Chapter 13.PDF

Chapter 13 Middle Adulthood: Cognitive, Personality, and Social Development Learning Objectives After reading this chapter you should be able to: 13.1 Using life span developmental theory as a framework, describe healthy coping and functioning in middle adulthood and suggest...

Chapter 13 Middle Adulthood: Cognitive, Personality, and Social Development Learning Objectives After reading this chapter you should be able to: 13.1 Using life span developmental theory as a framework, describe healthy coping and functioning in middle adulthood and suggest adaptive approaches to maximize gains and minimize losses. 13.2 Explain the link between early temperament traits and later personality characteristics and, recognizing the relative stability of personality, suggest interventions that promote social maturity in middle adulthood. 13.3 Describe sources of predictable and nonnormative change in adult development, explaining adaptations to gains and losses, and iden- tify significant developmental influences. 13.4 Identify factors that threaten primary relationships and generativity in midlife and discuss resources and interventions that support suc- cessful adaptation in these areas of development. Amanda and Anthony, an African American couple, are both 50. They have been ­married for 20 years, and they agree that their relationship is strong and loving. Amanda, who did not attend college, currently works as an administrative assistant for the CEO of a small company. When their children were younger she worked as a classroom aide in the local elementary school so that she would have a shorter work- ing day. Anthony is the security supervisor at a large university hospital, and he enjoys the work. His career was interrupted once when the rural hospital where he had his first security job closed. He was out of work for five months, and the family was forced to move to a larger urban area in order for him to find another position. Anthony feels valued in his current job, although he works very hard, putting in long hours at times, to keep it that way. The couple has three children, ages 12, 13, and 15. Through the years of their marriage, Amanda and Anthony have had similar ideas about child rear- ing, presenting a united front on matters of discipline and sharing the many respon- sibilities of child care. They have also shared household chores, albeit in somewhat stereotypical ways: Amanda does most of the meal prep and house cleaning, they both have grocery shopping and laundry duties, and Anthony takes care of their small yard 503 504 Chapter 13 and all house and car repairs. There are two “bones of contention” that create recurring friction between them. First, they have different ideas about how conservative they need to be in their spending, with Anthony often buying impulsively (like an expen- sive new fishing rod or other gear for his hobbies) without consulting Amanda, who worries about saving for the kids’ education and for retirement (and, heaven forbid, another employment setback). Second, the way they split their household duties was established when Amanda had shorter working hours and less responsibility at work. Now she works long days, and her boss, who appreciates her organizational skills, counts on her more and more to keep his busy office running smoothly. She finds the job (and her boss’s respect and recognition) quite gratifying, but she wants Anthony to take on more of the house cleaning to help balance the longer hours. She also argues that clipping hedges or changing the car’s oil occasionally are way less taxing than the day-to-day need to keep bathrooms clean and dishes washed. Anthony feels that he needs time to unwind and pursue his hobbies, so that he can work as effectively as possible at his job. And, after all, he points out, he does earn the higher income. Unfor- tunately, the strain of their intensified disagreement about this issue comes at a time when the children are all moving into adolescence and presenting their parents with the many challenges their stage of development brings. What is the nature of development at midlife? This is a perplexing question because adult lives are complex and multifaceted. Adults seek out jobs, select them, and some- times ascend to positions of responsibility in their fields of work. Adults also change employment voluntarily to work in other settings or in other careers. Some adults lose their jobs and may experience unemployment or underemployment. Some work at multiple jobs. Adults take on leadership, executive, or mentoring roles in their com- munities. Adults move from one location to another, historically now more than ever before. They marry, cohabitate, divorce, date, and often go on to marry again. Some adults have children and grandchildren; others are childless. Adults may have respon- sibilities for the care of their own aging parents. Those who are parents or stepparents have to deal with the ever-changing developmental needs of their children. Adults are also affected by the close relationships they share with partners or friends. They may experience financial difficulties. They may sustain illness themselves or experience the illness or loss of loved ones. Some adults experience catastrophic events, such as wars, accidents, or natural disasters. Many more deal with chronic adversities such as discrimination of one sort or another, mental problems such as depression, or simply the gradual physical changes involved in the aging process. Moreover, many of these events occur simultaneously. The complexity of people’s experience and functioning is what is most striking about middle adulthood. How are we to make sense of all the variables operating in adult lives? Is there some coherent scheme that helpers can use to understand devel- opment in the adult years? In Chapter 1, we examined some of the many theoretical approaches that explain developmental processes, including stage models, such as Erikson’s or Piaget’s, and incremental models, such as learning and information pro- cessing accounts. As we have seen throughout this book, these approaches to develop- ment can be quite helpful in understanding some aspects of psychological functioning, but modern theorists typically turn to multidimensional models, which are focused on the complexity of interrelated causal processes in development. Recall in Bronfen- brenner’s multidimensional model, for example, the description of proximal processes in development—reciprocal interactions between an “active, evolving biopsychologi- cal human organism and the persons, objects, and symbols in its immediate environ- ment” (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 1998, p. 996). These proximal processes are modified by more distal processes, some within the organism, such as genes, and some outside the organism, such as the family, the workplace, the community, the broader economic and political context, and other aspects of the culture. As we saw in Chapter 1, multidimensional theories of adult development, called life span developmental theories or models, address all the fundamental questions of devel- opment, including the role of heredity and environment in adulthood and the extent to which adult characteristics are continuous with previous traits and propensities versus how much genuine change there is in adult behavior. Life span developmental models  Middle Adulthood: Cognitive, Personality, and Social Development 505 (e.g., Baltes, Lindenberger, & Staudinger, 2006) make one fundamental assumption in addressing such questions—that from birth to death, adaptation continues. The devel- opment of psychological functioning does not end or become fixed when adulthood is reached, but goes on until death. The reciprocal interaction of many biological and environmental factors forms an ever-changing “architecture” or scaffolding that sup- ports the development of behavioral and mental functioning (e.g., Baltes et al., 2006). Thus, middle adulthood is not some kind of holding pattern before the slide into death. An adult’s cognitive and socioemotional functioning continues to evolve through her 30s, 40s, 50s, and beyond. Life Span Developmental Theory 13.1 Using life span developmental theory as a framework, describe healthy ­coping and functioning in middle adulthood and suggest adaptive approaches to maximize gains and minimize losses. Life span developmental theory provides an overarching framework for understand- ing how middle adult life is linked to the childhood years, on one hand, and to old age, on the other. It can be construed as a kind of macrotheory under whose umbrella all the processes of ontogeny, or the development of organisms, fall into place. This orientation offers a clear benefit to those in the helping professions. First, it provides a way of organizing developmental processes across the life cycle. Think of the mul- tiplicity of challenges and possibilities in adult life, some of which we mentioned at the beginning of this chapter. Rather than viewing them as disconnected parts of a life story, helpers can interpret the choices people make and the ways they adapt as reflect- ing some degree of lawful continuity. Second, life span developmental theory empha- sizes the importance of learning about successful or effective development. Thus, this perspective fits well with therapeutic or psychoeducational goals. Let’s now consider some of the elements of life span developmental theory. Gains and Losses in Development: The Changing Architecture of Biology and Culture Natural selection through many generations has created a biological trajectory that tends to optimize development in most typical environments, allowing the majority of individuals to grow up and become fully functioning adults who can contribute to the success of the species by reproducing. Of course, basic