Adulthood

1. Adulthood Chapter 12

2. Young Adulthood • Characteristics & Goals: • 20-40 • Physical peak in 20’s • 20’s & 30’s faster, stronger, better coordinated, more endurance than have ever had or will ever again ???? • Height of cognitive power • Desire to try new ways of doing things & changing relationships with parents • Early 20’s assume if live like parents if want to succeed, parents will rescue them if fail • Time passes, become independent, take responsibility for self and decisions they make • Becoming independent from parental authority is key goal of development for most YA men • Women less concerned with seeing themselves as separate, independent individuals, creating relationships with others

3. Young Adulthood • Tasks according to Erikson: • Exploring adult roles • Becoming independent • Developing intimate relationships • Adjusting to living with another person • Starting a family & becoming a parent • Assuming the responsibilities of managing a home • Beginning a new career or job • Assuming some responsibilities in larger community • Creating social network of friends & co-workers

4. Young Adulthood • Reassessment: • in 20’s many think need to chose course exactly right for them • In 30’s many reevaluate decisions and change course, “age 30 transition” • Can bring many life changes, new jobs, careers, time to find a mate, time to work outside of home, start a family • Women more likely to reassess in 30’s, childbearing years, controlled by others no chance to shape own life, overwhelmed by duties of family & jobs, working women mixed feelings about success on job (sacrifice family or job, more acceptable for men to work long hours) • Settling Down: • Mid to late 30’s characterized by planting roots • Increase financial & emotional investments make in life • Many have promotions & raises, more focused on advancing careers & gaining stability in personal life

5. Young Adulthood • Marriage & Relationships: • Development of Identity: who you are and what you stand for, values • personal stability that is needed to form lasing relationships • Can be difficult to sustain when 1 or both lack stability • Those with sense of own ID during adolescence may be ready to join lives with those of others in friendships & marriage • Erikson believed those who don’t develop intimate relationships risk falling into pattern of isolation & loneliness • Intimate relationships don’t have to be physical, but trusting, close friendship with another in which can be honest w/o fear of rejection • 75-80% get married at least once, many delay to pursue education & career goals now • Median age risen in past 30 years to 23-27 for men and 21-25 for women

6. Young Adulthood • History of Marriage: • Patriarchy: men traditionally play dominant role in marriage • Changed over time & today many consider it to be fairly equal • Today still changing • Many traditional man breadwinner, woman at home • Others share or reverse role, stay at home dads • Others single/divorced responsible for both/all roles • US marry for love, common since 1800’s, before that arranged marriages by parents to benefit 2 families • Transfer wealth from 1 family to another, generation to generation • Provide stable home life & children • Political strength • Today companionship & intimacy central goals in most marriages • Feeling of security • Opportunity to share experiences & ideas with someone special • About 86% of US still see marriage as permanent

7. Young Adulthood • Choosing Spouses: • We chose our spouses, but parents do have some degree of influence • Consider ethnicity, level of education, social class, and religion, usually similar to themselves • Only about 4% of US marriages • About 90%+are same religion • Similarity in attitudes & tastes in key contributor to attraction & intimate relationships • Tend to able close to age, meet in school and marry in early adulthood • Most men ten to be about 2-5 years older than women • People who marry later in life or remarry after behind divorced or widowed are less likely to select partners close in age • Marriages between similar people has greater chance at survival b/c share values & attitudes • Dissimilar couples can overcome differences that divide them by developing shared interests & mutual respects

8. Young Adulthood • Divorce: • Rose steadily before leveling off in 80’s • Over ¼ of kids live in single parent households • Reasons for Divorce: • Easier than it use to be • No fault divorce laws, no one has to blame the other • If both agree on child custody, financial support, & distribution of assets it can be dissolved • Increased economic independence of women makes them less inclined to stay in troubled marriage, more job opportunities for women, better education • Spousal abuse, infidelity, strains about illness or financial hardship, inability to communicate effectively, increasingly high expectations

