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Two Perspectives on Adult Personality Development

Normative-Crisis

Views personality development in terms of fairly universal stages, tied to a sequence of age-related crises

Life-Events

Suggests particular life even determine course of personality development
Changes in society call into question normative-crisis models that are closely tied to age

The traditional approach to adult personality development is the NORMATIVE-CRISIS MODEL, which views personality development in terms of fairly universal stages, tied to a sequence of age-related crises.
Erikson, Gould, and Levinson's models are stage models.
Critics argue that normative-crisis models are outdated.
They came from a time when gender roles were more rigid.

Two Perspectives on Adult Personality Development

Life Events: Revenna Helson

Suggest that timing of particular events in adult's life, rather than age per se, determine course of personality development

According to this model, a woman having her first baby at 21 would experience the same psychological forces as a woman having her first baby at 39.
Both models agree that adulthood is not a time of passivity and stagnation but of continued psychological growth.

Erik Erikson

Generativity versus stagnation

Generativity = looking beyond oneself to continuation of one's life through others
Stagnation = focusing on the triviality of their life

Critics argue that normative-crisis models are outdated; model came from time when gender roles were more rigid

Generativity
Guiding and encouraging future generations
Leaving a lasting contribution to the world through creative or artistic output
Looking beyond oneself to the continuation of one's life through others
Stagnation
Focusing on the triviality of their life
Feeling they have made only a limited contribution to the world, that their presence has counted for little

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

People in late 30s and early 40s begin to feel sense of urgency in terms of attaining life's goals – this reality propels them to adulthood.

Gould's Approach

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

Levinson: Seasons of Life Theory

Most people are susceptible to fairly profound midlife crisis

Late 30s
Early 40s
Between 40 and 45

Interviewed males
Beginning stages have to do with leaving one's family and entering the adult world.
Early 40s are a period of transition and crisis.
Around age 40 or 45, people move into a period that Levinson calls the midlife transition. The midlife transition is a time of questioning. People begin to focus on the finite nature of life, and they begin to question some of their everyday, fundamental assumptions.
This period of assessment may lead to a midlife crisis, a stage of uncertainty and indecision brought about by the realization that life is finite. Facing signs of physical aging, men may also discover that even the accomplishments of which they are proudest have brought them less satisfaction than they expected.

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

This period of assessment may lead to a MIDLIFE CRISIS, a stage of uncertainty and indecision brought about by the realization that life is finite.

Facing signs of physical aging, men may also discover that even the accomplishments they are proudest of brought them less satisfaction than expected.

Looking toward the past, they may seek to define what went wrong and look for ways to correct their past mistakes.

Levinson claims women go through similar stages but have a more difficult time with "the dream" because of inner conflicts over career versus family.

Non-Midlife Life Crisis

Non-midlife 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

We may just pay more attention to the few who exhibit a midlife crisis.

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

Psychologists argue whether personality changes or remains stable over the course of development.

Erikson and Levinson suggest that personality changes substantially over the life span.

Paul Costa and Robert McCrae find remarkable stability in particular traits across the life span.

Developmentalists feel that personality is both stable (on some traits) and changeable on others.

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 time  not on basis of chronological age
Domestic work is highly respected and valued

The model of aging of the Oriyan women is based on two phases of life: life in her father's house (bapa gharo), followed by life in her husband's mother's house (sasu gharo). These two segments make sense in the context of Oriyan family life, which consists of multigenerational households in which marriages are arranged. After they are married, husbands remain with their parents and wives are expected to move into the husband's parents’ household. At the time of marriage, a wife is seen as having changed social status from a child (someone's daughter) to a sexually active female.
Chronological age, per se, does not mark significant boundaries in life for Oriyan women, nor do physical changes, such as the onset of menstruation nor its cessation at menopause. Instead, it is the change from daughter to daughter-in-law which brings about a significant alteration in social responsibility.

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

Neuroticism, the degree to which a person is moody, anxious, and self-critical.
Extraversion, how outgoing or shy a person is.
Openness, a person's level of curiosity and interest in new experiences.
Agreeableness, how easygoing and helpful a person tends to be.
Conscientiousness, a person's tendencies to be organized and responsible.

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

Although specific events may temporarily elevate or depress a person's mood (for example, a surprisingly high job evaluation or being laid off from work), people eventually return to their general level of happiness.
Most people's happiness set points seem to be fairly high.

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

The 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 the children leave adolescence and reaches its highest point when the kids have left home.
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.

