Question

You are explaining lifespan development to someone who hasn't taken this course. Explain the most important similarities and differences between Middle adulthood and late adulthood

Answer 1

Lifespan Development in easy terms is an holistic approach of development that conveys to us the changes and growth from conception till death. In context of psychology, it is also known as developmental psychology. Developmental domains is scientifically studied across physical, cognitive(which is thought related) and social domains (related to intra and interpersonal development).

Different theorists have focused on different areas to explain how we develop during different phrases of our life.

Most common phases that our recognised while focusing on lifespan development is: Infancy stage (Birth-2 years), Early Childhood(3-5 years), Middle and Late Childhood (6-12 years), Adolescence (13-18 years), Early Adulthood (19-20 years), Middle Adulthood (30-60 years) and Late Adulthood(Above 60 years till death).

If we are to focus on the two specific spans of middle adulthood and late adutlhood. Following are the most important similarities and differences between the two spans:

The main developmental goal of middle adulthood according to a very reputed theorist in the developmental field : Eric Erikson is Generativity vs Stagnation: Contributing to the society and being a part of a family which in simple words there is a constant developmental fight between being productive and the lack of producitivity due to other physical and social limitations developing with age. The individual is constantly trying to be generative in nature and prevent any kind of stagnation. In this time period aging becomes more evident and noticeable. Individuals are also at their peak in terms of social and romantic relationships and also in terms of their career. A lot of challenges are witnessed in this age but at the same time there is also a great level of expertise and efficiency because of expereince to deal with these challenges and come up with more effective solutions. Health concerns also physically becomes more evident in this stage of life. Sometimes adult also go through what we commonly know as Midlife Crisis. In terms of mental capacity, flexibility decreases which means the learning new things and retrieveing from memory becomes harder than usual.

In this time period alot of challenges are faced in the middle adulthood: losing loved ones and dealing with giref, adjusting to life without children at home, seeing their children develop into adults and beginning their own life, becoming grandparents, caregiving for older parents or spouses and finally preparing for the last stage of life: late adutlhood.

Coming to late adulthood, according to Erikson the developmental task for this stage is Integrity vs  Despair. This is measured by the view the individuals have about themselves. If they feel they have significantly achieved in life and are satisifed with the same they may feel integrity where as if they feel they did not measure up to certain standards which they set they face despair. Above 60 years is known as late adulthood. As peope enter this age, there is more dependency due to which older adults suffer with depression, shame or guilt as in some societies dependency of the older adults may be considered a burden. Similar to the middle adulthood age, due to losing a lot of loved ones to death and disease, there maybe feelings of isolation and loneliness therefore staying active and interested in life becomes a chore at this stage.

There is major social and emotional difficulty for late adulthood as in most cultures there is more focus on youth as compared to elders. Like middle adulthood physical limitations increase with time and hence activities that are essential or have an entertainment value cannot be carried out with same energy. With some people mental ability also significantly decreases.

These are the major similarities and differences between middle and late adulthood.