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Midlife Crisis

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Published in: Biology
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It is on midlife and relationships.

Bidisha B / Kolkata

1 year of teaching experience

Qualification: M.A. in Psychology

Teaches: Psychology

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  1. MIDDLE AGE ADJUSTMENT
  2. Introduction > The onset of middle age is marked by physical and mental changes which is generally considered to extend from age 40 to age 65. It has some positive sides. Such as: >People in middle age are in the most secure financial position of their entire life. >One of the greatest strengths of this age stems from the simple fact of having lived long enough to accumulate valuable social and professional experience that one can apply to all sorts of situations- and having the opportunities to use that wisdom. But this "prime time" of life has its own stresses because the middle aged adults realise that their body is not what it once was. > Traditionally men have become more distressed at the changes in what their bodies can do, particularly regarding sexual vigour, while women are more upset at how their body looks. >Because middle age is a long period in the life span, it is customarily subdivided into early middle age(extending from age 40 to age 50) and advanced middle age (extending from age 50 to age 65).During advanced middle age, physical and psychological changes that first began during the early forties become more apparent.
  3. Characteristics of Middle Age Like every period in the life span, middle age is associated with certain characteristics that make it distinctive. Ten of the most important of these characteristics are listed below:- 1. Middle Age is a Dreaded Period: It is recognised as the most dreaded period, next to old age, in the total life span, because middle-aged people are greatly concerned about their mental and physical deterioration accompanied by the cessation of the reproductive life. 2. Middle Age is a Time of Transition: It is the time when men undergo a change in virility and women a change in fertility. Furthermore, they often feel "sandwiched" between the needs of adolescent children and aging parents. Another crisis they face is trying to deal with death, especially that of a spouse. 3. Middle Age is a Time of Stress: Radical adjustments to changed roles and patterns of life tend to disrupt the individual's physical and psychological homeostasis and lead to a period of stress- a time when a number of major adjustments must be made in the home, business, and social aspects of their lives (McClelland, 1976).
  4. ...continuation 4. Middle age is a "Dangerous Age": It is a time when individuals break down physically as a result of over work, over worry, or careless living. The incidents of mental illness rises rapidly in middle age among both men and women, and it is also a peak age for suicides. 5. Middle Age is an "Awkward Age": Just as adolescents are neither children nor adults, similarly middle-aged men and women are no longer "young" or are they yet "old". 6. Middle Age is a Time of Achievement: According to Erikson (1967), during middle age, people either become more and more successful or they stand still and accomplish nothing more. If they have a strong desire to succeed, they will reach their peak at this time and reap the benefits of the years of preparation and hard work that preceded it. 7. Middle Age is a Time of Evaluation: It is mainly a time of self-evaluation.
  5. ...continuation 8. Middle Age is Evaluated by a Double Standard: A double standard is the application of different sets of principles for similar situations. In middle age there exists a different standard for men and a different standard for women. For instance, there is a double standard for the physical changes in men and women. 9. Middle Age is the Time of the Empty Nest: It is the time when the children no longer want to live under the parental roof. After years of family-centered home, most adults find it difficult to adjust to a pair-centered home. 10. Middle Age is a Time of Boredom: Men become bored with the daily routine of work and with a family life that offers little excitement. Women ,who have spent most of their adulthood caring for the home and raising children, wonder what they will do for the next twenty or thirty years (Johnston, 1970). The unmarried women who have devoted their lives to a job or career are bored for the same reasons as men.
  6. PHYSICAL CHANGES IN THE MIDDLE AGE 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Changes in Appearance: Weight Gain: During middle age fat accumulates mainly around the abdomen and on the hips. Loss and greying of hair: The hair becomes thinner. Among men baldness on the top of the head is very common. Both men and women have a predominance of grey hair by fifty. Skin changes: The skin of face, neck, arms, and hands becomes coarser and wrinkled. Bag appear under the eyes, and dark circles become more permanent and pronounced. Body sag: The shoulders become rounded, and there is a general sagging of the body which causes the person to look shorter. Muscle changes: Muscles become soft and flabby in the areas of the chin, upper arms and abdomen.