cultural supports—adequate parenting, nutrition, education, protection from environmental hazards, and so on— are fundamental for the success of this process as well. As individuals move through adulthood, the biological supports for life weaken because the reproductive process is complete, and the selection pressure that the need for reproductive success creates for a species is no longer operative. Thus, biological dysfunctions are more likely. “Evolu- tion and biology are not good friends of old age” (Baltes, 1997, p. 368). During middle adulthood (defined here as ages 30 to 55), people begin to depend more and more on cultural supports for adequate functioning. Indeed, “old age” exists primarily because of modern culture. Advances in economics, nutrition, general knowledge, technology, and medicine have compensated for the weakening of the biological supports for life. As a result, from 1900 to 1995, the average life span increased in Western societies from about 45 years to around 75 years! For the U.S. population, life expectancy at birth increased to 76.6 (males) and 81.2 (females) by 2015, with some notable racial disparities. For example, Hispanic males (79.3) and females (84.3) have the longest life expectancies, and Black males (71.8) and females (78.1) the shortest, although ­ethnic/racial gaps have been narrowing in recent decades (National Center for Health Statistics, 2017). Viewing development as a life span process makes clear that development or change in functioning with age involves both gains and losses for the individual. Gains are most obvious early in life; losses are more obvious later. But once we are sensitized 506 Chapter 13 to the fact that development involves both, we begin to notice that FIGURE 13.1 The shifting relationship gains and losses characterize change throughout life. Thus, children, between gains and losses across the life span. not just adults, experience some losses in the normal course of devel- opment. One familiar illustration is characteristic of language develop- 100 ment. As an infant, you were capable of hearing and producing all of the kinds of sound distinctions that are used across all human languages. 80 But as you learned your native language, you became less adept at dis- criminating and producing sounds that were not part of that l­anguage. 60 Gains If you were introduced to a second ­language after the preschool years, Percent you probably had trouble producing sounds that were not part of your 40 native tongue, and so you probably speak the second language with a “foreign accent.” Another example, suggested by Baltes (1997), is that as 20 adolescents strive for personal autonomy, their relationships with their Losses parents are often strained, as we have seen. The intimacy of the par- 0 ent–child relationship is diminished for both partners as the adolescent Life Span struggles to achieve an adult identity. Of course, loss is more obvious to us in adulthood as biological SOURCE: Based on Baltes, P. B. (1997). On the incomplete declines occur. We saw in Chapter 11, for example, that our biological ­architecture of human ontology: Selection, optimization, and ­compensation as foundation of developmental theory. systems, like our sensory abilities and our immune functions, all reach ­American Psychologist, 52, 366–380. peak potential between ages 18 and 30. Many of these systems begin to decline soon after (see below). But the increase in losses through adult- hood should not mask the fact that the gains also continue. For example, in ­Chapter 11 we discussed the gains in postformal thinking that seem to ­characterize some people as they move into middle adulthood. Other examples of gains will become clear throughout this chapter. However, the relative balance of gains and losses clearly shifts across the life span, until eventually losses outstrip gains for most people in old age (see Figure 13.1). Development as Growth, Maintenance, and ­Regulation of Loss Life span developmental theory defines development as a process of adapting to the constant flux of influences in our lives (Baltes, 1997; Baltes et al., 2006). One kind of adaptation is growth. We grow when we add new characteristics, understandings, skills, and so on to our behavioral repertoire. So, for example, an adult might grow by becoming more expert at some task at work, or she might acquire a more bal- anced and thus empathic perspective on her relationship with her parents. Another kind of adaptive functioning is maintenance or resilience, finding ways to continue MyLab Education functioning at the same level in the face of challenges or restoring our functioning Video Example 13.1 How does a fifty-year-old manage after suffering some loss. For example, an adult might maintain the concept of her- the shift in balance of gains and self as a poet––despite repeated rejections of her work––by persistently revising and losses? The man in this video, resubmitting her work until eventually a piece is published. Or despite the death of formerly very athletic, describes his a partner, she might eventually reestablish intimacy in her life by returning to social transition into middle age. Consider circulation and finding a new partner. A third kind of adaptation is regulation of how his experience shows the loss. Like maintenance, this form of adaptation involves reorganizing the way we three adaptive processes—growth, behave. But unlike maintenance, regulation of loss involves adjusting our expecta- maintenance, and regulation of loss. tions and accepting a lower level of functioning. Suppose that a woman who prides herself on her ability to remember names, faces, and telephone numbers suffers a reduction in learning ability as she ages. She adapts by using strategies that include writing down essential information that she previously would have recalled. She accepts that she will never have at her fingertips the breadth of information that she had before, but by using her new strategies she ensures that she will remember what is really necessary. According to life span developmental theory, all three adaptive processes— growth, maintenance, and regulation of loss—are part of development from infancy through old age. What changes is the relative probability of each. Growth is much more  Middle Adulthood: Cognitive, Personality, and Social Development 507 characteristic of children than it is of the elderly, and regulation of loss is much more characteristic of the elderly (see Figure 13.2). The m ­ iddle adult FIGURE 13.2 The relative increase in maintenance and regulation of loss and years appear to be a time when the balance is shifting among the three adap- the relative decrease in growth as adaptive tive processes. All three processes occur across the life span. Children expe- processes across the life span. rience the need to compensate for loss through maintenance or regulation, and adults of all ages experience growth. However, knowing the relative proportions of each, given a client’s stage of life, may provide professionals Gro with a frame for understanding presenting problems. We will have wth Relative Allocation more to say about how these processes affect coping with stress in Chapter 14. Defining Successful Development at Any Age nce Lo ss ena of As adulthood proceeds, the more physical and psychological resources int n Ma ulatio an individual has, the greater her likelihood of adapting well. Con- e g R sider the nature of developmental success at different times in the life of Emma, now a 91-year-old woman. Emma never married or had Life Span ­children, which she experienced as a loss. In her young adulthood, she compensated for her childlessness by dedicating her considerable SOURCE: Based on Baltes, P. B. (1997). On the incom- plete ­architecture of human ontology: Selection, optimiza- ­talents to teaching poor urban children in public schools. In middle tion, and compensation as foundation of developmental adulthood, she became an administrator, developing innovative pro- ­theory. American Psychologist, 52, 366–380. grams for young children and mentoring teachers in the public school system. In her early old age, the physical demands of a daily work schedule became too great, so she retired. This change diminished her power to influence the lives of young children in the public schools. But she managed the loss, maintaining her view of herself as a child advocate, by serving on the governing boards of nonprofit organizations that provide services for children. Now, Emma suffers from a number of biological losses—poor vision, breathing problems, and general frailty—and she has confined her living space to her small apartment. A good deal of her function- ing involves regulating her biological losses by living a quiet, sedentary life in her small space and depending on some outside help, which she has the means to pay for as a result of careful financial planning. But she also continues to grow: She has learned to use a computer, and she has begun to write for her own enjoyment. She also maintains her contacts with friends through e-mail, video chats, phone calls, and visits. At each stage of her life, Emma found ways to manage losses through mainte- nance or regulation and to continue to grow. The balance of losses and gains in her life has now clearly shifted so that much of her adaptive energy is dedicated to manag- ing losses. With the help of technological supports, such as the computer, Emma has minimized the overwhelming losses of her late life and has continued to maximize her gains, to the extent possible. She provides an example of successful development even in old age. Our description of successful development will sound familiar to most helpers because it is clearly continuous with what we think of as healthy coping. The life span developmental view helps us see that healthy coping evolves and changes throughout life. What is adaptive coping at one stage of life may be less adaptive at another. In the following sections, we will consider some relatively stable influences on adult life as well as the sources of change. As we look at these influences, we will begin to identify what resources the mature individual brings to the task of development and which of these resources might most effectively contribute to success. In Chapters 14 and 15, we examine additional aspects of the adaptive developmental process that characterizes adult life. MyLab Education Self-Check 13.1. 