The age between 40 and 65 years is in developmental psychology terms known as middle adulthood or midlife (Karl, Ateah & Cavanaugh, 2006). There can however be a range of up to 10 years, on either side of the numbers, making the range of middle adulthood between 30 and 75 years. In addition to the “age” definition, there are two other disputing definitions of middle adulthood. According to Freund & Ritter (2009), middle adulthood is on one hand a time of heightened responsibilities, roles and restrained satisfaction. On the other hand it is an individual’s peak-time in terms of physical health, work and social relationships. It is perhaps these conflicting descriptions which lead to the psychological or developmental crisis that is noted in individuals at middle adulthood. This crisis is faced by both men and women and it is during the middle age years when the idea of aging becomes a reality. According to data from the Office of National Statistics from a survey conducted in 2015, life satisfaction and happiness are at their lowest levels in individuals who are in there middle years of life (Lachman, 2015). The statistics also show that the level of anxiety in middle aged adults is also considerably high. This therefore indicates that middle adulthood is a developmental stage with a great deal of psychosocial challenges and not enough studies have been conducted to explore the topic more.
Considering the fact that there has not been a lot of research conducted in this area, middle adulthood is basically a period of lifespan development that has least been studied. As a matter of fact, till the 1970’s, psychologist and researchers defined adulthood as a single developmental stage (Karl, Ateah & Cavanaugh, 2006). However, a certain research conducted in the recent past established that during middle adulthood women manifest psychological and mental disorders 5-times fold more than men (Lachman, 2015. Therefore, the purpose of this research paper is to dig deep into the middle adulthood developmental stage and establish all the factors affecting the life of women at this stage as well as their psychosocial challenges. In addition the paper will also attempt to establish the similarities as well as the differences between the challenges that African-American and Caucasian women in middle adulthood developmental stage face.
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With middle adulthood being considered the most critical phase of a person’s life, it is a stage where an individual goes through numerous life experiences, which in one way or another, serve as a contribution to their personality development. Accompanied by these experiences, are challenges which are as a result of various changes which occur in the life of an individual. For instance, it is during middle adulthood that most people become grandparents. In addition to this, there are other challenges which include; loss of parents, thereby experiencing grief, preparation for late adulthood, adjustment to home life without children and caregiving for the aging or ailing spouses or parents. Parents who become obsessed or excessively concerned with their children fail to acknowledge that the children have matured, which may lead to conflicts between them. Therefore, the life of a woman in the middle adulthood developmental stage is affected by a wide range of psychosocial factors which then affect the quality of her life and her relationship with other people. Moreover, the realization that one is no longer in their prime years can have detrimental effects on the woman (Sharifi, Anoosheh, Foroughan, & Kazemnejad, 2014).
In view of Erik Erickson’s theory of psychosocial development, middle adulthood is all about Generativity. He explained challenges during middle adulthood arise due to conflicting life issues where there is Generativity (“feeling of achievement which is expressed in terms of parenting and mentoring” as well as Stagnation (“feeling of suppression”). In Generativity, the adult feels that the responsibility of guiding the next generation is upon him/her ("Crisis in Middle Adulthood: Age 45–65," n.d.). In stagnation, the individual feels like they have minimal or no contribution to the next generation, i.e. invalidism and self-absorption. The various duties of life associated with this developmental stage, may cause serious mental disorders such as depression and anxiety. One good example of the pressures of life responsibilities that fall on a middle-aged woman is when a parent fall ill. In most cultures, the woman in the family has to take the responsibility of taking care of the ailing parent. A survey carried out by Adult Psychiatric Morbidity in 2007 found out that there was a five-percent increase of number of women suffering from a common mental health disorder when compared to a report regarding the same in 1993 (Luong, Charles, & Fingerman, 2010).
The considerable change of statistics can be attributed to the fact that most women in their middle life are caught in situations where they not only face financial difficulties, but also emotional distress. In the past years women were usually stay-at-home mothers and therefore had no imminent pressures hence the lower number of women suffering from mental conditions. In addition to a middle aged woman being overwhelmed by responsibilities, another factor that may affect the quality of their life is the need to reassert their youthful self. Actions that most women take to achieve this feeling include; dressing in youthful styles, performing cosmetic surgeries and improving their social lives. The underlying cause of such actions may be feelings of loneliness, uselessness and isolation (Lachman, 2015).
An interesting fact to note is that the burden of life responsibilities of an African-American woman is way higher than that of a Caucasian middle-aged woman. This is in light of a study conducted by Pew-Research Centre in 2016, which established that over the last two decades there has been a widening gap between the wealth of African Americans and Whites ("1. Demographic trends and economic well-being," 2016). Lack of inadequate resources for survival leaves the African-Americans pressurized to provide for and take care of their families. This leads to increased distress of the women in these families. However, weight gain associated with middle adulthood affects both Caucasians and African-American women. This is because in most cases, this weight gain, which normally occurs around the waist is as a result of biological processes which are slow metabolism rates associated with this developmental stage. In addition to these factors, menopause, which is literally end of the reproductive years of a woman, kicks in during the middle adulthood. This phenomenon may result to women some women feeling less feminine while other women may perceive menopause positively. The gradual decrease of hormonal levels associate with menopause may aggravate symptoms of depression and anxiety in middle aged women (Luong, Charles, & Fingerman, 2010).
When all these factors are put in the picture, today’s middle aged woman is faced with numerous psychosocial challenges. In between taking care of sick relatives, taking care of one’s children and managing a full-time career, the woman is left with no time to think about their personal development. This ultimately leads to emotional distress which may require psychotherapy. Therefore in summary, women in middle adulthood go through a lot of frustrating and challenging experiences. Being the primetime of a woman’s life, there is need for extensive emotional studies, most especially on the negative feelings arising from stagnation which may result to major depressive disorders.
References
1. Demographic trends and economic well-being. (2016, June 27). Retrieved from http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2016/06/27/1-demographic-trends-and-economic-well-being/
Crisis in Middle Adulthood: Age 45–65. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.cliffsnotes.com/study-guides/psychology/development-psychology/psychosocial-development-age-4565/crisis-in-middle-adulthood-age-4565
Freund, A. M., & Ritter, J. O. (2009). Midlife Crisis: A Debate. Gerontology , 55 (5), 582-591. doi: 10.1159/000227322
Kail, R. V., Ateah, C. A., & Cavanaugh, J. C. (2006). Human development: A life-span view . Toronto: Thomson Nelson
Lachman, M. E. (2015). Mind the Gap in the Middle: A Call to Study Midlife. Research in Human Development , 12 (3-4), 327-334. doi:10.1080/15427609.2015.1068048
Luong, G., Charles, S. T., & Fingerman, K. L. (2010). Better with age: Social relationships across adulthood. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships , 28 (1), 9-23. doi: 10.1177/0265407510391362
Sharifi, K., Anoosheh, M., Foroughan, M., & Kazemnejad, A. (2014). Barriers to Middle-Aged Women’s Mental Health: A Qualitative Study. Iranian Red Crescent Medical Journal , 16 (6). doi:10.5812/ircmj.18882
