UNIT THREE

3. Middle Adulthood(ጎልማሳ)
Characteristics of middle age
• As Middle Adulthood is a long period in the life span,
it is customarily subdivided into Early Middle
Adulthood, which extends from age 40 to age 50, and
Advanced Middle Adulthood, which extends from age
50 to age 60. During advanced Middle Adulthood,
physical and psychological changes that first began
during the early forties become far more apparent(open)

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 Characteristics of middle age

1. Middle Adulthood is a Time of Stress

2. Middle Adulthood is a "Dangerous Age"
3. Middle Adulthood is an "Awkward Age"
4. Middle Adulthood is a Time of Achievement
5. Middle Adulthood is a Time of Evaluation
6. Middle Adulthood is the Time of the Empty Nest
7. Middle Adulthood is a Time of Boredom

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 1. Middle Adulthood is a Time of Stress

• Categories of Stress in Middle Adulthood are:-

A. Somatic stress, which is due to physical evidences of aging

B. Cultural stress, stemming from the high value placed on
youth, vigor, and success by the cultural group
C. Economic stress, resulting from the financial burden of
educating children and providing status symbols for all family
members
D. Psychological stress, which may be the result of the death of a
spouse, the departure of children from the home, boredom
with marriage, or a sense of lost youth and approaching death.
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 2. Middle Adulthood is a "Dangerous Age"

•The usual way of interpreting "dangerous age" is in

terms of the male who wants to have a last fling in life,
especially in his sex life, before old age catches up with
him. It is a time when individuals break down
physically as a result of overwork, over worry, or
careless living. The incidence of mental illness rises
rapidly in Middle Adulthood among both men and
women, and it is also a peak age for suicides,
especially among men.
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 3. Middle Adulthood is an "Awkward Age"

Just as adolescents are neither children nor adults, so

middle-aged men and women are no longer "young" nor
are they yet "old." The middle-aged person "stands
between the younger 'Rebel Generation' and the 'Senior
Citizen Generation'-both of which is continuously in the
spotlight and suffers from the discomforts and
embarrassments associated with both age groups.

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 5. Middle Adulthood is a Time of Evaluation
•As it is the peak age of achievement, it is logical that it also
would be the time when they would evaluate their
accomplishments in light of their earlier aspirations and the
expectations of others, especially family members and friends.
As a result of this self-evaluation, Archer has pointed out, "The
mid-years seem to require the development of a different,
generally more realistic sense of who one is . . In growing up,
everyone nurtures fantasies or illusions about what one is, and
what one will do. A major task of the mid-life decade involves
coming to terms with those fantasies and illusions". 6
 6. Middle Adulthood is the Time of the Empty Nest
•The time when the children no longer want to live under the parental
roof. Except in cases where men and women marry later than the
average age, or postpone having their children until they are well
established in their careers, or have large families spread out over a
decade or more of time, Middle Adulthood is the "empty nest" stage
in marital lives. After years of living in a family-centered home, most
adults find it difficult to adjust to a pair-centered home. This is
because, during the child-rearing years, husbands and wives often
grew apart and developed individual interests. As a result, they have
little in common after mutual interests in their children wane and when
they are thrown together to adjust to each other the best they can. 7
 Developmental Tasks of Middle Age
•Each adult typically engages in all of the developmental tasks
such as managing a career, nurturing, intimate
relationships, and managing the household. Though their
roles in the family, in the work place, and in the community,
middle adults have broad responsibilities for the nurturance,
education, and care of children, adolescents, young adults, and
older adults. The strains of middle adulthood result largely
from difficulties in balancing many roles and striving to
navigate through predictable as well as sudden role transitions.
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 Developmental Tasks of Middle Age

1. Adjusting to physical and physiological changes

2. Adjusting to the reality of the work situation
3. Assuring economic security for old age
4. Maintaining contact with children and grandchildren
5. Reorganizing living arrangements
6. Adjusting to being a couple again
7. Participating in the community
8. Ensuring adequate medical supervision for old age
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 Adjustment to physical changes & changed interests
• the body organ of most persons show a 0.8 to 1% decline
per year in the functional ability after the age of 30.
• Part of this decline is normal, some is disease-related, and
some is caused by factors such as stress, occupational
status, nutritional status and many other environmental
factors. Although no longer at the peak level of their
young adult years, middle-aged adults still report good
health and physical functioning. However, as a result of
the passage of time, middle adults undergo various
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• Decades of exposure and use take their toll on the body
as wrinkles develop, organs no longer function as
efficiently as they once did, and lung and heart
capacities decrease.
• Other changes include decreases in strength,
coordination, reaction time, sensation (sight, hearing,
taste, smell, touch), and fine motor skills
• Also common among middle adults are the conditions
of presbyopia (farsightedness or difficulty reading) and
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•The bio-psychosocial changes that accompany midlife
—specifically, menopause (እርጣት) (the cessation of
menstruation) in women and the male climacteric
(male menopause) in men—appear to be major turning
points in terms of the decline that eventually typifies
older adulthood. None of the biological declines of
middle and late adulthood needs to be an obstacle to
enjoying all aspects of life, including sex.
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 Sexuality in Middle Adulthood

• As people age, they may experience physical

changes, illnesses, or emotional upheavals, such as
the loss of a partner, that can lead to a decline in
sexual interest and behavior. In women, there is a
gradual decline in the function of the ovaries and in
the production of estrogen. The average age at
which menopause (the end of the menstrual cycle)
occurs is about 50. Decreased estrogen leads to
thinning of the vaginal walls, shrinking of the
vagina and labia majora, and decreased vaginal
lubrication. These conditions can be severe enough
to cause the woman pain during intercourse.
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• Women who were sexually active either through
intercourse or through masturbation before menopause
and who continue sexual activity after menopause are
less likely to experience vaginal problems. Women can
use hormone-replacement therapy or hormone-
containing creams to help maintain vaginal health.
• In men, testosterone production declines over the years,
and the testes become smaller. The volume and force of
ejaculation decrease and sperm count is reduced, but
viable sperm may still be produced in elderly men.
• Erection takes longer to attain, and the time after
orgasm during which erection cannot occur (the
refractory period) increases. Medications and vascular
disease, diabetes, and other medical conditions 14can
• The middle years can often lead to problems for marital
couples who do not understand some of the changes
they are going through during the middle years. Maggie
Scarf (1992), notes the different physical changes that
men and women go through during the middle years.
• A man’s aging crisis can be related to the pressure he
feels “to make it” and a woman’s aging crisis can be
related to concerns and anxiety she feels about her
physical appearance. These changes have direct
implications for their sexual relationship. Scarf
describes how such changes affect the sexual response
cycle, which includes three phases: desire, excitement,
and orgasm. 15
1. desire, being sexually motivated, can be affected by aging.
example, the side effects of diseases ( diabetes or
hyperthyroidism), of psychological difficulties,
(depression) or of medical concerns (hypertension) that
require drug treatment can all negatively affect desire. In
general overtime, the sex drive declines, particularly for
men. The male sex drive is also affected by a drop in
testosterone, the male hormone.
2. Excitement, the second phase; of sexual response cycle is
the first physiological reaction to stimulations and results
in blood engorgement of the genitals.
3. The orgasm, also changes dramatically, with age primarily
in the area known as the refractory period-the time
between one orgasm and the physical capability to achieve16
•For the middle life woman, the sexual profile is quite different.
•Indeed, erotic interest often increases in the desire phase,
primarily in response to changes to her biological makeup.
When estrogen, the female hormone, declines, it allows her
testosterone to have more of an influence. During menopause,
the ovaries continue to produce small amounts of testosterone,
and given the decline of estrogen, the effect of the testosterone
is greater, leading to increased sexual desire.
•However, in the excitement phase, lack of estrogen often leads
to problems with vaginal dryness. 17
 Menopause

•Menopause is permanent ending of menstruation in women.

