MIDDLE
ADULTHOOD:
PHYSICAL,
COGNITIVE AND
SOCIO-
EMOTIONAL
DEVELOPMENT
Developmental Psychology for Health Science
Muhamad Ariff Ibrahim, PhD
Learning
Objectives
▰Discuss physical changes in
middle adulthood.
▰Identify cognitive changes in
middle adulthood.
▰Describe the socio-emotional
development in middle adulthood
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PHYSICAL
DEVELOPME
NT
WHEN ARE WE
MIDDLE-AGED?
• Developmental psychologists consider middle
adulthood to span the years from 40 to 60 or
65.
• The years between 60 to 65 serve as
transition years into late adulthood.
• Inter-individual variability:
No two people age in the same way or at the
same rate.
4
CHANGING MIDLIFE
▰ For many years, middle age is a
time for:
Transmitting
A decline in Increasing
knowledge to the
physical abilities responsibility
next generation
Reaching and
maintaining Balancing work
career and relationships
satisfaction
5
VISIBLE SIGNS
▰ Usually the first outwardly visible signs of aging are
apparent by the 40s or 50s.
Grey hair occurs due to Wrinkling and sagging of
decrease of melanin skin 6
STRENGTH, JOINTS AND
BONES
Sarcopenia: age-related loss of
muscle mass and strength
Cushions for bone movement become
less efficient, often leading to joint
stiffness and more difficulty in movement
Progressive bone loss
7
VISION AND
HEARING
Vision Hearing
The loss vision A decline in the
sharpness is more sensitivity to high
noticeable pitches
The ability to focus on Men experience it
near objects sooner than women do
deteriorates rapidly in
the 40s
8
LUNGS
▰ At about age 55, the
protein in the lung tissue
becomes less elastic,
decreasing lung capacity.
▰ This can make
breathing slightly more
difficult as you get older
9
HEALTH AND
DISEASE
▰Chronic disorders are
▻ rare in early adulthood but increase in middle
age.
▻ characterized by slow onset and long duration
▰ Ways to increase health during middle
adulthood:
▻ Regular medical checkups
▻ Paying attention to diet
▻ Exercising, avoiding smoking
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MENOPAUSE
▰ Menopause is the complete cessation of a
women’s menstruation, which usually
occurs in the late 40s or early 50s.
▰ There is a dramatic decline in the production
of estrogen by the ovaries.
▰ This decline produces some uncomfortable
symptoms like :
▻ Nausea, fatigue and rapid heartbeat.
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▻ Depression
HORMONAL CHANGES
IN MEN
▰ Men experience hormonal changes in their
50s and 60s, but nothing like the dramatic
drop in estrogen that women experience.
▰ Testosterone production begins to decline
about 1% a year during middle adulthood
and sperm count shows a slow decline, but
men do not lose their fertility in middle
age.
12
STRESS
▰ Workloads may contribute to
stress.
▰ Stress may be linked to the
increase in:
▻ Cancer incidence
▻ Higher cholesterol levels
▻ A greater risk of heart disease
13
2
COGNITIVE
DEVELOPME
NT
EXPERTISE
It involves having an extensive, highly
organized knowledge and
understanding of a particular domain
It often shows up more in
middle adulthood than in
early adulthood
15
MEMORY
▰ People in middle and late adulthood perform less
well than young adults at
▻ Memorizing lists of words, Number or passages
▰ Less able to keep information in working memory
long enough to memorize it as we age.
▰ General knowledge is expanded during middle
adulthood due to interest in new areas.
▰ Procedural memory such as riding a bike or
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driving a car can be maintained for a lifetime.
INTELLIGENCE
Fluid Crystallized
Intelligence Intelligence
• Knowledge that comes from
• Ability to learn new prior learning and past
knowledge. experiences.
• Ability to think quickly to • As we age and accumulated
come out with solution to a new knowledge and
problem understanding, crystallized
• Decrease with age intelligence become
• E.g: Learning new things or stronger
• E.g: Knowledge of
language
geographical facts, general
information
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SPEED OF INFORMATION
PROCESSING
▰ Processing speed is a cognitive ability that refers to
the time it takes a person to do a mental task.
