MIDDLE ADULTHOOD

WRITTEN REPORT
EBORA, PAULA COLEEN F.
MIDDLE ADULTHOOD
CHANGING MIDLIFE
- “60 is the new 40”  implies that many 60-
year-olds today are living a life that is active,
productive, and healthy as earlier generations
did in their forties
- A consistent finding is that as adults become
older, their age identity is younger than their
chronological age
- Midlife is the afternoon of life  the
preparation for late adulthood which is the
evening of life
DEFINING MIDDLE ADULTHOOD
- Middle Adulthood  developmental period
that begins at approximately 40 to 45 years of
age and extends to about 60 to 65 years of age
- The time of declining physical skills and
expanding responsibility
- A period in which people become more
conscious of the young-old polarity and the
shrinking amount of time left in life
- A point when individuals seek to transmit
something meaningful to next generation.
- A time when people reach and maintain
satisfaction in their careers
- “Balancing work and relationship
responsibilities in the midst of the physical and
psychological changes associated with aging”
PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT
PHYSICAL CHANGES
Visible Signs
- Involves physical appearance  apparent by
age forties or fifties
- Skin begins to wrinkle and sag
- Age spots
- Hair becomes thinner and grayer
- Fingernails and toenails develop ridges and
become thicker and more brittle
- Youthful appearance is stressed in many
cultures cosmetic surgery, dyeing hair,
purchasing wigs, enrolling in weight reduction
programs, participating in exercise regimens and
taking heavy doses of vitamins
- Baby boomers have shown a strong interest in
plastic surgery and Botox
Height and Weight
- Individuals lose height in middle age and many
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gain weight
- From age 30 to 50, men may lose about one
inch in height (then may lose another inch from
50 to 70 years of age)
- In women, height loss can be as much as 2
inches from 25 to 75 years of age
- Due to bone loss in the vertebrae
- Body fat makes up 20 percent of body weight
- Obesity increases from early to middle
adulthood  hypertension, diabetes and
digestive disorders; also increases the risk of
dying earlier
Strength, Joints, and Bones
- Sarcopenia  age-related loss of muscle mass
and strength; occurs especially in the back and
legs
- Occurs at a rate of approximately 1 to 2 percent
per year after age 50
- Management of weight loss and resistance
training are the best strategies to slow down the
decline of muscle mass and muscle strength
- Time when individuals experience joint stiffness
and more difficulty in movement
- Maximum bone density occurs by the mid- to
late thirties, after which there is a progressive
loss of bone
- Women lose bone mass twice as fast as men do
Vision and Hearing
- Accommodation of the eye  the ability to
focus and maintain an image on the retina;
experiences its sharpest decline between 40 and
59 years of age
- Decrease in visual field’s size
- Increase in eye’s blind spot
- Retina receives only one-third as much light
- Hearing can also decline by age 40
- Sensitivity to high pitches usually declines first
and men usually lose their sensitivity to high
pitched sounds sooner than women do
- Laser surgery and implantation of intraocular
lenses have become routine procedures for
correcting vision in middle-aged adults
- Advances in hearing aids have dramatically
improved hearing for many individuals
Cardiovascular System
- Cardiovascular disease increases considerably in
middle age
- Level of cholesterol increases and begins to
accumulate on the artery walls increasing the risk
of cardiovascular disease
- Cholesterol in two forms:
- Low Density Lipoprotein (LDL)  bad
cholesterol; when LDL is too high, it sticks to the
lining of blood vessels which can lead to
atherosclerosis (hardening of arteries)
- High Density Lipoprotein (HDL)  good
cholesterol; when HDL is high, risk of
cardiovascular disease is lessened
- Hypertension also begins to appear
- A menopause woman’s blood pressure rises
sharply and usually remains above that of a man
through life’s later years
- Metabolic Syndrome  characterized by
hypertension, obesity and insulin resistance and
often leads to development of diabetes and
cardiovascular disease
- Prevention:
- Aerobic Exercise Training
- Weight Control
- Diet rich in fruits, vegetables and whole
grains
Lungs
- At age 55, proteins in lung tissue become less
elastic
- Gradual stiffening of the chest wall
- Decreased lungs’ capacity to shuttle oxygen
from the air people breathe to the blood in their
veins
- Lung capacity of individuals who are smokers
drops precipitously in middle age
Sleep
Beginning in the forties, wakeful periods are
more frequent and there is less of the deepest
type of sleep (Stage 4)
- Time spent lying awake in bed at night begins to
increase in middle age
- Sleep-disordered breathing and restless legs
syndrome become more prevalent
- Sleep problems in midlife are more common
