Module 16: MIDDLE ADULTHOOD PHYSICAL, COGNITIVE AND SOCIOEMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT

I. LEARNING OBJECTIVES

1. Explain how midlife is changing and define middle adulthood.

2. Discuss physical changes in middle adulthood.

3. Identify cognitive changes in middle adulthood

4. Characterize career development, work, and leisure in middle adulthood

5. Explain the roles of religion, spirituality, and meaning in life during middle adulthood

6. Describe personality theories and socioemotional development in middle adulthood

7. Discuss stability and change in development during middle adulthood, as reflected in

longitudinal studies

8. Identify some important aspects of close relationships in middle adulthood

II. CONTENTS

PHYSICAL AND COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT IN MIDDLE ADULTHOOD

DEFINING MIDDLE ADULTHOOD

• Although the age boundaries are not set in stone, we will consider middle adulthood to be the
developmental period that begins at approximately 40 to 45 years of age and extends to about
60 to 65 years of age.
• Middle adulthood involves “balancing work and relationship responsibilities in the midst of the
physical and psychological changes associated with aging” (Lachman, 2004, p. 305)
• In midlife, as in other age periods, individuals make choices—selecting what to do, deciding how
to invest time and resources, and evaluating what aspects of their lives they need to change
(Hahn & Lachman, 2015). In midlife, “a serious accident, loss, or illness” may be a “wake-up call”
and produce “a major restructuring of time and a reassessment” of life’s priorities (Lachman,
2004, p. 310).
• Middle adulthood is the age period in which gains and losses as well as biological and
sociocultural factors balance each other (Baltes, Lindenberger, & Staudinger, 2006). Although
biological functioning declines in middle adulthood, sociocultural supports such as education,
career, and relationships may peak in middle adulthood (Willis & Schaie, 2005).
• Margie Lachman and her colleagues (2015) recently described middle age as a pivotal period
because it is a time of balancing growth and decline, linking earlier and later periods of
development, and connecting younger and older generations

PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT

VISIBLE SIGNS

• The most visible signs of physical changes in middle adulthood involve physical appearance. The
first outwardly noticeable signs of aging usually are apparent by the forties or fifties. The skin
begins to wrinkle and sag because of a loss of fat and collagen in underlying tissues (Cole &
others, 2018; Czekalla & others, 2017).

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• Small, localized areas of pigmentation in the skin produce age spots, especially in areas that are
exposed to sunlight, such as the hands and face. Hair becomes thinner and grayer due to a lower
replacement rate and a decline in melanin production. Fingernails and toenails develop ridges
and become thicker and more brittle.
HEIGHT AND WEIGHT
• Individuals lose height in middle age, and many gain weight (Lebenbaum & others, 2018; Yang &
others, 2017a). On average, men from 30 to 50 years of age lose about one inch in height, then
may lose another inch from 50 to 70 years of age (Hoyer & Roodin, 2009).
• The height loss for women can be as much as 2 inches from 25 to 75 years of age. Note that
there are large variations in the extent to which individuals become shorter with aging. The
decrease in height is due to bone loss in the vertebrae
• Obesity increases from early to middle adulthood (Lebenbaum & others, 2018; Nevalainen &
others, 2017).
• During middle adulthood the amount of body fat also tends to grow in the average person.
“Middle-age spread” is a visible symptom of this problem. Even those who have been relatively
slim all their lives may begin to put on weight. Because height is not increasing, and actually may
be declining, these weight and body fat gains lead to an increase in the number of people who
become obese. (Feldman, 2018)