508 Chapter 13 Influences on Adult Development: Sources of Stability 13.2 Explain the link between early temperament traits and later personality ­characteristics and, recognizing the relative stability of personality, suggest interventions that promote social maturity in middle adulthood. Personality The popular Up! series of films produced by the British Broadcasting Company (BBC) documented the lives of several men and women at 7-year intervals, from the time they were 7 years old to age 56. The series set out to investigate the truth of the prov- erb: Give me a child until he is 7, and I’ll show you the man. The eight documentaries clearly depict many changes that occur over the intervening 49 years. Yet they also illuminate the thread of stability that runs through these individual lives. For example, Nick, who at age 7 expressed the desire “to find out all about the moon,” became a professor of science in adulthood. Sue, who was a vibrant, independent youngster, is now a fun-loving, independent woman. What kind of continuity is typical of people in general? What are the sources of relative stability in development from childhood through adulthood? Longitudinal studies have found substantial stability in personality characteris- tics across the life span (McAdams & Olson, 2010; Roberts, Walton, & Viechtbauer, 2006). In much of this research, personality is construed as a set of traits that may be likened to the temperament characteristics of infants (see Chapter 4). Perhaps the most influential—and well supported—trait theory of personality has been developed by McCrae and Costa (2008; Costa & McCrae, 2017) who specifically assume that traits are biologically based, inherent tendencies that persistently influence thoughts, feel- ings, and behavior throughout life. What are these traits that appear to be so stable? In the 1980s, researchers recog- nized that the thousands of words referring to personality characteristics could be reli- ably boiled down to five, which McCrae and Costa called the Five Factor or Big 5 model of personality (Costa & McCrae, 2017; McCrae & Costa, 2008). These five traits repre- sent the most basic dimensions of personality: neuroticism (N) or ­emotional stability, extraversion (E), openness (O), agreeableness (A), and c­ onscientiousness (C). Each trait or dimension is actually a cluster of characteristics or qualities that are correlated – they tend to go together. Table 13.1 provides additional detail on these dimensions, describing some of the qualities of individuals at the “high” end of each dimension. For example, “energy level” and “talkativeness” tend to go together: If someone is very energetic, she is also likely to be very talkative, and vice versa. Both characteris- tics are part of the same personality trait or dimension, extraversion. It is also worth noting that the characteristics making up different traits are usually not correlated with each other. So, for example, “warmth” (part of the agreeableness trait) is not cor- related with “outgoing” (part of the extraversion trait). That means that someone who TABLE 13.1 The Big 5 Personality Traits TRAIT CHARACTERISTICS Neuroticism Tense, touchy, self-pitying, unstable mood, anxious, self-conscious Extraversion Outgoing, active, assertive, energetic, talkative, enthusiastic Agreeableness Warm, sympathetic, generous, forgiving, kind, affectionate, compliant Conscientiousness Organized, planful, reliable, responsible, careful, efficient, self-controlled Openness to experience Creative, artistic, curious, insightful, original, wide-ranging interests, positive orientation to learning SOURCE: Based on McCrae, R. R. & John, O. T. (1992). An introduction to the five-factor model and its applications. Journal of Personality, 60, 175–215.  Middle Adulthood: Cognitive, Personality, and Social Development 509 is high on warmth is no more likely to be an extravert (high on extraversion) than she is to be an introvert (low on extraversion). Across many cultures and subcultures, characteristics cluster into the same five personality traits (DeBolle et al., 2016; Ispas, Iliescu, Ilie, & Johnson, 2014; McCrae & Terracciano, 2005; Rollock & Lui, 2016). There are, however, cultural differences in how people typically score on each dimension or trait. For example, in a summary of cross- cultural findings, Putman and Gartstein (2017) report that Europeans and people from the United States are characterized by somewhat higher levels of extraversion and openness than people from Asian and African cultures. Northern Europeans tend to score higher than Southern Europeans on neuroticism and conscientiousness. Regardless of country or culture, there are some typical shifts in these traits with age. First, as people get older, they usually increase in social maturity. That means they become more agreeable, more conscientious, and less neurotic (that is, more emo- tionally stable) (Bleidorn, 2015; Roberts, Wood, & Caspi, 2008). This normative trend is considered quite positive, given that more socially mature personality traits predict more positive life outcomes, such as greater economic success, better relationships, better health, and greater longevity (Roberts et al., 2017). This pattern of increasing social maturity may be in part a matter of genetic unfolding (McCrae et al., 2000), but there is also evidence that typical experiences in early adulthood, such as needing to take on adult responsibilities, contribute to this process. For example, cross-cultural comparisons show that personalities mature earlier in cultures where young people have to take on adult role responsibilities early (Bleidorn et al., 2013). Second, there is more relative change in personality traits early in development than later (Briley & Tucker-Drob, 2014). In other words, individual differences in per- sonality tend to stabilize with age, usually by about age 30. This means that a person’s ranking on personality traits, relative to other people the same age, is more likely to change earlier rather than later in development. Suppose Amanda (from the introduc- tion to this chapter) was average on conscientiousness compared to her age mates at age 12. Her ranking (relative to others in her cohort) could have gone up or down dur- ing adolescence and young adulthood. Let’s suppose that it went up, so that by age 30 Amanda actually scored higher on conscientiousness than most of her cohort. After age 30, if Amanda is like most people, her relative conscientiousness probably didn’t change much—it stabilized. She and the rest of her cohort probably continued to grow more conscientious, but her ranking on conscientiousness stayed the same as it was at 30. Given that personality traits usually change with age, albeit only a little, is it possi- ble to encourage changes? Helping professionals often hope that their interventions will advance at least some aspects of social maturity––agreeableness, conscientiousness, and neuroticism/emotional stability. Do therapeutic and educational efforts actually change people’s personality traits? Roberts and his colleagues (2017) addressed this question by doing a meta-analysis of a wide range of studies that examined the outcomes of both clinical and nonclinical interventions. Few of these interventions were intended to change specific personality traits. But each of them included outcome measures that assessed at least some characteristics that are aspects of personality traits, such as sym- pathy and warmth (agreeableness) or anxiety and anger (neuroticism/emotional stabil- ity). Also, aspects of every Big 5 trait were measured in at least some studies (from 44 studies that measured characteristics of openness to 199 studies that measured aspects of neuroticism). There were two critical findings. First, scores on measures of trait char- acteristics did change in a positive direction on the average, particularly for neuroticism and extraversion characteristics. Second, these positive changes were evident as early as 2 to 4 weeks into most interventions. So, even though most longitudinal studies find only small typical changes in personality over relatively long periods of time, Roberts and colleagues demonstrated that active therapeutic and educational efforts can bring about positive personality changes and can do so relatively quickly. The Link to Temperament Where do individual differences in adult personality traits come from? You may recall from Chapter 4 that infants and young children show early individual differences 510 Chapter 13 in behavioral tendencies that together are referred to as a child’s temperament. As with adult personality, some behavioral tendencies are correlated with each other even in infancy, clustering into overarching traits or dimensions. Although not all researchers agree about the number or composition of the clusters, three that are commonly iden- tified are: emotionality (quality and intensity of mood, especially negative mood and soothability), control or self-regulatory tendencies (such as attentional control/persis- tence, comfort with low intensity activities), and surgency (activity level, approach vs. avoidance, pleasure in anticipating reward or in high intensity activities, sociability) (Rothbart, 2011; Shiner et al., 2012). Like personality traits, these early characteristics are assumed to be biologically based reactivity patterns, and evidence is accumulating for the importance of genetic and epigenetic contributions to the physiological pro- cesses involved (Beekman et al., 2015; Saudino & Micalizzi, 2012; see ­Chapter 4). Do early temperament traits contribute to later personality? One possibility is that early tendencies differentiate and integrate over time into more mature self- systems (Rothbart, 2011). So, for example, early manifestations of positive approach, such as smiling and laughing, could be precursors of more mature forms, such as social extraversion. Early persistence might contribute to later effortful control and conscientiousness. Infant t­ endencies toward irritability and problems soothing might predict higher neuroticism in adulthood. If we measure temperament traits and personality characteristics in adolescents or adults we find exactly these kinds of correlations (Shiner, 2015; Shiner & DeYoung, 2013). However, the most convincing evidence comes from longitudinal studies, some of them focusing on a short-term period, comparing infant temperament to personal- ity characteristics in later childhood, for example. There are also a few much longer term studies, beginning in infancy or early childhood and following participants well into adulthood. Quite consistently, these studies find that earlier temperament traits predict some later personality characteristics (Shiner, 2015; Shiner & DeYoung, 2013; Slobodskaya & Kozlova, 2016). For example, Caspi (2000; Caspi et al., 2003; Schaefer et al., 2017; Slutske, ­Moffitt, Poulton, & Caspi, 2012) investigated the continuity of temperament in a cohort of New Zealanders from age 3 onward. The sample for this study consisted of all children born in Dunedin, New Zealand, between April 1972 and March 1973. Temperamen- tal characteristics were assessed at various points by means of parent report, clinical examiner ratings, and self-report. Data on home environment, school, employment, and social history were also gathered. The assessment measures reflected the typolo- gies, developed by Chess and Thomas, that were available in 1972 (Chess & Thomas, 1987; see Chapter 4): undercontrolled or difficult (impulsive, restless, negative), inhib- ited or slow-to-warm-up (introverted, fearful), and well-adjusted or easy (see Chapter 4). The results paint a picture of moderate personality stability over time. At age 21 and again at age 32, the 10% of children identified at age 3 as undercontrolled were more likely than other groups to be aggressive, sensation seeking, impulsive, and prone to gambling and troubles with the law. They also tended to experience higher levels of interpersonal conflict in family and romantic relationships. Even if the surface features of behavior changed over time, these undercontrolled children were more likely to grow up to be adults whose behavior reflected a similar lack of control and problem- atic adjustment. The inhibited children (8% of the sample) at 21 were more likely than the other participants to have suffered from depression. As adults, they were more shy, fearful, and nonassertive, and less connected to sources of social support. Several possible explanations might account for trait stability over time. First, genes probably play a role in stability of personality. Studies of twins indicate that identical twins are more similar in personality than other siblings, and that about 40% of that similarity seems to be attributable to shared genes (Vukasović & Bratko, 2015). Remember, however, that we do not inherit trait patterns per se. As multidimensional models of development predict, personality features are also shaped by both biologi- cal and socio-contextual circumstances. The transactional interplay between individ- ual and context is what sculpts personality.  Middle Adulthood: Cognitive, Personality, and Social Development 511 Viewed from this perspective, personality or trait consistency will be highest if other variables, in addition to biology, provide support or scaffolding for that consis- tency. For example, the individual’s environment should remain consistent. A classic study by Helson and Roberts (1994) is illustrative here. Eighty-one women from Mills College were followed from ages 21 to 52. Those women whose level of ego develop- ment showed no change or whose level of ego development even slightly decreased over the years of the study were the least likely to have experienced disruptive experi- ences or high levels of responsibility. They seemed to have found comfortable niches for themselves that required little accommodation or change. Personality could remain fairly consistent over time, because these women appeared to have selected environ- ments that suited their personalities in the first place. Or they may have behaved in ways that communicated their reluctance to change, thus eliciting compliance from others. Yet another possible explanation for continuity is that certain kinds of personality styles show more consistency than others. Hampson (2008) reports that high levels of conscientiousness in childhood tend to predict well-being in adulthood, and she spec- ulates that conscientious individuals may “gravitate to niches that are compatible with their attributes, including relatively safe environments for work and leisure... and are likely to evoke positive reactions in other people, which will serve over time to sustain these traits and related behaviors” (p. 265). These conclusions have been sup- ported in other studies as well (Burt & Paysnick, 2012; Schaefer et al., 2017). Gener- ally, people who possess resilient characteristics tend to be more stable and consistent throughout life. MyLab Education Self-Check 13.2. Influences on Adult Development: Sources of Change 13.3 Describe sources of predictable and nonnormative change in adult develop- ment, explaining adaptations to gains and losses, and identify significant developmental influences. Although personality characteristics can be a relatively stable set of influences on the adult’s development, there are many changes to which an adult must adapt. Some changes may be strongly age determined or age graded, such as physical changes that come more or less inevitably with time. Some changes are more a function of historical circumstance and are called history-graded changes. These include events that we share with our whole cohort, like living through the Great Depression or the Iraq War. Some circumstances that affect people’s lives can be unique to cultural groups. Finally, there are changes that apply specifically to our own lives. These are nonnormative changes, often accidents of fate, like being in a train wreck or winning the lottery. Age-Graded Changes We will consider three kinds of age-graded changes. The first two are the physical and cognitive changes that have been documented as a function of aging in adulthood. The last concerns shifts in the relative importance of various life tasks that seem to occur with age. These shifts in life tasks, described by theorists such as Erik Erikson and Daniel Levinson, are generally thought to be a product of one’s psychological response to reaching adulthood and facing the typical burdens and challenges that life presents to all of us. All three kinds of change represent challenges to our adaptive functioning as we get older. 512 Chapter 13 PHYSICAL CHANGES IN ADULTHOOD Bodily changes may be the most obvious ones in adult life. By about age 30, as people enter middle adulthood, there begins a shift from adolescing, or growing up, to senescing, or “growing down” (Levinson, 1986). Although there are physical declines that most people are aware of fairly early in this process, such as some skin wrinkling or hair loss, most declines are much more subtle, such as a decrease in the effective- ness of immune processes or in cardiovascular functioning. For the most part, people continue to feel that they are at peak or near peak levels of physical functioning until they are 40 or older. In their 40s and 50s, most people become more aware of physi- cal losses. In the United States, the majority of middle adults enjoy good health, but this period is one in which many individuals, especially those in lower socioeconomic groups, begin to deal with chronic illnesses and other health problems that can limit their activities. In the 40s, 7% of adults have some kind of disability; by the early 60s, 30% do (Lachman, 2004). Most sensory systems decline in sensitivity or acuity, although there is consider- able variation among the systems and among individuals. The aging of the visual and auditory systems is probably best understood (Li-Korotky, 2012; Owsley, 2011). Visual acuity declines with age but is maintained at near peak levels until about age 40 and then it noticeably wanes. Individuals who never before wore glasses or contact lenses are likely to need them now, and those who required some visual correction in the past begin to experience more frequent prescription changes, or they now need bifocals or trifocals. Middle adults also begin to notice that they need more light than their younger friends in order to see well, and they may begin to notice that it takes longer to adapt to lighting changes than it used to. They are most likely to be bothered when there is a sudden change in lighting: coming out of a dark movie theater into daylight or encountering the headlights of an oncoming car on a dark road. Changes in the neu- rons of the retina, as well as changes in the cornea and lens of the eye, all contribute to these growing problems. Similar declines in hearing or auditory sensitivity begin in the 30s. Sensitivity to high-frequency (high-pitched) sounds declines earlier and more rapidly, and the losses are usually greater in men than in