Menopause marks the end of a woman’s natural ability to
bear children. Menopause is usually preceded by 10 to 15
years during which the ovaries gradually stop producing eggs
and sex hormones, a period called the climacteric.
Perimenopause compasses this period of changing ovarian
activity and also the first few years without menstrual
cycling, typically characterized by hormonal and physical
changes and sometimes emotional and psychological changes
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• In the USA most women experience menopause in their
late 40s or early 50s—about half by age 51. Menopause
before age 35 is called premature menopause and may
occur because of certain diseases, autoimmune
reactions (in which the body’s immune defenses attack
the body’s own cells, tissues, or organs), surgery,
medical. Menopause occurs when a woman has not
experienced a menstrual cycle for one year. Attitudes
towards this event vary depending on cultural
connotations and women’s individual expectations. In
societies where women’s role is mostly reproductive
inability to bear any more children is a loss of status.

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• In cultures in which the wisdom and experience of older
women is valued, menopause is seen as a positive life
event. In general, young women and men view
menopause more negatively whereas women who have
gone through the experience view it more positively.
• Individually, some women view the cessation of their
monthly period as a sign of impending old age and
mourn the loss of youth and beauty. Other women, are
glad to be rid of it. 20
 Signs and Symptoms
•The experience of menopause differs among women, depending
on d/c in diet and nutrition, general health and health care, and
even how women are taught to think about menopause. Not all
women experience symptoms. All physical symptoms should be
discussed with a health-care provider to rule out potential causes
other than approaching menopause. For a number of years before
menopause women may notice longer menstrual periods, heavier
menstrual flow, spotting, or irregularity. Hormone pills or low-dose
birth control pills may be prescribed to control bleeding problems.

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• Psychological symptoms may include depression, mood
swings, weepiness, and other emotional flare-ups, as
well as memory lapses. Although declining levels of
estrogen may play a role in these symptoms, a number of
other factors and stresses need to be considered as well.
Excess alcohol, caffeine, or sugar may stress the adrenal
glands and decrease the amount of adrenal androgens
available for conversion to estrogen, thereby lowering
estrogen and making menopausal symptoms worse.
Smoking decreases estrogen production by the ovaries,
leading to earlier menopause and osteoporosis. Stressful
life events that may contribute to the emotional
symptoms at the time of menopause include children
leaving home and caring for aging
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 Sexual Dysfunctions

• Sexual dysfunctions are problems with sexual response

that cause distress. Erectile dysfunction (impotence) refers
to the inability of a man to have or maintain an erection.
Premature ejaculation occurs when a man is not able to
postpone or control his ejaculation. Inhibited male orgasm,
or retarded ejaculation, occurs when a man cannot have an
orgasm despite being highly aroused.

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 Female orgasmic dysfunction
• Female orgasmic dysfunction (Anorgasmia or inhibited
female orgasm) refers to the inability of a woman to have an
orgasm. Orgasmic dysfunction may be primary, meaning
that the woman has never experienced an orgasm; secondary,
meaning that the woman has had orgasms in the past but
cannot have them now; or situational, meaning that she
has orgasms in some situations but not in others.
• Vaginismus refers to a spastic contraction of the outer third
of the vagina, a condition that can close the entrance of the
vagina, preventing intercourse.
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•Dyspareunia refers to painful intercourse in either women or men.
•Low sexual desire is a lack of interest in sexual activity.
•Discrepant sexual desire refers to a condition in which partners
have considerably different levels of sexual interest. These
dysfunctions may be caused by physical problems such as fatigue or
illness; the use of prescription medications, other drugs, or alcohol;
or psychological factors, including learned inhibition of sexual
response, anxiety, interfering thoughts, spectatoring (observing
and judging one's own sexual performance), lack of communication
between partners, insufficient or ineffective sexual stimulation, and
relationship conflicts.
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 Adjustment to Mental Changes
•Middle-age adult thinking differs significantly from that of
adolescents and young adults. Adults are typically more focused in
specific directions, having gained insight and understanding from
life events that adolescents and young adults have not yet
experienced. No longer viewing the world from an absolute and fixed
perspective, middle adults have learned how to make compromises,
question the establishment, and work through disputes. Younger
people, on the hand, may still look for definitive answers. Many
middle-age adults have attained Piaget’s stage of formal operations,
which is characterized by the ability to think abstractly, reason
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logically, and solve theoretical problems.
• Instead, middle adults may develop and employ post-
formal thinking, which is characterized by the
objective use of practical common sense to deal with
unclear problems. An example of post-formal thinking
is the middle adult who knows from experience how to
maneuver through rules and regulations and play the
system at the office. Another example is the middle
adult who accepts the reality of contradictions in his or
her religion, as opposed to the adolescent who expects a
concrete truth in an infallible set of religious doctrines
and rules.
• Post-formal thinking begins late in adolescence and
culminates in the practical wisdom so often associated
with older adulthood.
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 Post formal thought
•During the formal operational stage, teens use their
considerable reasoning abilities to solve problems, but they are
very likely to generate a single solution as opposed to multiple
solutions. Disagreement with their solution is usually interpreted
by teens to mean that their solution is somehow incorrect.
•Formal-operational thinking is absolute, and involves making
decisions based on personal experience and logic. Post-formal
thinking is more complex, and involves making decisions based
on situational constraints and circumstances, and integrating
emotion with logic to form context-dependent principles. 28
 Personality Theories and Development