  7. ...CONTINUATION Changes in Sensory Functioning: 1. 2. 3. 1. 2. Vision: there is a small decline in sharpness of vision and in the ability to focus the eyes. They need about one-third more brightness to compensate for the loss of light reaching the retina (Belbin, 1967). Hearing: there is also a gradual loss of hearing ability, especially with regard to hear sounds at the upper frequencies. After about age 55, hearing loss is greater for men than for women (Troll, 1985). Taste and smell: taste sensitivity begins to decline at about age 50, particularly concerning the ability to discriminate "finer nuances of taste" (Troll, 1985). Sensitivity to smells seems to hold up quite well and seems to be one of the last senses to decline (Troll, 1985). Changes in Psychomotor Functioning: Simple reaction time slows down gradually from its speediest at age 25 (Woodworth & Schlosberg, 1954). Complex motor skills gradually decline after people have achieved their full growth in youth. One example is driving, which requires several skills like coordination, quick reaction time, and sensitivity to glare. After the age of about 30 to 35, each of these individual abilities declines (De Silva, 1938).
  8. ...CONTINUATION 1. 2. 3. 4. Changes in Physiological Functioning: The walls of the arteries become brittle and this leads to circulatory difficulties. There is increasing sluggishness in the functioning of most of the glands in the body. Glands connected with the digestive process function more slowly. Constipation is very common in middle age. Changes in Health: 1. Common health problems in middle age include the tendency to fatigue easily; buzzing or ringing in the ears; muscular pains; skin sensitivity; general aches and pains; gastrointestinal complaints; loss of appetite; and insomnia.
  9. ...CONTINUATION Sexual Changes: By far the most difficult physical adjustment middle-aged people must make is to changes in their sexual capacity. Women go through the menopause when the menstrual periods cease and they lose their child bearing ability. While men experience the male climacteric. Menopause: The biological event of menopause occurs in every women's life when she stops menstruating and can no longer bear children, at about age 50 on the average, but may normally happen several years earlier or later (Upjohn, 1983). The time span of some two or five years during which her body undergoes the various physiological changes that bring on menopause is technically known as the climacteric. For most women, menopause is a non-event psychologically, even though some of them do experience some physical symptoms related to the reduction of the body's production of the female hormone estrogens. A long term effect of the decrease in estrogens causes osteoporosis, a condition in which the bones become thinner, making them more susceptible to fractures. However, it is evident that a society's attitude toward aging seems to influence a menopausal woman's well-being far more than the level of hormones in her body (Ballinger, 1981).
  10. ...CONTINUATION The male climacteric: Despite the fact that men can continue to father children till quite late in life, there are some biological changes in middle-aged men. These include decreased fertility and frequency of orgasm, and an increase in impotency (Beard, 1975). Furthermore, men seem to have cyclic fluctuations in the production of hormones (Kimmel, 1974). About 5 percent of middle-aged men are said to experience symptoms such as depression, fatigue, sexual inadequacy, and vaguely defined physical complaints (Henker, 1981). Since researchers have found no relationships between hormone levels and mood changes (Doering, Kraemer, Brodie, & Hamburg, 1975), it's probable that most men's complaints are just as subject to environmental pressures as women's are.
  11. ADJUSTMENT TO PHYSICAL CHANGES Adjustments to physical changes are generally made gradually and reluctantly, but once men and women accept these changes, they make better adjustments to their roles as "middle-aged." Revolt against the loss of youth often develops into a generalised revolt against work, the spouse, friends and former pleasures. A middle-aged individual who reacts this way has not been willing to accept the inevitable changes that accompany aging and , as a result, has made poor adjustments to them.
