Middle Adulthood

A Look At Physical Changes

That Start To Occur Between
Ages 40-65
Developmental Tasks
 Losing parents/grief
 Launching children
 Adjusting to life without children
 Dealing with adult children who return
 Becoming grandparents
 Preparing for late adulthood
 Acting as caregivers
Physical Changes
 Most experience good health
 Risk of disability
 Vision
 Hearing
 Joint Pain
 Weight Gain
Impact of Lifestyle
 Risks to health  Preventative
 Poor diet
 Stress
 Smoking tobacco
 Drinking alcohol
 Physical inactivity
 Chronic disease
Measures
 Challenging
physical and
mental activity
 Weight bearing
exercise
 Good nutrition
 Social resources
Physical Changes:
Climacteric (Menopause)
 Loss of estrogen
 Mid 40s to Mid 50s
 All complete this by 58
 Change in menstrual cycle
 Other changes
 No more reproduction
 Cultural variation
Andropause?
 Reproductive ability continues
 Lowered testosterone levels due to
stress/sexual inactivity
Climacteric and Sexual
Expression
 Climacteric affects reproduction in
females
 Physical intimacy still important
 Practicing safe sex still important
Lifestyle Changes:
Exercise
 Exercise helps keep muscles strong
 Reduces stress
 Increases energy
 Weight training promotes bone density
Food Pyramid: February
2005

The New Food Pyramid

The Ideal Diet
 Low in cholesterol (<300 mg per
day) HDL/LDL should be 4 to 1
 Low in sodium
 High in fiber
 Low in sugar/starch
 Alcohol in moderation (1-2
servings per day)
Cognitive Development

A Look At Formal and

Postformal Thought During
Midlife
Formal Operational
Thought
 Formal operational thought varies
 Not achieved in all areas
 Tied to experience
 Tied to education
Increases and Decreases
 Increases with age:  Decreases:
 Tacit knowledge  Working memory
 Verbal memory  Speed of process
 Spatial skills
 Inductive reasoning
 Wisdom? It
depends
Older Adult Students
 Relevance not rote
 Accuracy over speed
 Minimize distractions
 Harder to learn when fatigued
 Learn better with slower pace
The Expert Vs the Novice
 Midlife is a time of gaining
expertise
 Experts and novices work
differently
 Experts: intuition
 Experts: less conscious
 Experts: are better at handling
unusual situations
Psychosocial Development

A Look At Psychological
Concerns and Relationships
During Midlife
Levinson’s Theory
 Does everyone have a “midlife
crisis”?
 Why do some people have them?
 What does it look like?
 How long does it last?
 Why is it more extreme than the
age 30 transition?
Erikson
 Generativity vs. Stagnation
 Feeling either productive or stuck
 Productivity can occur in work, in
an avocation, or in family life
 Encore careers?
Family Relationships
 Adult Children and tolerance
 Overload stressors
 Launching concerns
 Kinkeepering
 Caregiving
Singles
 25% households
 Marrying older; more staying
single
 Are singles happier than married
people?
 Happiness depends on reasons
why (single or spouse-free?)
Stein’s Types of Singles
 Voluntary temporary
 Voluntary permanent
 Involuntary temporary
 Involuntary permanent
INTRINSIC VS UTILITARIAN
MARRIAGES
Cuber and Haroff’s Types
of Marriages
 Conflict-habituated
 Devitalized
 Passive-congenial
 Vital
 Total
Gottman’s work on what harms a marriage

MARITAL COMMUNICATION
Four Warning Signs
(marriage killers)
 Criticism
 Contempt
 Defensiveness
 Stonewalling
Stations of Divorce
 Emotional
 Legal
 Economic
 Coparental
 Community
 Psychic
Remarriages
 Half of all marriages are a remarriage
 Courtships, quicker, sex sooner, kids faster,
redivorce quicker
 Divorce rates are higher if children involved
Productivity at Work
 Varied experiences
 Peak of career
 New skills training
 Encore Careers
 Flexibility
Personality in Midlife
 The Big Five
 Agreeableness increases
 Openness and neuroticism decreases
 Jung and maturation