STRENGTH, JOINTS, AND BONES

• Maximum physical strength often is attained during the twenties. The term sarcopenia is given
to age-related loss of muscle mass and strength (Landi & others, 2018; Picca & others, 2018).
Muscle loss with age occurs at a rate of approximately 1 to 2 percent per year after age 50
(Marcell, 2003). A loss of strength especially occurs in the back and legs. Researchers are seeking
to identify genes that are linked to the development of sarcopenia (Urano & Inoue, 2015).
• Maximum bone density occurs by the mid- to late thirties, after which there is a progressive loss
of bone. The rate of this bone loss begins slowly but accelerates with further aging (Locquet &
others, 2018). Women lose bone mass twice as fast as men do. By the end of midlife, bones
break more easily and heal more slowly (de Villiers, 2018; Gulsahi, 2015)
• Women are more prone to a decline in height because they are at greater risk of osteoporosis.
Osteoporosis, a condition in which the bones become brittle, fragile, and thin, is often brought
about by a lack of calcium in the diet. (Feldman, 2018)

VISION AND HEARING

• A nearly universal change in eyesight during middle adulthood is the loss of near vision, called
presbyopia. Even people who have never needed glasses or contact lenses find themselves
holding reading matter at an increasing distance from their eyes in order to bring it into focus.
Eventually, they need reading glasses. For those who were previously near-sighted, presbyopia

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may require bifocals or two sets of glasses (Kalsi, Heron, & Charman, 2001; Koopmans &
Kooijman, 2006; Kemper, 2012).(Feldman, 2018)
• One of the most frequent causes of eye problems is glaucoma, which may, if left untreated,
ultimately produce blindness. Glaucoma occurs when pressure in the fluid of the eye increases,
either because the fluid cannot drain properly or because too much is produced. (Feldman,
2018)
• 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. In particular, middle-aged
individuals begin to have difficulty viewing close objects.
• The eye’s blood supply also diminishes, although usually not until the fifties or sixties. The
reduced blood supply may decrease the visual field’s size and account for an increase in the
eye’s blind spot. At 60 years of age, the retina receives only one-third as much light as it did at
20 years of age, mostly because of the reduced size of the pupil (Scialfa & Kline, 2007).(Santrock,
2019)
• Hearing also can start to decline by age 40. Auditory assessments indicate that hearing loss
occurs in up to 50 percent of individuals 50 years and older (Fowler & Leigh-Paffenroth, 2007).
Sensitivity to high pitches usually declines first; the ability to hear low-pitched sounds does not
seem to decline much in middle adulthood. Men usually lose their sensitivity to high-pitched
sounds sooner than women do. (Santrock 2019)
• Many changes, however, are simply related to aging. For instance, age brings a loss of cilia or
hair cells in the inner ear, which transmit neural messages to the brain when vibrations bend
them. Like the lens of the eye, the eardrum also becomes less elastic with age, reducing
sensitivity to sound (Wiley et al., 2005). ( Feldman, 2018)
• The ability to hear high-pitched, high-frequency sounds usually degrades first, a problem called
presbycusis. About 12 percent of people between ages 45 and 65 suffer from presbycusis. There
is also a gender difference: Men are more prone to hearing loss than women, starting at around
age 55. People who have hearing difficulties may also have problems identifying the direction
and origin of a sound, a process called sound localization. Sound localization can deteriorate
because it depends on comparing the discrepancy in sound perceived by the two ears. For
example, a sound on the right will stimulate the right ear first and then, a tiny time later,
register in the left ear. Because hearing loss may not affect both ears equally, sound localization
can suffer (Veras & Mattos, 2007; Gopinath et al., 2012; Koike, 2014).(Feldman, 2018)

CARDIOVASCULAR SYSTEM

• Midlife is a time when high blood pressure and high cholesterol often take adults by surprise.
Cardiovascular disease increases considerably in middle age (Kanesarajah & others, 2018; Mok
& others, 2018)

