Middle Adulthood Health, Demography, and Social Work Practice

A health crisis can occur at any phase in an individual's life span. General health concerns, however, tend to increase with age. As a social worker, your awareness of the biological aspects of middle adulthood will inform your work with clients in this life-span phase.

In this Assignment, you address the health concerns that clients may face as they reach middle adulthood. You also address the potential impact of the environment on the health of individuals in this life-span phase 

Submit a 2- to 4-page paper that includes the following:

• A      description of the health concerns that clients may face as they reach      middle adulthood


• An      analysis that explains how factors such as race/ethnicity, socioeconomic      status, and other demographic characteristics might impact at least three      of the health concerns you identified


• An      explanation of how you, as a social worker, should take these potential      health concerns and the environmental factors that influence them into      account as you complete your assessments

Support your Assignment with specific references to the resources. Be sure to provide full APA citations for your references.

Learning Resources

Zastrow, C. H., Kirst-Ashman, K. K. & Hessenauer, S. L. (2019). Understanding human behavior and the social environment (11th ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.

• Chapter      10, "Biological Aspects of Young and Middle Adulthood" (pp.      455-484)

Optional Resources

Use the link below to access the MSW home page, which provides resources for your social work program.

MSW home page

Burke, N. (2014, September). How childhood trauma affects health across a lifetime [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/nadine_burke_harris_how_childhood_trauma_affects_health_across_a_lifetime

Temcheff, C. E., Serbin, L. A., Martin-Storey, A., Stack, D. M., Ledingham, J., & Schwartzman, A. E. (2011). Predicting adult physical health outcomes from childhood aggression, social withdrawal and likeability: A 30-Year prospective, longitudinal study. International Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 18(1), 5–12.

Wilson, H. W., & Widom, C. S. (2011). Pathways from childhood abuse and neglect to HIV-risk sexual behavior in middle adulthood. Journal of Consulting & Clinical Psychology, 79(2), 236–246.