It is related to the speed in which a person can
understand
and react to the information they receive:
• * Visual (letters and numbers)
• * Auditory (language)
• * Movement.
▰ The decline is not dramatic and it is stronger for
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women than for men.
EXAMPLE OF PROCESSING
SPEED
▰ Does it take you an hour to do an assignment
that takes others only 30 minutes?
▰ Do you have a hard time following instructions
or planning a specific activity, especially when
you don't have a lot of time to finish it?
▰ Do you do poorly on exams (because exam do
have time), even when you have the
knowledge about it?
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MINIMIZING COGNITIVE
DECLINE
Remain
healthy
Being
Remain
open to
intellectually HOW?
new
active
ideas
Being
satisfied
with what
one has
achieved in 21
life
3
SOCIO-
EMOTIONAL
DEVELOPME
NT
GENERATIVITY VERSUS
STAGNATION
▰Erikson’s 7th psychosocial
developmental stage:
When individuals have When individuals
a sense of guiding the feel that they have
next generation done nothing for the
next generation.
GENERATIVITY STAGNATION
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TYPE OF
GENERATIVITY
▰Middle-aged adults develop
generativity through:
Generativity Explanation
Biological generativity Adults conceive and transmit genetic
characteristics to the next generation
Parental generativity Adults provide nurturance and guidance
to children.
Work generativity Adults develop skills that are passed
down to others.
Cultural generativity Adults create, renovate, and transmit
some aspects of culture
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JOB SATISFACTION
▰ Job satisfaction increases steadily throughout
adulthood.
▻ Increased expertise and income
▻ Workers are more realistic in middle adulthood
▰ This is true for
▻ both college-educated and non-college-educated adults.
▻ both women and men.
▰ There is a greater commitment to and
involvement in our work as we get older.
CAREER CHALLENGES
AND CHANGES
▰ The challenges include :
▻ Rapid developments in information technologies.
▻ Downsizing of organizations.
▻ Early retirement.
▰ Some individuals decide that they don’t want to do
the same work they’ve been doing for the rest of
their lives.
LEISURE
▰ Leisure refers to the pleasant times after
work when individuals are free to pursue
activities and interests of their own
choosing—hobbies.
▰ Some developmentalists believe that
middle age is a time of questioning how
time should be spent and of reassessing
priorities.
▰ For many, middle adulthood is the first time
in their lives when they have the
opportunity to diversify their interests. 27
MARRIAGE
▰ For married individuals in midlife, most voiced
considerable satisfaction with being married.
▰ A recent large scale study found that 72% of married
midlife individuals reported that their marriage was
either “excellent” or “very good.”
▰ Getting married in midlife:
▻ Lowered men’s anxiety, depression and feelings of
vulnerability.
▻ Women felt more positive emotions than they had
previously. 28
DIVORCE
▰ Some of the main reasons men and women
seek divorce in middle adulthood:
▻ Women
▻ Verbal, physical or emotional abuse
▻ Cheating
▻ Men
▻ No obvious reason; just fell out of love
(life begins at 40)
▻ Cheating
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▻ Different values or lifestyles
THE EMPTY NEST
SYNDROME
▰ It is a 'condition' that can affect a woman
around the time that one or more of her
children leave home.
▰ Nowadays, many middle-aged women do
not experience “empty nest syndrome”
because:
▻ They take advantage of their new time by being
in the workplace and finding life satisfaction in
other activities besides childrearing and
homemaking
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GRANDPARENTING
▰ Having grandchildren is viewed as a
positive life event.
▰ Many adults become grandparents during
middle age
▰ Grandchildren tend to be more involved
with maternal grandparents than paternal
grandparents.
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FAMILY CARE-
GIVING
▰ Middle-aged adults are often described as the
“sandwich” generation, caught between aging
parents and their young adult children.
▰ Approximately 47% spend an average of 2 hours
per week in caregiving-related situations.
▰ Balancing work, family and caregiving is putting
extra stress on the affected individuals.
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THANK YOU