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• The level of cholesterol in the blood increases during the adult years and in midlife begins to
accumulate on the artery walls, increasing the risk of cardiovascular disease (Choi & Lee, 2017;
Mok & others, 2018).
• Cholesterol comes in two forms: LDL (lowdensity lipoprotein) and HDL (high-density
lipoprotein). LDL is often referred to as “bad” cholesterol because when the level of LDL is too
high, it sticks to the lining of blood vessels, which can lead to arteriosclerosis (hardening of the
arteries). HDL is often referred to as “good” cholesterol because when it is high and LDL is low,
the risk of cardiovascular disease is lower
• High blood pressure (hypertension), too, often begins to appear for many individuals in their
forties and fifties (Mrowka, 2017). At menopause, a woman’s blood pressure rises sharply and
usually remains above that of a man through life’s later years (Di Giosia & others, 2018; Taler,
2009).
• An increasing problem in middle and late adulthood is metabolic syndrome, a condition
characterized by hypertension, obesity, and insulin resistance (Ladeiras-Lopes & others, 2018;
Mora-Rodriguez & others, 2017). Researchers have found that chronic stress exposure is linked
to metabolic syndrome (Bergmann & others, 2017). Metabolic syndrome often leads to the
development of diabetes and cardiovascular disease (Masmiquel & others, 2016; Savadatti &
others, 2018). Weight loss and exercise are strongly recommended as part of the treatment of
metabolic syndrome (Palmnas & others, 2018; Ross, 2017).

SEXUALITY

• Climacteric is a term that is used to describe the midlife transition in which fertility declines.
(Santrock, 2019)
• Sexuality remains an important part of life for most middle-aged people. Although the
frequency of sexual intercourse declines with age (see Figure 15-3), sexual pleasure remains a
vital part of most middle-aged adults’ lives. About half of men and women age 45 to 59 report
having sexual intercourse about once a week or more. (Feldman, 2018)
• For many, middle adulthood brings a kind of sexual enjoyment and freedom that was missing
during their earlier lives. With their children grown and away from home, middle-aged married
couples have more time to engage in uninterrupted sexual activities. Women who have passed
through menopause are liberated from the fear of pregnancy and no longer need to employ
birth control techniques (Lamont, 1997; DeLamater, 2012). (Feldman, 2018)

MENOPAUSE

• Menopause is the time in middle age, usually during the late forties or early fifties, when a
woman’s menstrual periods cease.(Santrock, 2019)
• The most notable sign of the female climacteric is menopause. Menopause is the cessation of
menstruation. For most women, menstrual periods begin to occur irregularly and less frequently
during a two-year period starting at around age 47 or 48, although this process may begin as

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early as age 40 or as late as age 60. After a year goes by without a menstrual period, menopause
is said to have occurred.9Feldman, 2018)
• The timing of menarche, a girl’s first menstruation, has significantly decreased since the mid-
nineteenth century, occurring as much as four years earlier in some countries (Susman & Dorn,
2013). Has there been a similar earlier onset in the occurrence of menopause? No, there hasn’t
been a corresponding change in menopause, and there is little or no correlation between ages
at menarche and the onset of menopause (Gosden, 2007).
• Perimenopause is the transitional period from normal menstrual periods to no menstrual
periods at all, which often takes up to 10 years. Perimenopause usually occurs during the forties
but can occur in the thirties (Honour, 2018).
• Menopause is important for several reasons. For one thing, it marks the point at which a
traditional pregnancy is no longer possible (although eggs implanted in a postmenopausal
woman can produce a pregnancy). In addition, the production of estrogen and progesterone,
the female sex hormones, begins to drop, producing a variety of hormone-related age changes
(Schwenkhagen, 2007).(Feldman, 2018)
• One study of 30- to 50-year-old women found that depressed feelings, headaches, moodiness,
and palpitations were the perimenopausal symptoms that these women most frequently
discussed with health-care providers (Lyndaker & Hulton, 2004). (Santrock, 2019)
• Lifestyle factors such as whether women are overweight, smoke, drink heavily, feel depressed,
or exercise regularly during perimenopause influence aspects of their future health such as
whether they develop cardiovascular disease or chronic illnesses (Bacon, 2017; Honour, 2018).
• In menopause, production of estrogen by the ovaries declines dramatically, and this decline
produces uncomfortable symptoms in some women—“hot flashes,” nausea, fatigue, and rapid
heartbeat, for example (Chiaramonte, Ring, & Locke, 2017; Islam & others, 2017; Noble, 2018).
• For most women, menopause overall is not the highly negative experience it was once thought
to be (Brown & others, 2018; Henderson, 2011). Few women have severe physical or
psychological problems related to menopause. In fact, a research review concluded that there is
no clear evidence that depressive disorders occur more often during menopause than at other
times in a woman’s reproductive life (Judd, Hickey, & Bryant, 2012).
• Until recently, hormone replacement therapy was often prescribed as treatment for unpleasant
side effects of menopause. Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) augments the declining levels
of reproductive hormone production by the ovaries (Andersson, Borgquist, & Jirstrom, 2018;
Langer, 2017; Lobo, 2017). HRT can consist of various forms of estrogen, usually in combination
with a progestin.

