PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT
During mid-life, people experience a range of external and internal physical changes. External changes include the appearance of grey hair and hair thinning, increases in facial wrinkles, and a tendency to put on weight around the waist or lower body. Internal changes include reductions in the efficiency of the cardiovascular, respiratory and nervous systems (Whitbourne, 2001). There are changes to the sensory capacities, too. One of the most noticeable for most middle-aged people is the onset of presbyopia – a condition of farsightedness due to progressive changes in the shape of the lens of the eye (Glasser & Campbell, 1998). This leads to difficulty in reading small print – you may notice people of this a e holding printed matter further away than a younger reader does. Hearing, particularly sensitivity to higher frequency sounds, is also prone to weaken during middle age (Brant & Fozard, 1990; Wiley et al., 1998). This is the time when women experience the menopause – the cessation of menstruation. Many women suffer some level of physical and psychological discomfort as a result, such as hot flushes, mood changes, loss of libido and insomnia. But the intensity of these symptoms varies considerably among individuals (Leiblum, 1991; Notman, 1998), and menopausal status is not a strong predictor of psychological distress (Avis, 1999; Becker et al., 2001). There is some evidence that the physical symptoms associated with menopause vary across some cultures (Avis et al., 2001). This may reflect variations in diet and/or social expectations about the nature of the menopause. [menopause the time in a woman’s life when menstruation becomes less regular and then ceases]
As at other stages of the lifespan, physical changes are closely interwoven with psychological changes. Signs of ageing prompt many people to review their lives (see below) and some begin to feel dissatisfied with their bodies. In a large sample of middle-aged and older Swiss women, for example, Allaz, Bernstein, Rouget et al. (1998) found that a majority expressed dissatisfaction about their weight and many had dieted to control it, even though their weight fell within the normal range. Individuals’ own behavioural choices can moderate the effects of biological changes. For example, menopausal women who take regular aerobic exercise report more positive moods and less somatic discomfort than non-exercising peers (Slaven & Lee, 1997). The reactions and support of partners can also influence women’s experience of menopause (Leiblum, 1991).
COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT
In terms of primary mental abilities, Schaie’s (1996) data depict mid-life as a relatively stable period. In fact, on most measures, middle-aged adults perform as well as or slightly better than younger adults. Schaie did find a decline in numeric skill, and other researchers have obtained evidence of a modest decrease in reaction time (Wielgos & Cunningham, 1999) and a reduction in conscious processing efficiency (Titov & Knight, 1997) during this period. However, in terms of psychometric measures of intellectual functioning, middle-aged people perform well overall.
Life skills
There are some tasks on which middle-aged adults tend to fare worse than young adults. For example, Denney and Palmer (1981) gave people between the ages of 20 and 80 a traditional problem-solving test – a game of ‘Twenty Questions’. (The goal is to identify an object known to the tester by asking a series of indirect questions about it: ‘Is it a plant?’ ‘Can you eat it?’ etc.) The older people got, the worse they did. But this could well be because this type of test was more familiar to the younger participants, who were therefore likely to do better. This interpretation of the findings is perhaps borne out by another series of tests administered by Denney and Palmer. These ‘real world’ tests related to practical applications of reasoning, such as how to deal with faulty purchases, flooding in the basement, or a child returning late from school. On these practical tests, middle-aged people scored significantly higher than young adults. In other research, Denney and Pearce (1989) found that the number of solutions people generate in response to everyday practical problems peaks in middle age. Emotion and clear thinking Researchers who focus on qualitative developments in adult reasoning have found evidence of continuing development through the lifespan. The progression through absolutist, relativist and dialectical reasoning may continue for decades (Kramer, 1989). Some researchers argue that there is an important reorganization of thinking in middle adulthood, as people achieve an integration of information-processing and emotional self-regulation (Labouvie-Vief, 1999). A good illustration is provided by Blanchard-Fields (1986). She tested adolescents, young adults and middle-aged adults on three hypothetical problems, each involving a conflict of perspectives. One problem concerned competing historical accounts of a civil war, with different historians taking different sides. Another problem concerned a dispute over a proposed visit to grandparents, with parents in favour of the visit and their adolescent children against. The third problem concerned a pregnancy dilemma, with the female and male taking different views over whether to terminate. The participants’ task was to explain the conflict in each case. Blanchard-Fields analyzed the quality of the participants’ reasoning. She found that the middle-aged adults performed at a higher level than each of the younger groups. The younger participants tended to take sides, especially in the emotionally engaging ‘visit’ and ‘pregnancy’ problems, leading to distorted, one-sided accounts. The middle-aged participants were more likely to try to understand why each party felt the way they did, and to provide more balanced descriptions, taking all perspectives into account. In other words, it seemed that the younger participants tended to be swayed by their own emotions about the conflicts, while the middle-aged participants appeared to integrate emotional understanding with other problem-solving skills.
SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Each phase of life brings new challenges, and for many people mid-life brings a multiplicity of them – from all quarters. By this time, people’s histories are very varied. In their personal and occupational lives, many different options may have been chosen and many different events and circumstances will have affected their progress. So can we pin down any particular patterns of social and emotional development associated with middle age? Despite this variety in individuals’ personal background, some lifespan developmentalists maintain that we can. The ‘mid-life crisis’ . . . Erikson (1980) saw middle age as a period when adults have to face a conflict between generativity and stagnation. Generativity – the process of making a contribution to the next generation – can be realized in a variety of ways through personal (family) or career attainments that provide a basis for others to progress. For example, a businessperson in mid-life might find satisfaction in her professional achievements to date and in the cope now to pass on skills to younger colleagues. Another person might find a sense of generativity through having reared children that she is proud of and who are now entering the adult world well equipped to meet challenges. A ‘link between the generations’, maintained Erikson, is ‘as indispensable for the renewal of the adult generation’s own life as it is for the next generation’ (1980, p. 215). Stagnation is the opposing feeling of having achieved relatively little and of having little to offer to the next generation. Some people in mid-life, for example, conclude that they have not met the family or occupational goals that once motivated them. Some respond to this sense of ‘standing still’ with a period of self-absorption, and an acute awareness that time is limited. [generativity the feeling in mid-life that one has made or is making a contribution to the next generation; stagnation the feeling experienced by some individuals in mid-life that they have achieved relatively little and have little to offer to the next generation] Individuals are likely to experience both types of feeling – generativity and stagnation – and the core developmental process of mid-life, according to Erikson, is the resolution of this conflict. Those who resolve it successfully attain a sense of care (about both the present and the future), and those who fail to do so develop a sense of rejectivity (i.e. they turn away from society and have little interest in contributing to it). Recent research has supported Erikson’s claims that generativity is positively associated with subjective well-being in middle-aged people, while a preoccupation with ageing (‘time running out’) is negatively associated with well-being (Ackerman, Zuroff & Mostkovitz, 2000; Stewart, Ostrove & Helson, 2001). Levinson (1978) also depicts mid-life as a period of inner conflict. Recall that Levinson saw the period from approximately 33 to 40 as the ‘settling down’ period (see above). But settling down is not the end of the story. Levinson found that most of his interviewees next underwent a major new phase, during a period of mid-life transition (40–45). Many of the men he interviewed reported that this was a time of personal crisis. They began to review their lives, asking themselves what they had achieved and where they were heading. Many wondered whether their personal and career struggles had been worthwhile, and some contemplated or underwent radical changes in direction (changing career paths, divorcing). Although Levinson’s sample was all male, other research indicates that many women report similar periods of reassessment during middle age (Koski & Steinberg, 1990; Waskel & Phelps, 1995). These kinds of reassessment are popularly associated with the notion of the ‘mid-life crisis’. The visible signs of aging, changes in the family structure as children become adolescents or young adults, and frustrations in the workplace may all serve to remind the middle-aged person that life is passing by – and this might precipitate a personal ‘crisis’. Levinson argued that this is a normative process, and that successful adult development beyond mid-life requires facing up to and resolving the crisis. . . . debunking the myth Appealing as the idea may seem (and much as newspaper writers and TV dramatists relish it), subsequent research shows that it is an oversimplification to assume that everybody undergoes a mid-life crisis. For example:
1. Periods of turbulence and self-doubt can be experienced by adults of most ages (Soldz & Vaillant, 1999), and some individuals – especially those who score highly on measures of neuroticism (see chapter 14) – may be prone to develop crises at any age (Kruger, 1994).
