The midlife stages of human beings have at times been taken for granted by the society. According to some developmental psychologists, "midlife crisis" does not exist. However, this stage is categorized as being between 35-64 years and is accompanied by different physical, social and cognitive changes for the men and women. Nevertheless, some of the changes are shared by the two.
For most people, the height is known to reach its maximum when they attain 20 years of age and stabilizes until the age of 55. For the men, at age 55, their bones tend to become less dense, and they end up losing about one inch of their initial height (Papalia et al., 2009). The men can continue to gain weight through weight control and exercises strategies can be sued as a precaution. By age 60, there is a 10% decline in their strength particularly the legs and back muscles (Papalia et al., 2009). The men are more prone to presbycusis, unlike the women. According to the Seattle Longitudinal Study, it has revealed during the Middle Ages; the metal abilities continue to peak. However, the crystallized intelligence declines at a slower rate than the fluid intelligence. As such, the men tend to have the capacity to solve practical problems at a higher rate due to advancement in expertise. For the men, they tend to have enormous responsibilities regarding taking care of their families; thus, they limit their social interactions. Most of them are working and go home after work to stay with their families.
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At age 55, a significant number of the women see a reduction in their height by about 2 inches, and this is because they are highly prone to osteoporosis. There is a decrease in their strength, and by age 60, they lose about 15% of their back and legs strength (Nevid, 2012). They enter the female climacteric stage at age 45 whereby they now transition from being able to bear children into being unable (Nevid, 2012). The women's ability to deal with new problems and situations declines with age as the ability store data, capabilities, and stratagems they attained through learning and past involvements, and through their prior use of fluid intelligence continue to increase. For most women in the midlife adulthood, they limit their social interactions with people for some are working and they have children whom they are taking care off. As time goes by and they reach the age of 60, they tend to stay indoors, and some rather spend time with their family members including grandchildren (Nevid, 2012).
According to Erik Erikson's psychosocial theory of development, there are eight stages of human development with generativity versus stagnation being the seventh phase. It occurs at the ages of 40-65 during the middle adulthood stages (Kroger, 2007). At this stage, most adults are involved with taking care of things that will outlive them; frequently by nurturing offspring or contributing to constructive changes that value other individuals. The adults contribute to the society by having projects that will be of use to future generational offspring. Through generativity, one strives to leave a mark on the world while stagnation is when one becomes unsuccessful in finding a way to contribute to the society. Adults who become successful in this seventh stage will feel happy for they have contributed something that will be of use to future generations (Kroger, 2007). As such, during this phase, the life events are different from the early and late stages of life for they are not age-specific. It is when people tend to start experiencing "midlife-crisis." As they reflect back on what they have accomplished and look at their future, some may feel regrets. This is through looking at the missed opportunities they had in life yet they did not use them. For some, they might use this crisis to adjust their lives. For those who will become successful and turn their lives into becoming more productive experience generativity while those who will lack control over their lives and live in regrets will experience stagnation (Kroger, 2007).
Human development starts before birth until when an individual dies making it a lifelong process. Throughout this evolution, the individual experiences different physical changes, advancement in cognitive abilities which later starts declining and social development which is influenced by one’s physical growth and the environment around the person. This shapes the individual’s identity and how he/she relates to others. The physical, social and cognitive changes that one undergoes as they develop are essential for any lapse in either will affect their future lives. Any individual who does not become successful in the generativity versus stagnation stage may end up suffering from severe personal recession. This can see them being involved in drug, sexual and alcohol abuse and other infidelities. Therefore, it is important that through physical development, one will get an increased brain functioning allowing them to be cognitively sophisticated. In turn, this physical and cognitive development allows them to develop psychosocial abilities which will help them in the generativity versus stagnation stage.
The sandwich generation is made up of people who are taking care of their aging parents and children at the same time. People found in this generation are 45-65 years old, and they tend to suffer in silence (Bertini, 2011). This generation is faced with work-life related conflicts. They are forced at times to become absent from their jobs which will lead to low incomes and poor productivity. In the long run, they might end up losing their jobs. Financial strain is also another factor affecting this generation. Taking care of one's parents including children will amount to huge expenses in terms of health, education and other factors. For most parents, they might need specialized care which is expensive at times.
Seeking outside help from one's brothers and sisters can be of help (Bertini, 2011). This will see the holding of meetings so as to agree on how to take care of the aging parents. This can include pooling together resources that will see the aging parents' needs being fully met. The federal government nonprofit organizations have set out programs aimed at helping aging people (Bertini, 2011). One can seek assistance from the programs which offer almost their entire services free of charge. Seeking the help of a professional caregiver can help one in easing the burden of taking care of parents and children. The caregiver will ensure that they fulfill all the needs of the aging parents. The caregiver will not just satisfy the day-to-day requirements of the parents but also offer them companionship.
Over the past 40 years, the USA has seen various historical changes some of which have affected the adults found in the middle life adult stages. In the 1970s, the USA saw massive changes in civil rights which advocated for equality. As such, most people from the African-American community and other minority communities started getting employments. This meant that the whites saw a reduction in employment opportunities for they occupied a huge part of work circle. A great depression hit the USA in mid-2007 which saw millions of people losing their jobs. At the time, most of the adults in the middle life stages were working which saw them losing their jobs thus straining their future lives more.
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References
Bertini, K. (2011). Strength for the sandwich generation: Help to thrive while simultaneously caring for our kids and our aging parents . Santa Barbara, Calif: Praeger
Kroger, J. (2007). Identity development: Adolescence through adulthood . Thousand Oaks, Calif: Sage Publications.
Nevid, J. S. (2012). Essentials of psychology: Concepts and applications . Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.
Papalia, D. E., Olds, S. W., & Feldman, R. D. (2009). Human development . New York: McGraw-Hill.