  12. Adjustments by Women: How successfully women make the adjustment to the physical and psychological changes that accompany the menopause is influenced greatly by their past experiences, especially their willingness to accept the feminine sex role. Those who made poor adjustments earlier have psychological reactions to the menopause similar to those experienced during puberty. Unfortunately changes in life roles usually coincide with the menopause, and this intensifies the difficulties the woman experiences in adjusting to the physical changes( Treloar , 1977). Adjustments by Men: How well men adjust to the climacteric is likewise influenced by previous experiences and the success of adjustments in other areas. Men who are successful in business, who enjoy high prestige in the community, and who are well adjusted to their families accept the changes as a normal part of aging and adjust philosophically to them. By contrast, men who are not happy in their vocational or family lives, or in both, tend to revolt against the changes that accompany middle age.
  13. 1. 2. PSYCHOSOCIAL CHANGES IN THE MIDDLE AGE Classic theoretical approaches: In psychosocial terms middle adulthood was considered a relatively settled period (Whitebourne & Connolly, 1999). By contrast, humanistic theorists such as Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers looked on middle age as an opportunity for positive change. According to Maslow(1968), Self Actualization can come only with maturity. Classic theories that deal with the psychosocial changes occurring in middle age are: Normative-stage model & Timing-of events model.
  14. Normative stage models: ' Two early normative stage theories whose work continues to provide a frame of reference for research on middle adulthood are Carl G. Jung and Erik Erikson. Carl G. Jung: Individuation and Transcendence: • Jung held that healthy midlife development calls for Individuation, the emergence of true self through balancing or integration of conflicting parts of the personality. Until about age 40 adults concentrate on obligations to family and society. At midlife, people shift their preoccupation to their inner, spiritual selves. • Two necessary but difficult tasks of midlife are giving up the image of youth and acknowledging mortality.
  15. • • 1. 2. 3. 4. Erik Erikson: Generativity versus Stagnation: In contrast to Jung, who saw midlife as a time of turning inward, Erikson described an outward turn. Erikson saw the years around age 40 as the time when people enter their 7th normative stage qenerativity versus staqnation. In this stage middle-aged adult develops a concern with establishing, guiding, and influencing the next generation or else experiences stagnation (a sense of inactivity of lifelessness). A later theorist (Kotre, 1984) distinguished 4 specific forms of generativity: Biological (conceiving and bearing children). Parenting (nurturing and raising children). Technical (teaching skills apprentices). Cultural (transmitting cultural values and institutions)
  16. How does generativity arise? According to one model (McAdams, 2001), inner desires for symbolic immortality or a need to be needed combine with external demands (in the form of increased expectations and responsibilities) to produce a conscious concern for the next generation. This, together with what Erikson called "belief in the species", leads to generative commitments and actions. • Jung's and Erikson's ideas and observations inspired George VailIant's(1977) and Daniel Levinson's(1978) longitudinal studies of men. Both described major midlife shifts-from occupational striving in the thirties to reevaluation and often drastic restructuring of lives in the forties to mellowing and relative stability in the fifties.
  17. Timing of Events model: The social clock According to the timing-of events model adult personality development hinges less on age that on important life events. Middle age often brings a restructuring of social roles: launching children, becoming grandparents, changing jobs or careers, and, eventually, retirement (Lachman, 2001). Today lifestyles are more diverse, people's "social clocks" tick at different rates, and a 'fluid life cycle' has blurred the boundaries of middle adulthood (Neugarten & Neugarte, 1987) When occupational patterns were more stable and retirement at age 65 was almost universal, the meaning of work at midlife may have been different from its current meaning in a period of frequent job changes, downsizing, and early or delayed retirement.
  18. Many middle-aged people now find themselves busier and more involved than ever- some still raising young children while others redefine their roles as parents to adolescents and young adults and often as caregivers to aging parents. ' Yet despite the multiple challenges and variable events of midlife, most middle-aged adults seem well able to handle them (Lachman, 2001). ' However, the social clock has not stopped altogether, at least in some societies. In a study (Krueger et al., 1995), adults of all ages were asked their impressions of hypothetical 45-year-old adults of their own sex whose family and work situations violated normal expectations for that age. Participants expressed surprise about these "off time" conditions. Reactions were stronger and more negative when development seemed late (as, for example, when a 45-year old woman was describes as having a I-year-old child).
