Section VIII Middle Adulthood. Chapter 16 Physical and Cognitive Development in Middle Adulthood

Comprehension and Application Essay Questions

 

We recommend that you follow either our guidelines for "Answering Essay and Critical Thinking Questions," or those provided by your instructor, when preparing your response to these questions. Your answers to these kinds of questions demonstrate an ability to comprehend and apply ideas discussed in this chapter.

 

1. Explain what factors initially attract one individual to another.

2. Define and distinguish among friendship, romantic love, and affectionate love.

3. How would you explain Sternberg's triangular theory of love to a friend?

4. Explain what college students can do to reduce their feelings of loneliness.

5. List and briefly explain the successive components in the family life cycle.

6. Compare and contrast the experiences and implications of marriage for women and men.

7. Illustrate what Deborah Tannen means by rapport talk and report talk.

8. Characterize the experiences of an individual who goes through a divorce.

9. Explain why there is a delicate balance between intimacy and independence.

10. Define and illustrate each of the five styles on intimate relationships, and explain how relationships can mature. Also indicate whether this kind of analysis applies equally well to same-sex and different-sex relationships.

11. Compare and contrast the relationship between gender issues and the development of women and men.

12. Describe the continuities and discontinuities from childhood to adulthood.

 

 

Section VIII Middle Adulthood

Chapter 16 Physical and Cognitive Development in Middle Adulthood

Summary

 

1.0 Images of Life-Span Development: Time Perspectives

 

 

Middle age is a period of life in which considerations of time become more important. For example, we contemplate what has been and what we will accomplish in the future.

 

2.0 Changing Middle Age

 

The age boundaries for middle age are not firmly fixed; however, middle adulthood is generally defined as that period beginning at 35-45 years of age and extending into the 60s. Middle adulthood is a time of physical declines and expanding responsibility. It is also an age of twists, turns, and changes.

 

3.0 Physical Development

 

Physical Changes. Physical changes usually occur during the forties. Seeing and hearing both show noticeable declines. The inability to accommodate along with changes in visual field and the amount of illumination to see are common during middle adulthood. Hearing also begins to decline with men experiencing the effects first, possibly due to differing occupational environments for men and women. High frequency sounds suffer the worst declines during this period. Individuals actually become shorter.

 

Health Status. Health issues become very important during this period. More people become concerned about their weight, the possibility of cardiovascular diseases, and the likelihood of getting cancer. Some deterioration in health occurs for most individuals, but how individuals deal with physical decline varies greatly from one individual to another.

 

Life Style, Personality, and Health. The heart's efficiency declines in middle adulthood, partially due to the buildup of cholesterol on the artery walls. Increases in heart attacks, stroke, and hypertension are common. Exercise limits weight gains and decreases in "good" cholesterol for women. Cross-cultural studies show a greater risk of coronary heart disease for Japanese men living in the United States; however, the latter group show a lower risk of cerebrovascular disease than Japanese men living in Japan. Personality style appears to be related to cardiovascular difficulties. Individuals with the impatient, hard-driven, hostile and competitive Type A personality problems are more prone to heart problems than more relaxed individuals. Those who have the most difficulty dealing with their anger are particularly at risk and often benefit from stress management programs.

Type-C behavior refers to the cancer prone personality who is inhibited, up tight, lacking in expressiveness, and otherwise constrained. This type of individual is more likely to develop cancer than more expressive people.

Hardiness is a personality style characterized by a sense of commitment, control, and a perception of problems as challenges rather than threats. Hardiness is a buffer of stress and is related to reduced illness.

Although there is no evidence to show that stress causes cancer, there is research that indicates those who do not deal well with stress die of their cancer sooner than those who are able to cope. Diet has been shown to be related to cancer rates. Those high in fat are particularly troublesome and may explain why Americans are more prone to die of certain kinds of cancer than Japanese. Personality type, stress, and diet are all manageable factors contributing to our health.

Seven of the ten leading causes of death are related to life-style choices. The next major improvement in general health may be behavioral, not medical. A number of health goals for the year 2000 have been proposed and American businesses are increasingly interested in improving their employees' health.

 

Sexuality. Menopause is the mid-life marker for women and is accompanied by a cessation of the menstrual cycle and an inability to bear children. Symptoms include hot flashes, nausea, heart palpitations, irritability, and depression. Much of the research on menopause was based on small, selective samples of women unrepresentative of the larger population. Women who have problems with menopause can obtain estrogen replacement therapy; however, one concern is an increased risk of either breast or uterine cancer, the latter of which can be prevented by taking progesterone. Men do not experience a menopause with any known physical cause. What has been referred to as male menopause probably has more to do with psychological adjustment rather than hormonal change.

Sexual activity declines in middle adulthood but only slightly. The causes usually revolve around work and family rather than any physical changes. Despite the decrease, interest in sexual activity is moderate or strong and individuals between the ages of 51 and 55 reported having sexual intercourse at least once a week.

 

4.0 Cognitive Development

 

Physical declines are accompanied by change in cognitive abilities, although the declines are less noticeable and less universal. Memory ability is the focus of most of the cognitive research during this period. Findings indicate that long-term memory suffers more decline than short-term memory but that these declines can be overcome with the use of organizational strategies and imagery. Information that is frequently used is easier to remember than information not accessed very often, and recognition tasks are easier than recall tasks. Individuals in good health who maintain positive attitudes about their memory abilities will have better memories than those suffering from some kind of illness or those with negative attitudes.

 

5.0 Careers, Work, and Leisure

 

Job Satisfaction. Career development is in its prime during this period. Job satisfaction is at its peak and most people report being pleased with their work. Amount of education does not seem to affect this trend. Up until about age 60, increasing age is accompanied by increasing satisfaction with one's occupation.

 

Career Ladders. During the early and middle adulthood periods, people begin to climb the career ladder whether they are in a blue-collar field or working in a business. Those who have a college education climb faster and higher than those who stopped at high school. Not surprisingly, the earlier a person begins to climb up the ladder the higher they go. By age 40 or so most individuals have reached the highest rung they are going to reach and stay at that level until they retire.

 

Mid-Life Career Change. About 10 percent of the middle-aged workforce changes careers during this period for a variety of reasons including unmet expectations and unachieved goals. In mid-life, we often evaluate our possibilities in terms of how much time we have left in an occupation.

 

Work Pathways of Men and Women. A continuous pattern of work is more common among men than women, although low-income men have more unstable work patterns than middle-income men. More often than not those who enter during middle adulthood are women who have delayed or interrupted their professional pursuits to focus on raising a family. Four distinct career patterns have been identified for professional women: regular, interrupted, second, and second modified.

 

Leisure. When we get done with a day's work some of us continue to work at home rather than enjoy the beneficial effects of leisure such as sports, reading, or a hobby. The development of satisfying leisure activities in middle adulthood is important to adjusting to retirement during late adulthood.

 

6.0 Contemporary Concerns

 

Sociocultural Worlds of Development 16.1: Health Promotion in Black Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans, and Native Americans. Various factors influence the health of members of ethnic groups. For example, discrimination and poverty are chronic stressors that adversely affect the health of Black Americans and migrants from Puerto Rico, Mexico, and South America. Cultural barriers, such as a lack of fluency with the English language, can make it difficult to obtain medical treatment. Other cultures also have different views of the cause and treatments for certain diseases. Health care professionals can increase their effectiveness with ethnic minority patients by improving their knowledge of patients' attitudes, beliefs, and folk practices regarding health and disease.

 

Perspectives on Parenting and Education 16.1: Stress Management. Stress management programs help individuals identify and cope with stressful circumstances. One of the most common techniques is learning to relax. Learning to relax requires practice and can be aided by audiotapes.

 

Life-Span Practical Knowledge 16.1: The New Our Bodies, Ourselves. This book by The Boston Women's Health Book Collective addresses a wide range of women's health concerns of the 1990s.

 

Life-Span Practical Knowledge 16.2: Anger: The Misunderstood Emotion. This book covers the wide range of situations that entail anger. Carol Tavris debunks myths about anger, attacks the catharsis view, describes anger's effect on the body, and suggests ways to rethink anger and make more adaptive choices.

 

Life-Span Practical Knowledge 16.3: Beyond the Relaxation Response. This book depicts how to improve one's well-being by combating stress through relaxation and by having faith in a healing power either inside yourself or out.

 

Life-Span Practical Knowledge 16.4: Age Wave. Ken Dychtwald characterizes adults between the ages of 35 and 55 as members of the Age Wave. His book discusses new patterns of work and leisure and how to live a longer and healthier life.

 

Life-Span Health and Well-Being: Toward Healthier Lives. We are increasingly becoming aware that our behavior influences our health and longevity because seven of the ten leading causes of death are related to life-style choices. The next major step in improving the general health will come from behavioral rather than medical interventions. The federal government and the Society for Public Health Education have established health objectives for the year 2000.

 

Key Terms

 

1.0 Images of Life-Span Development: Time Perspectives

 

2.0 Changing Middle Age

American Association for Retired Persons (AARP)                   

middle adulthood

 

3.0 Physical Development

Type-A behavior patterns

Type-C behavior

hardiness

menopause

estrogen replacement therapy

progesterone

 

4.0 Cognitive Development

 

5.0 Careers, Work, and Leisure

 career ladder                           

 regular career                      

 interrupted career              

 second career                           

 modified second career          

 leisure

 

6.0 Contemporary Concerns

cultural barrier                 

   stress management

relaxation response         

  anger                                           

 

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