PHYSICAL AND COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT IN MIDDLE

ADULTHOOD

Middle Adulthood

• ~40 to ~65

• Previously, from the time the children left home until formal retirement.

• Complicated by children staying home longer and retirement age getting older (and younger).

Physical Transitions

• Recognition of changes that have gradually been taking place since about age 20

• More relevant in Western culture which values a youthful appearance

• Reaction dependent largely on self-concept

Physical Transitions in Middle Adulthood

• Gradual psychological and emotional changes in body’s capabilities

• Depends in part on self-concept and lifestyle

Height, Weight, Strength

• “Settling” process:– Women drop about 2 inches– Men drop about 1 inch

• Body fat/weight ratio increases – middle age spread

• Loss of about 10% of strength between 20 and 60

• Staying physically fit may offset the beginning stages of Alzheirmers or slow down the disease

• Women are more prone to declining height due to OSTEOPOROSIS

• Both men and women continue to gain weight in middle adulthood

Vision:

• Loss of visual acuity– 20/20 at 20– 20/25 at 50– 20/45 at 80

• Presbyopia: loss of near vision (far-sightedness)– Onset typically about age 40-45

Eye Diseases

Glaucoma-increased pressure within the eyeball. The aqueous humor builds up and increases pressure on the eye. Damages the optic nerve. Can cause permanent blindness if not treated.

• Symptoms• Glaucoma may cause: • Loss of peripheral vision • Sensitivity to light and glare • Problems with night vision • Blurred vision

Eye Diseases

Glaucoma

Glaucoma

People at risk:

ElderlyAfrican Americans 3-4 times more likely Family historyDiabeticsPrevious eye injury

3-4 million Americans affected, leading cause of vision loss

Treatment: Drugs and/or surgery

Cataracts

When the lens of the eye becomes cloudy and prevents light, and therefore images, from being properly presented to the retina.

• Symptoms• Cataracts may cause: • Blurred vision • Double vision • Poor night vision • Need for bright lights when reading

People at risk:

Elderly

Excessive time spent in sunlight

Cigarette Smoking

Previous eye injury

Treatment: Surgery – new lens inserted

Diabetic Retinopathy

Those who are diabetic run the risk of damage to the retina when blood vessels weaken and may eventually break. Scarring begins to occur and cause the onset of blindness

Symptoms

Diabetic neuropathy may cause: •Spots floating in the visual field •Vision loss •Poor night vision •Blurred vision

People at risk:

Those with diabetes

Those with kidney disease

High blood pressure

Obesity

Pregnancy

Treatment: Laser surgery

Age-related macular degeneration

The macula is located at the center of the retina and gives us information on visual acuity. Therefore, the person will experience problems with images at the center of their vision

• Symptoms• AMD may cause: • Problems reading books • Washed out colors • Blindspots in the central visual field

Hearing:

• Presbycusis: loss of the ability to hear high frequency sounds

• Gender differences: men show greater loss, beginning at about age 55

• Partly related to environmental factors, men are more likely to work in highly noisy places

Reaction Time:

• Gradual increase in reaction time by about 20% by age 60

• Balanced by high levels of practice, especially with complex or highly rehearsed behaviors

• Effects decreased in individuals who get adequate exercise

Use it or lose it

Sexuality:

• Frequency declines but enthusiasm increases (females may increase in desire while males decrease)

• Liberating effects of having children grown, typically greater economic stability, pregnancy no longer an issue.

• Males start to need more time to gain an erection, volume of ejaculate is smaller

• Females having thinning of vaginal walls, and vaginal entrance may be compressed

The Female Climacteric

• The transition from the ability to have children to being unable to do so.