HORMONAL CHANGES IN MIDDLE-AGED MEN

• During middle adulthood, most men do not lose their capacity to father children, although there
usually is a modest decline in their sexual hormone level and activity (Blumel & others, 2014;

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Janini & Nappi, 2018). They experience hormonal changes in their fifties and sixties, but nothing
like the dramatic drop in estrogen that women experience.
• Testosterone production begins to decline about 1 percent a year during middle adulthood, and
sperm count usually declines slowly, but men do not lose their fertility in middle age. The term
male hypogonadism is used to describe a condition in which the body does not produce enough
testosterone (Mayo Clinic, 2018).
• Erectile dysfunction (ED) (difficulty attaining or maintaining penile erection) affects
approximately 50 percent of men 40 to 70 years of age and 75 percent of men over 70 years of
age (Mola, 2015). Low testosterone levels can contribute to erectile dysfunction (Hackett &
Kirby, 2018).

SEXUAL ATTITUDES AND BEHAVIOR

• Although the ability of men and women to function sexually shows little biological decline in
middle adulthood, sexual activity usually occurs less frequently in midlife than in early
adulthood (Fileborn & others, 2017; Rees & others, 2018).
• A person’s health in middle age is a key factor in sexual activity (Almont & others, 2017; Rees &
others, 2018). For example, a study of aging adults 55 years and older revealed that their level of
sexual activity was associated with their physical and mental health (Bach & others, 2013).

COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT

INTELLIGENCE

• John Horn argues that some abilities begin to decline in middle age while others increase (Horn
& Donaldson, 1980). Horn maintains that crystallized intelligence, an individual’s accumulated
information and verbal skills, continues to increase in middle adulthood, whereas fluid
intelligence, one’s ability to reason abstractly, begins to decline in middle adulthood (see Figure
4).
• The Seattle Longitudinal Study that involves extensive evaluation of intellectual abilities during
adulthood was initiated by K. Warner Schaie (1994, 1996, 2005, 2010, 2011a, b, 2013). The main
focus in the Seattle Longitudinal Study has been on individual change and stability in
intelligence, and the study is regarded as one of the most thorough examinations of how people
develop and change as they go through adulthood.
• For both women and men, peak performance on verbal ability, verbal memory, inductive
reasoning, and spatial orientation was attained in middle age. For only two of the six abilities—
numeric facility and perceptual speed—were there declines during middle age. Perceptual
speed showed the earliest decline, actually beginning in early adulthood.
• Interestingly, in terms of John Horn’s ideas that were discussed earlier, for the participants in
the Seattle Longitudinal Study, middle age was a time of peak performance for some aspects of
both crystallized intelligence (verbal ability) and fluid intelligence (spatial orientation and
inductive reasoning).

