1950s and then studied them again when they were in their thirties, forties, and ffties. Helson and her colleagues distinguished three main groups among the Mills women: family-oriented, career-oriented (whether or not they also wanted families), and those who followed neither path (women without children who pursued only low-level work).

To what extent do middle-aged adults perceive that they can control what happens to them?

Researchers have found that on average a sense of personal control peaks in midlife and then declines However, some aspects of personal control increase with age while others decrease (Lachman, Neupert, & Agrigoroaei, 2011). For example, middle-aged adults feel a greater sense of control over their fnances, work, and marriage than younger adults but less control over their sex life and their children

Historical Contexts (Cohort Effects)

Some developmentalists conclude that changing historical times and different social expectations infuence how different cohorts—groups of individuals born in the same year or time period—move through the life span Bernice Neugarten (1986) argues that our values, attitudes, expectations, and behaviors are infuenced by the period in which we live. For example, individuals born during the diffcult times of the Great Depression may have a different outlook on life from those born during the optimistic 1950s, says Neugarten

In the individual variations view, middle-aged adults interpret, shape, alter, and give meaning to their lives.

Some individuals may experience a midlife crisis in some contexts of their lives but not others (Lachman, 2004). For example, turmoil and stress may characterize a person's life at work even while things are going smoothly at home. Researchers have found that in one-third of the cases in which individuals have reported going through a midlife crisis, the "crisis is triggered by life events such as a job loss, fnancial problems, or illness

onsider the Gusii culture, located in the African country of Kenya. The Gusii divide the life course differently for females and males

The Gusii divide the life course differently for females and males (LeVine, 1979): females: (1) infant, (2) uncircumcised girl, (3) circumcised girl, (4) married woman, and (5) female elder; males: (1) infant, (2) uncircumcised boy, (3) circumcised boy warrior, and (4) male elder. Thus, movement from one status to the next is due primarily to life events, not age, in the Gusii culture.

Two major forms of love are romantic love and affectionate love.

The fires of romantic love are strong in early adulthood. Affectionate, or companionate, love increases during middle adulthood. That is, physical attraction, romance, and passion are more important in new relationships, especially in early adulthood. Security, loyalty, and mutual emotional interest become more important as relationships mature, especially in middle adulthood. Middle-aged partners are more likely to view their marriage as positive if they engage in mutual activities. Also, a study found that middle-aged married individuals had a lower likelihood of work related health limitations. . Further, a study of middle-aged adults revealed that positive marital quality was linked to better health for both spouses

The discrepancies between acculturation levels can give rise to conficting expectations within Mexican American families

The immigrant parents' model of child rearing may be out of phase with the dominant culture's model, which may cause reverberations through the family's generations, as discussed in earlier chapters. For example, parents and grandparents may be especially resistant to the demands for autonomy and dating made by adolescent daughters (Wilkinson-Lee & others, 2006). And in recent years an increasing number of female youth have left their Mexican American homes to further their education, an event that is often stressful for families with strong ties to Mexican values.

Women and men differ in the way they experience and respond to stressors

Women are more vulnerable to social stressors such as those involving romance,family, and work. For example, women experience higher levels of stress than men do when things go wrong in romantic and marital relationships. Women also are more likely than men to become depressed when they encounter stressful life events such as divorce or the death of a friend. in coping with stress, women were more likely than men to seek psychotherapy, talk to friends about the stress, read a self-help book, take prescription medication, and engage in comfort eating (Liddon, Kingerlee, & Barry, 2017). In this study, in coping with stress men were more likely than women to attend a support group meeting, have sex or use pornography, try to fx problems themselves, and not admit to having problems

What can be concluded about stability and change in regard to personality development during the adult years?

There is increasing evidence that personality traits continue to change during the adult years, even into late adulthood. However, in a meta-analysis of 92 longitudinal studies, the greatest change in personality traits occurred in early adulthood—from about 20 to 40 years of age Thus, people show more stability in their personality when they reach midlife than they did when they were younger adults. These findings support what is called a cumulative personality model of personality development, which states that with time and age people become more adept at interacting with their environment in ways that promote increased stability of personality. This does not mean that change is absent throughout middle and late adulthood. Ample evidence shows that social contexts, new experiences, and sociohistorical changes can affect personality development, but the changes in middle and late adulthood are usually not as great as those in early adulthood

What is the meaning of the grandparent role?