• Most notable sign: Menopause, the cessation of menstruation

• Also marked by reduction of production of estrogen and proestrogen

• Other symptoms:– Hot flashes– Headaches– Dizziness– Joint aches– Heart irregularities

Psychological effects of Menopause• Highly variable reactions depending on

individual and culture– Adverse impact usually a function of woman’s

expectations– Non-Western women report fewer menopause related

symptoms– Some social class differences, with lower SES

showing more symptoms, perhaps related to more traditional gender roles

– Bodies go through menopause at an age when we still feel ‘young’

The Male Climacteric

• A more gradual process for men than for women

• Gradual reduction in testosterone production, but still able to have children, often into the 80’s

• Most typical symptom is enlargement of the prostate gland, starting at about age 40 and affecting 50%+ of men by age 80

Health in Middle Age

• Typically a healthy period

• Less likely to be involved in accidents, and once children leave, lower rates of infections, allergies, and respiratory illness

Gender effects

• Men more likely to have severe, chronic, life-threatening illnesses– Heart attacks, hypertension, cancer, etc

• Women have higher incidence of illness, but more likely to be minor, short term, and non-threatening

• More research targeted to men’s illnesses• Men likely face more environmental

threats

Personality types and heart disease

• Based on mid 70’s studies at Harvard• Type A Personalities: competitive,

impatient, easily frustrated, high levels of hostility

• Type B Personalities: non-competitive, patient, high frustration tolerance, low levels of aggression and hostility

• Significant relationship between Type A and heart disease

What are the consequences of stress in middle adulthood?

Stress in Middle Adulthood

• Stress continues to have a significant impact on health in middle age

• According to psychoneuroimmunologists, who study the relationship between the brain, the immune system, and psychological factors, stress produces three main consequences

• Leads to unhealthy behaviors

Cancer:

• Risk factors:– Genetics– Environment

• Personality variables: survivors are:– Low on hopelessness and denial– High on “Fighting Spirit,” optimistic, and close

family ties.

• Related research with people with AIDS suggest attitude affects immune system

COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT

IN

MIDDLE ADULTHOOD

Cognitive Development

• Controversy over effects of age on IQ– Cross sectional studies have problems with

“cohort effects”– Longitudinal studies have problems with

“practice effects”

• Results mixed:– Increase with longitudinal studies– Decrease with cross-sectional studies

Difficulties in Answering the Question

• Older research– Cross sectional studies – Cohort effect

• Newer research– Longitudinal studies– Practice effect and participant attrition

Testing Effects

• Practice effect

• Attrition

• Physical performance portion– Timed– Reaction time slows with age– Results may be due to physical changes not

cognitive changes

Types of Adult Intelligence

• Fluid Intelligence: Ability to deal with NEW problems and situations– Tends to decline with age, although

motivation may be an issue

• Crystallized Intelligence: ability to use the store of knowledge, skills and strategies gained through education and experience to solve problems– Tends to improve with age

Relationship Between Fluid and Crystal Intelligence

Memory: You Must Remember This

• According to research on memory changes in adulthood– Most people show only minimal losses– Many exhibit no memory loss in middle adulthood

• Memory is viewed in terms of three sequential components– Sensory memory– Short-term memory holds information for 15 to 25

seconds– Long-term memory

Selective Optimization

• The process by which people concentrate on particular skill areas to compensate for losses in other areas (including loss of interest in other areas)

• Results in general compensation for any lost intellectual abilities in middle age

SOCIAL AND

PERSONALITY

DEVELOPMENT

IN MIDDLE

ADULTHOOD

Psycho-Social Development

Erikson’s Generativity vs. Stagnation– Generativity: Individual’s contribution to

family, community, work, and society as a whole. Furthering the next generation, creativity and artistic output

– Stagnation: lack of psychological success, feelings of triviality, limited contributions to the world, still seeking new careers, desperate attempts to hand on to youth

Other models of midlife

• Normative Crisis model: essentially Erikson’s idea of universal stages uniformly occurring.