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INFORMATION PROCESSING

• As we saw in Schaie’s (1994, 1996, 2011a, b, 2013) Seattle Longitudinal Study, perceptual speed
begins declining in early adulthood and continues to decline in middle adulthood. A common
way to assess speed of information processing is through a reaction-time task, in which
individuals simply press a button as soon as they see a light appear. Middle-aged adults are
slower to push the button when the light appears than young adults are.
• In Schaie’s (1994, 1996, 2013) Seattle Longitudinal Study, verbal memory peaked during the
fifties. However, in some other studies verbal memory has shown a decline in middle age,
especially when assessed in cross-sectional studies (Salthouse, 2009, 2012, 2018). For example,
when people were asked to remember lists of words, numbers, or meaningful prose, younger
adults outperformed middle-aged adults (Salthouse & Skovronek, 1992).
• Cognitive aging expert Denise Park (2001) argues that starting in late middle age, more time is
needed to learn new information. The slowdown in learning new information has been linked to
changes in working memory, the mental “workbench” where individuals manipulate and
assemble information when making decisions, solving problems, and comprehending written
and spoken language (Baddeley, 2007, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2018a, b).
• Memory decline is more likely to occur when individuals don’t use effective memory strategies,
such as organization and imagery (Small & others, 2012). By organizing lists of phone numbers
into different categories, or imagining the phone numbers as representing different objects
around the house, many individuals can improve their memory in middle adulthood.
• Because it takes so long to attain, expertise often shows up more in middle adulthood than in
early adulthood (Charness & Krampe, 2008). Recall that expertise involves having extensive,
highly organized knowledge and understanding of a particular domain.
• Everyday problem solving is another important aspect of cognition (Cheek, Piercy, &
Kohlenberg, 2015; Kimbler, 2013). Nancy Denney (1986, 1990) observed circumstances such as
how young and middle-aged adults handled a landlord who would not fix their stove and what
they did if a bank failed to deposit a check. She found that the ability to solve such practical
problems improved through the forties and fifties as individuals accumulated practical
experience.

CAREERS, WORK, AND LEISURE

• The role of work, whether one works in a full-time career, in a part-time job, as a volunteer, or
as a homemaker, is central during middle adulthood (Cahill, Giandrea, & Quinn, 2016; Wang &
Shi, 2016). Many middle-aged adults reach their peak in position and earnings. However, they
may also be saddled with multiple financial burdens including rent or mortgage, child care,
medical bills, home repairs, college tuition, loans to family members, or bills from nursing
homes

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• Age-related declines occur in some occupations, such as air traffic controllers and professional
athletes, but for most jobs, no differences have been found in the work performance of young
adults and middle-aged adults (Salthouse, 2012; Sturman, 2003).
• Among the work issues that some people face in midlife are recognizing limitations in career
progress, deciding whether to change jobs or careers, determining how and when to rebalance
family and work, and planning for retirement (Sterns & Huyck, 2001).
• Couples increasingly have both spouses in the workforce who are expecting to retire. Historically
retirement has been a male transition, but today far more couples are planning two
retirements—his and hers (Moen, 2009b; Moen, Kelly, & Magennis, 2008).

CAREER CHALLENGES AND CHANGES

• Middle-aged workers face several important challenges in the twenty-first century (Brand,
2014). These include the globalization of work, rapid developments in information technologies,
downsizing of organizations, early retirement, and concerns about pensions and health care.
• One aspect of middle adulthood involves adjusting idealistic hopes to accommodate realistic
possibilities in light of how much time individuals have before they retire and how fast they are
reaching their occupational goals (Levinson, 1978). If individuals perceive that they are behind
schedule, if their goals are unrealistic, they don’t like the work they are doing, or their job has
become too stressful, they could become motivated to change jobs
• A final point to make about career development in middle adulthood is that cognitive factors
earlier in development are linked to occupational attainment in middle age. In one study, task
persistence at 13 years of age was related to occupational success in middle age (Andersson &
Bergman, 2011).

LEISURE

• Leisure refers to the pleasant times after work when individuals are free to pursue activities and
interests of their own choosing—hobbies, sports, or reading, for example.
• Leisure can be an especially important aspect of middle adulthood (Nicolaisen, Thorsen, &
Eriksen, 2012). By middle adulthood, more money is available to many individuals, and there
may be more free time and paid vacations. In short, midlife changes may produce expanded
opportunities for leisure.
• Adults at midlife need to begin preparing psychologically for retirement. Constructive and
fulfilling leisure activities in middle adulthood are an important part of this preparation. If an
adult develops leisure activities that can be continued into retirement, the transition from work
to retirement can be less stressful.
• When middle-aged adults engaged in active leisure pursuits they had a higher level of cognitive
performance in late adulthood (Ihle & others, 2015). And in another recent study, individuals
who engaged in a greater amount of sedentary screen-based leisure-time activity (TV, video
games, computer use) had shorter telomere length (telomeres cover the end of chromosomes,

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and as people age their telomeres become shorter and this shorter telomere length is linked to
mortality) (Loprinzi, 2015b).

RELIGION, SPIRITUALITY, AND ADULT LIVES

• Pamela King and her colleagues (2011) provide the following distinctions:
o 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, or ultimate
truth).
o 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
o Spirituality involves experiencing something beyond oneself in a transcendent manner and
living in a way that benefits others and society.
o Religion and spirituality are powerful influences for some adults but hold little or no
significance for others (Krause & Hayward, 2016; McCullough & others, 2005).
• Women have consistently shown a stronger interest in religion and spirituality than men have. In the
longitudinal study just described, the spirituality of women increased more than that of men in the
second half of life (Wink & Dillon, 2002). And in a recent national U.S. study, 60 percent of women
compared with 47 percent of men said that religion is very important in their lives (Pew Research
Center, 2016).
• Having a sense of meaning in life can lead to clearer guidelines for living one’s life and enhanced
motivation to take care of oneself and reach goals (Ju, 2017; Zhang, 2018). A higher level of meaning
in life also is linked to a higher level of psychological well-being and physical health (Park, 2012).
• Roy Baumeister and Kathleen Vohs (2002, pp. 610–611) argue that this quest can be understood in
terms of four main needs for meaning that guide how people try to make sense of their lives:
▪ Need for purpose. “Present events draw meaning from their connection with future events.”
Purposes can be divided into (1) goals and (2) fulfillments. Life can be oriented toward a future
anticipated state, such as living happily ever after or being in love
▪ Need for values. This “can lend a sense of goodness or positive characterization of life and justify
certain courses of action. Values enable people to decide whether certain acts are right or
wrong.” Frankl’s (1984) view of meaning in life emphasized values as the main form of meaning
that people need.
▪ Need for a sense of efficacy. This involves the “belief that one can make a difference. A life that
had purposes and values but no efficacy would be tragic. The person might know what is
desirable but could not do anything with that knowledge.” With a sense of efficacy, people
believe that they can control their environment, which has positive physical and mental health
benefits (Bandura, 2012).
▪ Need for self-worth. Most individuals want to be “good, worthy persons. Self-worth can be
pursued individually.”

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SOCIOEMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN MIDDLE ADULTHOOD

STAGES OF ADULTHOOD

ERIKSON’S STAGE OF GENERATIVITY VERSUS STAGNATION

• Erikson (1968) proposed that middle-aged adults face a significant issue—generativity versus
stagnation, which is the name Erikson gave to the seventh stage in his life-span theory. Generativity
encompasses adults’ desire to leave legacies of themselves to the next generation (Grossman &
Gruenewald, 2017; Serrat & others, 2018).
• Middle-aged adults can develop generativity in a number of ways (Kotre, 1984). Through biological
generativity, adults have offspring. Through parental generativity, adults nurture and guide children.
Through work generativity, adults develop skills that are passed down to others. And through
cultural generativity, adults create, renovate, or conserve some aspect of culture that ultimately
survives (Lewis & Allen, 2017).