women. Note that women’s voices are therefore more difficult to hear in the later years than are men’s, so that men are more likely to have difficulty hearing women than vice versa. There is much individual variation in the degree and kind of hearing loss, but most individuals find their lives somewhat affected by the end of middle age (Frisina, 2009; Humes, 2015). A national survey in the United States indicated that 15% of 50- to 59-year-olds and 31% of 60- to 69-year-olds suffered from at least mild hearing impairment (Bainbridge & Wallhagen, 2014). Impairment is more common in Whites and Hispanics than in Blacks, and in men than in women. And, as with many physical disabilities, impairment is more common among lower than higher SES groups (Anderson et al., 2017). Among the functional systems that show developmental changes sometime in middle adulthood is the reproductive system. As with the sensory systems, noticeable changes tend to begin in the 40s and 50s. The menstrual cycle usually begins to shorten and becomes somewhat more erratic by the time a woman is in her late 30s. The female climacteric, the gradual reduction of reproductive ability, ending in ­menopause, the cessation of menstruation, usually begins in the 40s and continues for at least 10 years (Clayton & Harsh, 2016; Foxcroft, 2009). The climacteric is largely a function of a reduc- tion in circulating estradiol, a form of the primary female hormone, and estrogen, pro- duced by the ovaries. Having less estradiol eventually influences many other changes: the thinning and coarsening of pubic hair, the thinning and wrinkling of the labia, and changes in vaginal chemistry that can cause dryness and a greater likelihood of vagi- nal infections. Women commonly experience other physical symptoms as well, such as fatigue, headaches, insomnia, nightsweats, and hot flashes—sudden sensations of intense heat along with sweating that can last for as long as a half an hour. One reason for such symptoms is that lowered estrogen triggers the release of other hormones and these have widespread effects on the body, such as altering its temperature control mechanisms.  Middle Adulthood: Cognitive, Personality, and Social Development 513 TABLE 13.2 Frequency of Sexual Activity by Age and Gender M F M F M F M F M F AGE 18–26 27–38 39–50 51–64 65+ N 254 268 353 380 282 295 227 230 212 221 >1/wk   53%   46%   60%   49%   54%   39%   63%   32%   53%   41% “rarely”   13%   17%    9%   12%    8%   21%    8%   21%   11%   22% SOURCE: Based on Kellett, J. M. (2000). Older adult sexuality. In L.T. Szuchman & F. Muscarella (Eds.), Psychological perspectives on human sexuality (p. 357). Despite these changes, and despite a general slowing of sexual response times, sexual functioning and sexual pleasure seem to be affected very little for most women (Avis, Stellato, Crawford, Johannes, & Longcope, 2000; Stroope, McFarland, & Uecker, 2015). Many researchers have found only small declines, if any, in the frequency of female sexual activity in middle age (see Table 13.2). Women report less sexual activ- ity than men at every age. A key ingredient for maintaining an active sex life is hav- ing a sexual partner, and women are more likely than men to be without a partner (­DeLamater & Koepsel, 2015). They are more likely to be widowed than men, and they are less likely to re-partner after either the death of a spouse or a divorce. In one large U.S. study, 89% of 57- to 64-year-old men reported having a sexual partner, compared to 74% of women. Although 78% of men ages 75 to 85 still had partners, only 40% of women did (Waite, Laumann, Das, & Schumm, 2009). For men in the middle years, changes in the production of testosterone, the primary male hormone, are not as dramatic. Some controversy has existed over whether tes- tosterone production declines at all in healthy men, but longitudinal studies in recent years confirm that small average declines do occur, starting as early as the 20s, a pro- cess referred to as andropause (Ammini, Somsundaram, & Goswami, 2017). Men with health problems, such as cardiovascular disease and overweight, are likely to show a larger drop in testosterone. Lower testosterone levels are thought to contribute to some aspects of physical aging in men, such as loss of muscle mass and bone density. Some erectile dysfunction is also experienced by about 50% of men between 40 and 70 years old, but this seems to be more related to changes in the circulatory system than to hormones. Healthy men remain fertile through old age, even though repro- ductive structures like the testes, seminal vesicles, and prostate gland do undergo some changes. These changes have little effect on sperm production, but they result in reduced amounts of seminal fluid by the 40s and 50s and a steady decline in the volume and force of ejaculations. Yet, as with women, whereas sexual response times begin to increase in middle age, sexual functioning and sexual pleasure can be main- tained (see Table 13.2). For a man with an available sexual partner, how sexually active he will be in his older years is closely correlated with how strong his sex drive was in his younger years (Kellett, 2000) and with his general physical health (Lee, Nazroo, O’Connor, Blake, & Pendleton, 2016). For both men and women, understanding that sexual activity need not be derailed by the normal changes in sexual function that come with age (e.g., slower responses, erectile changes, vaginal dryness, and so on) can be key to maintaining a satisfying sex life (DeLamater & Koepsel, 2015). In today’s popular culture, personal worth is linked to physical beauty, defined in part as a youthful, fit appearance. In such a climate, the most problematic physi- cal changes of middle adulthood for some people can be the wrinkling and sagging of the skin and an increase in body fat (Bessenoff & Del Priore, 2007). Weight gain is not inevitable in middle adulthood, but rather is directly linked to overeating, poor nutrition, or inadequate exercise. Chronic stress and inadequate sleep have also been related to weight gain (McEwen & Karatsoreos, 2015; Roberts, Campbell, & Troop, 2014). Unfortunately, the typical habits of many Americans result in their gaining weight throughout middle adulthood, mostly around the waist and hips. Among the factors contributing to the wrinkling and sagging process are changes in the layers of 514 Chapter 13 the skin. For example, elastin, a substance in the cells of the dermis, or middle layer of skin, allows the skin to stretch and contract as we move. After age 30, elastin gradually becomes more brittle, reducing skin elasticity. Areas of the body containing fat, such as the arms, legs, torso, and breasts, usually begin to sag by the 40s and 50s. COGNITIVE CHANGES IN ADULTHOOD Age-graded changes in cognitive functioning are experienced throughout adulthood. An enormous research literature exists on adult cognitive change. We humans, includ- ing developmental researchers, seem to worry a great deal about what kinds of intel- lectual declines we can expect as we get older and how we might avoid them. Early findings from cross-sectional studies (Schaie, 1994) showed that most intellectual skills declined fairly steadily after age 25. But in such cross-sectional studies, different ages are represented by people from different cohorts. Many factors contribute to what appear to be age decrements. This is so because different cohorts are often different in breadth of educational, economic, and cultural opportunities (Flynn, 2012; Gerstorf, Ram, Hoppmann, Willis, & Schaie, 2011). Prospective or longitudinal research, which follows people over time, suggests a more complex picture of intellectual change in adulthood. Although some abilities begin to decline early, many cognitive capacities seem to show improvements with age and indicate only small average declines after ages 55 to 60. One way to make sense of the mixed pattern of improvement and decline through adulthood is to categorize cognitive skills with regard to how heavily they depend on two kinds of underlying intellectual resources: f luid and crystallized intelligence (Horn & Cattell, 1966). Fluid intelligence is also called the mechanics of intelligence (Baltes et al., 2006), and refers to basic operational characteristics that seem to directly reflect how well the “hardware” of the nervous system is working, affecting the effi- ciency of processes like reasoning. Fluid, or mechanical, functions include such things as processing speed and inhibitory mechanisms. They are the most likely kinds of MyLab Education intellectual processes to show declines sometime in middle adulthood. For example, Video Example 13.2 information processing speed may begin to slow down as early as age 30 and it Fluid functions decline somewhat declines fairly rapidly after age 40, so that we are slower to take in information as we in middle adulthood. A woman in get older and slower to respond to it (Kievit et al., 2016; Tucker-Drob, 2011). Inhibitory her forties describes the decline in mechanisms show decrements by about age 40, so that in some tasks, older adults are her fluid intelligence and the effect more easily distracted by irrelevant stimulation than younger adults (Dey, Sommers, on executive functions. & Hasher, 2017). Executive functions (EFs) are closely linked to fluid intelligence. EFs—working memory, self-regulation (inhibitory control), and cognitive flexibility—are recruited when we effortfully pursue goals, rather than when we function more automatically or intuitively. You have seen in earlier chapters the importance of EFs for the devel- opment of skills that support children’s and adolescents’ academic success. They are important for adult functioning as well, including job success, good quality of life, and even marital harmony (Diamond, 2013). EFs involve activation of