9. Young Adulthood • The Costs of Divorce: • 14% avg. decline in per capital income experienced by women who remain single after divorce • 3% avg. decline in per capita income experienced by women who remarry after divorce • 80% average per capita income experience by men who remain single after divorce • 40% average increase in per capita income experienced by men who remarry after divorce • Neither maintains the S of L before the divorce • Women often suffer the most, raising children forced need for more income • Fathers may find difficult to pay child support & alimony (financial support to former spouse) • Many time of personal growth & renewal, establish new & more rewarding lives • Most recover, majority remarry • Remarriages more likely to end in divorce • More inclined to leave, 1st marriage more inclined to persist • Patter or maladaptive behavior

10. Young Adulthood • Children of Divorce: • Difficult for children regardless of age • More likely to have behavioral problems, engaged in substance abuse, earn lower grades in school • Step-family can introduce new family relationships • Parents work more to support family financially & have less time for kids • Typically after initial period of stress & adjustment then to be okay • Boys more likely than girls to have problems adjusting to parental conflict or divorce

11. Young Adulthood • Not the separation of parents that affects kids as much a breakdown in quality of parenting • Study children ages 0-3with 2 parent families had higher scores on achievement & ability tests, more social skills, fewer problems & greater security • However, when considered mother's level of education & income, difference less significant • Children not affected by parental divorce but related to mother’s level of education, income, level of well-being • Children fare better in homes with well-adjusted divorced mothers than in homes with bickering married parents • Psychologists advise: • agree on how to interact with the children • help each other maintain good parent-child relationships • Avoid harsh criticizing of each other to or in front of kids • Generalize those to any relationship when parents aren’t together • Divorce & marital conflict both affect kids, can make relationships between kids & parents more difficult, and may also be connected with later conflict in the child’s own marriage

12. Middle Adulthood • 40-60 • People lose some strength, coordination, stamina • gradual & hard to notice • only concern for those with physical fitness as part of job or interest • Work at conditioning can maintain excellent health & strength throughout middle adulthood • Generativity: the ability to create, originate, and produce • According to Erikson, greatest challenge facing middle adults • Adds meaning to lives of adults • Helps maintain & enhance self-esteem • In various areas of lives, careers, families, communities • Often in positions where can exercise a particular important influence on world around them • Experienced workers can improve methods & relationships in workplace • Parents guide next generation • Voters/Residents make communities safer • If not generative become Stagnant: lack of advancement or development • can result in feelings of emptiness & meaninglessness

13. Young Adulthood • Developmental Tasks according to Erikson to improve quality of life & strengthen relationships personally & in community • Helping child make transition from home life to outside world • Strengthen relationship with spouse • Helping make world better place by assuming leadership roles in social/civic activities • Achieving mastery in career • Adjusting to physical changes • Making decisions about how to spend 2nd adulthood • Pursuing passions • Coping with aging parents

14. Middle Adulthood • Transition: Midlife transition around 40-45 • Period in middle adulthood when people’s perspective change in a major way • Dramatic realization have lived ½ life, turning point • Often a critical event occurs (illness, change at work, death of friend/relative, losing to a child) trigger realization made generational shift • Women undergo it about 35, men about 40 • Women typically when youngest child is in grade school or other child milestone, illustrates growing up • Many have more kids, increased risk • Around 40 need to start having mammograms • Face to face with limitations, acknowledge dreams haven’t realized, triggers sense of urgency

15. Middle Adulthood • Midlife Crisis or Age of Mastery: • Midlife Crisis: 2nd period of reassessment that can be triggered by midlife transition • Typically treated as negative • Age of Mastery: people are frequently at the height of their creative & productive powers • decide what they will do with remainder of life • can continue to have fulfilling lives if find careers or hobbies that bring satisfaction • Middlescence: describe a period of searching that in some ways resembles adolescence, period of transition • Search for a new identity or a 2nd adulthood • Women dealt with fears & uncertainties just now confronting men • Women emerge from middleescense in 40’s & 50’s • Experience renewed sense of self, confident & secure, extend interests, committed to what they are doing & feel productive, effective, empowered