DANIEL LEVINSON’S SEASONS OF A MAN’S LIFE

• At the end of one’s teens, according to Levinson, a transition from dependence to independence
should occur. This transition is marked by the formation of a dream—an image of the kind of life the
youth want to have, especially in terms of a career and marriage. In early adulthood, the two major
tasks to be mastered are exploring the possibilities for adult living and developing a stable life
structure.
• From about the ages of 28 to 33, a man goes through a transition period in which he must face the
more serious question of determining his goals. During his thirties, he usually focuses on family and
career development. In the later years of this period, he enters a phase of Becoming One’s Own
Man (or BOOM, as Levinson calls it).
• By age 40, he has reached a stable point in his career, has outgrown his earlier, more tenuous
attempts at learning to become an adult, and now must look forward to the kind of life he will lead
as a middle-aged adult.
• According to Levinson, the transition to middle adulthood lasts about five years (ages 40 to 45) and
requires the adult male to come to grips with four major conflicts that have existed in his life since
adolescence:
▪ being young versus being old,
▪ being destructive versus being constructive,
▪ being masculine versus being feminine, and
▪ being attached to others versus being separated from them
• According to Levinson, the success of the midlife transition rests on how effectively the individual
reduces the polarities and accepts each of them as an integral part of his being.
• Levinson (1978) views midlife as a crisis, arguing that the middle-aged adult is suspended between
the past and the future, trying to cope with this gap that threatens life’s continuity. George Vaillant
(1977) has a different view

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• He concludes that just as adolescence is a time for detecting parental flaws and discovering the
truth about childhood, the forties are a decade of reassessing and recording the truth about the
adolescent and adulthood years
• Adult development experts are virtually unanimous in their belief that midlife crises have been
exaggerated (Lachman, Teshale, & Agrigoroaei, 2015; Pudrovska, 2009). In sum:
• The stage theories place too much emphasis on crises in development, especially midlife crises.
• There often is considerable individual variation in the way people experience the stages, a topic that
we will turn to next.

THE LIFE-EVENTS APPROACH

• In the contemporary life-events approach, how life events influence the individual’s development
depends not only on the life event itself but also on mediating factors (such as physical health and
family supports), the individual’s adaptation to the life event (such as appraisal of the threat and
coping strategies), the life-stage context, and the sociohistorical context.
• For example, if individuals are in poor health and have little family support, life events are likely to
be more stressful. And a divorce may be more stressful after many years of marriage when adults
are in their fifties than when they have been married only several years and are in their twenties, a
finding indicating that the life-stage context of an event makes a difference.
• The sociohistorical context also makes a difference. For example, adults may be able to cope more
effectively with divorce today than in the 1950s because divorce has become more commonplace
and accepted in today’s society. Whatever the context or mediating variables, however, one
individual may perceive a life event as highly stressful, whereas another individual may perceive the
same event as a challenge.
• Although the life-events approach offers valuable insights for understanding adult development, it
has its drawbacks. One drawback is that the life-events approach places too much emphasis on
change. It does not adequately recognize the stability that, at least to some degree, characterizes
adult development.

STRESS AND PERSONAL CONTROL IN MIDLIFE

• Margie Lachman and her colleagues (2016) recently described how personal control changes when
individuals move into middle age. In their view, middle age is a time when a person’s sense of
control is frequently challenged by many demands and responsibilities, as well as physical and
cognitive aging.
• In middle age, less attention is given to self-pursuits and more to responsibility for others, including
those younger and older than they are. According to Lachman and her colleagues (2016), how the
midlife years play out is largely in one’s own hands, which can be stressful as individuals are faced
with taking on and juggling responsibilities in different areas of their lives.
• Women are more vulnerable to social stressors such as those involving romance, family, and work.
For example, women experience higher levels of stress than men do when things go wrong in

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romantic and marital relationships. Women also are more likely than men to become depressed
when they encounter stressful life events such as divorce or the death of a friend.
• When men face stress, they are more likely to respond in a fight-or-flight manner—to become
aggressive, withdraw from social contact, or drink alcohol. By contrast, according to Shelley Taylor
and her colleagues (2011a, b, c; 2015, 2018), when women experience stress, they are more likely to
engage in a tend-and-befriend pattern, seeking social alliances with others, especially friends.

