Present and Past in Middle Life

1st Edition - January 28, 1982
Editors: Dorothy H. Eichorn, John A. Clausen, Norma Haan
Language: English
eBook ISBN:
9 7 8 - 1 - 4 8 3 2 - 6 8 8 7 - 3

Present and Past in Middle Life presents an interdisciplinary focus on the life course from adolescence to middle age. Part I is a review of the social history and life experiences… Read more

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Present and Past in Middle Life presents an interdisciplinary focus on the life course from adolescence to middle age. Part I is a review of the social history and life experiences that are shaped by the timing of historical forces exemplified in the Oakland Growth Study and the Guidance Study in California. Part II deals with the intrapersonal dimensions, covering topics such as health in the middle years, adolescence experience, personality, and IQ up to middle age. This part discusses the effects and changes brought by the Binet IQ tests, and then evaluates the correlation of IQ and adaptability to change. Physiological health and the ill effects of alcohol consumption are also explained in this part. The book also discusses the child-centered personality theory that the past is the cause and the present is the outcome. One paper analyzes adolescent personality as predictive to adult psychological health using 19 personality dimensions to arrive at a psychological health index at 40. Other papers discuss men's work careers in their middle years and those of women, highlighting women's relationship with work, personality, and their role in the family. The book can be useful for behavioral scientists, sociologists, counselors, physiologists, psychiatrists, and researchers involved in the field of human development.

Contributors

Preface

Acknowledgments

Part I Background

Chapter 1 Social History and Life Experience

The Timing of Lives

Years of Growth

Depression and War, 1929-1945

The Postwar Era

Other Source Material

Chapter 2 Samples and Procedures

IHD Longitudinal Studies

Intergenerational Studies

Orientation to Substantive Chapters

Part II Intrapersonal Dimensions

Chapter 3 Health in the Middle Years

Introduction

Data Base

Self-Assessments of Health

Medical Assessments

Mortality

Health Ratings

Factors Related to Health

Summary

Chapter 4 Experience, Personality, and IQ: Adolescence to Middle Age

Introduction

Historical Review

Samples and Procedures

Interage Correlations

Average Unadjusted Scores across Age

IQ Change across Age

Artifacts in IQ Change

Assessing Correlates of IQ Level and Change

Education and Occupation

Marital Experiences

Personality Characteristics

California Psychological Inventory

Q-Sort Personality Factors

Psychological Health

Physical Health

Consumption of Alcohol

Summary

Chapter 5 Common Dimensions of Personality Development: Early Adolescence to Middle Life

Introduction

Method

Results

Summary of the Effects of Time, Sex, and Sample

Discussion

Chapter 6 Uses of the Past in Adult Psychological Health

Study I: Discontinuity and Continuity in Past/Present Relationships

Study II: Uses of the Past by Adult Age and Family Stage

The Adult-Centric Once Again

Chapter 7 Psychological Health at Age 40: Prediction from Adolescent Personality

Multiple Regression Predictions of Psychological Health at Age 40

Men's Psychological Health at Age 40

Women's Age 40 Psychological Health

Have We Found Only That Adolescent Psychological Health Predicts Health at 40?

Chapter 8 Paths to Psychological Health in the Middle Years: Sex Differences

The Midlife Transition

The Sample

Procedures

Traditional and Nontraditional Women

Traditional and Nontraditional Men

Roads to Health

Chapter 9 Midlife Drinking Patterns: Correlates and Antecedents

Drinking Patterns in Adulthood

Personality and Drinking in the Mature Years

Adult Personality of Problem Drinkers

Developmental Characteristics of Problem Drinkers

Summary

Chapter 10 Social Maturity in Middle Age and Its Developmental Antecedents

Characteristics of Social Maturity Scores

Social Maturity in the Adult Years

Behaviors Predictive of Social Maturity

Summary

Discussion

Part III Interpersonal Dimensions: Family And Society

Chapter 11 Married Lives: Longitudinal Perspectives on Marriage

Issues in the Study of Marital Satisfaction

The Social Context

Data Base

Antecedents and Correlates of Marital Satisfaction

The Quality of Marriage

Marriages in the Middle Years

Summary

Chapter 12 Involvement, Warmth, and Parent-Child Resemblances in Three Generations

The Study

Involvement and Warmth in Relation to Overall Parent-Child Similarities in Personality

Further Examination of General Cross-Generational Personality Similarities

Parent-Child Resemblance in Valued Personal Attributes

Summary

Chapter 13 Men's Occupational Careers in the Middle Years

Issues in the Study of Occupational Careers

Data and Approach of This Chapter

Features of Current Occupational Careers

Family Businesses

Occupational Attainment and Personality

Husbands' Occupations and Wives' Attributes

Discussion

Chapter 14 Women's Careers: Work, Family, and Personality

Sample

Measures

Methods of Analysis

Results and Discussion

College-Educated Women

Women with a High-School Education

Conclusion

Chapter 15 A Longitudinal Study of Patterns of Personality and Political Ideologies

Methods

Results

Discussion

Chapter 16 Overview

Age Trends

Consistency and Stability over Time

Sources of Differences and Change

Appendix A: Basic Concepts Underlying the PARAFAC-CANDECOMP Three-Way Factor Analysis Model and Its Application to Longitudinal Data

Multimodal Relationships

The PARAFAC-CANDECOMP Model

Uniqueness of Solution

Implementing the Model: Computational Characteristics of PARAFAC-CANDECOMP

Special Assumptions Underlying PARAFAC Analysis of Longitudinal Data

Summary and Conclusion

Appendix B: Item Listing of Adult Core Q Sort

Appendix C: Item Listing of Adolescent Core Q Sort

References

Subject Index