the prefrontal cortex, and they affect strategic planning and problem solving, creative thinking, maintain- ing attention on what is important in a situation, adapting to changing circumstances, avoiding impulsive actions, and so on. EFs show some declines in middle adulthood. These declines are related to changes in fluid intelligence, especially changes in pro- cessing speed and ability to gate out irrelevant stimuli. Working memory provides a good example here. You know that working memory stores information that we are thinking about or working with at the present moment. It has a limited capacity, so that only a restricted number of information units can be retained there at one time, and usually only for 15 to 30 seconds, unless we actu- ally keep working with them, that is, unless we make an effort to pay attention to the information. To put it a different way, working memory is the active, attentive part of the mind, where we consciously think and learn. In late middle adulthood, working memory capacity seems to decline. Fewer pieces of information can be attended to at one time, and either problem solving or learning or both can be somewhat affected as a result. Imagine a situation in which you look up and dial a 10-digit phone number, and then you immediately attempt to redial the number. Suppose that at age 30, you could  Middle Adulthood: Cognitive, Personality, and Social Development 515 remember about 6 of the digits when you redialed. At age 50, given the same kind of memory task, you would probably remember only 5 of the digits. Clearly, what we are describing here are not catastrophic losses. The modest change is more a nuisance factor than anything else. Most people, by about age 50, notice that they have a little more difficulty than they used to recalling the name of a new acquaintance or solving a complex problem that requires attending to several pieces of information at once. Declines in fluid intelligence seem to make the difference. Slower processing speed may make it harder to keep as many pieces of information in mind simultaneously as we once could or make it difficult to work our way through to the end of a problem before some of the information that we need has disappeared from short-term stor- age (Mella, Fagot, Lecerf, & de Ribaupierre, 2015). Reduced inhibitory control is also important. For example, we might experience at times “a kind of ‘mental clutter’ in which extraneous thoughts and plans can interfere with, and possibly crowd out, goal- relevant thoughts and plans” (Zacks, Hasher, & Li, 2000, p. 297). Another intellectual resource is called crystallized intelligence or the pragmatics of intelligence (Baltes et al., 2006). It is the compilation of skills and information we have acquired in the course of our lives. Crystallized intelligence, or pragmatics, is a little like the pile of software programs that most of us accumulate for our computers. Our knowledge of language, of how to do a job or to play an instrument, the strat- egies we have learned for memorizing information or solving problems—all forms of declarative and procedural knowledge (see Chapter 6)—are included. Crystallized intelligence is less likely than fluid intelligence to show declines with age and, for some individuals, can increase even into old age. For most people in middle adult- hood, and for most abilities, declining fluid resources are usually balanced or out- weighed by continuing steady increases in crystallized resources (Baltes et al., 2006). It is only after about age 60 that losses in fluid intelligence may be great enough to contribute to overall declines in intellectual functioning. Problem solving in middle adulthood provides a good illustration of the interac- tive influences of mechanics and pragmatics in overall functioning. As you have just seen, working memory is disrupted by mechanical declines with age. Working memory is where we solve problems, but age-related declines in working memory affect prob- lem solving most when either the information that is relevant to the solution or the problem-solving situation is new. When middle adults are solving familiar, everyday problems or problems in areas of their own expertise, the crystallized resources at their disposal often help them to be more effective than younger adults (Salthouse, 2012). Learning and long-term storage of information also reveal the complex interre- lations of mechanics and pragmatics with age. Although the limitations of working memory make it more difficult to get new information into long-term memory, we nonetheless do continue to learn in middle and late adulthood, storing new informa- tion from our experiences despite our reduced efficiency. Thus, both younger and older adults add new information to episodic memory—memory for personal experiences— but younger subjects typically learn more with greater ease (Addis, Wong, & Schacter, 2008; Vidal-Piñeiro et al., 2017). To put it differently, we are somewhat less likely, as we get older, to remember specific daily experiences, such as where we parked the car at the shopping mall. However, information already learned appears to be maintained as well as in our younger years. In fact, an older person’s semantic memory, her store of factual information, seems to have a richer network of interrelationships as a result of her greater experience, allowing her to retrieve information through many more routes than a younger person can (Salthouse, 2012). As Pak and Stronge (2008) point out, younger adults may have the edge in games that require speedy responding (e.g., a video game), but older adults often outperform younger ones on memory games (e.g., Trivial Pursuit™ and Jeopardy™). Charness and Bosman (1990) describe an interesting example of the differential effects of age changes in fluid and crystallized intelligence on performance in adult- hood. They describe two kinds of chess competitions. In tournament chess, participants make their moves quickly, after deliberating for about 3 minutes. In correspondence chess, the participants can have 3 days to make a move. Clearly, tournament chess makes greater demands on processing speed, whereas correspondence chess seems to 516 Chapter 13 draw much more completely on one’s knowledge and experience. Not surprisingly, then, top performers win their first world championship in tournament chess at much younger ages, about age 30 on average, than they do in correspondence chess, where the average first-time champion is 46! It is not unusual for middle-aged chess devotees to adapt to declines in fluid intelligence by shifting their focus from tournament chess to correspondence chess as they get older. In Chapter 15 we will look more closely at cognitive changes in late adulthood, focusing especially on how older adults compensate for losses in fluid intelligence and on the debate over the growth of wisdom. LIFE-TASK OR LIFE-COURSE CHANGES IN ADULTHOOD People experience another kind of age-graded change as they move through adult- hood. Life-course changes, brought on by shifts in the life tasks that seem most important to us at different times of our lives, have been described by many differ- ent theorists. Although each of these theorists tends to emphasize somewhat different aspects of the life experience, you will see commonalities in their observations as we briefly summarize a sampling of these descriptions. You may recall that Schaie (1977–1978; Schaie & Willis, 2000; see also Chapter 11) proposed a series of stages in adult life, each of which requires the development of new ways to apply and use one’s intellectual resources. These changes are directly related to MyLab Education shifts in family roles and in the life tasks that we face as we grow older. In the achieving Video Example 13.3 stage of young adulthood, individuals must learn to use logical thinking skills to plan the In the responsible stage of middle achievement of long-term goals. In the responsible stage of middle adulthood, individuals adulthood, life focus and life tasks must learn to use problem-solving skills not only to achieve their own goals but also change. The mother in this video, now in her late thirties, focuses her to help coordinate their needs with those of others for whom they are responsible at time and energy on her children home, at work, and in the community. In the reorganizational stage of one’s elder years, and the needs of the family, includ- the focus narrows again to reaching personal, practical, day-to-day goals as an adult, ing more responsibility with aging devoting thinking skills to managing losses. Finally, in late adulthood, people move into parents. the reintegrative stage, when their goals are primarily to conserve energy, and perhaps into a legacy-leaving stage, when they use their cognitive resources to help them leave behind a written or oral account of their experience or wisdom. Schaie emphasizes the shifting allocation of intellectual skills across adulthood, as people confront different kinds of problems related to their age and stage of life. Most other theorists emphasize changes in personality. They do not focus on personality traits, which, as we have seen, are relatively stable in middle adulthood and beyond, but rather they describe structural changes in self-concept and in self-expression. Perhaps the best-known theory of life-course changes in self-concept is Erik ­Erikson’s, by now quite familiar to you. Erikson (e.g., 1950/1963) describes three stages in self-development in adulthood, based on the kinds of life tasks that become most important to people as they find themselves fully matured and facing the fact that this is the one life that they have to live. Very briefly, in young adulthood, inti- macy (vs. isolation) is one’s quest: finding a way to validate and expand one’s own sense of self by committing to a shared life with others. In middle adulthood, gen- erativity (vs. stagnation) becomes most important, giving one’s own life purpose by producing and building for the next generation, through work, community service, or child rearing. By old age, establishing ego integrity (vs. despair) becomes life’s task. Ideally, a process of life review helps the elderly adult to develop a sense that her own life is “something that had to be,” that she has lived a life that has order, meaning, and dignity (see Chapter 1, especially Table 1.2). Erikson argued that different concerns reach ascendancy in different age periods. Vaillant (1993; 2012) suggested that two more adult life stages should be added to Erik- son’s scheme, reflecting that forming deep bonds, becoming productive, and finding meaning in one’s life are recurring themes throughout adulthood. In one’s mid-20s, career consolidation (vs. self-absorption) is a key focus of self-development. In this phase of life, in addition to ongoing intimacy concerns, making a commitment to work that brings personal satisfaction, regardless of its other rewards, rather than just hav- ing a job, becomes important. The most positive development for this period is that such a commitment emerges as an important part of one’s identity.  