12: Positive Ageing Flashcards
How do people generally cope at different stages of being ‘old’?
65-75 (young old) = vigorous, well integrated in community
76-85 (old old) = more likely to suffer physical, mental and social losses
>85 (oldest old) = more likely to be frail and dependent
What are the impacts of the ageing population on adults transitions?
- Young adults postpone life transitions
- people will have more time in retirement
How is caregiving stressful in older ages?
depends on context
- caregiving for grandchildren not a burden generally
- caregiving for adults more stressful
What are some losses associated with ageing?
- sensory deterioration
- more ill health
- some social losses (eg. deaths of friends) -> loneliness -> mental health
Cartenson’s Socio Emotional Selectivity Theory
- overall social contacts decrease in older age as social contacts become more motivated by emotion regulation than knowledge
What did they find in the study tracking people after their hearing checks?
out of the people told to get hearing aids
- those that did not get them had worse cognitive deterioration 5-10 years later
Contrast the mental health of those in residential aged care facilities with those not.
Those in RACS
around 1/2 have depression/anxiety/dementia
86% with at least one diagnosed mental health or behavioural disorders
How does societal ageism contribute to poorer mental health?
- lower uptake of psych services
- false idea that there is no benefit in helping older people
Paradox of wellbeing
the maintenance of wellbeing in older age despite increased losses
Ryff’s model of successful ageing
About wellness rather than illness. has multiple dimensions: - self acceptance - positive relations with others - autonomy - environmental mastery - purpose in life - personal growth
In addition to Ryff’s dimensions, what can predict positive ageing?
- a good sense of humour
- enjoying life
- accepting change (older adults)
In the Australian study by Knight & Ricciardelli, what were the most/least important associations with successful ageing?
Most: health, activity
Least: longevity
How do older adults measure on affect and life satisfaction?
- PA remains stable
- NA decreases with age (levels at 70)
- better regulation of emotions
- lower rates of mental illness (exc. dementia)
Disengagement theory
Proposes that higher levels of satisfaction in older age is due to decreased roles in society - disproved.
Activity theory
Proposes that it is important to stay active and replace roles lost with ageing - leads to life satisfaction - somewhat disproved
How did the study by Adams et al. (2011) provide insight into the accuracy of the activity theory?
- showed that remaining active predicted positive outcomes
- showed social activities were most important
- also showed that CONTEXTUAL VARIABLES such as CHOICE, MEANING or PERCEIVED QUALITY play intervening roles
Limitations of activity & disengagement theories
- prescriptive
- don’t account for individual differences
- assume people change with age and illness
- not empirically supported
Continuity theory (Atchley, 1989)
Proposes that people will try to maintain the same activities, relationships etc that they did before. Degree of continuity determines wellbeing (internal & external continuity)
is there any evidence for internal continuity?
- there is rank order stability in the big five traits, but there are increases in conscientiousness and agreeableness in middle & older adulthood
- there is evidence of stability in terminal and instrumental values
is there any evidence for external continuity?
- evidence that networks in older ages decrease in size but social support satisfaction is maintained (Carstenson, 1994)
Selective Optimisation with Compensation (Baltes)
Proposes that successful ageings requires you to adapt to body changes and losses by:
selection (focus in on areas)
optimisation (effort, and maintain resources)
compensation (find other ways to achieve goals)
Types of items on the Freund & Baltes (1998) SOC Questionnaire
- Elective selection
- Loss-based selection
- Optimisation
- Compensation
Is there any empirical support for SOC?
- found that on high stress days, those that use SOC had fewer memory problems (Robinson et al., 2016)
- found that those with lower health use more SOC and are more happy (Teshale & Lachman, 2016)
In an Australian study by Knight & Ricciardelli (2003), what could be said about respondent’s belief about their adjustment to age related losses?
Approximately 1/3 reported having to compensate for their loss
Model of Developmental Regulation Across the Lifespan
Argues that there are 3 processes: - goal engagement - goal disengagement - metaregulation - the controller shown that older age predicts higher goal engagement/disengagement/metaregulation
What are goal engagement and goal disengagement associated with?
GE: autonomy, environmental mastery
GD: self acceptance, life satisfaction