CLOSE RELATIONSHIPS

LOVE AND MARRIAGE AT MIDLIFE

• Two major forms of love are romantic love and affectionate love. The fires of romantic love are
strong in early adulthood. Affectionate, or companionate, love increases during middle
adulthood. That is, physical attraction, romance, and passion are more important in new
relationships, especially in early adulthood. Security, loyalty, and mutual emotional interest
become more important as relationships mature, especially in middle adulthood (Crowley,
2018).
• One study revealed that marital satisfaction increased in middle age (Gorchoff, John, & Helson,
2008). Some of the marriages that were difficult and rocky during early adulthood improved
during middle adulthood. Although the partners may have lived through a great deal of turmoil,
they eventually discovered a deep and solid foundation on which to anchor their relationship.
• Divorce among middle-aged adults has led to divorce in middle adulthood being labeled “gray
divorce” when it occurs after 50 years of age (Crowley, 2018; Lin & others, 2018).
• Following are the main reasons the middle-aged and older adult women cited for their divorce
in the U.S.: (1) verbal, physical, or emotional abuse (23 percent); (2) alcohol or drug abuse (18
percent); and (3) cheating (17 percent). The main reasons the middle-aged and older men cited
for their divorce were (1) no obvious problems, just fell out of love (17 percent); (2) cheating (14
percent); and (3) different values, lifestyles (14 percent).

THE EMPTY NEST AND ITS REFILLING

• An important event in a family is the launching of a child into adult life. Parents undergo
adjustments as a result of the child’s absence. College students usually think that their parents
suffer from their absence. In fact, parents who live vicariously through their children might
experience the empty nest syndrome, which includes a decline in marital satisfaction after
children leave the home.
• With their children gone, marital partners have time to pursue career interests and to spend
with each other. One study revealed that the transition to an empty nest increased marital
satisfaction and this increase was linked to an increase in the quality of time—but not the
quantity of time—spent with partners (Gorchoff, John, & Helson, 2008).

GRANDPARENTING

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• Many adults become grandparents for the first time during middle age. Researchers have
consistently found that grandmothers have more contact with grandchildren than grandfathers
do (Watson, Randolph, & Lyons, 2005). Perhaps women tend to define their role as
grandmothers as part of their responsibility for maintaining ties between family members across
generations. Men may have fewer expectations about the grandfather role and see it as more
voluntary.
• Three prominent meanings are attached to being a grandparent (Neugarten & Weinstein, 1964).
For some older adults, being a grandparent brings a sense of biological reward and continuity.
For others, being a grandparent is a source of emotional self-fulfillment, generating feelings of
companionship and satisfaction that may have been missing in earlier adult-child relationships.
And for yet others, being a grandparent is a remote role. One study revealed that
grandparenting can provide a sense of purpose and a feeling of being valued during middle and
late adulthood when generative needs are strong (Thiele & Whelan, 2008).
• The diversity of grandparenting also was apparent in an early investigation of how grandparents
interacted with their grandchildren (Neugarten & Weinstein, 1964). Three styles were
dominant—formal, fun-seeking, and distant.
• In the formal style, the grandparent performed what was considered to be a
proper and prescribed role. These grandparents showed a strong interest in
their grandchildren but were careful not to give child-rearing advice.
• In the fun-seeking style, the grandparent was informal and playful.
Grandchildren were a source of leisure activity; mutual satisfaction was
emphasized
• In the distant-figure style, the grandparent was benevolent but interaction was
infrequent.

III. REFERENCES

Berk, L. E. (2018). Development Through the LIfe Span (7th ed.). New Jersey, USA: Pearson Education, Inc.
Boyd, D., & Bee, H. (2015). Lifespan Development (7th ed.). Essex, England: Pearson Education Limited.

Feldman, R. S. (2018). Development Across the Life Span (8th ed.). England: Pearson.

Santrock, J. W. (2017). Life Span DEvelopment (17th ed.). New York, New York, USA: McGrawhill
Education.

Stassen Berger, K. (2020). The Developing Person Through the Life Span (11th ed.). New York, USA: Woth
Publishers.

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