16. Middle Adulthood • Life Changes: • Some adjusting to needs of children becoming adults, others physical changes with aging • Empty Nest Syndrome: applied to feelings of emptiness & loss mothers & fathers sometimes feel after children have left home to establish their own lives • Especially hard for stay at home moms, can lose purpose & become depressed • Many women report being happier in marriage & other aspects of life, greater peace of mind, more self-confidence, more personal stability • Middle aged women become self-assertive & achievement oriented • Many become employed for 1st time, politics, return to school • Father adjust too, not as strongly • Many feel hopeless & drained • Increased freedom • Free of financial worries • Travel • Leisure time for hobbies, explore old interests • Self-development, freedom, opportunity • Sandwich generation • Caregiver for children & sometimes parents • Positive health benefits

17. Middle Adulthood • Menopause: end of menstruation, usually women’s late 40’s early 50’s • Decrease hormones estrogen & progesterone • No longer produces egg cells that can be fertilized, lack of fertility • Breast tissue decreases, skin becomes less elastic, bone density decreases can lead to osteoporosis • Discomfort of hot flashes, sweating, fatigue, mood swings • Hormone replacement therapy • Psychological changes more important than physical • Feeling of losing identity more likely to become distressed • Stay at home mom’s struggle more • Many have negative impression, but is normal & healthy • Not just hot flashes & moodiness • Not all need hormone replacement therapy • Not all become depressed or anxious • Doesn’t end sex drive • Doesn’t decrease activity level • Men: testosterone hormone decline 1/3 to ½ between age 40-50 to age 80 • Loss of strength, weight gain reduced energy, decreased fertility

18. Middle Adulthood • Baby Boomers: • those born after WWII, 1946-1964 • 50 is the new 30 • Youthful, active, free-spirited, optimistic, oriented to social causes, defiant, distrustful of government, self-indulgent • Impact: economy (large group of consumers & Social Security), fought for rights, refusal to grow old • Boomerang Generation: young adult children who leave home, go to college or be on own, pursue career, and chose to return to live with parents, called kidults • Few or low paying jobs, high cost of housing, student loan debt, desire to save money, close parental relationship, fear of independence • Positive impact on parents: continued close relationships, help with responsibilities & younger siblings • Negative impact on parents: loss of freedom, tension, economic burden, particularly if have aging parents

19. Late Adulthood • Physical Changes: • 65+ • People live longer than ever before • 1900 only 1 of 30 lived to 65 • 2020 nearly 1/5 will be 65 or older • Physical Changes: wrinkling & folding, of skin, less elastic skin; senses less sharp (hearing, vision, smell); reflexes & reaction time slower • Health problems from brittle bones, increased fractures, danger of falls, immune system less effective • Can maintain health, strength, & energy level with regular exercise & healthful diet • Maintain flexibility through exercise like walking, swimming, less stress on bones & joints

20. Late Adulthood • Why People Age: • Vary person to person • Programmed Theories: developmental theories that maintain that aging is the result of genetics • Genetics determine how fast biological clocks move forward and pace • People with older parents will live longer • Heredity influences cells • Cells divide specific number of times then become inactive & die • Limitation on number of divisions is less important than the fact that cells are aging • As age less able to repair themselves, people more vulnerable to disease like cancer • Heredity affects hormones • Hormonal changes make body more vulnerable to health problems like diabetes, osteoporosis, heart disease • Melatonin & HGH • Heredity affects immune system • Genetics may predetermine decline in immune systems, less able fight disease