among individuals who use higher number of
prescription and nonprescription drugs, are
obese, have cardiovascular disease, or are
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depressed
HEALTH, DISEASE, STRESS, AND CONTROL
- Disease and persistent health problems become
more common in middle-adulthood
- Chronic disorders  characterized by a slow
onset and a long duration
- Rare in early adulthood, increase during middle
adulthood, and become common in late
adulthood
- Arthritis  is the leading chronic disorder in
middle age
- Men have a higher incidence of fatal chronic
conditions (such as coronary heart disease,
cancer, and stroke), women have a higher
incidence of nonfatal ones (such as arthritis,
varicose veins, and bursitis)
Stress and Disease
- Stress is increasingly identified as a factor in
many diseases
- Chronic stress can interfere with immune
functioning and is linked to disease not only
through the immune system but also through
cardiovascular factors
THE IMMUNE SYSTEM AND STRESS
- Immune system  keeps us healthy by
recognizing foreign materials such as bacteria,
viruses, and tumors then destroying them
- Immune system functioning decreases with
normal aging
- Consists of white blood cells located in the
circulatory system
- When a person is under stress, the more viruses
and bacteria are likely to multiple and cause
disease
- Natural Killer Cells – type of WBC that is more
likely to be present in low-stress circumstances
- Lower level of natural killer (NK) cells in
stressful situations indicate a weakened immune
system
THE CARDIOVASCULAR SYSTEM AND STRESS
- Stress and negative emotions can cause
cardiovascular disease by altering the
physiological process
- There is an indirect connection of
cardiovascular disease and stress
- People who live in chronically stressed
conditions are more likely to smoke, overeat, and
avoid exercise which are links to developing
cardiovascular diseases
CULTURE AND HEALTH
- When people migrate to another culture, their
health practices change but genetic
predispositions remain constant
- Living conditions and lifestyles of individuals
within an ethnic group are influenced by their
socioeconomic status, immigrant status, social
and language skills, occupational opportunities,
and such social resources – all of which play a
role in health
Differences among ethnic groups:
- African Americans  hypertension, stroke
- Latino > Non-Latino  diabetes
Problems:
- Prejudice and racial segregation 
underpinnings for chronic stress of
discrimination and poverty that adversely affects
the health of many African Americans and
Latinos
Control
- Having a sense of control is linked to many
aspects of health and well-being
- Having a sense of control peaks in midlife then
declines in late adulthood
- One of the factors in delaying the onset of
diseases in middle adulthood and reducing the
frequency of diseases in late adulthood
MORTALITY RATES
- Infectious disease was the main cause of death
until the middle of 20th century
- Chronic disease are now the main causes of
death for individuals in middle adulthood
- Many deaths are caused by a single readily
identifiable condition, whereas in old age, death
is more likely to result from combined effects of
several chronic conditions
Leading cause of death in middle adulthood:
1. Cancer
2. Cardiovascular Diseases
- Men have higher mortality rates than women
SEXUALITY
- Climacteric  term that is used to describe the
midlife transition in which fertility declines
MENOPAUSE
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- Menopause  the cessation of a woman’s
menstrual period usually during the late 40s or
early 50s
- Perimenopause  transitional period from
normal menstrual periods to no menstrual
periods at all, which often takes up to 10 years
Perimenopausal symptoms:
1. Depressed feelings
2. Headaches
3. Moodiness
4. Palpitations
- In menopause, production of estrogen by
ovaries declines dramatically and produces
uncomfortable symptoms such as “hot flashes”,
nausea, fatigue, rapid heartbeat
- Loss of fertility is an important marker for
women, it means that they have to make final
decisions about having children  Hormonal
Replacement Therapy (HRT)
- HRT augments the declining levels of
reproductive hormone production by the ovaries
and can consist of various forms of estrogen,
usually in combination with a progestin
Alternatives to HRT:
- regular exercise
- dietary supplement
- herbal remedies
- relaxation therapy
- acupuncture
- nonsteroidal medications
HORMONAL CHANGES IN MIDDLE-AGED MEN:
- Usually in their 50s and 60s
- “Male Menopause”
- Most men do not lose their capacity to father
children but there is a decline in sexual hormone
level and activity
- Testosterone production and sperm count
declines but do not lose their fertility  decline
in testosterone levels reduces sexual drive
- Erectile Dysfunction (ED)- difficulty in attaining
or maintaining penile erection  erection is less
full, less frequent and require more stimulation
