The major personal and social hazards of middle age stem from the tendency of many men and women to accept the cultural stereotype of the middle-aged person as fat, forty, and balding. Because of a ...
Social adjustments in middle age are less affected by traditional beliefs and stereotypes than personal adjustments. However, social adjustments are affected to some extent by traditional beliefs such as “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks” – ...
Social adjustments at every age are determined by two factors: first, how adequately people play the social roles that are expected of them and, second, how much personal satisfaction they derive from playing ...
One of the major developmental tasks of middle age is learning how to use leisure time in a satisfying way. This is an especially difficult task because men and women now have more leisure time than they did in ...
Regardless of how much or how little money they may have, middle-aged men and women are interested in money though the emphasis of their interest may be different. Also, the interest men have in money during middle age is ...
Many middle-aged men and women show a greater interest in church and church-related activities than they did when they were younger, though this interest may be for reasons other than religious ones. For example, many middle-aged people, especially women ...
The second almost universal family-life hazard to good adjustment in old age is loneliness. Even when grown children live nearby, the elderly person’s contacts with them may be only occasional, and their companionship far less than was the case ...
When the working life of men and women comes to an end, they tend to focus their interests and attention on their homes and family life. Because of this concentration of interest and attention, conditions which previously may have been ...
A radical change in the self-concept at any age and for any reason is likely to lead to a breakdown in the personality structure of minor or major severity. Advancing age and its pressures bring an increase in personality breakdowns ...
The fourth criterion that may be used to assess the kind of adjustment elderly people make is the degree of self-satisfaction or happiness they experience. According to Erikson, old age is characterized by either ego-integrity or despair. When the achievements ...