Middle Adulthood: Cognitive, Personality, and Social Development 517 Vaillant also described a stage that comes near the end of Erikson’s generativity stage, in late middle adulthood. This he called the keeper of meaning (vs. rigidity) stage, when the adult expands her generative concerns beyond just making a produc- tive contribution, in order to actually preserve something that is part of the culture. In this sense, adults seek ways to establish the meaningfulness of the work or contri- butions they have made. For example, Tien, a woman who worked as an aide at her children’s day care center, might move on after her own children are grown to join a child care advocacy group in her community, hoping to ensure that future generations of children in her region will have access to the high-quality child care she was able to provide her own children. As we saw in Chapter 12, research indicates that both intimacy and generativity are central to the lives of young adults. Later in this chapter we will discuss research on how these concerns tend to play out in the arenas of marriage, family life, parent- ing, and work during the middle years of adulthood. Several other theorists have proposed stages in adult personality development that repeat many of the themes we see in Erikson’s work. They all emphasize that peo- ple have fundamental concerns or needs that shift in importance from one adult stage to another. We will briefly describe Levinson’s theory here; some additional theories (e.g., Gould, 1978; Loevinger, 1976) are included in schematic comparison in Table 13.3. In Levinson’s account (Levinson, 1986; Levinson & Levinson, 1996), a person’s life has structure at any given time. One’s life structure is a pattern of relationships between the self and the external world, such as relationships to one’s “spouse, lover, family, occupation, religion, leisure, and so on” (Levinson, 1986). There may be many components to the life structure, but Levinson found that at any one time there are usually only one or two really significant, defining components for the self, usually marriage-family and/or occupational components. Levinson identified three major adult stages, or eras: early, middle, and late adulthood. Each of these eras begins with a 5-year transitional period and is marked by a smaller mid-era transition, when the life structure’s effectiveness for serving the person’s goals is reexamined and may be altered. Whereas Erikson and Vaillant suggest that certain life tasks occur in a relatively predictable sequence (e.g., first, intimacy needs are greater, then generativity needs), Levinson (1986) argues that life events unfold in many ways depending on a particular individual’s life circumstances, gender, and culture and that specific concerns are not necessarily more important in one era than in another. What is predictable, he argues, is the sequence of age periods for building and changing first one life structure and then another. The experience of life changes from one era to the next. Put a different way, what is inevitable in adulthood is that a person will establish and then revise her life structure at particular times as she ages. In sum, many theorists have identified life-course changes affecting self-con- cept or self-expression during adulthood. There is by no means complete agreement among these theorists on the character of these changes. For example, following Jung (1963), Levinson (1986) and Gould (1978) describe the midlife transition as a fre- quently tumultuous time, a period of major upheaval and self-evaluation, not unlike adolescence. You may have heard it referred to as a “midlife crisis.” Their research, consisting of longitudinal interview studies of relatively small and somewhat selec- tive samples of adults, tends to support these claims (Gould, 1978; Levinson & Levin- son, 1996). But in much larger interview and questionnaire studies, many researchers have found little evidence of widespread midlife distress, although they have found indications of shifting concerns at midlife (Bell, 2014; Lachman, Teshale, & Agrigoro- aei, 2015). C­ risis-level distress seems most likely to occur as a function of major life events, like financial problems or job loss, which can happen at any time. Individuals who score high on the personality trait of neuroticism are particularly likely to suffer acute distress. Regardless of such disagreements, there is some similarity among the theoreti- cal descriptions of adult life-course changes. The available empirical work supports the general idea of such change. Some longitudinal research also indicates that major aspects of self, such as intimacy, may be reworked with every major life change, rather 518 Chapter 13 than being fully resolved at specific times in the life course (Whitbourne, Sneed, & Sayer, 2009). Studies of how social networks change over time illustrate this point (Carmichael, Reis, & Duberstein, 2015; Wrzis, Hänel, Wagner, & Neyer, 2013). As we have seen in previous chapters, networks of friends increase in size during adolescence and young adulthood, providing a source of information and support in the quest for adult iden- tity and intimacy. But as adults experience key life events, such as the transition to parenthood and job entry, social networks contract. Friends are fewer, but they are also closer. It appears then that adults rework and intensify their capacity for intimacy in response to such normative life events. Despite the enormous variation in the immediate details of adult lives—from cul- ture to culture, from cohort to cohort, from family to family, and from individual to individual—there appear to be some life changes that are widely experienced. These changes lead each of us to reformulate, or at least reevaluate, ourselves and our lives periodically. Much more research is needed to establish the specifics of these changes and whom they do and do not affect. For professionals, awareness of potential stage changes can help enrich our under- standing of clients. For example, suppose a 45-year-old woman comes to a counselor looking for help with marital problems she has tolerated for 20 years. We might be inclined to wonder why she is coming now and how likely it is that change can be effected after so many years of entrenched behavior patterns. The answers to both questions may be partly a function of life stage. Many theorists see the 40s as a time when reassessment of one’s life structure is very likely and when willingness to act on the basis of one’s individual propensities, rather than strictly in adherence with social expectations, increases (see Table 13.3). Vaillant (1977) suggests that generativity needs are likely to reorganize, so that direct caregiving to one’s spouse or children is less likely to meet an individual’s needs than opportunities to seek broader meaning in life by finding ways to preserve the culture. Thus, not only is it a likely time for this woman to reassess her life, but also it may be a time when she will be open to trying new ways of meeting her needs. History-Graded Changes The historical events that affect our whole cohort are another source of change in adult lives. People are partly a product of the historical context in which they develop. Imag- ine that you were a young adult parent trying to support your children during the Great Depression in the 1930s or the Great Recession of the late 2000s. You would take a job wherever you found one, no matter how difficult the work, and you would TABLE 13.3 Adult Life Stages: Some Theories of Self-Development APPROXIMATE ERIKSON VAILLANT LOEVINGER GOULD AGE PERIOD Adolescence Identity (vs. Identity (like Erikson) Conscientious—­ Separating from parents: becoming Diffusion) Conformist independent Young Adulthood Intimacy (vs. Isolation) (like Erikson) Individualistic “Nobody’s baby”: becoming a competent, self-maintaining adult Middle Adulthood Generativity (vs. Generativity—Career consolidation Autonomous Opening up: exploring inner conscious- (Early) Stagnation) (vs. Self-Absorption); producing ness; coming to deeper understanding of self and needs Middle Adulthood Generativity—Keeper of Meaning Midlife: finding the courage and resource- (Late) (vs. Rigidity); giving, mentoring fulness to act on deeper feelings; aware- ness of pressure of time Late Adulthood Ego Integration Integrated Beyond midlife: establishing true autonomy; (vs. Despair) becoming inner-directed rather than ­governed by roles; “I own myself”  Middle Adulthood: Cognitive, Personality, and Social Development 519 probably be grateful for it. What effect might years of deprivation and struggle have on your tendency toward conscientiousness? Or, think about moving through early adulthood during the social upheavals and sexual revolution of the 1960s. Do you think this experience might have some effect on your openness to experience? History- graded events, also called cohort effects, provide a context for development and also influence it directly (Kiang, Tseng, & Yip, 2016). The year of your birth marks your entry into a cohort of peers who accompany you through age-graded developmental changes (toddlerhood, puberty, and so on) within the context of a specific set of historical events (wars, technological shifts, etc.). The effect of history is particularly linked to a person’s age and stage of life (such as coming of age in a time of war, when you could be drafted into military service). In ­addition to age-graded and history-graded changes, we also progress through stages of the family life cycle as child, parent, grandparent, and so on. Researchers who take a life-course perspective remind us that development is influenced by the intersection of chrono- logical age (life time), family-related roles (family time), and membership in a birth cohort (historical time; Elder, Shanahan, & Jennings, 2015). If society experiences an economic recession that results in a lengthy period of corporate downsizing, a young father who has just completed a training program in computer repair might see his chances of getting a well-paying job shrink. He may have to wait to buy a first house, ultimately limiting the lifetime equity he can accrue. Because his family must continue to reside in a low-cost apartment, his preschool son might also be affected because of missed educational opportunities that would have been available with a move to a more advantaged school district. Note that despite the important implications of the economic downturn for this young parent’s life, his own grandparents, who are retired and receiving a fixed pension, would not be much affected. Twenge (2000) provides an example of how sociocultural and historical context influences the personality development of cohorts of individuals. She reviewed pub- lished reports of child and adolescent anxiety from 1952 to 1993 to see if levels had changed over these years. Her distressing finding showed that the average child in America during the 1980s scored higher on anxiety than child psychiatric patients from the 1950s. Further analysis allowed her to demonstrate that these increases were associated with the breakdown of social connections and with increases in physical and psychological threats. Economic recessions were not related to the increase in anxiety. Twenge’s results imply that recent cohorts are living in a world that is less favorable to their positive development than the world in which their own parents grew up. A ­context that provides for fewer or weaker social bonds at the same time that threats are expanding heightens the sense of vulnerability for these young people, who are truly growing up in an “age of anxiety.” Twenge and her colleagues (2014) did a similar analysis of trends from 1972 to 2012 in U.S. adults’ “trust in others,” defined as belief in the ability, reliability, and honesty of other people. For every gen- eration sampled (the post–World War II “baby boom” generation, “genXers,” and “­millennials”), there was a steady decline in trust that was linked to a specific eco- nomic change: the rise in income inequality, that is, the widening gap between rich and poor. This ­historical change appears to be corroding adults’ fundamental beliefs about other people. THE SOCIAL GRADIENT AND LIFE-COURSE DEVELOPMENT What has been absent from some formulations of history-graded effects is the role of culture. Sociocultural effects on development are not restricted to time-limited inci- dents, nor do they necessarily exert the same influence on all members of a generation. Developmental change also results from structural features of society. For individuals and families, one’s place on the rungs of society’s status and economic ladders has long-term consequences. Lower status contributes to poorer life outcomes on a num- ber of measures, especially to disturbingly higher rates of illness as people age (see Figure 13.3). Socioeconomic status (SES) is a complex concept that has typically been assessed using indicators like education, income, and zip code. Historically, research- ers often considered it a nuisance variable that needed to be statistically controlled so that the “real” differences could emerge. Nuisance variables are hypothesized to be 520 Chapter 13 extraneous to the effects researchers intend to investigate. More contemporary views recognize that SES effects are real, direct, and powerful. Increasingly, researchers are adopting the term socioeconomic position (SEP), instead of SES, because it reflects a more systems-centered approach and recognizes the contributions of societal stratifi- cation on development. Because the most common impulse within society is to orga- nize itself in a hierarchical fashion, those at the bottom usually end up with restricted access to resources and opportunities. This step-wise top-to-bottom phenomenon is called the social gradient. Marmot and Wilkinson (2009) explain how SEP impacts life chances: Social organization also structures advantage and disadvantage longitudinally. Advan- tage or disadvantage in one phase of the life course is likely to have been preceded by, and to be succeeded by, similar advantage or disadvantage in the other phases of life. A child raised in an affluent home is likely to succeed educationally, which will favour entry to the more privileged sectors of the labour market, where an occupa- tional ­pension scheme will provide financial security in old age. At the other extreme, a child from a disadvantaged home is likely to achieve few educational qualifications and, leaving school at the minimum age, to enter the unskilled labour market where low pay and hazardous work combine with no occupational pension, which ensures reliance on welfare payments in old age. (p. 41) Life at the bottom of the social ladder is not easy. Across the world, the poor suffer most in terms of morbidity and mortality compared to their more advantaged peers (Anderson et al., 2017). Figure 13.3 depicts the linear increase in incidence rates for disease by SES level. The study of SEP represents an example of a multidimensional, life-course approach to development that incorporates societal/cultural considerations. The impact of socially embedded influences can be studied at the individual or group level, at sensitive periods of development, and longitudinally across the life span. Neurosci- entific research is also targeting the processes through which SEP becomes embodied via brain pathways that mediate its effects (Gianaros & Manuck, 2010). Figure 13.4 presents potential ways to measure SEP at different stages of the life span. For the most part, life circumstances associated with low SEP include economic hardship (not having necessary resources like food and shelter), loss of job, income, housing or material possessions, debt, evictions, and insecurity. Now, consider the effects of systematic discrimination. What might membership in a socially devalued FIGURE 13.3 The social gradient in health. Rates of selected illnesses (osteoarthritis, chronic diseases, hypertension, and cervical cancer) per 100,000 as a function of socioeconomic status. b c (a) (b) (c) (d) a d Osteo- Chronic Hyper- Cervical arthritis Disease tension Cancer 25 150 16 30 20 125 14 25 15 100 12 20 10 75 10 15 5 50 8 10 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Highest Lowest Socioeconomic status SOURCE: Based on Matthews, K. & Gallo, K. (2011). Psychological perspectives on pathways linking socio- economic status and physical health, Annual Review of Psychology, 62, 501–530.  Middle Adulthood: Cognitive, Personality, and Social Development 521 FIGURE 13.4 Measuring the socioeconomic trajectory over the life span. Examples of life-course measures for socioeconomic position. Life course socioeconomic trajectory Childhood Young adulthood Active professional life Retirement Parental education Education Occupational social class: based on life Wealth, deprivation and occupation course occupations, first, longest, last Household conditions Household income Unemployment: yes/no Assets transfer across Household Number of episodes generations occurring conditions at death Income: changes over time Wealth, deprivation: changes over time Household conditions: changes over time Partner’s SEP Assets transfer occurring when starting a family SOURCE: Based on Galobardes, B., Lynch, J., & Smith, G. D. (2007). Measuring socioeconomic position in health research. ­British Medical Bulletin, 81–82, 21–37. group add to the list of hardships? Would it matter if the individuals felt they had adequate resources to cope with discrimination? Life course researchers are also begin- ning to examine the long-term impact of racial discrimination on life span develop- ment, especially in health-related areas. Just as the sociocultural influences of one’s era may create an “age of anxiety,” so too might they affect disease processes. The ­disparities in health among different racial and ethnic groups have been well docu- mented (National Academies of Science, Engineering, and ­Medicine, 2017). Effects of race frequently co-vary with socioeconomic status, but the particular contribution of racial discrimination appears to increase the damaging effects. Reliable data have shown that for certain historically disadvantaged groups, especially ­African Ameri- cans, the health disparities are stark. Heart disease, diabetes, strokes, hyperten- sion, and obesity occur at much higher rates for African ­Americans than fo