  19. MIDLIFE cmsls AHEAD
  20. Midlife crisis: changes in personality, lifestyle and relationships: The psychoanalyst Elliot Jacques (1967) coined the term "midlife crisis" to refer to the stressful period triggered by review and reevaluation of one's life. Changes in personality, lifestyle and relationships during the early middle forties are often attributed to the midlife crisis. The midlife crisis was conceptualized as a crisis of identity. It has been called a second adolescence. Levinson (1996) maintained that midlife turmoil is inevitable as people struggle with the need to restructure their lives. Apparently, midlife is just one of life's transitions which typically involves an introspective review and reappraisal of values and priorities. This is termed as midlife review (Rosenberg et al., 1999).
  21. Whether a transition turns into a crisis may depend less on age than on individual circumstances and personal resources. ' People with eqo-resiliency -the ability to adapt flexibly and resourcefully to potential sources of stress- are more likely to navigate the midlife crossing successfully (Heckhausen, 2001). The characteristic features of the psychosocial changes in midlife, that may contribute to the occurrence of midlife crisis, are as follows: v/ Identity development: Some developmental scientists view the process of identity formation as the central issue of adulthood (McAdams, 1992). Turning points such as midlife transition often involve changes in the way people see themselves. Because midlife is a time of stock-taking with regard to roles and relationships, it may bring to the surface unresolved identity issues.
  22. According to the Identity Process Model of Whitbourne (1999) people interpret their interactions with the environment by means of two cognitive processes: Identity assimilation and Identity accommodation. Identity assimilation is an attempt to fit new experience into an existing schema. Identity accommodation is adjustment of schema to fit the new experience. According to Whitbourne, assimilative people seek to maintain a youthful self image at all costs. Accommodative people may see themselves-perhaps prematurely- as old and may become preoccupied with symptoms of aging and disease. People with a balanced style realistically recognize changes that are occurring and seek to control what can be controlled and accept what cannot. Thus, a midlife crisis is may be "an extreme accommodative reaction to a set of experiences that no longer can be processed through identity assimilation" (Whitbourne & Connolly, 1999).
  23. v/ Gender Identity: ' In many studies during the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, middle aged men were more open about feelings, more interested in intimate relationships, and more nurturing (characteristics traditionally labeled as feminine) than earlier ages, whereas middle aged women were more assertive, self-confident, achievement oriented (characteristics traditionally labeled as masculine) (Cooper & Gutmann, 1987; Huyck, 1999). ' Some social scientists attributed this development to hormonal changes at midlife (Rossi, 1980). Jung saw it as part of the process of individuation, or balancing the personality. According to Gutmann, once active parenting is over there is a balancing and a reversal of roles-a gender crossovers. Men, now free to explore their previously repressed "feminine" side, become more passive; women become more dominant and independent.
  24. RELATIONSHIPS AT MIDLIFE It is hard to generalize about the meaning of relationships in middle age. It embraces a greater multiplicity of life paths than ever before. According to the Social convoy theory , proposed by Kahn and Antonucci,(1980) people move through life surrounded by concentric circles of intimate relationships of varying degress of closeness , on which they rely for assistance, well being and social support.
  25. OMiddle aged people in industrialized countries tend to have the largest convoys because they are likely to be married , to have children , to have living parents and to be in the workforce until retired(Antonucci et al 2001). Most middle aged and older adults are optimistic about the quality of their lives as they get old (according to a mail survey of 1384 adults ages 45 and older NFO research, 1999). QAlthough they consider satisfying sexual relationship to be important in their life, social relationship are even more important and enhances their quality of life. On the other hand , midlife relationships also present demands that can be stressful and restrictive. These demands , and their psychological repercussions tend to fall most heavily on women . And this can explain why middle aged women are especially susceptible to depression and other mental health problems and why they tend to be unhappier with their marriages than men(Thomas 1997). However for both men and women the several demands of midlife relationships may lead to the occurrence of midlife crisis in their life.
