Introduction
During the development of an individual, specific changes occur related to psychological, social, and spiritual aspects. For instance, these changes happen distinctively with different life stages. Based on this, social construction involves an ideology of information within sociology that assesses how people generally acquire their understanding and knowledge regarding the surrounding environments or world. However, over time, people in middle adulthood have displayed different natures of changes regarding social construction. Therefore, such changes have been highlighted within this report, with an in-depth concentration on the relevant data that social workers need to know.
Social construction changes
In the past, social construction related to middle adulthood focused more on stagnation against generativity. For instance, individuals within the category focused their lives on generativity, in that they engaged much in identifying life’s obligation of maintaining a social life and contributing to social development through voluntary activities (Hutchison, 2018). In the process, this aspect conflicted with stagnation, which involved the feeling among the middle adults that they lacked enthusiasm and full engagement in participating in voluntary affairs and creating a legacy. However, this has changed through time with the current trend; these individuals focus more on subjective aging. For example, these individuals perceive themselves as younger regarding their actual or chronological age. Consequently, this social construction conflicts with the subjective and actual age.
Alongside information and factors that social workers need to know about the middle adult category, the following include the antecedent risks and factors, together with protective elements that impact the population’s resilience.
Social changes
Social changes among middle adults are prevalent aspects in the community and are critical for social workers to understand and acknowledge. Under this category, social workers need to know that these individuals are concerned with constructing or developing abilities to seek relationships, find intimate affection, and share intimacy (Giudice, 2020). Socially, this stage is characterized by forming long-time connections and relationships. Additionally, this is accompanied by making critical career decisions. Having this knowledge, social workers can understand the nature of the community regarding the interaction mode to adopt during their services as social workers.
Psychological changes and spiritual changes
Psychological change and nature are other critical elements that social workers need to understand from middle adults’ age brackets. For instance, social workers need to know that, psychologically, individuals within this age bracket exhibit a calmer brain, with the potential to manage and control a wide range of emotions (Hutchison, 2018). They can critically negotiate social circumstances within their circumference, unlike older adults who tend to focus on positive life aspects compared than negative ones. Such a psychological element is critical for a social worker to understand the operating environment as a whole. Additionally, social workers need to be aware of spirituality in that this group of individuals focuses more on health benefits associated with spirituality rather than faith. Moreover, this trend has been increasing remarkably in the recent past.
Biological factors
Biologically, numerous changes occur among middle adults that may be potential risks to their health. These changes are highly attributed to general health conditions and lifestyles. The expected changes within this brick include skin becoming less elastic, people continuing to gain weight, and others developing gray hair since they lose more pigments from their bodies (Giudice, 2020). Another standard change includes a reduction in the overall height and a significant percentage reaching menopause. Specifically, the highlighted changes are the biological changes that are important for a social worker to be aware of; however, many other biological changes occur during this stage.
Conclusion
The reason for agreeing with the textbook on the discussion about risk factors affecting the resilience of the middle adult is that it reveals the actual occurrences prevalent in society today. According to the book, the ideology of gender is used for managing people, which is a statement describing reality in modern contexts where gender is determining a significant social construct (Hutchison, 2018). Therefore, social construction examines how people learn about their surroundings and the world in general, which influences some changes.
References
Giudice, M. (2020). Social construction of law: Potential and limits. Edward Elgar Publishing.
Hutchison, E. D. (2018). Dimensions of human behavior: The changing life course (6th ed.). SAGE publications.