Adulthood, midlife & ageing

Levinson: season's of a man's life. Using the 'seasons' metaphor - adult life as a sequence of 4 overlapping developmental eras

• Birth to adolescence: birth, childhood and adolescence. Early adult transition from 17-22
• Early adulthood (22-40): entering the adult world, age 30 transition, and settling down. Mid-life transition from 40-45. Creation of a 'new life' structure. Biologically at the peak of life cycle. Identify and pursue important aspirations, to find a place in society, form close relationships and establish a family. Often a mentor (older or more experienced person) is selected to provide advice and inspiration. Later part of this period in 30s is seen as settling down time, having found a niche and chosen a career
• Middle adulthood (45-60): entering middle adulthood, age 50 transition, culmination of middle adulthood. Late adult transition from 60-65. 80% of Levinson's sample experienced a mid-life crisis during this time - feeling trapped between generations with children growing up and learving home, as well as ageing parents requiring support. Greater individuation. May abruptly take a new career direction. Biological abilities are less but sufficient to permit the person to live an energetic and useful life
• Late adulthood (65+): many will have retired by this age but may continue to lead active lives

Central relationships in childhood (parents and siblings) mature but don't disappear - relationships evolve. New relationships are formed (romantic, professional, friendships, parenthood). Attachments are important and beneficial.

Most societies organise laws and practices around marriage or civil partnerships. In the West, 90% of adults marry at least once. Satisfaction looks like a U-shaped curve, major correlate of downturn or dip at the arrival of children. Women are most dissatisfied. Successful marriages involve commitment, communication, flexible to changes in partner, resolution of conflict and routine.

About 70% of older people are grandparents. Average age of becoming a grandparent is around early 50s - 54 years (Dench & Ogg, 2002). Timing may be early (25-37 years), on-time (42-57 years) or late (70+). On-time grandparents are most satisfied in their role. Late grandparents may find the role tiring. Early grandparents often feel they are too young to be grandparents.

Tinsley & Parke (1984) described indirect and direct influences of grandparents on grandchildren

• Indirect: financial and emotional support of parents. Role models of parenting
• Direct: surrogate parent to young grandchildren, companion and confidant, giving gifts, emotional support, social and family historian, role model for ageing

"Surrogate parent": grandparents often act as babysitters or childminders for working parents. It may be the most common form of non-parental care, though is often ignored in statistics. Dench & Ogg (2002): 53% of grandparents helped with daytime childcare at least monthly, and 22% weekly or more. Buchanan & Flouri (2008): according to grandchildren aged 11-16, 30% of maternal grandmothers provided regular caretaking, 40% occasional.

• Falbo (1991): 1460 Chinese children. Grandparental preschool care was associated with better school performance and positive child outcomes
• Hwang & St James-Roberts (1998): 2 studies of 7-13 year old children in extended families with grandparents vs. nuclear families in Korea - fewer problems, especially externalising behaviour
• In single-parent families, grandfather involvement correlated with greater positive emotion and settled behaviour especially for boys, and for 2 year olds (Radin, Oyserman & Benn, 1991)
• Buchanan & Flouri (1998): grandparent involvement correlated with greater grandchild adjustment, especially in single-parent families

Grandparents can be a 'buffer' in cases of parental stress, separation, and divorce.

They can provide stability, support and nurture to the grandchild(ren) and family, often providing financial assistance or child care (Dench & Ogg, 2002). Closeness to maternal (but not paternal) grandparents was significantly associated with grandchild adjustment when parents had separated (Lussier et al, 2002)

Values attached to age vary with culture e.g Western's individualistic culture involves self-help ethics, whereas more collectivist cultures associate age with wiseness and activity. Over 90% of 15 year olds hold negative stereotypes for older people.

Aspects of ageing:

• Physiological: greying/loss of hair, changes in skin, sleep pattern, appetite, loss of stature, more susceptible to many disease
• Psychological: intellectual functioning, cognitive and executive functions
• Social: opportunity for educational advancement, employment

Different types of intelligence have different age gradients. Fluid intelligence declines sharply with age, whereas crystallised declines slowly. Verbal, spacial, reasoning, number, and word fluency abilities all decline with age.

Intelligence involves several capacities. Cross-sectional comparisons of different age groups may confound age differences with cohort effects. Could cognitive decline be a 'myth'? Age effects can be mitigated by practice - there may be no age difference if the elderly stay active.