Psychosocial and Developmental Assessment of Interview

A relatively recent phenomenon in the American family is the increase in young adults living at home. This development changes the conditions of midlife for many parents who expected an empty nest at this stage of their lives (Birren & Schaie, 2001).

Relationships between parents and their adult children also are changing at this time because the "children" are now adults so they relate to their parents on a different level. For example, Colleen told me that her oldest son has even shared with her some intimate details about his love life. She said it was almost as if they were two women friends talking about their relationships. Where their conversations used to consist of talk about homework cleaning their rooms, now they talk to each other on a much more even playing field.

Attitudes toward this stage in life are changing as well. The impact of the "empty nest" on parents has been reexamined in recent decades. Rather than finding the expected responses of emptiness and concern as childbearing and childrearing ends, researchers have found that parents experience increased marital satisfaction, regardless of the quality of their relationships with their children.This reaction seems related to the fact that a stressful period has ended. It also may reflect the financial relief that parents expect (Birren & Schaie, 2001)

My interview with Colleen seems to follow the contemporary literature that shows the ways that conceptions of midlife are changing not only by attitude but also by circumstance. Whereas earlier developmental theories such as those devised by Levinson and Erikson depicted midlife as the 'beginning of the end', this is no longer the case for most modern Americans. Colleen is a perfect example of how things have changed for the better in the developmental portrait of midlife.

References

Birren, James E. & Schaie, K.W. (2001) Handbook of the psychology of aging, 5th ed. Academic Press

Erikson, E. (1950), Childhood and Society., New York W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.

Gould, R.L. (1998). Transformations: Growth and development in adult life. New York: Touchstone Books

Lachman, M.E. (2001) Handbook of midlife development, Wiley & Sons

Levinson….....