Causes of ED:
1. Smoking
2. Diabetes
3. Hypertension
4. Elevated cholesterol levels
5. Obesity
6. Lack of exercise
Treatments for ED:
1. Viagra  increases blood flow in penis which
produces erection
2. Levitra
3. Cialis
SEXUAL ATTITUDES AND BEHAVIOR
- Sexual activity occurs less frequent in midlife
than in early adulthood
- Ages 25 to 29 is greatest frequency of having
sex then dropped off for individuals in their fifties
- Middle-aged men want sex, think about it
more, and masturbate more often than middle-
aged women
- In women, masturbation is increased in
perimenopause but declined post menopause
Sexual problems of men:
1. Early ejaculation
2. Erectile difficulties
Sexual problems of women:
1. Lubrication difficulties
2. Lack of sexual interest
- In middle age, health is the key factor in sexual
activity
COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT
INTELLIGENCE
Fluid and Crystallized Intelligence
- John Horn argues that some abilities begin to
decline in middle age while others increase
- Crystallized Intelligence  individual’s
accumulated information and verbal skills,
continues to increase in middle adulthood
- Fluid intelligence  one’s ability to reason
abstractly, begins to decline in middle adulthood
The Seattle Longitudinal Study
- Longitudinal Study  same individuals are
studied over time
- Extensive evaluation of intellectual abilities in
the adulthood years (K. Warner Schaie)
- Participants have been assessed in seven-year
intervals: 1956, 1963, 1970, 1977, 1984, 1991,
1998, 2005, 2012
- Main focus of the study has been on individual
change and stability in intelligence
Main abilities tested:
1. Vocabulary – ability to understand ideas
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expressed in words
2. Verbal memory – ability to encode and recall
meaningful language units
3. Number – ability to perform simple
mathematical computations
4. Spatial orientation – ability to visualize and
mentally rotate stimuli into two- and three-
dimensional space
5. Inductive reasoning – ability to recognize and
understand patterns
6. Perceptual speed – ability to accurately make
simple discrimination in visual stimuli
- Highest level of functioning for four of the six
intellectual abilities occurred in the middle
adulthood years  peak performance on verbal
ability, verbal memory, inductive reasoning and
spatial orientation while number and perceptual
speed declines
- Horn also examined generational differences in
parents and children over a seven-year time-
frame from 60-67 years of age  higher levels of
cognitive functioning occurred for the second
generation in inductive reasoning, verbal
memory and spatial orientation while 1st
generation scored higher on numeric ability
Classifications of participants:
1. Decliners
2. Stable
3. Gainers
Three categories:
1. Number ability
2. Word fluency
3. Delayed recall
- Largest percentage of decline or gain occurred
for delayed recall; largest percentage with stable
scores occurred for numerical ability
Neurobiological factors that decline (Salthouse):
1. Regional brain volume
2. Cortical thickness
3. Synaptic density
4. Aspects of myelination
5. Functioning of neurotransmitters (such as
dopamine and serotonin)
6. Blood flow in cerebral cortex
7. Accumulation of tangles in neurons
INFORMATION PROCESSING
Information processing changes that take place
in middle adulthood:
1. Speed of Information Processing
- Action-time task  the individual will simply
press upon a button as soon as the light appear
 middle-aged adults are slower to push the
button than young adults
Causes of decline may occur at different levels of
analysis:
a. Cognitive
- maintaining goals
- switching tasks
- preserving internal representations despite
distraction
b. Neuroanatomical
- changes in specific brain regions
c. Neurochemical
- changes in neurotransmitter systems
2. Memory
Changes:
a. Verbal memory peaked/declines
b. More time is needed to learn new information
c. Changes in working memory
- Working Memory  mental “workbench”
where individuals manipulate and assemble
information when making decisions, solving
problems, and comprehending written and
spoken language  becomes more limited
3. Expertise
- Involves having extensive, highly organized
knowledge and understanding of a particular
domain
Strategies that distinguish experts from novices:
a. Rely on accumulated experiences to solve
problems
b. Process information automatically and analyze
it more effectively
c. Have better strategies and shortcuts to solving
problems
d. More creative and flexible
4. Practical Problem Solving
- Improved everyday problem-solving and
decision-making effectiveness  due to
accumulated practical practice
CAREERS, WORK, AND LEISURE
WORK IN MIDLIFE
- Role of work is central during middle adulthood
Markers:
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- Peak in position and earning but saddled with
multiple financial burdens (such as rent or
mortgage, childcare, medical bills, etc.)