1. Adult Stages Theories

2. The Life-Events Approach
1. Adult Stages Theories
•Adult stage theories have been plentiful, and they
have contributed to the view that midlife brings a
crisis in development. Two prominent theories that
define stages of adult development are Erik Erikson’s
life-span view and Daniel Levinson’s seasons of a
man’s life. 29
 Erikson’s Stage of Generativity Versus Stagnation
•Erikson proposed that middle-aged adults face a significant
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. Through these legacies
adults achieve a kind of immortality. By contrast, stagnation
( “self-absorption”) develops when individuals sense that they
have done nothing for the next generation.

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• 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 conflicts 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
4. being attached to others versus being separated
from them.

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 The Life-Events Approach

• 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. Such events as the death of a spouse,
divorce, marriage, and so on were believed to involve
varying degrees of stress, and therefore likely to
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 Adjustment to changed family patterns
• People tend to regard middle adulthood as a time
devoted to future generations. However; another test of
one’s capacity for generativity comes in the form of
commitments to one’s aging parents. One of the
significant challenges of middle adulthood is the
struggle to respond effectively to one’s parents as well as
one’s children and grandchildren. That is why middle
adults are sometimes called “the sandwich
generation”, tackled in the middle between caring for
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one’s children and for one’s own parents.
 The causes of poor sexual adjustment during the middle- age

1. Difference in the sex drive at this time

2. Poor sexual adjustments often result when men became
concerned with the loss of their sexual vigor
3. During the forties and early fifties, many women lose
their earlier inhibitions and develop more interest in sex
4. Some middle- aged women who derive little satisfaction
from intercourse or who feel that they are no longer
interesting to their husband or a necessary part of their
marriage may take the initiative in stopping it.
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 Vocational and Martial Hazards of Middle age
•balancing work and family life, has three interrelated
concepts
•Role overload occurs as a result of too many demands and
expectations to handle in the time allowed. E.g a parent with 3
children ages 8,11 and 15 may find that the demands of getting the
children ready for school. Role conflict refers to ways that the
demands and expectations of various roles conflict with each other.
E.g role conflict occurs when a worker is expected to stay late at the
job and finish a project. Role spillover, occurs when the demands
or preoccupations about one role interfere with the ability to carry
out another role. E.g, a person may be disrupted at work by worries
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 Assessment of Middle Age Adjustments
•The middle-age adjustments have been assessed by
four criteria:
I.Achievements
II.Emotional states
III.Effects on personality
IV.Happiness

i. Achievements: -Unless the assessment of

achievements is realistic, one feels dejected about his
success. Therefore, success should be judged only in
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ii. Emotional states: - Middle-age brings anxiety, insecurity and stress.
Middle-aged persons have more worries. They however generally become
adjusted by mid-fifties when the person adjusts to his new roles, interests
and activities,
iii. Effects on personality: Positive and negative effects on personality
show the results of adjustment. Lack of adjustment leads to personality
disorganization. On the other hand, those who are well adjusted show
even more confidence, stability and maturity than was seen in their youth.
iv. Happiness: -Happiness is the surest criterion of successful adjustment.
It comes when the individual’s need s and desires are satisfied. It shows good
adjustment. It may be the result of success in chosen vocation, prestige,
financial regards, improved social status, etc. For women it may be the
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result of success in homemaking.
 UNIT FOUR
Late Adulthood (Old age)