Three prominent meanings are attached to being a grandparent. For some older adults, being a grandparent brings a sense of biological reward and continuity. For others, being a grandparent is a source of emotional self-fulfllment, generating feelings of companionship and satisfaction that may have been missing in earlier adult-child relationships. And for yet others, being a grandparent is a remote role. One study revealed that grandparenting can provide a sense of purpose and a feeling of being valued during middle and late adulthood when generative needs are strong

Middle-aged adults can develop generativity in a number of ways

Through biological generativity, adults have offspring. Through parental generativity, adults nurture and guide children. Through work generativity, adults develop skills that are passed down to others. And through cultural generativity, adults create, renovate, or conserve some aspect of culture that ultimately survives Adults promote and guide the next generation by parenting, teaching, leading, and doing things that beneft the community (Russo-Netzer & Moran, 2018). One of the participants in a study of aging said, "From twenty to thirty I learned how to get along with my wife. From thirty to forty I learned how to be a success at my job, and at forty to ffty I worried less about myself and more about the children" (Vaillant, 2002, p. 114). Generative adults commit themselves to the continuation and improvement of society as a whole through their connection to the next generation.

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 fnancial 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. A common complaint voiced by both adult children and their parents is a loss of privacy. The adult children complain that their parents restrict their 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 wondering when their adult children will come home, that meals are diffcult to plan because of conficting schedules, that their relationship as a married couple has been invaded, and that they have to shoulder too much responsibility for their adult children. In sum, when adult children return home to live, there is a disequilibrium in family life that requires considerable adaptation by parents and their adult children.

Gender differences also characterize intergenerational relationships

Women play an especially important role in maintaining family relationships across generations. Women's relationships across generations are typically closer than other family bonds. . In one study, mothers and their daughters had much closer relationships during their adult years than mothers and sons, fathers and daughters, and fathers and sons (Rossi, 1989). Also in this study, married men were more involved with their wives' kin than with their own. One study revealed that mothers' intergenerational ties were more infuential for grandparent-grandchild relationships than fathers'

How might U.S. grandparents compare with their counterparts in other countries?

U.S. grandparents were characterized by higher parental effcacy, more role satisfaction, better well-being, and more attachment than Chinese grandparents, who were characterized by better resilience and more authoritative parenting (Wang & others, 2019). Grandparents play important roles in the lives of many grandchildren (Condon, Luszcz, & McKee, 2020; Hayslip, Fruhauf, & Dolbin-MacNab, 2019). Grandparents especially play important roles in grandchildren's lives when family crises such as divorce, death, illness, abandonment, or poverty occur (Dolbin-MacNab & Yancura, 2018). In many countries around the world, grandparents facilitate women's participation in the labor force by providing child care. Many adults become grandparents for the frst time during middle age. Researchers have consistently found that grandmothers have more contact with grandchildren than grandfathers do (Watson, Randolph, & Lyons, 2005). Perhaps women tend to defne their role as grandmothers as part of their responsibility for maintaining ties between family members across generations. Men may have fewer expectations about the grandfather role and see it as more voluntary. grandparents' contact with their adult grandchildren involved frequent listening, emotional support, and companionship. Also in this study, grandparents provided more frequent emotional support to their adult grandchildren when parents were having life problems and more frequent fnancial support when parents were unemployed.

Does personality at middle age predict what a person's life will be like in late adulthood?

Vaillant (2002) has conducted three longitudinal studies of adult development and aging: (1) a sample of 268 socially advantaged Harvard graduates born in about 1920 (called the "Grant Study"); (2) a sample of 456 socially disadvantaged inner-city men born in about 1930; and (3) a sample of 90 middle-SES, intellectually gifted women born in about 1910. Vaillant categorized 75- to 80-year-olds as "happy-well," "sad-sick," or "dead." He used data collected from these individuals when they were 50 years of age to predict which categories they were likely to end up in at 75 to 80 years of age. Alcohol abuse and smoking at age 50 were the best predictors of which individuals would be dead at 75 to 80 years of age. Factors at age 50 that were linked with being in the "happy-well" category at 75 to 80 years of age included getting regular exercise, avoiding being overweight, being well educated, having a stable marriage, being future-oriented, being thankful and forgiving, empathizing with others, being active with other people, and having good coping skills. Wealth and income at age 50 were not linked with being in the "happy-well" category at 75 to 80 years of age. Generativity in middle age (defned as "taking care of the next generation") was more strongly related than intimacy to whether individuals would have an enduring and happy marriage at 75 to 80 years of age The results for one of Vaillant's studies, the Grant Study of Harvard men, indicate that when individuals at 50 years of age were not heavy smokers, did not abuse alcohol, had a stable marriage, exercised, maintained a normal weight, and had good coping skills, they were more likely to be alive and happy at 75 to 80 years of age.

George Vaillant (1977) has a different view about midlife.

