Lifespan Psychology Module 17: Middle Adulthood – Social and Personality Development

Key Terms:

 Generativity: a sense that one is making a valuable contribution to society by bringing

up children or mentoring younger people in some way midlife

 Life events approach: a theoretical perspective on middle adulthood that focuses on

normative and nonnormative events and how adults in this age group respond to them

 Role conflict: any situation in which two or more roles are at least partially incompatible,

either because they call for different behaviors or because their separate demands add up

to more hours than there are in the day

 Multigenerational caregivers: middle-aged adults who provide assistance to their

parents and adult children at the same time

 Caregiver burden: a term for the cumulative negative effects of caring for an elderly or

disabled person

 Remote relationships: relationships in which grandparents do not see their

grandchildren often

 Companionate relationships: relationships in which grandparents have frequent contact

and warm interactions with grandchildren

 Involved relationships: relationships in which grandparents are directly involved in the

everyday care of grandchildren or have close emotional ties with them

 Burnout: lack of energy, exhaustion, and pessimism that result from chronic stress
I) Theories of Social and Personality Development

a) Erikson’s Generativity-versus-Stagnation Stage

 Generativity: a sense that one is making a valuable contribution to society by

bringing up children or mentoring younger people in some way midlife.

 Life events approach: a theoretical perspective on middle adulthood that focuses on

normative and nonnormative events and how adults in this age group respond to

them.

 Role conflict: any situation in which two or more roles are at least partially

incompatible, either because they call for different behaviors or because their separate

demands add up to more hours than there are in the day.