• Life Events model: The timing of events in an adult’s life rather than just age determine the course of adult personality development– First child– Children leaving home– Children returning home

The Midlife Crisis and Empty Nest

• Midlife Crisis

• A stage of uncertainty and indecision brought about by the realization that life is finite

• High visibility cases get attention, but transition is relatively smooth for most people

• Empty Nest

• When women realize that their last child is leaving home

• May impact her feeling like she is useful

• Women who work may report higher self-esteem

Levinson’s “Seasons”

• Midlife transition: 40-45• Middle adulthood 45-50• Age 50 transition 50-55• End of Middle Adulthood 55-60• All marked by:

– Focus on finite nature of life– Present vs. future orientation– Confront knowledge that all goals won’t be

met

Stability research

• Evidence that adult personality is relatively stable across the variables of:– Neuroticism– Extroversion– Openness– Even temperedness– Disorganization– Affection– Self-confidence

Marriage

• Typical U shaped pattern of marital satisfaction

• Sources of satisfaction:– Friendship of spouse– Marriage as a long term commitment– Agreement on aims and goals– Agreement about sexuality (but not

frequency)

Divorce

• Only about 20% of divorces occur after age 40

• More difficult for older women than men due to narrower partner market and decreased likelihood of vocational experience

Remarriage

• 75-80% of people who divorce end up marrying again, usually within 2-5 years

• Gender differences: more difficult for older women due to the pre-existing “marriage gradient”

The Second (plus) Marriage

• Partners tend to have more realistic expectations

• Entry into relationship is likely to be more cautious

• Partners tend to show greater role flexibility• May be subject to different kinds of stressors

than first marriages– Blending families– Practice at escape

The Empty Nest Syndrome:

• A parent’s feeling of unhappiness, worry, loneliness and depression resulting from their children’s departure from home.

• Typically a relatively short-term, temporary phenomena

• Most difficult for women who followed the traditional social role mode.

Benefits of Empty Nests

• Spouses have more time for each other

• Few distractions from spouses own interests

• Sexuality improves

“Boomerang Children”

• Young adults who return, after leaving home for some period to live in the homes of their middle aged parents

• Typically explained by economic issues• More likely in young men (24-34) than in

young women (older marriage age?)• Women may face more limits living at

home than men do• Moms more likely to approve than Dads

The Sandwich Generation

• Couples (or individuals) who in middle adulthood must care for both their children and their aging parents

• The product of both later marriage and childbirth and the increased life expectancy of older adults

Issues in caring for parents

• Role reversals

• Level of financial need

• Live-in?– Extra burden usually given to the wife.

Grandparenting styles

• Involved grandparents: actively engaged with grandchildren and have significant influence over grandchildren’s daily lives

• Companionate grandparents: act as supporters and cheerleaders, but take a relaxed approach and less responsibility

• Remote grandparents: detached, distant and show little interest in the grandchildren

Jobs at Midlife

Changing criteria for job satisfaction

More here-and-now concernsPay

Working conditions

Company policies

The older, the greater the reported job satisfaction

Likely screened into a job they like.

Job Issues: Burnout

• A situation that occurs when highly trained professionals experience dissatisfaction, disillusionment, frustration and weariness from their jobs.

• Tends to occur most often in Human Service type jobs

• Most likely in people who have idealism and high work incentive

• Leads to growing cynicism, indifference and lack of concern with the quality of work produced

Burnout Prevention

• Realistic job appraisal

• Job structures that include at least some exposure to “The Big Picture”

• Peer and supervisor support

• Appropriate levels of time off, continuing education, and alternative assignments

• Ability to experience small victories

Unemployment in Midlife

• Has greater impact than at other times• Increasingly frequent with economic

changes • Influences self-image and self-confidence• Leads to more severe psychological

symptoms– Insomnia– Depression– Suicide

Career changes at Midlife

• Reasons:– Old job has changed, grown boring, forces

them to do more with less, or experienced technology changes

– New job offers different motivation, change in expectations, chance for variety, better meets earlier “job satisfaction” criteria

– Often returns mature workers to entry level status, with job peers significantly younger than they are

Leisure at midlife

• Sadly, mostly in front of the TV (30 of 70 available leisure hours)

• For many, a systematic effort to identify and master activities they plan to pursue during retirement

• Sometimes a method to identify a second career