Vaillant's study—called the "Grant Study"—involved Harvard University men in their early thirties and in their late forties who initially had been interviewed as undergraduates. He concludes that just as adolescence is a time for detecting parental flaws and discovering the truth about childhood, the forties are a decade of reassessing and recording the truth about one's adolescence and adulthood. However, whereas Levinson sees midlife as a crisis, Vaillant maintains that only a minority of adults experience a midlife crisis: Thus, for most people midlife is not a crisis (Lachman, Teshale, & Agrigoroaei, 2015). Many cognitive skills, such as vocabulary, verbal memory, and inductive reasoning, peak in midlife, and many individuals reach the height of their career success in midlife (Schaie, 2016). Further, happiness and positive affect have an upward trajectory from early adulthood to late adulthood the emotional instability of individuals did not significantly increase during their middle-aged years. Adult development experts are virtually unanimous in their belief that midlife crises have been exaggerated

Does research support Erikson's theory that generativity is an important dimension of middle age?

Yes, it does. In George Vaillant's longitudinal studies of aging, generativity (defned in this study as "taking care of the next generation") in middle age was more strongly related than intimacy to whether individuals would have an enduring and happy marriage at 75 to 80 years of age. Other research also supports Erikson's (1968) emphasis on the importance of generativity in middle adulthood. In one study, Carol Ryff (1984) examined the views of women and men at different ages and found that middle-aged adults especially were concerned about generativity. In a longitudinal study of Smith College women, the desire for generativity increased as the participants aged from their thirties to their fifties. In another study, participating in an intergenerational civic engagement program enhanced older adults' perceptions of generativity (Gruenewald & others, 2016). In a more recent study, a higher level of generativity in midlife was linked to greater wisdom in late adulthood In a recent study of middle-aged adults, intrinsically rewarding work was positively associated with feelings of generativity participants in the generativity condition who held more positive expectations for mental health during the aging process reported greater perceived social support and lower levels of loneliness.

Levinson (1978) views midlife as

a crisis, arguing that the middle-aged adult is suspended between the past and the future, trying to cope with this gap that threatens life's continuity.

At the end of one's teens, according to Levinson

a transition from dependence to independence should occur. This transition is marked by the formation of a dream—an image of the kind of life the youth wants to have, especially in terms of a career and marriage. Levinson sees the twenties as a novice phase of adult development. It is a time of reasonably free experimentation and of testing the dream in the real world. In early adulthood, the two major tasks to be mastered are exploring the possibilities for adult living and developing a stable life structure. From about the ages of 28 to 33, a man goes through a transition period in which he must face the more serious question of determining his goals. During his thirties, he usually focuses on family and career development. In the later years of this period, he enters a phase of Becoming One's Own Man (or BOOM, as Levinson calls it). By age 40, he has reached a stable point in his career, has outgrown his earlier, more tenuous attempts at learning to become an adult, and now must look forward to the kind of life he will lead as a middle-aged adult. According to Levinson, the transition to middle adulthood lasts about five years (ages 40 to 45) and requires the adult male to come to grips with four major conficts that have existed in his life since adolescence: (1) being young versus being old, (2) being destructive versus being constructive, (3) being masculine versus being feminine, and (4) being attached to others versus being separated from them. Seventy to 80 percent of the men Levinson interviewed found the midlife transition tumultuous and psychologically painful, as many aspects of their lives came into question. According to Levinson, the success of the midlife transition rests on how effectively the individual reduces the polarities and accepts each of them as an integral part of his being

Using their fve-factor personality test, Costa and McCrae

concluded that considerable stability occurs in the fve personality factors—emotional stability, extraversion, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness. However, more recent research indicates greater developmental changes in the fve personality factors in adulthood. . For example, one study found that emotional stability, extraversion, openness, and agreeableness were lower in early adulthood, peaked between 40 and 60 years of age, and decreased in late adulthood, while conscientiousness showed a continuous increase from early adulthood to late adulthood (Specht, Egloff, & Schukle, 2011). Most research studies indicate that the greatest change occurs in early adulthood

In sum: The stage theories place too much emphasis on

crises in development, especially midlife crises. There often is considerable individual variation in the way people experience the stages

The stage theories place too much emphasis on

crises in development, especially midlife crises. There often is considerable individual variation in the way people experience the stages Stage theories focus on the universals of adult personality development as they try to pin down stages that all individuals go through in their adult lives. These theories do not adequately address individual variations in adult development.

For both husbands and wives, negative emotional behavior (primarily belligerence, defensiveness, fear/tension, and whining) ...

decreased and positive emotional behavior (primarily humor, enthusiasm, and validation) increased with age.

