4845
Midlife FCS and Older Couples
Family Life in the Middle Years
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Defining middle age - the time between 35 and 65 a The middle-age person and the working world - biggest challenge in midlife is how to thrive in the working world while maintaining family connections
Sexuality in middle age
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Sexual activity declines over the years of marriage 1. Female = menopause 2. Male = decline in hormone production, similar to menopause in women
The middle-age marriage
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Many marriages are happier before children are born and after they leave home recommendations for strengthening marriage - good sex in a relationship in the middle years does not come naturally
Divorce in the middle years
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Contributing factors for deterioration of the marriage: - Dominance of the husband Failure to communicate and to share - Excessive career investment - Extra marital investment Midlife change
Empty nest or spacious nest?
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Empty nest: described feeling of malaise, emptiness, lack of purpose that parents can have when their children leave home, go through a period of adjustments Spacious nest: positive, more money, more time to devote to the marriage, more room
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Cont.
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Boomerang kids: adults who return home- divorce, jobless, make can't it in the real world Cluttered nest: middle-age parents today are less likely to find themselves with empty nests, more young adults postponing moving out
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Cont.
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Caught in the middle: The sandwich generation = middle years people are apt to have growing responsibilities of caring for their own aging parents Grandparenthood: interaction with grandchildren is enjoyable, fills a need for creativity and accomplishment
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Family Life in the Later Years
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Defining old age: young-old = 55-65 - still working, at the peak of their social status in life middle-old = 6575 - majority of whom are retired and in good health old-old = over age 75 frailest, loneliest, and the poorest
Cont.
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In other cultures around the...