PSY304 Week 4 Assignment

The Life Events Approach
PSY 304 Lifespan and Development
Instructor: Dr. Clyde Hedgcoth
May 10, 2013

The Life Events Approach
There are many mediating factors and adaptions that assist individuals in going through and in reaching midlife development. Many years ago psychologists set up The Life Events Approach to help us understand this event; it has sense been updated and called the Contemporary Life Events Approach. This essay will consider The Life Event Approach as well as The Contemporary Life Events Approach and how the elements of well-being are influenced during mid-life.
The Life Event Approach focuses on changes and challenges that people are likely to experience at a certain time; in this case it is the mid-life stage. In earlier years the focus was on challenging situations that pushed individual’s in this age group to change their disposition. It was felt that major experiences affected their development like the passing of a family member or close friend, a separation of a marriage or a job-loss (Santrock, 2011, p. 506.11). Today the focus is much more complex as it not only considers life experiences, but also intervening influences like ones physical wellbeing or the backing of one’s family. The Modern Life Event Approach also considers the way a person acclimates to certain life happenings, the life-stage framework, and socio-historical circumstances (Windsor, Anstey, Butterworth, & Rodgers, 2008). Our text uses the example of an individual that has dealt with a death of a family member and finds out they have a life threating condition; it is felt that they will have a harder time dealing with life in general (Santrock, 2011, p. 506.12).
As with anything there are some disadvantages to this approach. It is believed that this approach focuses too much on the adjustments in one’s life and does not consider at all ones solidity. Another issue with The Modern Life Events Approach is that in some circumstances and with certain individual’s, everyday stressors have more of an impact than key events. For example a couple dealing daily with special needs children leads to very stressful days, but is not consider a major stress event according to the life event approach. Interestingly, some psychologists believe that we need to focus more on these daily events rather than key trials. Of course there are those that do not agree with this proposal and argue that daily stressors cannot indicate how one manages or identifies alterations (Santrock, 2011, pp. 507.2-5).
With all this being said, The Contemporary Life-Events Framework for Interpreting Developmental Change is shaped by many things. Not only is it affected by life happenings that hinge on a genuine incident it is also based on intervening fluctuations, on the lifespan and social past framework, and on the character’s evaluation of the occurrence and survival tactics (Smith, 1992). Figure 16.6 in our text explains how this process works. Our socio-historical is our past social experiences that have influenced us; this involves our social history or a combination of social and historical factors; this appears at the bottom of figure 16.6. We take these factors with us and they are present all the time. The life stage contexts are events that are always present and taking place; we see this at the top of figure 16.6 (Santrock, 2011, p. 507; Figure 16.6).
Sandwiched in the middle of these two categories are the actual events themselves that happen to us. These sets are mediating variables that stem from the socio-historical context and life events that come from the life-stage context. Under mediating variables we see dealings with our salary, individual wellbeing, and support from family, our intellect and character. Beneath the life event category one will find major life events good or bad; like a death, marriage, births, relocation, a divorce or the loss or gain of a job. These categories then point us to the right of the figure and show us how the individual uses their influences to adapt to the situation. The adaption process involves, appraisal of threat, coping strategies which leads to adult developmental change. In appraisal of threat the individual asses the peril, then applies their handling approach to deal with the issue at hand. How the person deals with the matter depends on a positive progressive modification or a negative alteration (Santrock, 2011, p. 507; Firgure 16.6).
Now we will bring our attention to figure 16.5 on page 506; this figure looks into the six dimensions of well-being that are impacted during midlife. The six dimensions that will be observed are: personal growth, purpose in life, autonomy, self-acceptance, environmental mastery and positive relations. This study concentrated on three separate age groupings; young adult, middle-age and older adult (Santrock, 2011, p. 506; Figure 16.5). Personal growth refers to the abilities and tools that one uses to surge their level of self-awareness, contentment and achievements in life (Carmeli, Yitzhak-Halevy, & Weisberg, 2009). In figure 16.5 personal growth scores above the 16th percentile and slowly takes a downward effect reaching the 16th measure at middle-age and plummets between the 14th and 15th percentile by old age (Santrock, 2011, p. 506; Figure 16.5). Purpose in life is our reason for existence (Debeljak & Krkac, 2008). In our table we see that our purpose in life also starts out high in our younger years and slowly decreases, reaching below the 15th measure in our mid years; from above the 15th percentile. Sadly this also plunges when reaching the older years (Santrock, 2011, p. 506; Figure 16.5).
Our autonomy is our personal independence and the capacity to make moral decisions (Carmeli, Yitzhak-Halevy, & Weisberg, 2009). In the table we see our autonomy start out a little lower than the 15th percentile and steadily increase to old age; touching above the 15th mark at middle age (Santrock, 2011, p. 506; Figure 16.5). Self-acceptance is somebody's personality, or an aspect of one’s character, especially as perceived by others (Debeljak & Krkac, 2008). On the graph we see self-acceptance take a dip during the middle age years; as it starts out around the 14.7 marking in our younger days, it takes about a four point decrease to around 14.3 and raises again to just below the 15th measure in our older years (Santrock, 2011, p. 506; Figure 16.5).
Environmental mastery is an individual’s sense of mastery and competence in managing the environment (Debeljak & Krkac, 2008). On the graph this dimension starts out well below the 15th measure and increases to the 15th percentile at middle age and steadily increases on into our older years (Santrock, 2011, p. 506; Figure 16.5). A positive relation is the ability to engage in affirmative associations with others (Carmeli, Yitzhak-Halevy, & Weisberg, 2009). Like environmental mastery, positive relations start out lower and increase in our mid years, hitting just below the 15th percentile; interestingly this too continues to increase in our golden years (Santrock, 2011, p. 506; Figure 16.5).
We have seen that there are many intervening influences and adjustments that assist individuals in going through and in reaching midlife development. Many years ago psychologists set up The Life Events Approach to help us understand this event; it has sense been updated and called the Contemporary Life Events Approach. This essay observed The Life Event Approach as well as The Contemporary Life Events Approach and investigated deeper into the elements of well-being and its influences during mid-life.

Research
Carmeli, A., Yitzhak-Halevy, M., & Weisberg, J. (2009). The relationship between emotional intelligence and psychological wellbeing. Retrieved May 5, 2013, from Journal of Managerial Psychology: http://search.proquest.com.proxy-library.ashford.edu/
Debeljak, J., & Krkac, K. (2008). S"Me, Myself & I": Practical Egoism, Selfishness, self-interest and Business Ethics. Retrieved April 5, 2013, from Social Responsibility Journal: http://search.proquest.com.proxy-library.ashford.edu/socialsciences
Santrock, J. (2011). Life-Span Develpoment (13th ed.). New York, New York: McGraw-Hill ISBN: 9780073532097.
Smith, T. W. (1992, December). A Life Events Approach to Developing an Index of Societal Well-Being. Retrieved May 4, 2013, from Social science Research: http://search.proquest.com.proxy-library.ashford.edu/
Windsor, T. D., Anstey, K. J., Butterworth, P., & Rodgers, B. (2008). Behavioral approach and behavioral inhibition as moderators of the association between negative life events and perceived control in midlife. Retrieved May 4, 2013, from Personality and Individual Differences: http://search.proquest.com.proxy-library.ashford.edu/