Midlife can be one of the most stress-filled phases in this journey called life. It is a time of re-evaluation that leads us to deal with the most complex of life’s issues and pushes us to question long‐held beliefs and values and look at who we are and who we want to become. During middle adulthood, people tend to establish careers, settle down within a relationship, begin families and develop a sense of being a part of the bigger picture (Cooke & Rousseau, 1984). The object during this time is to give back to society through raising children, being productive at work, and becoming involved in community activities and organizations (Wang, 2006). By failing to achieve these objectives, we become stagnant and feel unproductive. Erickson refers to this as Generativity verses Stagnation. Erickson’s Theory of Psychosocial Development has eight stages with two possible outcomes in each stage of development. The theory says that people who successfully complete each stage will end up with a healthy personality and have more successful interactions with others. Those who are not successful in completing a stage can end up having a harder time completing further stages and tend to have a more unhealthy personality and sense of being. However, these stages can be completed successfully at a later date (cited in Halim, 2012).
The couple that this research will cover is Jill and Pete Smith. Both are in their early forties and have two kids. Recently their family moved from Long Beach to Garden Grove. Pete and Jill recently purchased a new house while also just starting new jobs. The relocation was based on moving out of the two bedroom apartment so that the family could have more space and hopefully be closer to their new jobs. With the ki...
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...veryone can continue use their electronics to the best and fastest capabilities.
Among the generative matter found in this interview, I believe future research could be based on weather among middle aged parents weather career change affects the children of the household positively or negatively and the duration of the affect. I would also like to know how increased hours at work for both parents affect the home life of the family. With both parents having no choice but earn an income these days, I wonder what will happen to the modern family. Will parents and children be as close as they are today? I would hypothesize that if this trend continues that families will become more distant and detached than the modern family of today. With this knowledge we could determine a balance between home and work life that will healthy for both work and family relationships.
In the middle adulthood life stage the developmental task are “managing a career, nurturing intimate relationships, expanding caring relationships, and managing the household”. (Cite From Book) June is experiencing the psychological crises of generativity versus stagnation. June is comfortable taking her mother’s place at the table in the United States and not even looking for her sisters. However, when her aunties told her that they had received a letter from her sisters she fought the stagnation part of the psychological crises. According to Newman and Newman generativity is “to bring into existence”. (CITEp.513). This could be though “introducing new things, ideas, beings, or bonds to relationship-all of which not had existed before”. (CITE) June then switch to generativity in where she wanted to do what was best for her mother’s future generations. June wanted to meet her siblings to discuss the type of person their mother was and tell the sacrifice their mother made for them. June felt obligated to meet her sisters to contribute and bring forth the bond with her
Previous generations have a strong belief of keeping work and home life separate; that work is for work and home is for play (Rampell, 2011, para 21). Today’s professionals do not seem to abide by similar beliefs, constantly crossing the borders of one into the other. While many recognize this as an issue that could result in employees being less productive, it has actually resulted in them accepting that their work may run late into the evening or even into the weekend. I agree with this completely in that I grew up being taught that business is business and personal is personal; you leave your home life at the door. But now times have changed, and my weekends are no longer dedicated to my home life, but for work, because I attend classes during the week. Also, in my line of work in the Allied Health industry, it is a requirement to work off hours. Long gone are the days of working nine to five, Monday through Friday; technology and the demand of wanting affairs done and done as soon as possible, has made it so the “work week” is now 24-7. “Jon Della Volpe, the director of polling at Harvard Institute of Politics, said, ‘Some experts also believe that today’s young people are better at quickly switching from one task to another, given their exposure to so many stimuli during their childhood and adolescence’” (Rampbell,
The crisis can be brought on as the result of biological and psychological changes, such as disease or the lack of youthful adventure. In addition, many adults come into mid-life having not realized their childhood dream and find themselves struggling with the transition to complete any dream. What is more, mid-life crisis is connected to ones ability to re-establish meaning and purpose in life that is greater than self-fulfillment, such providing a legacy of their children. In essence, a mid-life crisis can be a very real season in the life of an adult where they aim to transition form young adulthood to late adulthood. Yet as Yana Weaver (2009) writes, “Reflection and re-evaluation of one’s accomplishments does not have to be seen necessarily as a time of crisis and negative experience.” Therefore, middle-aged adults do not have to fear a mid-life crisis, but rather see it as a season to refocus and choose to finish life strong. An excellent example of this would be from the life of Solomon in the Bible. Solomon wrote his book of Ecclesiastes about the meaning and purpose of life. After searching for it all and having it all, he concluded it is all “meaningless, like chasing after the wind” (Ecclesiastes 2:17). Perhaps this is what many mid-lifers feel. But Solomon passes on his wisdom to the future generation when he says, “Finishing is better than starting. Patience is better than pride” (Ecclesiastes 7:8). Long before any psychologist tried to figure out mid-life, Solomon knew that finishing strong was so important and giving one’s life for others would be the most fulfilling joy one could experience. Therefore, all adults would do well to decide in mid-life what they will do to finish strong and pour into future
Adulthood is the time in life when a person has reached maturity and is aware of the responsibilities that they have to take on. People’s lives are centered on their careers and relationships, leaving less time for much of anything else. Adulthood has three different stages; there is young adulthood (18-40), middle adulthood (41-65), and late adulthood (65-to death), according to Levinson’s Seasons of Life (Levinson, 2010). Individuals experience so many changes to their physical body, cognitive abilities and social development throughout different stages of life. Looking at all the differences that are experienced during these stages of development in early, middle and late adulthood. As an individual we may experience many changes in the body and the mind but the changes in
Erik Erikson developed eight psychosocial stages that occur through life. These stages help parents of younger children understand what the child is thinking and why they are acting the way that they do. For a person to become a well-rounded adult they need to succeed in each level. This essay will discuss the first six stages into young adulthood.