•Late adulthood is the closing period in the life span. It is a

period when people "move away" from previous, more
desirable periods-or times of "usefulness." As people move
away from the earlier periods of their lives, they often look
back on them, usually regretfully, and tend to live in the
present, ignoring the future as much as possible. Age sixty is
usually considered the dividing line between middle and late
adulthood.
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• However, it is recognized that chronological age is a poor
criterion to use in marking off the beginning of late
adulthood because there are such marked differences among
individuals in the age at which aging actually begins.
• Because of better living conditions and better health care,
most men and women today do not show the mental and
physical signs of aging until the mid-sixties or even the
early seventies. For that reason, there is a gradual trend
toward using sixty-five-the age of retirement in many
businesses-to mark the beginning of late adulthood. 39
•The last stage in the life span is frequently subdivided into
early old age, which extends from age sixty to age seventy,
and advanced old age, which begins at seventy and
extends to the end of life. People during the sixties are
usually referred to as "elderly" –meaning somewhat old or
advanced beyond middle age-and "old'" after they reach
the age of seventy meaning, according to standard
dictionaries, advanced far in years of life and having lost
the vigor of youth.
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• During this stage most individuals lose their jobs because they
retire from active service. They begin to fear about their physical
and psychological health. In our society, the elderly are typically
perceived as not so active, deteriorating intellectually, narrow-
minded and attaching significance to religion.
• Many of the old people lose their spouses and suffer from
emotional insecurity. However, this may not be true of
everybody. Many people at the age of sixty or above remain very
healthy and active in life. The life style including exercise, diet,
and regular health checkup helps people to enjoy meaningful
and active life. 41
 Characteristics of old age
1. Late adulthood is a Period of Decline
2. Individual Differences in the Effects of Aging
3. The Elderly Have a Minority-Group Status
4. Aging Requires Role Changes
5. Poor Adjustment is Characteristic of Late adulthood
6.The Desire for Rejuvenation is Widespread in Late
adulthood

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 1. Late adulthood is a Period of Decline
As has been stressed repeatedly, people are never static.
Instead, they constantly change. During the early part of
life the changes are evolutional in that they lead to
maturity of structure and functioning. In the latter part of
life, by contrast, they are mainly involution, involving a
regression to earlier stages. These changes are the natural
accompaniment of what is commonly known as "aging."
They affect physical as well as mental structures and
functioning. The period during late adulthood when
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physical and mental decline is slow and gradual.
•The term "senility" is used to refer to the period during late adulthood
when a more or less complete physical breakdown takes place and when
there is mental disorganization. The individual who becomes eccentric,
careless, absentminded, socially withdrawn, and poorly adjusted is
usually described as "senile." Senility may come as early as the fifties, or
it may never occur because the individual dies before deterioration sets
in. Decline comes partly from physical and partly from psychological
factors. The physical cause of decline is a change in the body cells due
not to a specific disease but to the aging process. Decline may also have
psychological causes. Unfavorable attitudes toward oneself, other people,
work, and life in general can lead to senility, just as changes in the brain
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tissue can.
 2. Individual Differences in the Effects of Aging
•Individual differences in the effects of aging have been
recognized for many centuries. Today, even more than in
the past, it is recognized that aging affects different people
differently. People age differently because they have
different hereditary endowments, different socioeconomic
and educational backgrounds, and different patterns of
living. These differences are apparent among members of
the same sex, but they are even more apparent when men
and women are compared because aging takes place at
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different rates for the two sexes.
 3. The Elderly Have a Minority-Group Status
•It is a fact that the number of old people are growing, they occupy
a minority-group status-a status that excludes them to some extent
from interaction with other groups in the population and which
gives them little or no power. This minority-group status is
primarily the result of the unfavorable social attitudes toward the
aged that have been fostered by the, unfavorable stereotypes of
them. This "second-class citizenship" puts the elderly on the
defensive and has a marked effect on their personal and social
adjustments. It makes the latter years of life far from "golden" for
most people, and it causes them to be victimized by some members
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