Middle Adulthood

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The Dictionary of Social Work roughly defines middle adulthood as the period between forty-five and sixty-four years of age. There are four main tasks in this stage. They include meeting intimacy and family needs, satisfying achievement needs, taking care of elderly parents, and coping with end of life issues. Erikson identifies the need for achievement during midlife, which fits into his stage of generativity vs. stagnation. Success in adulthood is defined by feelings of connectedness and the ability to take care of others. Generativity is the satisfaction resulting from positive relationships with family and friends and the idea of leaving a heritage behind. Stagnation, on the other hand results from failing to accomplish earlier developmental tasks. Our text also points to the term "sandwich generation". These individuals are under the pressure of the needs of their own maturing children and their parents.

This paper focuses on an interaction with a 50-year-old female named Lynn. She actually fits all but a few of the major developmental tasks of her age. Lynn effectively meets intimacy and family needs in that she has a positive, loving relationship with all of her four children. She struggles, though, with intimacy between herself and her husband of thirty years. She finds him immature and in the "dark ages" because he consistently ignores her requests to pay attention to her needs. "For many, the transition to middle adulthood involves a drastic chance of life such as divorce, an affair?." (Furr, 127) Lynn, however, does not see herself as doing either of these things because of the way she values her marriage vows.

"Fulfilling transition choices is highly satisfying and exciting for adults who have the resources and opportunities that enable them to act on their choices." (Furr, 127) Right now, Lynn has taken her first...