Adulthood Midlife Levinson

7/30/2019 Adulthood Midlife Levinson

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Copyright Allyn & Bacon 2003

Copyright Allyn & Bacon


HUMAN BEHAVIOR IN THE SOCIAL

ENVIRONMENT

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HUMAN BEHAVIOR IN THE SOCIAL

ENVIRONMENT









Andrew T. Nilsson, Ph.D.

Eastern Connecticut State University


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.Boy adolescent husband/worker family head/career

grandfather retired death

Girl adolescent wife mother grandmother widow death

HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

A LIFE STAGE PERSPECTIVE

(Adulthood in blue)


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ERIKSONS PSYCHO-SOCIAL CRISES

?Ego integrity vs. despair65+

25 yrs.Generativity vs. stagnation35-60 yrs.

15 yrs.Intimacy vs. isolation20-35 yrs.

6 yrs.Identity vs. role confusion12-18 yrs.6 yrs.Industry vs. inferiority6-12 yrs.

3 yrs.Initiative vs. guilt3- 6 yrs.

1 yrs.Autonomy vs. shame & doubt18 mo.- 3 yrs.

1 yrs.Trust vs. mistrustTo 18 mo.

DURATIONERIKSONIAN CRISISAGE

Developmental periods increase in duration

Individual differences increase as well


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ERIKSONS STAGES OF ADULT DEVELOPMENT

20-35 yrs. - Intimacy vs. isolation

The quest for intimacythe ability to share onesself with another person without being afraid ofsacrificing ones own identity.

Love and workmate selection and career choice

35-60 yrs, - Generativity vs. stagnation

The need to be creative and productive in wayswhich will contribute to future generations; creatingones legacy for the future.


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DEVELOPMENTAL TASKS OF MID-LIFEPeck (1968)

Socializing vs. sexualizing Redefine intimate relationships to value the individual,

friendship, and compaionship, rather than sex alone.

Value wisdom vs. value physical power

Life experience and wisdom replaces phyical ability andattractiveness

Cathectic flexibility vs. cathectic impoverishment

The ability to shift ones emotuional investment from one

activity to another or from one individual to another

Mental flexibility vs. mental rigidity

Life-long learning; the ability to seek and adapt to new

information and ideas


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LEVINSONS STAGES OF ADULT LIFE

The Seasons of a Mans Life (1978)


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Levinsons sample:

Levinson interviewed 40 men in four occupational groups

(novelists, biologists, business executives, and factory

workers) between the ages of 35-45. Five percent were

black. All had been married at least once.


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Levinson viewed life as a series of periods formed around

developmental tasks, the main goals, objectives, and concernsfaced by individuals during each life period. A period endswhen its tasks lose significance and new tasks emerge.

Developmental transitions:

Existing life structure

Transition periodperiod of personal crisis and re-evaluation

Life structure questioned; new decisions made

Review and evaluate the past

Accept loses at the end of a period

Explore new optionsdecide what to keep and what todiscard; consider possibilities for the future

New life structure

Structure building periodrelative tranquility

Structure based on new decisions


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LEVENSONSTAGES OF ADULT LIFE

Entering the adult world (22-28) Explore and make commitments to adult rolesestablish life style

Work leads to career choice

Intimate relationships lead to marriage, birth of children

Age 30 transition (28-33) Reappraisal of early adult commitments and change

Focus on adjustment and enrichment If I am to change my life, Id better do it now.

Sometimes crisis; divorce, occupational change common

Settling down (33-40)culminating life structure for early adulthood

Apprenticeship overtime to be a successful, competent adult BOOM periodBecoming Ones Own Man independence from

mentor

Deeply absorbed in commitments to occupation, family, and activities

Desire to get ahead, realize youthful ambitions


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Midlife transition (40-45)

Midlife crisisWhat have I done with my life?

Come to terms with the dreams of ones youth

Work on discrepancy between what is and what will be

Life takes on a new sense of urgency

80% of Levinsons subjects went through personal crisis andre-evaluation

Crisis may include divorce, extramarital affair, occupational

change

Levinson stopped gathering data on his subjects at age 45.


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Entering middle adulthood (45-50)

Living out previously made changes

For many, the most satisfying, enriching time of life

Age 50 transition (50-55)

Time of moderate crisis

Men review where they have come from and make plans forwhere they are heading.

Culmination of middle adulthood (55-60)

Finish framework of life structure for middle adulthood

A period of great fulfillment

Late adult transition (60-65) Ending middle age and preparing for late adulthood


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APPLICATION OF LEVINSONS THEORY TO WOMEN

Papulia and Olds (1992) study of dissertations:

The mentor - Women substantially less likely to have a mentor

Love relationshipMen seek women to support their dreams.

Women seek a special man but see themselves as supporting hisdreams.

The dreamMen find themselves by separating from family of

origin and pursuing own interests. Women develop identities

through responsibilities and attachments of relationships.

Men dream of occupational achievement, status accomplishment.

Womenless clear dreams; more tentative mix of family and

career interests.


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LEVINSONS STUDY OF WOMENThe Seasons of a Womans Life (1996)

Levinson interviewed 45 women aged 35-45 years, including 15homemakers, 15 female executives in major corporate financialorganizations, and 15 female faculty members.

Women, similar to men, go through age-linked developmentalstages, often moving from one stage to the next through painful and

turbulent periods of transition. The homemakersdreamed in youth of traditional, family

centered life. By mid-life:

All but one working outside the home

Half were legally divorced; most of the rest, psychologically divorced

Motherhood was a less central component of their life structure

Increased independence and desire to exist on more equal terms withmen

Levinson concluded that a traditional marriage is no longerviable in our culture


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LEVINSONS STUDY OF WOMEN

THE CAREER WOMEN

The career women dreamed in youth of modifyingthe traditional homemaker pattern.

At midlife: Intense struggle between the Traditional Homemaker

Figure and the internal Anti-Traditional figure

Attempting to be everything to everyone, seeking to haveeverything

Plagued by exhaustion, worries about their children, andexasperation with their spouses who fail to do their fair shareof household responsibilities and child care.


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CRITICAL ASSESSMENT

Small, biased samplesNot a random cross-section of men orwomen.

Generational issuesWill future generations follow the samepatterns?

Practical application: People seek help during periods of crisis

Understanding the difficulties of transitions from one stage of lifeto the next is useful for helping people understand and workthrough the crises they experience.

Tasks of transition periods: Review and evaluate the past

Accept loses at the end of a period

Explore new optionsdecide what to keep and what to discard;consider possibilities for the future.


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THINK AND SHARELEVINSONS STAGES OF ADULT LIFE

Locate yourself in Levinsons stages of adultdevelopment. Are you on task according to his

developmental model?

Envision your dream. Does your gender influence

your dream in the ways described by Papulia and Olds?

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Adulthood Midlife Levinson