CHAPTER
12
NOTES AND
TEST
Experiencing
Middle Age
Physical changes and heath
1. Changes in appearance
a. Signs of aging appearing in middle age include wrinkles, gray hair and weight gain
b. Change, especially in women, is the loss of bone mass, which in its most severe form results in the disease of osteoporosis
2. Reproductive changes
a. A result of middle age are transitions in the reproductive system
b. Loss of the ability to have children by natural means (climacteric) and menopause occurs in the 40’s and 50’s. These are major changes in the reproductive ability in women
c. Estrogen related symptoms and somatic symptoms are related to climacteric and menopause. The estrogen related symptoms are associated with an increased risk of some diseases the most serious been cardiovascular disease. To decrease this risk many physician recommend hormone replacement therapy
d. The majority of women do not suffer severe symptoms that are associated with hormonal changes
e. Less dramatic are the reproductive changes in men. Even older men are typically still fertile, but physical changed do affect sexual response
2. Stress and health
a. In the stress and coping paradigm, stress results when you appraise an event as taxing your resources. Daily hassles are the primary source of stress. Coping is an individual’s attempt to deal with stress.
b. The types of events individuals appraise as stressful change across adulthood. For young and middle aged adults, family and career issues are more important. For older adults health issues are more important
c. Stress affects an individual’s health both directly and indirectly. A direct affect is the causation of a specific disease and an indirect affect is the raising of corticoid levels which make an individual more susceptible to disease
d. Type A personality, is characterized by intense competitiveness, anger hostility, restlessness, aggression and impatience, and is linked with first heart attack and cardiovascular disease.
e. Type B personality is the opposite of type A, and is associated with lower risk of first heart attack, but the prognosis after the heart attack occurs is poorer. Following the initial heart attack, type A personalities have a higher recovery rate
f. Stress is usually related to social isolation and distrust
4.Exercise
a. The benefits of aerobic exercise are numerous and are especially beneficial to cardiovascular health and fitness
b. The best results are obtained through following a moderate exercise regiment and when this regiment is maintained throughout adulthood
Cognitive development
1. Practical intelligence
a. Practical intelligence tests are different from traditional tests of intelligence in three ways:
1. individuals are more motivated to solve them
2. individuals use personal experience to solve them
3. individuals have more than one correct answers
b. Research on practical intelligence has showed differences between optimal exercised ability and unexercised ability. This difference closes during middle adulthood
c. Practical intelligence does not appear to decline until late life
d. Four different styles can be used to solve practical problems:
1. cognitive analysis
2. problem-focused action
3. passive-dependent behavior
4. avoidance thinking and denial
e. When dealing with instrumental problems middle-aged adults use the problem-focused style
2. Becoming an expert
a. Individuals tend to become expert in some areas and not in other areas
b. Experts in an area are more flexible thinkers and are able to skip steps in solving problems
c. Expert performance usually peaks in middle age
3. Lifelong learning
a. Research has found that older students have a different learning style and the motivation for learning and goals are different than those of younger students
Personality
1. Stability is the rule: The five factor model of personality
a. Costa and McCrae suggest five different dimensions of personality:
1. neuroticism
2. extroversion
3. openness to experience
4. aggreeableness
5. conscientiousness
b. A number of longitudinal studies have found that personality traits have long term stability
c. Critics of the five factor model of personality argue that this model ignores the sociocultural context of personality development and the results are due to statistical artifacts
2. Changing priorities in midlife
a. Middle-aged adults experience a shift in priorities. Erikson suggested that middle-aged adults become concerned with doing for others and passing social values and skills to the next generation. He labeled those behaviors and belief generativity. Those individuals who do not reach generativity experience stagnation
b. McAdams believed that generativity is the result from interconnections of societal and inner forces, and it creates a concern for the next generation
c. Research has found evidence that role-gender identity converges in middle-age, and men and women are more likely to endorse similar self-descriptions. These similar self-descriptions do not necessarily translate into similar behavior.
d. Data does not support the idea that all adults go through predictable life stages at the same point in life. Individuals may face similar stresses but transitions occur at any time during adulthood. Research has also found that not everyone goes through a mid-life crisis
e. Ego resilience is the personality resource that helps individuals handle midlife stresses. Individuals who enter midlife with high ego resilience are more likely to perceive the stresses during midlife as an opportunity for change and growth. Those who enter midlife with low ego resilience are more likely to experience stagnation and decline
Family dynamics and middle age
1. Middle adults and their children
a. When the child emerges from adolescence the relations with parents improve dramatically. A number of difficulties emerge from the reason that for parents the raising of children is a primary source of personal identity. However, once children have left home, parents still provide considerable support.
b. Children who move back home do this for primarily financial or child rearing reasons. This type of situation is not usually liked by either parents or children
Middle age adults and their aging parents
a. Middle-aged children keep in frequent contact with their parents
b. The majority of help older adults receive comes from their children. Usually the caring for aging parents falls to a daughter or daughter-in-law
c. When parents move in with their children, it usually creates a stressful situation for both parties because of conflicting feelings and roles. The degree for conflict is high as if the financial pressure
d. Caregiver stress is the result of adult children having trouble coping with the decline in their parents’ functioning and from the situation being perceived as confining or infringing on the adult child’s responsibilities
e. e.The stress for caring for an aging parent are more usually more difficult for women, because it coincides with women’s peak employment years
Grandparenting
a. When an individual becomes a grandparent it means assuming new roles. The grandparenting styles differ from grandchild to grandchild. The style changes according to the grandchild’s age and where the grandparents fall on the social and personal dimension
b. Usually grandparents derive a great deal of meaning from grandparenting, and this does not depend on which style they use
c. It has been reported that most children and young adults have a positive relationship with their grandparents, and for the most part young adults feel a responsibility to care for them if that becomes necessary
d. Research has found that ethnic differences exist in the degree to which grandparents take an active role in their grandchildren’s lives
e. Because of the highly mobile society today, grandparents are assuming a distant relationship with their grandchildren
f. One of the major concerns of today’s grandparents is their ability to maintain contact with grandchildren after the divorce of the grandchild’s parents
g. Today, an increasing number of grandparents end up raising their grandchildren