Chapter 15 Outline � Perspectives on Adult Development
Age Periods
A. Early Adulthood (the 20�s and 30�s)
B. Middle Adulthood (the 40�s and 50�s)
C. Late Adulthood (age 60 and over)
Population Trends
A. Population Distribution of U.S.
a. 29% - 19 and younger
b. 30% - Early Adults
c. 25% - Middle Adults
d. 17% - Late Adults
e. The median age of the U.S. population continues to increase as life expectancy increases.
f. The aging of the population is the most important demographic in the U.S. today, due to declining mortality rates and declining fertility rates.
Implications
A. Age cohort born between 1930 and 1945 enjoyed little job competition and a high degree of prosperity and social stability.
B. Baby Boomers -� Huge cohort of babies born between 1945-1960
a. Experienced high amount of job competition, married later, had a large number of children on their own.
b. Competition also caused increase in house prices and rent.
c. Pressure created by competition caused increase in divorce rates and continued drug use.�
d. Large size of the generation will strain the health care system as well as pensions and benefits.�
e. Dependency Ratio � number of dependents for each person in the labor force
i. Rate will increase (1.02 to 1.20) as the baby boomer generation grows older.
f. Also, the political power of the baby boomer generation will increase as they grow older.
Positive Developments and Challenges
A. Developments
a. Divorce rate has leveled off
b. Shift to an adult-centered society
i. E.g. Clothing, Cars, Music, Food, Fitness, Travel, Housing
ii. Colleges are establishing more adult education programs
B. Challenges
a. Altering age-appropriate norms of behavior and make necessary psychological adjustments to living a longer, more active life.
i. Stages of the life cycle have been delayed, setting back all of the developmental stages.
b. Society needs a new orientation to the concept of who is old
Social Dimensions
-Primary meaning of adulthood is social; a person is perceived as an adult
Biological Dimensions
-One who has achieved full size and strength / a fully grown person
Emotional Dimensions
����������� -Achieving emotional maturity
Legal Dimensions
����������� -Who has accorded adult rights and responsibilities
����������� -Chronological age is sometimes not the best measure of capability
Difficulties
A. Complicated process with many barriers to cross
Passages and Rites
A. Numerous rites of passage take place before adulthood can be reached
i. Exams, Bar Mitzvahs�
Socialization
A. Involves learning and adopting the norms, values, expectations, and social roles required by a particular group
B. Anticipatory � preparation for certain tasks (i.e. Education)
A. Twenties and Thirties
a. Achieving autonomy from parents both physically and emotionally
b. Molding an identity
c. Developing emotional stability
d. Establishing a career
e. Finding Intimacy
f. Becoming a part of a society group and community
g. Selecting a mate and adjusting to marriage
h. Establishing residence and learning to manage a home
i. Becoming a parent and rearing children
B. Middle Age
a. Adjusting to the physical changes of middle age
b. Finding satistfaction and success with one�s career
c. Assuming adult social and civic responsibilities
d. Launching children into responsible, happy adulthood
e. Revitalizing marriage
f. Reorienting oneself to aging parents
g. Realigning sex roles
h. Developing social networks and leisure time activities
i. Finding new meaning in life
C. Late Adulthood
a. Staying physically healthy and adjusting to limitations
b. Maintaining an adequate income and means of support
c. Adjusting to revised work roles
d. Establishing acceptable housing and living conditions
e. Maintaining identity and social status
f. Finding companionship and friendship
g. Learning to use leisure time pleasurably
h. Establishing new roles in the family
i. Achieving integrity through acceptance of one�s life
A. Gould: Phases of Life � age groupings
a. 16-18 � Desire for autonomy from parents and development of deep relationships with peers
b. 18-22 � Desire not to be reclaimed by parents, and to develop intimate, family-like relationships with peers
c. 22-29 � Engage in work, while growing and building for the future
d. 29-35 � Role confusion:� question all aspects of life, i.e. work, marriage, what they truly desire
e. 35-43 � Increasing awareness of time squeeze, realignment of goals, realizing that control over children is waning
f. 43-50 � Acceptance of time constraints.� Settling down stage, desires social activites and sympathy/affection from spouse
g. 50-60 � Mellowing, warming stage.� Accepting of relationships and failures.� Questioning the meaning of life
h. Gould realized that changing cultural values could influence his results
B. Levinson:� Seasons of Life � adult development consists of stages of relative stability, interspersed with periods of transition.
a. Men
i. 17-22 � Early adult transition � leaving family
ii. 22-28 � Entering adult world � conflict between desire to explore and desire to commit
iii. 28-33 � Age 30 Transition � reworking period, modifying life structure
iv. 33-40 � Settling down � accepting major goals, and building structure to advance towards goals
v. 40-45 � Midlife Transition � mid-life crisis.� Re-evaluation of life to this point
vi. 45-50 � Entering Mid-Adulthood � end of reappraisal.�
vii. 50-55 � Work further on tasks of middle adulthood
viii. 55-60 � Culmination of middle adulthood � building of second adulthood structure.� Time of fulfillment
ix. 60-65 � Late Adulthood Transition � Conclude middle adulthood stages.� Major turning point in life cycle
x. 65 and over � Late Adulthood � confrontation with self.� Need to make peace with the world
b. Women
i. Women�s life spans could be divided into similar period of development
ii. Women�s lives are harder than men�s, due to the rigid division between female and male roles in all aspects of life
iii. The lives of men and women are becoming more and more alike.
C. Vaillnat:� Adaptation to Life
a. Longitudinal study of the life histories of the nation�s brightest and best.
b. Examined maturation process, as well as ego development, coping strategies, adaptation mechanisms, and their reactions to life�s challenges.
c. Found that about half of the men who had poor childhood environments, were among the thirty worst outcomes.� However, 17% of those with poor childhood environments were among the thirty best outcomes.
d. Study showed the importance the development of intimate relationships during young adulthood.
D. Comparison and Critique of Studies
a. All three researchers described a period of transition between adolescence and early adulthood.
i. �The Dream�- according to Levinson, it is a concept of what one wishes to accomplish
b. All three researchers also described a period of struggle, achievement, and growth as individuals in their 20s entering the adult world.
c. Are there dual crisis periods during early and middle adulthood?
i. Gould described one period of confusion
ii. Levinson had two periods of transition
iii. Valliant had a larger period
d. All three described a mid-life crisis
e. These findings were derived primarily from studies of middle and upper-middle-class segments of the population
A. Normative-Crisis Model � describes human development in terms of definite sequence of age-related biological, social and emotional changes
a. Biological Time Clock � specific range of ages for biological occurances
b. Social Clock � when various life events and activities are supposed to happen
B. Timing-of-Events Model � development is not the result of a set plan of schedule of crises, but a result of the time in people�s lives when important events take place.
a. Normative Influences � life events that are expected
b. Nonnormative/Idiosyncratic Influences � Unusual or unexpected events that cause stress
c.� Sociohistorical � events that effect society as a whole (i.e. wars, economic factors)
Personality Through Adulthood
A. There is longitudinal evidence that supports personality as a changing continuity through adulthood as well as a stable continuity.
a. Five-Factor Model of personality dimensions
i. Extraversion (E)
ii. Agreeableness (A)
iii. Conscientiousness (C)
iv. Neuroticism (N)
v. Openness/Intellect (O)
b.� These factors are influenced by heredity as well as childhood experiences.� There are rather stable through adulthood.