2. In larger samples than Levinson’s (1978), only a minority of middle-aged people feel they have experienced a crisis (Shek, 1996; Wethington, 2000).
3. Substantial proportions of middle-aged people report better mental health and self-esteem during this phase of life than ever before ( Jones & Meredith, 2000; McQuaide, 1998).
The mid-life crisis therefore does not appear to e as widespread as once thought, and there is no guarantee that you will have any more (or less) crises during your middle years than in other phases of your life. But there is no doubt that there are many pressures on middleaged people (Lachman & James, 1997). Some of these pressures relate to domestic and family life, and others to the world of work. For many middle-aged people, there are new parenting challenges as their children reach adolescence or early adulthood. At a time when adults are becoming aware of their own physical decline, their children may be gaining the attractions of youth. Often, these demands coincide with increasing anxieties about and responsibilities towards the older generation (Belsky, 1997; Cavanaugh, 1998). For some middle-aged people, usually women, looking after both their own children and their aging parents can cause ‘caregiving pile-up’ – an experience of overload due to too many competing demands (Doress-Waters, 1994). As in earlier phases of life, the quality of a person s attachment to his or her partner has important implications for adjustment, personal satisfaction and dealing with life stresses (Diehl et al., 1998; Fraley & Shaver, 1998; Fuller & Fincham, 1995; Kirkpatrick & Hazan, 1994). For example, in a longitudinal study of middleaged people, Kirkpatrick and Hazan found that those with secure relationship attachment styles were less likely to experience a break-up of their partnership.
During mid-life, people experience a range of external and internal physical changes. External changes include the appearance of grey hair and hair thinning, increases in facial wrinkles, and a tendency to put on weight around the waist or lower body. Internal changes include reductions in the efficiency of the cardiovascular, respiratory and nervous systems (Whitbourne, 2001). There are changes to the sensory capacities, too. One of the most noticeable for most middle-aged people is the onset of presbyopia – a condition of farsightedness due to progressive changes in the shape of the lens of the eye (Glasser & Campbell, 1998). This leads to difficulty in reading small print – you may notice people of this a e holding printed matter further away than a younger reader does. Hearing, particularly sensitivity to higher frequency sounds, is also prone to weaken during middle age (Brant & Fozard, 1990; Wiley et al., 1998). This is the time when women experience the menopause – the cessation of menstruation. Many women suffer some level of physical and psychological discomfort as a result, such as hot flushes, mood changes, loss of libido and insomnia. But the intensity of these symptoms varies considerably among individuals (Leiblum, 1991; Notman, 1998), and menopausal status is not a strong predictor of psychological distress (Avis, 1999; Becker et al., 2001). There is some evidence that the physical symptoms associated with menopause vary across some cultures (Avis et al., 2001). This may reflect variations in diet and/or social expectations about the nature of the menopause. [menopause the time in a woman’s life when menstruation becomes less regular and then ceases]
As at other stages of the lifespan, physical changes are closely interwoven with psychological changes. Signs of ageing prompt many people to review their lives (see below) and some begin to feel dissatisfied with their bodies. In a large sample of middle-aged and older Swiss women, for example, Allaz, Bernstein, Rouget et al. (1998) found that a majority expressed dissatisfaction about their weight and many had dieted to control it, even though their weight fell within the normal range. Individuals’ own behavioural choices can moderate the effects of biological changes. For example, menopausal women who take regular aerobic exercise report more positive moods and less somatic discomfort than non-exercising peers (Slaven & Lee, 1997). The reactions and support of partners can also influence women’s experience of menopause (Leiblum, 1991).
COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT
In terms of primary mental abilities, Schaie’s (1996) data depict mid-life as a relatively stable period. In fact, on most measures, middle-aged adults perform as well as or slightly better than younger adults. Schaie did find a decline in numeric skill, and other researchers have obtained evidence of a modest decrease in reaction time (Wielgos & Cunningham, 1999) and a reduction in conscious processing efficiency (Titov & Knight, 1997) during this period. However, in terms of psychometric measures of intellectual functioning, middle-aged people perform well overall.
Life skills
There are some tasks on which middle-aged adults tend to fare worse than young adults. For example, Denney and Palmer (1981) gave people between the ages of 20 and 80 a traditional problem-solving test – a game of ‘Twenty Questions’. (The goal is to identify an object known to the tester by asking a series of indirect questions about it: ‘Is it a plant?’ ‘Can you eat it?’ etc.) The older people got, the worse they did. But this could well be because this type of test was more familiar to the younger participants, who were therefore likely to do better. This interpretation of the findings is perhaps borne out by another series of tests administered by Denney and Palmer. These ‘real world’ tests related to practical applications of reasoning, such as how to deal with faulty purchases, flooding in the basement, or a child returning late from school. On these practical tests, middle-aged people scored significantly higher than young adults. In other research, Denney and Pearce (1989) found that the number of solutions people generate in response to everyday practical problems peaks in middle age. Emotion and clear thinking Researchers who focus on qualitative developments in adult reasoning have found evidence of continuing development through the lifespan. The progression through absolutist, relativist and dialectical reasoning may continue for decades (Kramer, 1989). Some researchers argue that there is an important reorganization of thinking in middle adulthood, as people achieve an integration of information-processing and emotional self-regulation (Labouvie-Vief, 1999). A good illustration is provided by Blanchard-Fields (1986). She tested adolescents, young adults and middle-aged adults on three hypothetical problems, each involving a conflict of perspectives. One problem concerned competing historical accounts of a civil war, with different historians taking different sides. Another problem concerned a dispute over a proposed visit to grandparents, with parents in favour of the visit and their adolescent children against. The third problem concerned a pregnancy dilemma, with the female and male taking different views over whether to terminate. The participants’ task was to explain the conflict in each case. Blanchard-Fields analyzed the quality of the participants’ reasoning. She found that the middle-aged adults performed at a higher level than each of the younger groups. The younger participants tended to take sides, especially in the emotionally engaging ‘visit’ and ‘pregnancy’ problems, leading to distorted, one-sided accounts. The middle-aged participants were more likely to try to understand why each party felt the way they did, and to provide more balanced descriptions, taking all perspectives into account. In other words, it seemed that the younger participants tended to be swayed by their own emotions about the conflicts, while the middle-aged participants appeared to integrate emotional understanding with other problem-solving skills.
SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Each phase of life brings new challenges, and for many people mid-life brings a multiplicity of them – from all quarters. By this time, people’s histories are very varied. In their personal and occupational lives, many different options may have been chosen and many different events and circumstances will have affected their progress. So can we pin down any particular patterns of social and emotional development associated with middle age? Despite this variety in individuals’ personal background, some lifespan developmentalists maintain that we can. The ‘mid-life crisis’ . . . Erikson (1980) saw middle age as a period when adults have to face a conflict between generativity and stagnation. Generativity – the process of making a contribution to the next generation – can be realized in a variety of ways through personal (family) or career attainments that provide a basis for others to progress. For example, a businessperson in mid-life might find satisfaction in her professional achievements to date and in the cope now to pass on skills to younger colleagues. Another person might find a sense of generativity through having reared children that she is proud of and who are now entering the adult world well equipped to meet challenges. A ‘link between the generations’, maintained Erikson, is ‘as indispensable for the renewal of the adult generation’s own life as it is for the next generation’ (1980, p. 215). Stagnation is the opposing feeling of having achieved relatively little and of having little to offer to the next generation. Some people in mid-life, for