A person’s development throughout lifetime is based on events that impact him and determine the quality of his life through the change of life conditions or mindset. In general, there are four main components that constitute the well-being of an average modern individual, including money, work, family, and health. Both positive and negative events in these spheres affect a person’s life quality and both physical, mental, and emotional well-being as he ages. This paper aims to examine the impact of events, specifically non-normative ones, on people, especially during their middle adulthood, on the basis of peer-reviewed articles and learning materials. According to them, stressful events inevitably impact people’s quality of life, however, their impact may be minimized by previous achievements.
In “Frequency of stressful life events and associations with mental health and general subjective health in the general population,” Tibubos et al. (2021) assess the impact of normative and non-normative events on people’s mental health hat determine the quality if their lives. First of all, the authors provide general information concerning biological, physical, and social life events as “significant occurrences, often with far-reaching consequences” (Tibubos et al., 2021, p. 1072). According to them, these events are classified as normative and non-normative. Normative events are excepted to occur for the majority of individuals at a certain age and on the basis of their culture – they include puberty, employment, marriage, parenthood, retirement, and many others. In turn, non-normative life events are unexpected incidents that nevertheless may occur “at any time during the lifespan,” including divorce, unemployment, death of a partner, disease, and others (Tibubos et al., 2021, p. 1072). While normative events are more frequent, and their influence on people’s lives is undeniable, non-normative events traditionally have a more massive impact on individual’s mental health that determines the quality of life, respectively.
The impact of stressful events depends on sociodemographic variables, such as socioeconomic disparities and gender that create additional risk of exposure to the development of negative health-related consequences. At the same time, according to multiple research projects, the number of stressful events positively correlates with mental health disorders and decreased life quality (Tibubos et al., 2021). In other words, people who faced multiple negative, especially non-normative, life events are particularly vulnerable to depression, chronic stress, poor life satisfaction, and impaired physical and psychological health in general. Thus, in order to assess the effect of stressful events on people’s health, Tibubos et al. (2021) gathered and analyzed data of 12,947 participants (35–74 years old) of the Gutenberg Health Study (GHS) in Germany using the Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS). The most reported events included personal illness or injury, a family member’s changed health status, death of relatives or friends, and changes in workplace relationships, responsibilities at work, and financial state.
According to the results, age and socioeconomic status impact facing life events. In particular, adults from 35 to 44 years old with high social status reported more life events due to the importance of career and family building (Tibubos et al., 2021). At the same time, the authors discovered positive correlation between stressful events and mental and physical disorders. For instance, people who had faced normative and non-normative life events demonstrate anxiety, loss of security, and the physical signs of depression, such as sexual difficulties and sleep deprivation. At the same time, the manifestation of symptoms and general well-being even within the framework of the explosion to stressful life events depended on an individual’s personal characteristics that allowed him to cope with stress and personal achievements that minimized negative perceptions.
The research of Tibubos et al. (2021) reflects the material presented by Santrock (2020) as well. According to him, the concept of gains and losses may be regarded as an essential aspect in life-span development (Santrock, 2020). In any age period, people make choices deciding what to do to succeed in the future, identifying priorities, and evaluating the availability of time and resources for desirable changes. Thus, it goes without saying that individuals face both expected and unexpected events that form their life in the future. At the same time, middle adulthood is characterized by inevitable biological and social changes, losses, and gains that should balance each other in order to ensure the stability of a person’s mental health and the quality of his life. For instance, while biological and neurobiological functioning declines in middle adulthood, its detrimental effect should be compensated by sociocultural supports, including relationships, education, and career, as well as accumulated assets and resources in other spheres (Santrock, 2020). Thus, all authors state that the negative influence of stressful events may be minimized by personal achievements.
Another article that addresses the impact of major life events on people’s perceptions and life quality is “Social mobility and sense of purpose from midlife to old age: Examining the role of major life events” by Lee at al. (2022). According to the authors, “purpose in life (PIL) has been linked with numerous health benefits and adaptive aging, yet it diminishes with age, possibly due to loss of social or familial roles through life transitions” (Lee et al., 2022, p. 1). In other words, while in middle adulthood, PIL is still essential, its significance diminishes as a person gets older due to the impact of both normative and non-normative events, including health problems, retirements, and widowhood. At the same time, Lee at al. (2022) emphasize the specific influence of non-normative events on people’s life. In particular, while even negative and stressful normative events are inevitable, their nature allows people to prepare to changed conditions. However, non-normative events are more impactful as they traditionally destroy the natural sequence of events affecting people’s life and its perception.
For example, retirement is a normative event that may be regarded as a natural, expected, and inevitable stage in life. Thus, it provides time for preparation, and “some older individuals adjust to the loss of purposeful work-related daily activities once provided at work” (Lee et al., 2022, p. 3). However, unexpected job loss leaves a person unprepared to associated changes of his life conditions and may impact mental and physical health. In the same way, while age-related health deterioration is natural, and seniors gradually adapt to it, replacing negative experience with positive achievements in other spheres, unexpected injury or illness may ruin a person’s quality of life and lead to mental health issues, unexpected as well. These examples support the statement of Santrock (2020) related to non-normative life events. According to him, serious losses, accidents, and illnesses may trigger the reevaluation of life priorities and a major restructuring of time in order to achieve life goals.
In general, both Santrock (2020) and Lee at al. (2022) address the ability of life events to impact people’s mindset, perceptions, feelings, and emotions. In particular, Santrock (2020) provides the example of two women with different emotional states and attitudes to life events. However, these examples demonstrate the significance of the impact of both normative and non-normative events on life conditions in the future. Thus, if a person faces a substantial number of positive events and accumulates resources for physical and emotional well-being, he will perceive the world and his place in it in a positive way. On the contrary, negative events and the necessity to cope with them struggling across life-span development lead to despair and hopelessness at the end of life.
All in all, the analysis of peer-reviewed articles and learning material dedicated to development and the impact of life events on it shows that normative and non-normative life events substantially impact individuals’ life quality. Although negative normative events affect a person’s purpose of life, perceptions, and physical and mental well-being, their expectancy allows him to prepare for changes in advance. In turn, non-normative stressful events have a more detrimental effect as they occur unexpectedly and may alter an individual’s life completely. However, in both cases, the influence of negative events may be minimized by the opportunities and resources provided by positive events throughout lifetime and a person’s individual characteristics. Thus, even if every stage of life-span development has its unique characteristics and middle adulthood is associated with both gains and losses, decreasing purpose of life, and less efficient adaptability to changes while non-normative events still occur, it is essential to consider social strengths and previous achievements in order to minimize the impact of negative situations.
References
Lee, C., Sain, D., Harari, L., & Kürüm, E. (2022). Social mobility and sense of purpose from midlife to old age: Examining the role of major life events. Research on Aging, 0(0), 1-13. Web.
Santrock, J. W. (2020). Life-span development (18th ed.). McGraw-Hill Education.
Tibubos, A. N., Burghardt, J., Klein, E. M., Brähler, E., Jünger, C., Michal, M., Wiltink, J., Wild, P. S., Münzel, T., Singer, S., Pfeiffer, N., & Beutel, M. E. (2021). Frequency of stressful life events and associations with mental health and general subjective health in the general population. Journal of Public Health, 29(5), 1071-1080. Web.