The book Present and Past in Middle Life (Eichorn & others, 1981) profles these individuals as they became middle-aged. The results from early adolescence through a portion of midlife ...

did not support either extreme in the debate over whether personality is characterized by stability or change. Some characteristics were more stable than others, however. The most stable characteristics were the degree to which individuals were intellectually oriented, self-confdent, and open to new experiences. The characteristics that changed the most included the extent to which the individuals were nurturant or hostile and whether or not they had good self-control.

Grandparents who are full-time caregivers for grandchildren are at elevated risk for ...

health problems, depression, and stress. One research review concluded that grandparents raising grandchildren are especially at risk for developing depression. Caring for grandchildren is linked with these problems in part because full-time grandparent caregivers are often characterized by low-income, minority status and by not being married. However, a recent study found that when children live with grandparents this arrangement especially benefts low-income and single parents, who in this circumstance invested more money on their children's education and activities, as well as saving on child care costs. Grandparents who are part-time caregivers are less likely to have the negative health status that full-time grandparent caregivers have.

older adults are more likely than younger adults to use proactive strategies to deal with

minor daily hassles before they become more stressful

The contemporary life-events approach (like Bronfenbrenner's theory) highlights the importance of ...

the complex settings of our lives, exploring everything from our income and family supports to our sociohistorical circumstances. Let's examine how three aspects of the contexts of life infuence development during middle adulthood: historical contexts (cohort effects), gender, and culture.

What trends characterize divorce in U.S. middle-aged adults?

the divorce rate decreased for young adults but increased for middle-aged and older adults recent research on the antecedents of "gray divorce," factors traditionally associated with divorce in young adults also were refected in the divorces of adults 50 years and older. . Divorce was more likely to occur in these older adults when they had been married fewer years, their marriage was of lower quality (less marital satisfaction, for example), they did not own a home, and they had fnancial problems. Also, as with younger adults, middle-aged adults who are divorced have more physical and mental health problems than those who are married. In a recent Korean study of middle-aged adults, those who were divorced were more likely to smoke, binge drink, get inadequate sleep, and be depressed than their married counterparts (Kim, Lee, & Park, 2018). Further, in a Swiss study of middle-aged adults, single divorcees were more lonely and less resilient than their married and remarried counterparts (Knopfi & others, 2016). In the same study, single divorcees had the lowest self-rated health

Middle-aged adults have been described as the "sandwich," "squeezed," or "overload" generation because of

the responsibilities they have for their adolescent and young adult children as well as their aging parents (Etaugh & Bridges, 2010). However, an alternative view is that in the United States, a "sandwich" generation, in which the middle generation cares for both grown children and aging parents simultaneously, occurs less often than a "pivot" generation, in which the middle generation alternates attention between the demands of grown children and aging parents

middle-aged and older adults expressed a strong feeling of responsibility between generations in their family,

the strongest intergenerational ties indicated in Saudi Arabia, India, and Turkey. More than 80 percent of the middle-aged and older adults reported that adults have a duty to care for their parents (and parents-in-law) in time of need later in life. Adults in midlife play important roles in the lives of the young and the old (Fingerman, Zarit, & Birditt, 2019; Wang & others, 2020). Middle-aged adults share their experience and transmit values to the younger generation. They may be launching children and experiencing the empty nest, adjusting to having grown children return home, or becoming grandparents. They also may be giving or receiving fnancial assistance, caring for a widowed or sick parent, or adapting to being the oldest generation after both parents have died. A recent study indicated that middle-aged adults are happiest when they have harmonious relationships with their parents and their grown children

. Although there are some consistent developmental changes in the personality traits of large numbers of people, at the individual level people can show unique patterns of personality traits

these patterns often refect life experiences related to themes of their particular developmental period (Roberts & Mroczek, 2008). For example, researchers have found that individuals who are in a stable marriage and a solid career track become more socially dominant, conscientious, and emotionally stable as they go through early adulthood (Roberts & Wood, 2006). And for some of these individuals there is greater change in their personality traits than for other individuals consensus among middle-aged Americans that a major component of well-being involves positive relationships with others, especially parents, spouse, and offspring

John Clausen (1993), one of the researchers in the Berkeley Longitudinal Studies, stresses that ...

too much attention has been given to discontinuities for all members of the human species, as exemplifed in the adult stage theories. He points out that some people experience recurrent crises and undergo substantial changes over the life course, whereas others have more stable lives entailing very little change.

As divorce and remarriage have become more common, a special concern of grandparents is

visitation privileges with their grandchildren (Kivnik & Sinclair, 2007). In the last two decades, more states have passed laws giving grandparents the right to petition a court for visitation privileges with their grandchildren, even if a parent objects.