example, conclude that they have not met the family or occupational goals that once motivated them. Some respond to this sense of ‘standing still’ with a period of self-absorption, and an acute awareness that time is limited. [generativity the feeling in mid-life that one has made or is making a contribution to the next generation; stagnation the feeling experienced by some individuals in mid-life that they have achieved relatively little and have little to offer to the next generation] Individuals are likely to experience both types of feeling – generativity and stagnation – and the core developmental process of mid-life, according to Erikson, is the resolution of this conflict. Those who resolve it successfully attain a sense of care (about both the present and the future), and those who fail to do so develop a sense of rejectivity (i.e. they turn away from society and have little interest in contributing to it). Recent research has supported Erikson’s claims that generativity is positively associated with subjective well-being in middle-aged people, while a preoccupation with ageing (‘time running out’) is negatively associated with well-being (Ackerman, Zuroff & Mostkovitz, 2000; Stewart, Ostrove & Helson, 2001). Levinson (1978) also depicts mid-life as a period of inner conflict. Recall that Levinson saw the period from approximately 33 to 40 as the ‘settling down’ period (see above). But settling down is not the end of the story. Levinson found that most of his interviewees next underwent a major new phase, during a period of mid-life transition (40–45). Many of the men he interviewed reported that this was a time of personal crisis. They began to review their lives, asking themselves what they had achieved and where they were heading. Many wondered whether their personal and career struggles had been worthwhile, and some contemplated or underwent radical changes in direction (changing career paths, divorcing). Although Levinson’s sample was all male, other research indicates that many women report similar periods of reassessment during middle age (Koski & Steinberg, 1990; Waskel & Phelps, 1995). These kinds of reassessment are popularly associated with the notion of the ‘mid-life crisis’. The visible signs of aging, changes in the family structure as children become adolescents or young adults, and frustrations in the workplace may all serve to remind the middle-aged person that life is passing by – and this might precipitate a personal ‘crisis’. Levinson argued that this is a normative process, and that successful adult development beyond mid-life requires facing up to and resolving the crisis. . . . debunking the myth Appealing as the idea may seem (and much as newspaper writers and TV dramatists relish it), subsequent research shows that it is an oversimplification to assume that everybody undergoes a mid-life crisis. For example:
1. Periods of turbulence and self-doubt can be experienced by adults of most ages (Soldz & Vaillant, 1999), and some individuals – especially those who score highly on measures of neuroticism (see chapter 14) – may be prone to develop crises at any age (Kruger, 1994).
2. In larger samples than Levinson’s (1978), only a minority of middle-aged people feel they have experienced a crisis (Shek, 1996; Wethington, 2000).
3. Substantial proportions of middle-aged people report better mental health and self-esteem during this phase of life than ever before ( Jones & Meredith, 2000; McQuaide, 1998).
The mid-life crisis therefore does not appear to e as widespread as once thought, and there is no guarantee that you will have any more (or less) crises during your middle years than in other phases of your life. But there is no doubt that there are many pressures on middleaged people (Lachman & James, 1997). Some of these pressures relate to domestic and family life, and others to the world of work. For many middle-aged people, there are new parenting challenges as their children reach adolescence or early adulthood. At a time when adults are becoming aware of their own physical decline, their children may be gaining the attractions of youth. Often, these demands coincide with increasing anxieties about and responsibilities towards the older generation (Belsky, 1997; Cavanaugh, 1998). For some middle-aged people, usually women, looking after both their own children and their aging parents can cause ‘caregiving pile-up’ – an experience of overload due to too many competing demands (Doress-Waters, 1994). As in earlier phases of life, the quality of a person s attachment to his or her partner has important implications for adjustment, personal satisfaction and dealing with life stresses (Diehl et al., 1998; Fraley & Shaver, 1998; Fuller & Fincham, 1995; Kirkpatrick & Hazan, 1994). For example, in a longitudinal study of middleaged people, Kirkpatrick and Hazan found that those with secure relationship attachment styles were less likely to experience a break-up of their partnership.
1 comment:
This article is very well written Saji, thank you for your attention to accuracy! I'm interested in reading more on some of your points; is there any way I can view the list of your cited references?
-Logan
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