In: Psychology
How could job loss in Middle Adulthood be viewed in Erikson's model? What would be an alternative view?
Erikson's model of psychosocial development is a very significant, highly regarded and meaningful concept.
Middle adulthood is a time of stability, discovery, and psychosocial growth. This review applies the life span developmental perspective to advance counselors’ understanding of psychosocial development during middle adulthood, specifically, midlife adults’ sense of self, perceptions of aging, developmental tasks, and contexts.
Although middle adulthood (ages 40 to 65 years) spans about one third of the life span, it is little researched relative to childhood and older adulthood.
Myths about midlife abound, and it is often portrayed colloquially as a time of crisis and loss. Research instead suggests that middle adulthood is a time of stability, discovery, and growth.
The life span developmental approach can be applied to understand psychosocial development in middle adulthood, specifically, the dynamic interactions among individuals’ self‐constructions, developmental tasks, and immersion in multiple contexts.
Middle‐aged adults vary in the extent to which they experience turmoil, rooted in their characteristics and contexts. Adults who experience a crisis in midlife have often experienced personal upheavals and psychological problems earlier in life.
Most individuals who experience a crisis by the age of 50 tend to attribute it to challenging and confusing life events, such as career and marital transitions, rather than age.
Changes in circumstances and contexts (e.g., job loss, illness, residential change) occur at all times in adulthood, triggering responses that some adults and their families interpret as midlife crises and others as turning points in life.
Regardless of whether adults experience change as a turning point or crisis, research suggests that midlife is a time of increasing life satisfaction, self‐esteem, and well‐being.
An awareness of midlife adults’ changing sense of self and the major psychosocial tasks of middle age can frame discussions and interpretations of client narratives.
For example, counselors may help adults reframe life stories that emphasize negative experiences into turning points for growth and opportunities to demonstrate resilience, constructing meaning from adversity and encouraging a more complex and integrated sense of identity.
The ultimate goal is to help the client find continuity between the past and present and gain insight into how they have developed over their lives and become the person they are now.