21. Late Adulthood • Cellular Damage Theories: aging suggests that cells malfunction as a result of damage, not heredity • Damage from internal body changes or external causes, trauma & toxins • Cell bodies affected by environment • Poisons or cancer causing agents less able to repair themselves & more vulnerable to diseases • Cells & vital organs are worn down • Free Radicals: unstable molecules in our body, normally produced as by-products of digestion, but may be produced by exposure to environmental agents • UV light, air pollution, pesticides, extreme heat • Accumulate in body, damage cells, cause aging faster & vulnerability to diseases • Cross-linking: another cause of aging, proteins within a cell bind together, toughening body tissues, leads to breakdown of various bodily processes & causes aging • Complex biological process may not be explained by either or both, may be factors not yet aware of

22. Late Adulthood • Cognitive Changes: • Cognitive development is affected by aging • Creativity generally stays strong throughout life • Memory declines • Trouble recalling names of things or people • Memory lapses can be embarrassing • Loss of confidence in memory • Not as bad as assumed, Memory tests usually recall meaningless info, do better when can apply experiences to new challenges • Sometimes reversible • Good time to discover new skills & ways of thinking

23. Late Adulthood • Senile Dementia: • Dementia: serious loss of cognitive functioning, major losses in memory, speech problems, unable to perform simple tasks, difficulty concentrating or making plans • Senile Dementia: occurs after age 65, only minority of old people have it, many called senility, usually 80+ • Alzheimer’s Disease: progressive form of mental deterioration • 10% of people over the age of 65 • nearly half of those over age of 85 • Connected with aging but disease, not normal part of aging • Characterized by general, gradual deterioration in mental processes, memory, language, problem solving • May forget familiar faces & names • Eventually become helpless, cannot communicate, walk, require help with simple tasks

24. Late Adulthood • Reduced levels of neurotransmitter acetylcholine (Ach) and buildup of sticky plaque in brain (formed by fragments of body protein) • Normally immune system stops buildup of plaque, but doesn’t do it’s job well enough • 1 form of treatment boots Ach levels by slowing its breakdown, modest benefits with many people • Other form of treatment is vaccine of harmful protein that helps immune system better attack plaque • Myths: • People can get it as young as 30’s • No evidence that aluminum leads to Alzheimer’s • Flue shots reduce the risk, not increase it • Cannot be treated or cured, but can slow the progression for a short time • It is not fatal, but does kill sufferers by destroying brain cells & disrupting other bodily functions, makes it more likely that you’ll die of something else

25. Late Adulthood • Vascular Dementia: caused by bursting of blood vessel in brain, as during a stroke, or by a decrease in blood supply to brain • Happens when fatty deposits collect in blood vessels that go to brain, narrow, impede blood flow • Infections can also cause it • Social Changes: • Retirement: no longer work • Some enjoy free time • Usually voluntary, others must retire at a certain age or feel forced out of job • Some turn to leisure activities, work part-time, volunteer • First retire undergo honeymoon phase: feel positive about new freedom & do things dreamed of, quite busy • Later many disillusioned, schedules slow down, things less stimulating than thought • Stress on marriage b/c suddenly spend more time together • Volunteer or participate more in community activities • Other begin new careers • Later establish a new routine & stability

26. Late Adulthood • Grandparenthood: • More relaxed relationship with grandkids than children • Perspectives broadened, more tolerant, more understanding • Don’t have to shoulder major responsibility so enjoy themselves • Many taking major responsibility for raising grandchildren • Adult children frequently value parents for role play with grandchildren, many help babysit, provide wisdom & love • Many consider it an important job • Many worry families no longer want them around, but most still see & talk to kids regularly • Living Arrangements: • Stereotype is that many live with family, nursing home or institute, or retirement community in warm climate • Most are independent, financially secure in own home & own hometown • About 30% will eventually spend time in nursing home, but usually past age of 80

27. Late Adulthood • Erikson’s Developmental Tasks • Adjusting to physical changes & keeping physically active • Maintaining concern about other people so don’t become preoccupied with physical changes • Shifting from work to retirement or leisure activity • Adjusting to changes in financial status • Establish fulfilling living arrangements • Learning to live with a husband or wife in retirement • Adjusting to illness or death of spouse