Jeffrey Arnott’s theory of “emerging adulthood” provides a context in which I can evaluate my life in terms of my remerging development into adulthood. I am in my early twenties. Physically, I am a fully developed female that understands my own biological functions with great awareness. Cognitively, I am in the process of developing critical thinking skills by attending college, which has allowed me to develop my own ways of processing thoughts and ideas outside of my family and high school. This cognitive development is a very difficult process, which continually engages me to open my mind and learn new ways of thinking about life, society, and mental development. Socially, I am also developing a broader sense of cultural, racial, and think
In conclusion, Erickson has taught us that we all at some point in life go through 8 different psychosocial stages of life. Each step has to be completed in order to have gained knowledge and to be able to be successful in the next stage of development. Researching this topic has taught me that we can’t skip over skills and expect to have success or live happily ever after. I now realize how important learning from my mistakes can be. Childhood becomes the remembered past and adulthood the anticipated future (McAdams, 2001).
From the life course perspective, midlife behavior has both antecedents and consequences. Earlier life experiences can serve either as risk factors or as protective factors for the health and well-being during this stage of development. According to the study Journey from Childhood to Midlife completed by Werner and Ruth Smith in 2001, by middle adulthood, most people have noted a balancing in their lives and improvement in overall quality of their lives. The period of early adulthood had provided positive turning points such as community college, marriage to a stable partner or military service. A contributing factor is relationships that provided emotional support as well. The presence of a nurturing caregiver from infancy, as well as emotional support along the way from extended family, peers, and caring adults outside the family created a positive environment for the person to continue along the life course. Erik Erikson, Karl Jung and Daniel Levinson are three prominent developmental theorists on human development on the journey of life.
Traditionally the most dominant family form in the United States has been the married couple family. The image of two parents with children living under one roof is the norm for a married couple family. In a married couple family one or both parents work and income levels are gener...
In each stage a person is faced with decisions which he will unconsciously make with either a positive or negative outcome (Vogel-Scibilia et al, 2009). Success in later stages is partially predetermined by successes or failures in earlier stages (Agronin, 2014). Success in the three stages of adulthood hinges on whether the individual healthily navigated through “identity vs. confusion” in adolescence which in turn is affected by the childhood stages before it (Agronin, 2014). The first stage begins at infancy when the baby will be lead into the first decision of trust vs. mistrust and from then onwards it will be faced with another seven stages (Schoklitsch et al, 2012). The stage being focussed on in this essay occurs in middle adulthood between the ages of 40 – 60, when the key decision being made according to Erikson is generativity vs. stagnation (Vogel-Scibilia et al, 2009). Generativity is defined by Erikson as “the concern in establishing and guiding the next generation” and was cited by him and other academics as a key indicator of successful aging (Schoklitsch et al, 2012). In order to succeed in the generativity vs. stagnation stage, an adult must establish the willingness to pass on their knowledge and values to the younger generation (Busch et al, 2012). Failure to properly achieve generativity can be caused
Erik Erikson’s theories of development are among some of the best-known theories regarding aging and developing. Erikson divided the stages of life into eight categories: trust vs. mistrust, autonomy vs. shame, initiative vs. guilt, industry vs. inferiority, identity vs. confusion, intimacy vs. isolation, generativity vs. stagnation, and integrity vs. despair. Each stage offers its unique age frame and focus.
Weiss, Robert S., and Scottq A. Bass, eds. Challenges of the third age: Meaning and purpose in later life. New York: Oxford University Press, Inc., 2002. 41-43. Print.
...s avoided, ensuing fear may lead to personal isolation that is conducive to feelings of depression. Generativity versus stagnation occurs during middle adulthood. He or she founds his or her career and is now occupied with the larger scope of things. He or she is productive by rearing children, producing things at work, and connecting through organizations. Without meeting these goals, he or she feels idle within society. Ego Integrity versus despair is the final stage in Erikson’s theory. When an individual reaches an elderly age, he or she begins to reduce productivity and attempts to find new meaning in retirement. This stage is when an individual reminisces about his or her own successes and perceives his or her self as successful. When observation does not bring forth feelings of accomplishment, feelings of hopelessness and defeat may result due to unmet goals
The dramatic changes that have occurred in American families is due to a high divorce rate. Due to divorce, there are many single parent families, and there are also blended families because of remarriage (Kendall, 2017). There is a need for both parents to earn an income; this is even more important for a single parent family, where the
Emerging adults are always in the search of their own identity while experimenting with their life, love life and career path. Constant changes in emerging adult’s life are common. From changing residential place to love life, work and education, instability often presents during emerging adulthood (Santrock, 2013). In addition, emerging adults tend to place focus on themselves where they have no commitment and responsibilities toward others. This provides them a great chance to exercise their own will and to execute their plans for the future. During emerging adulthood, many feel like as if they do not belong to either adolescents or adult. The transition ends only when they have distinct marks of an adult. According to Arnett (as cited in Santrock, 2014), “emerging adulthood is the age of possibilities” (p. 296). The age of possibilities is when an individual has the opportunity to turn things around in life, especially when they are from a poor family