After the Vows: Changes in Marital Satisfaction Over Time

Older research establishing U-shaped pattern used cross-sectional research, surveying different people at different points in their marriages
Current research employed longitudinal methods confirmed marital satisfaction decline but failed to find evidence of a subsequent upswing after the childbearing years

Over time, marriage quality continues to decline over course of marriage

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 time when marriage was more highly valued
Different couples have different levels of marital satisfaction even at outset

Older couples tend to have happier marriages both at the outset and in the later years.
It may be the case that people tend to become less emotionally reactive to marital discord as they age, or that their standards for evaluating their partners become more mellow.
Furthermore, parenting plays a role in the developmental path of marriage quality—but not a straightforward one.

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?

Coping

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

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

Ask: Why do marriages unravel?

People are more individual, spending less time together.
Exercise caution in discussing this topic!

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.

Divorce

Although the overall divorce rate has declined in the last two decades, divorce among couples during midlife is actually rising

One woman in eight who is in her first marriage will get divorced after the age of 40, and one in four of all divorces were by people 50 and older
Divorce rate for people 50 and over has doubled in the last 20 years and is expected to increase

Divorce can be especially hard for traditional women over 40 who stayed home with the kids and never worked.
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.
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.

Why Do Marriages Unravel?

Whatever the causes, divorce can be especially difficult for men and women in midlife

Middle-aged couples spend less time together
In individualistic Western cultures, people feel concerned with their own personal happiness and self-fulfillment
Divorce is more socially acceptable
Financial costs are not as high for many couples
Feelings of romance and passion may subside
Strain and stress caused by both parents working
Infidelity

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

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

Family Evolutions: From Full House to Empty Nest

Empty Nest Syndrome

When parents experience feelings of unhappiness, worry, loneliness, and depression resulting from their children's departure from home
More myth than reality

For many couples, a major transition is the EMPTY NEST SYNDROME when parents experience feelings of unhappiness, worry, loneliness, and depression resulting from their children's departure from home.
Although this challenge is harder for many stay-at-home moms to face than for working moms, the empty nest syndrome is more myth than reality.

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

There has been a significant increase in the U.S. in the number of young adults who come back to live in the homes of their middle-aged parents, a phenomenon called BOOMERANG CHILDREN.
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.

Sandwich Generation

Fulfill needs of both their children and their aging parents

Couples are marrying and having children later
Parents are living longer

Another new trend is that middle-aged couples become the SANDWICH GENERATION, because they must fulfill the needs of both their children and their aging parents.

Couples are marrying and having children later.
Parents are living longer.
This is difficult because of role reversal.
The care of parents ranges from financial aid to having parents live in their home.
Most of the burden falls on the wife.
This can be a rewarding situation for both children and parents.

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

In many cases, the burden of caring for aging parents is not shared equally, with the larger share most often taken on by women. Even in married couples where both husband and wife are in the labor force, middle-aged women tend to be more involved in the day-to-day care of aging parents, even when the parent or parents are their in-laws.
Culture also influences how caregivers view their roles.

Becoming a Grandparent:
Who, Me?

Involved

Companionate

Remote

Involved grandparents are actively engaged in grandparenting and have influence over their grandchildren's lives.

Companionate grandparents are more relaxed, and act as supporters and buddies to their grandchildren.
Remote grandparents are detached and distant, and show little interest in their grandchildren.
Grandmothers tend to be more involved than grandfathers.
African-American grandparents are more involved with their grandchildren than white grandparents.

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

African American families, which are more likely than white families to be headed by single parents, often rely substantially on the help of grandparents in everyday child care, and cultural norms tend to be highly supportive of grandparents taking an active role.

Family Violence: The Hidden Epidemic

Prevalence

Between 21 and 34 percent of women will be slapped, kicked, beaten, choked, or threatened or attacked with a weapon at least once by an intimate partner
Close to 15 percent of all marriages in the United States are characterized by continuing, severe violence
Estimates suggest that one in three women throughout the globe experience some form of violent victimization during their lives

Factors That Put a Family at Risk for Abuse

Low SES
Growing up in a violent home
Families with more children have more violence

Single parent families with lots of stress

Stages of Violence

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

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

Why Women Stay

Wife feels somewhat at fault
This explains why women stay in abusive relationships
Some stay out of fear

Spousal Abuse and Society

Cultural Roots of Violence

Others cultures have traditions in which violence is regarded as acceptable
Some experts suggest traditional power structure under which women and men function is root cause of abuse

Wife-battering is particularly prevalent in cultures in which women are viewed as inferior to men and treated as property.
More society differentiates between men and women in terms of status, the more likely it is that abuse will occur.
Abuse is more likely to occur in states where women are of particularly low or high status compared with women's status in other states. Apparently, relatively low status makes women easy targets of violence. Conversely, unusually high status may make husbands feel threatened and consequently more likely to behave abusively.

