The following will be discussed in this chapter: Focusing on adults at mid-life, do adults keep developing? Discourses about adulthood, physiological changes at mid-life, changes in the body’s reproductive system at mid-life: the climacteric, psychological changes: is there a ‘mid-life crisis’?. | Chapter 10 The Lives of Adults Copyright 2010 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs to accompany Claiborne & Drewery, Human Development 10- Focusing on adults at mid-life What ages? Roughly mid-30s to around 60 But no clear beginning or end Cohorts have different life experiences Baby boomers - Large post-WW II population - NZ born 1946- 1972 What defines YOUR cohort? Diversity in adult lives Age of having a child or losing a parent will differ across people Copyright 2010 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs to accompany Claiborne & Drewery, Human Development 10- Do adults keep developing? No one universal plan for every person’s development ‘Stages’: very difficult to define for adults, so avoid this term! Erikson’s theory focuses on development through the lifespan, while Piaget and Freud stop at physiological maturity US-based research (. Levinson 1978, 1996) has a social and cultural context that may not be so relevant here Copyright 2010 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs to accompany Claiborne & Drewery, Human Development 10- Discourses about adulthood [Refresher on discourse: words and practices that seem to define reality in an unquestionable way] Adulthood is the goal of childhood and the end of playtime Adults are sensible, mature grown-ups Autonomy is the key to being an adult Copyright 2010 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs to accompany Claiborne & Drewery, Human Development 10- Physiological changes at mid-life Ageing begins from the moment you’re born! Common markers of ageing at mid-life: - grey hair, skin changes - eyes have less flexible focus & require more light Changes require adaptations in behaviour . care in night driving Copyright 2010 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs to accompany Claiborne & Drewery, Human Development 10- Changes in the body’s reproductive system at mid-life: the climacteric Menopause: - Final cessation of menstruation in women - Average age is 52 in NZ (Mackenzie, 1984) . | Chapter 10 The Lives of Adults Copyright 2010 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs to accompany Claiborne & Drewery, Human Development 10- Focusing on adults at mid-life What ages? Roughly mid-30s to around 60 But no clear beginning or end Cohorts have different life experiences Baby boomers - Large post-WW II population - NZ born 1946- 1972 What defines YOUR cohort? Diversity in adult lives Age of having a child or losing a parent will differ across people Copyright 2010 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs to accompany Claiborne & Drewery, Human Development 10- Do adults keep developing? No one universal plan for every person’s development ‘Stages’: very difficult to define for adults, so avoid this term! Erikson’s theory focuses on development through the lifespan, while Piaget and Freud stop at physiological maturity US-based research (. Levinson 1978, 1996) has a social and cultural context that may not be so relevant here Copyright 2010 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty .
