Present and Past in Middle Life

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.

Contenu

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