  26. CONSENSUAL RELATIONSHIPS Marriages, homosexual unions and friendship typically involve two people of the same generation and involve mutual choice. Marriaqe At midlife couples had led a married life of almost 15 to 20 years. So, what happens to the quality of longtime marriage is important to note. Marital satisfaction follows a U shaped curve : after the first few years of marriage satisfaction appears to decline and then sometimes in middle age, to rise again (Russel , Schumann et al 1983). The years of marital decline are those in which parental and work responsibilities tend to be the greatest
  27. Midlife Divorce Divorce in midlife is relatively rare(AIdwin 2001); most divorces occur during the 1st 10 years of marriage. Thus, people who go through a divorce at midlife when they may have assumed their lives were settled, the breakup can be traumatic , especially for women. Middle aged people who divorce and do not tend to remarry have less financial security than those who remained married. Long standing marriages may be less likely to break up than more recent ones because as couples stay together they build up a marital capital , financial and emotional benefits of marriage that becomes difficult to give up(Becker 1991).
  28. Gay and Lesbian Relationships Due to the secrecy and stigma that have surrounded the homosexuality , studies of gays and lesbian tend to have sampling problem. Since many homosexuals still do not come out until well into adulthood, the timing of this crucial event can affect other aspects of development. Middle aged gays and lesbians may be associating openly for the first time and establishing relationships. Many are still working out conflicts with parents and other family members (sometimes including spouses) or hiding their homosexuality from them. Gay men who do not come out until midlife often go through a prolonged search for identity, marked by guilt, secrecy, heterosexual marriage, and conflicted relationship with both sexes. Gay and lesbian relationships tend to be stronger if known as such to family and friends (Haas & Stafford, 1998).
  29. FRIENDSHIPS As Carstensen's theory predicts, social networks tend to become smaller and more intimate at midlife. As compared with younger people , many middle- aged people have little time and energy to devote to friends; they are too busy with family and work and with building up security for retirement. Still friendship do persist and a strong source of emotional support and well being especially for women (Adamsand allan :1998). Friendship often revolve around work and parenting ; others are based on neighborhood contacts or on association in volunteer organizations(Atonucci 2001).
  30. Relationships with maturing children Families today are diverse and complex. Increasingly, middle aged parents have to deal with such non-normative events as an adult child's continuing to love in the family home, or leaving it only to return. But one thing has not changed: parents' well being tends to hinge on how their children turn out (Allen, Blieszner, and Roberto, 2000). Adolescent children: Issues for parents: It is usually middle-aged adults who are the parents of adolescent children. While dealing with their own special concerns, parents have to cope with young people who are undergoing great physical, emotional and social changes.
  31. Theorists from a variety of perspectives have described this period as one of questioning, reappraisal, or diminished well-being for being for parents. In a study it was found that for most parents, the normative changes of adolescence elicited a mixture of positive and negative emotions. This was particularly true of mothers with early adolescent daughters, whose relationships generally tend to be both close and conflict-filled (Silverberg, 1996). Empty nest syndrome: It is a feeling of grief and loneliness which parents may experience when their children leave home for the first time, such as to live on their own or to attend a college or university. It is not a clinical condition. Since a young adult moving out from his or her parents' house is generally a normal and healthy event, the symptoms of empty nest syndrome often go unrecognized. This can result in depression and a loss of purpose for parents, since the departure of their children from "the nest" leads to adjustment problems in parents' lives. Empty nest syndrome is especially common in middle-aged mothers.
  32. OS HAL- HAÉ GROI(hl 0? HAL- 0101 STAGC encountelS
  33. The empty nest does not signal the end of parenthood. Rather it is a transition to a new stage. For many women, this transition brings relief from what Gutmann called the "chronic emergency of parenthood" (Cooper & Gutmann, 1987). In a longitudinal study of employed married women with multiple roles, the empty nest had no effect on psychological health, but cutting back on employment increased distress (Wethington & Kessler, 1989). 'Having an empty nest can actually marriage!"
  34. Prolonged parenting: The "Cluttered Nest": The tendency for young adults to return to their parents' home while going on their feet or in times of financial, marital or other trouble is called as the "revolving door syndrome" or "boomerang phenomenon". This turns the "empty nest" into a "cluttered nest". Prolonged parenting contradicts traditional expectations (Putney & Bengtson, 2001). As children move from adolescence to young adulthood, parents normally expect them to become independent. Thus as the "timing-of-events" model would predict, then, a grown child's delaying departure from the nest , or returning to it, may lead to tension. Relations are smoother when the parents see the adult child moving toward autonomy (Autonucci et al., 2001). However, When returning offspring turn the empty nest into a crowded one, many middle-aged couples don't seem to mind. — (By: Alyssa Rappaport - Psychology Today Magazine, Mar/Apr 1996). In fact, cluttered nest couples actually enjoy high marital and life satisfaction (reports Margaret OIKane Brunhofer, Ph.D., of Wayne State University). Surveying 30 such couples, she found that most adapted fine to their recently extended family. Lack of privacy was rarely a problem. And couples who were less happy about their new living arrangements were likely having marital problems even before their child returned to the fold.
  35. Becoming a caregiver for aging parents : The chances of becoming a caregiver to an aging parent increase through middle age. Often the need arises when a mother is widowed, or when a women divorced years before can no longer manage alone. The dependence of elderly parents may come at a time when middle-aged adults are trying to launch their own children or to raise them.
  36. 'Members of this "generation in the middle" sometimes called the "sandwich generation", may be caught in a squeeze between these competing needs and their limited resources of time, money and energy. 'This may lead to "caregiver burnout", a condition of physical, mental and emotional exhaustion affecting adults who care for aged persons.
  37. ADJUSTMENTS IN RELATIONSHIPS Adjustment in Changed Roles: When children leave home- to go to college, to marry, or to pursue a career- parents face the adjustment problems of what is commonly referred to as the period of the "empty nest" (Lopata, 1966). This change is usually more difficult for women to adjust to than for men because women's lives are centered around the home and family members during the early adult years. As Horn(1976) put it, the departure of children is a "cruel blow" to parents especially who are widowed or divorced. Otherwise , the effects are often positive, depending to a large extent upon marital relationships (Harkins, 1978). Adjustment to Spouse: With the ending of parental responsibilities, the husband and wife once again become dependent upon each other for companionship. Only when they can establish a close relationship, similar to the one they had during their early years of marriage, they can find happiness in marriage during middle age (Rollins & Feldman, 1970).
  38. Adjustment to Grandparenthood: With the present trend toward early marriage, many men and women become grandparents before middle age ends. The relationships of grandparents with their children and grandchildren depend on the role they play in their grandchildren's lives. Neugarten and Weinstein (1964) have distinguished five roles that modern grandparents can and do play in the American culture. 1. The Formal Role: The grandparents follow a "hands-off" policy as far as care and discipline are concerned, although they may enjoy providing treats for special occasions. 2. The Fun-Seeking Role: They enjoy an informal, playful relationship with their grandchildren, but do not want to assume any responsibility for them. 3. The Surrogate-Parent Role: They assume responsibility for the care of grandchildren in the event of divorce or the death of a parent. Usually the grandmother is more active in this role. 4. The "Reservoir of Family Wisdom" Role: They dispense special knowledge to the grandchildren or teach them certain skills. The grandfather is usually more active in this role. 5.The Distant-Figure Role: They appear only on special occasions and have fleeting and infrequent contacts with their grandchildren. Thus, role is especially common when grandparents are geographically or socially remote.
  39. Conclusion: ' For many people changes in midlife is merely accepted as a normal part of life. For others, this period creates a panic or mid-life crisis that can negatively affect future growth and success. However, knowledge gained in younger years — through education and/or experience — can translate into greater success and personal satisfaction in later years. The 40s can be seen either as an end or a new beginning and a reshuffling of goals and priorities. How they are viewed is entirely up to the individual. In any case, it is a time to take stock of the past and plan for the future.

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