DEVELOPMENTAL TASKS OF

MIDDLE AGE
• Tasks relating to physical changes.
• Tasks relating to changes interest
• Tasks relating to vocational adjustment
• Tasks relating to family life

Most of the developmental tasks of middle age

prepare the individual for successful adjustment to
old age.
ADJUSTMENT TO PHYSICAL CHANGES

Changes in appearance
• Appearance plays an important role in social
judgment, acceptance and leadership.
• Middle aged people fear that they may loose their
status as their appearance deteriorate.
• They fear the signs of aging.
 Signs of aging
• Weight gain
• Loss and graying of hair
• Skin changes
• Body sag
• Muscle changes
• Joint problems
• Changes in teeth
• Changes in eyes
 Changes in sensory abilities

• Deterioration of sensory abilities

• Changes in eyes results in decrease in pupil size,
glare resistance, cataracts and tumors.
• Hearing is likely to be impaired.
• Decrease in the sense of sell and taste with advancing
age.
Changes in physiological Functioning

• Changes are the direct or indirect result of changes in

the body tissues.
• Circulatory difficulties
• Blood pressure
• Glands function more slowly
• Increase in the severity of digestive disorders.
Changes in health

Common health problems in middle age include:

• Tendency to fatigue easily
• Buzzing or ringing in the ears
• Muscular pains
• Gastrointestinal complaints
• Acid stomach
• insomnia
 Sexual Changes
• Men and women make difficult physical adjustment
in the middle age
• Menopause in females
• Male climacteric in men
 Sexual changes in women
• Bodily and emotional changes occur at the time of
menopause.
• Menopause is regarded when there has been no
menstruation for a year.
• Lessened ovarian function.
• Estrogen deprivation due to the decline in ovarian
functioning
 The menopausal syndrome

• Cessation of menstruation
• Generalized atrophy of the reproductive system
• Decline in feminine appearance physical discomforts.
• weight gain
• knobbiness
 Sexual changes in men
• Male climacteric happens in men.
• Happens during sixties or seventies.
• Gradual weakening of the male sexual and
reproductive powers.
• Testosterone secretion may begin to decline.
• Male climacteric syndrome is a cluster of physiologic
and psychological symptoms
 The male climacteric syndrome

• Decline in the functioning of the sex organs

• Decline in sexual desire
• Decline in masculine appearance
• Physical discomforts