28. Late Adulthood • Successful Aging: • Ego Integrity: the belief that life is meaningful & worthwhile even when physical abilities are not what they use to be, accept approaching death with composure • Enables people to let go of relationships & objects as end of life approaches • If don’t maintain may fall into despair • Connected with wisdom to accept that life span is limited and realize it won’t last forever • Aging & Adjustment: • Most people in 70’s satisfied with life, over 75% have good or excellent health • Good health & financially secure = more happy • Economically disadvantaged at any age more likely to report bad health • Financially secure more likely to afford better health care & preventative services, worry less, stress reduced • People who are healthy may be able to work hard & earn higher incomes • Most older people have financial security, but 10% over age 65 live below poverty line • Connection between social support & personal well-being • Relationships with spouses, children, friends provide practical & emotional support • Older couples more happy than older singles or widows • After retirement marriage takes on greater importance • When spouse dies, children often able to provide needed support

29. Late Adulthood • Reshaping Life: • Specific goals to bring satisfaction • May help to have 1 main hobby or interest • Tend to spend time more wisely • No longer try to compete with younger people in activities, athletics or business • Focus on activities with personal control, find way to make up for loss in abilities • Positive Outlook: • 14,000 people over 70 with common health problems, those blame on aging more likely to die sooner than specific factors • Negative stereotypes late in adulthood act7ually walk more slowly & forget more, even affect cardiovascular system • Self-Challenge: • If just rest can become passive & not live to fullest extent • Foster grandparent group faced greater physical challenges & had new social experiences, improved overall cognitive functioning, memory & sleep • Withdrawing from life & avoiding challenge is not good for health • Secret to aging: increased participation in activities, making more close friends, visiting with family, spending quiet time reading & listening to music

30. Death & Dying • Stages of Dying: • To heal after death, helps to have a chance to say goodbye • Don’t protect kids from death by keeping them away • Terminal Illness: certain to lead to death • 5 stages of dying: • 1. Denial • 2. Anger • 3. Bargaining • 4. Depression • 5. Acceptance • Others criticize saying no sequence, they shift around and go place to place, reactions based on personality & philosophy of life • Other criticism is that ignores uniqueness of individual’s experience toward end of life

31. Death & Dying • Dying with Dignity: • Need security, self-confidence, dignity, relief from pain (don’t usually worry about addiction), cared for, supported • Helpful if family members encourage dying people to discuss feelings, spend quiet time, assist with financial & legal arrangements, arrange medical or property care • Knowing final wishes will be carried out give peace & completion • Some want all details, some don’t, that should be respected, but not treated like children

32. Death & Dying • Hospice: a home like place where dying people and their families are given physical & emotional support to help them cope with terminal illness • No restricted visiting hours • Staff & family provide physical & emotional support • Patient has little say in treatment in hospital, more in hospice (diets, activities, medications) • Euthanasia: easy death • Many believe when no hope for recovery or pain in unbearable euthanasia is good option • Illegal in most states, but many oppose • Opponents argue no one has right to do that, or help others & that mediation & therapy today are best options available • Living Will: legal document to avoid being kept alive by artificial support if there is no hope for recovery • Spare indignity of being alive if no hope of survival • Spare loved ones decision on whether to remove support • Doesn’t go into effect until incapacitated

33. Death & Dying • Dealing with Death: • Funeral: traditional way to acknowledge a member has died, rituals of what to do and how to act when person passes • Usually tied to religious beliefs, • Way of saying good-bye • Body is prepared to be separated from the living • Remember & celebrate life of person • Eulogy: speech praising person who died, share memories • Burial or cremation popular • Bereavement: mourning over something or someone precious who has been taken away • Sadness, relief, loneliness, numbness, anger • Helpful to join support groups or seek professional help • Survivors grow in compassion for others, appreciate life more