Andrew T Nilsson Ph D Eastern Connecticut State

Andrew T. Nilsson, Ph. D. Eastern Connecticut State University Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2003

HUMAN DEVELOPMENT A LIFE STAGE PERSPECTIVE (Adulthood in blue) . Boy � ¨ adolescent � ¨ husband/worker � ¨ family head/career � ¨ grandfather � ¨ retired � ¨ death Girl � ¨ adolescent � ¨ wife � ¨ mother � ¨ grandmother � ¨ widow � ¨ death Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2003

ERIKSON’S PSYCHO-SOCIAL CRISES AGE To 18 mo. ERIKSONIAN CRISIS Trust vs. mistrust 18 mo. - 3 yrs. 3 - 6 yrs. 6 -12 yrs. 12 -18 yrs. 20 -35 yrs. 35 -60 yrs. 65+ Autonomy vs. shame & doubt Initiative vs. guilt Industry vs. inferiority Identity vs. role confusion Intimacy vs. isolation Generativity vs. stagnation Ego integrity vs. despair DURATION 1 ½ yrs. 3 yrs. 6 yrs. 15 yrs. 25 yrs. ? • Developmental periods increase in duration • Individual differences increase as well Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2003

ERIKSON’S STAGES OF ADULT DEVELOPMENT • 20 -35 yrs. - Intimacy vs. isolation – The quest for intimacy – the ability to share one’s self with another person without being afraid of sacrificing one’s own identity. – Love and work – mate selection and career choice • 35 -60 yrs, - Generativity vs. stagnation – The need to be creative and productive in ways which will contribute to future generations; creating one’s legacy for the future. Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2003

DEVELOPMENTAL TASKS OF MID-LIFE Peck (1968) • Socializing vs. sexualizing – Redefine intimate relationships to value the individual, friendship, and compaionship, rather than sex alone. • Value wisdom vs. value physical power – Life experience and wisdom replaces phyical ability and attractiveness • Cathectic flexibility vs. cathectic impoverishment – The ability to shift one’s emotuional investment from one activity to another or from one individual to another • Mental flexibility vs. mental rigidity – Life-long learning; the ability to seek and adapt to new information and ideas Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2003

LEVINSON’S STAGES OF ADULT LIFE The Seasons of a Man’s Life (1978) Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2003

LEVINSON’S STAGES OF ADULT LIFE Levinson’s sample: • Levinson interviewed 40 men in four occupational groups (novelists, biologists, business executives, and factory workers) between the ages of 35 -45. Five percent were black. All had been married at least once. Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2003

LEVINSON’S STAGES OF ADULT LIFE Levinson viewed life as a series of periods formed around developmental tasks, the main goals, objectives, and concerns faced by individuals during each life period. A period ends when its tasks lose significance and new tasks emerge. Developmental transitions: • Existing life structure • Transition period – period of personal crisis and re-evaluation – Life structure questioned; new decisions made • Review and evaluate the past • Accept loses at the end of a period • Explore new options – decide what to keep and what to discard; consider possibilities for the future • New life structure – Structure building period – relative tranquility – Structure based on new decisions Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2003

STAGES OF ADULT LIFE EARLY ADULT TRANSITION (17 -22) • Move from pre-adulthood to adulthood – Graduation from school, move out of family home, go to work. – Independence from family. Financial and emotional autonomy. – College and military are transitional institutions – away from family but not total independence. – Make choices about how adult life will be lived • Men have a “dream, ” a vision of the future usually viewed in terms of career • Men have a “mentor, ” an older (8 -15 years) role model – someone with experience and seniority in the world the young adult wishes to enter. • Second important relationship – a woman who supports dream, makes man feel capable of obtaining it. Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2003

LEVENSON – STAGES OF ADULT LIFE • Entering the adult world (22 -28) – Explore and make commitments to adult roles – establish life style – Work leads to career choice – Intimate relationships lead to marriage, birth of children • Age 30 transition (28 -33) – – Reappraisal of early adult commitments and change Focus on adjustment and enrichment “If I am to change my life, I’d better do it now. ” Sometimes crisis; divorce, occupational change common • Settling down (33 -40) – culminating life structure for early adulthood – Apprenticeship over – time to be a successful, competent adult – BOOM period – Becoming One’s Own Man – independence from mentor – Deeply absorbed in commitments to occupation, family, and activities – Desire to get ahead, realize youthful ambitions Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2003

LEVENSON – STAGES OF ADULT LIFE • Midlife transition (40 -45) – – – Midlife crisis – “What have I done with my life? ” Come to terms with the dreams of one’s youth Work on discrepancy between what is and what will be Life takes on a new sense of urgency 80% of Levinson’s subjects went through personal crisis and re-evaluation – Crisis may include divorce, extramarital affair, occupational change Levinson stopped gathering data on his subjects at age 45. Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2003

LEVENSON – STAGES OF ADULT LIFE • Entering middle adulthood (45 -50) – Living out previously made changes – For many, the most satisfying, enriching time of life • Age 50 transition (50 -55) – Time of moderate crisis – Men “review where they have come from and make plans for where they are heading. ” • Culmination of middle adulthood (55 -60) – Finish framework of life structure for middle adulthood – A period of great fulfillment • Late adult transition (60 -65) – Ending middle age and preparing for late adulthood Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2003

APPLICATION OF LEVINSON’S THEORY TO WOMEN • Papulia and Olds (1992) study of dissertations: – The mentor - Women substantially less likely to have a mentor – Love relationship – Men seek women to support their dreams. Women seek a “special man” but see themselves as supporting his dreams. – The dream – Men find themselves by separating from family of origin and pursuing own interests. Women develop identities through responsibilities and attachments of relationships. – Men dream of occupational achievement, status accomplishment. Women – less clear dreams; more tentative mix of family and career interests. Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2003

LEVINSON’S STUDY OF WOMEN The Seasons of a Woman’s Life (1996) Levinson interviewed 45 women aged 35 -45 years, including 15 homemakers, 15 female executives in major corporate financial organizations, and 15 female faculty members. • Women, similar to men, go through age-linked developmental stages, often moving from one stage to the next through painful and turbulent periods of transition. • The homemakers dreamed in youth of traditional, family centered life. By mid-life: – – All but one working outside the home Half were legally divorced; most of the rest, psychologically divorced Motherhood was a less central component of their life structure Increased independence and desire to exist on more equal terms with men • Levinson concluded that a traditional marriage is no longer viable in our culture Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2003

LEVINSON’S STUDY OF WOMEN THE CAREER WOMEN • The career women dreamed in youth of modifying the traditional homemaker pattern. • At midlife: – Intense struggle between the “Traditional Homemaker Figure” and the internal Anti-Traditional figure – Attempting to be everything to everyone, seeking to have everything – Plagued by exhaustion, worries about their children, and exasperation with their spouses who fail to do their fair share of household responsibilities and child care. Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2003

LEVENSON – STAGES OF ADULT LIFE CRITICAL ASSESSMENT • Small, biased samples – Not a random cross-section of men or women. • Generational issues – Will future generations follow the same patterns? Practical application: – People seek help during periods of crisis – Understanding the difficulties of transitions from one stage of life to the next is useful for helping people understand work through the crises they experience. Tasks of transition periods: – Review and evaluate the past – Accept loses at the end of a period – Explore new options – decide what to keep and what to discard; consider possibilities for the future. Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2003

THINK AND SHARE LEVINSON’S STAGES OF ADULT LIFE • Locate yourself in Levinson’s stages of adult development. Are you “on task” according to his developmental model? • Envision your “dream. ” Does your gender influence your dream in the ways described by Papulia and Olds? Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2003