- Health impairment limits the type of paid work
that they do
- Midlife is a time of evaluation, assessment, and
reflection in terms of the work they do and want
to do in the future
- Limitations in career progress, planning for
retirement
CAREER CHALLENGES AND CHANGES
Important challenges:
- Globalization
- Rapid development in information technologies
- Downsizing of organizations
- Early retirement
- Concerns about pension
- Health care
Midlife career changes:
- Self-motivated
- Adjust idealistic hopes to realistic possibilities in
light of how much time individuals have before
they retire and how fast they are reaching their
occupational goals
LEISURE
- Leisure  refers to the pleasant times after
work when individuals are free to pursue
activities and interest of their own choosing
(such as hobbies, sports, reading, etc.)
- Constructive and fulfilling leisure activities in
middle adulthood are an important part of
psychological preparation for retirement 
transition from work to retirement can be less
stressful
RELIGION, SPIRITUALITY, AND MEANING IN LIFE
RELIGION, SPIRITUALITY, AND ADULT LIVES
- Religion  is an organized set of beliefs,
practices, rituals, and symbols that increases an
individual’s connection to a sacred or
transcendent other (God, higher power, ultimate
truth)
- Religiousness  refers to the degree of
affiliation with an organized religion,
participation in its prescribed rituals and
practices, connection with its beliefs, and
involvement in a community of believers
- Spirituality  involves experiencing something
beyond oneself in a transcendent manner and - belief that one can control their environment
living in a way that benefits others and society 4. Needs for self-worth
- Religion and spirituality are powerful influences - most individuals want to be good, worthy
for some but hold little or no significance for persons
others
- Women have consistently shown a stronger
interest in religion and spirituality than men
RELIGION, SPIRITUALITY, AND HEALTH
- Spirituality/religion is positively linked to health
though some cults and religious sectors
encourage behaviors that are damaging to health
(such as ignoring sound medical advice)
- Religious commitments is linked to reduction in
hypertension
- Helps in coping effectively with their lives
MEANING IN LIFE
- Man’s Search for Meaning (a book by Viktor
Frankl) – emphasizes a person’s uniqueness and
the finiteness of life
- He argued that examining the finiteness of our
existence and the certainty of death adds
meaning to life  If life were not finite, we could
spend our life doing just about whatever we
pleased because time would continue forever
Most distinct human qualities:
1. Spirituality – uniqueness in spirit, philosophy
and mind
2. Freedom
3. Responsibility
- Meaning-making Coping  involves drawing on
beliefs, values and goals to change the meaning
of a stressful situation, especially in times of
chronic stress such as when a loved one dies
Four main needs for meaning:
1. Needs for purpose
- present event draws meaning from their
connection with future events
- goals and fulfillments
2. Needs for values
- can lead a sense of goodness or positive
characterization of life and justify certain courses
of actions
- values enable people to decide whether certain
acts are right or wrong
- main form of meaning that people need
3. Needs for a sense of efficacy
- belief that one can make a difference
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