Cultural Differences

Cultural correlates

Status
Low status they = easy targets
High status = threat to husbands

Wife battering is particularly prevalent in cultures in which women are viewed as inferior to men.
Original English law allowed husbands to beat their wives.
Law was amended to permit beating only with a stick that was no thicker than his thumb (where the phrase "rule of thumb" comes from).
Wife beating was not removed from law until the late 1900s.
When women have low status they become easy targets; when they have high status they are threatening to their husbands.

Work and Careers: Jobs at Midlife

Productivity

Job satisfaction

Worker characteristics and attitudes

For many, middle age is the time of greatest productivity, success, and earning power.
The factors that make work satisfying undergo a transformation during middle age.
Middle-aged workers care more about the here-and-now qualities of work
The older workers are, the more overall job satisfaction they experience.
Job satisfaction is not universal in middle adulthood.
As at earlier stages of life, changes in overall job quality are associated with changes in stress levels for both men and women.

Burnout

When highly trained professionals experience dissatisfaction, disillusionment, frustration, and weariness from their jobs

For many workers, unemployment is a hard reality of life and the implications are more psychological than economic
Occurs most often in jobs that involve helping others and strikes those who are most idealistic and driven

Middle-aged adults tend to stay unemployed longer than do young workers

One of the consequences of burnout is a growing cynicism about one's work.
Workers may feel indifference and lack of concern about how well they do their job.
Idealism with which a worker may have entered profession is replaced by pessimism and attitude that it is impossible to provide any kind of meaningful solution to problem.

Switching—and Starting—Careers at Midlife

Some people change or seek jobs voluntarily in middle adulthood

Old job gave little satisfaction
Mastery of the old job's challenges achieved
No longer enjoy what they do
Need employment after raising children, divorce, or death of spouse

Significant number of people, almost all of them women, return to the job market after having taken time off to raise children.
Some may need to find paying work after a divorce.
Since the mid-1980s, the number of women in the workforce who are in their 50s has grown significantly.

Unemployment: The Dashing of the Dream

Causes economic and psychological consequences

Feeling anxious, depressed, and irritable
Self-confidence and concentration may plummet
Sometimes depression and/or suicide

For many workers, unemployment is a hard reality of life, and the implications of not being able to find work are as much psychological as they are economic.
For those who have been fired, laid-off by corporate downsizing, or forced out of jobs by technological advances, being out of work can be psychologically and even physically devastating.
Every time the unemployment rate goes up 1 percent, there is a 4 percent rise in suicide, and admissions to psychiatric facilities go up by some 4 percent for men and 2 percent for women.

Leisure time

Leisure activities
Average number of hours
Nature of activities
Pace of life differs across countries

Most middle-aged adults have 70 hours a week for leisure time.
Average middle-aged person watches 15 hours of TV per week.
Adults spend about 6 hours a week socializing.
Some turn to charity, or community organizations.
Life is faster-paced in the U.S. than in many other countries, with the exception of Japan and Western European countries.

When Mom Goes to Work…Hey, What Do You Think She Has Been Doing At Home All Those Years?

65 percent of women between ages of 50 and 60 (80 percent of those who graduated from college) are now in the workforce
Three-quarters are in full-time jobs

Immigrants on the Job: Making It in America

Demographics

Contributions

Prejudice

Critics of immigration contend that today's immigrants (10 percent of our population) are different than before.
Only 38 percent are white (88 percent were white before).
Critics argue that immigrants lack skills, however, they are wrong in many respects.
Most legal and illegal immigrants are doing well financially.
Only a few are on welfare.
Given time, immigrants contribute more to the economy than they take away (they eventually pay $25 to $30 billion more in taxes than they use in government services).

EPILOGUE

Before turning to the next chapter, recall the prologue to this one, about of the midlife period, consider these questions:

How might Erickson explain Rudy's change in priorities in midlife?
Do you think Rudy went through a midlife crisis? Do you think he experienced burnout?
How is Rudy's experience consistent with research on happiness across the life span? Are there any ways in which it is inconsistent with that research?