Adulthood Developmental

Question 1

Early to Middle Adulthood (20-65) - Social development

Answer 1

– early adulthood is often centered around careers

Question 2

Early to Middle Adulthood (20-65) - Social development - midlife transition

Answer 2

occurs in a person’s 40s when one may question his/her life & accomplishments (due mainly because of physical changes and the idea that life will end at some time)

However … for most the passage into middle age is relatively calm

Question 3

Early to Middle Adulthood (20-65) - Marriage, children, and family

Answer 3

– People are still getting married…but rates of living together as well and divorce are higher
■ While the institution of marriage is changing…around 90% of heterosexual adults will marry AND about 75% of divorcees will remarry
■ About 50% of first marriages are ending in divorce

Question 4

Early to Middle Adulthood (20-65) - Women’s roles

Answer 4

– Close to 75% of all married women with school-age children are working outside the home
■ Most working women are coming home to do the majority of the housework (“second shift”)
– According to sociologist Arlie Hochschild…employed mothers put in an extra month of 24-hour days during the course of a year
■ Yet…most women who work report a personal satisfaction and sense of contributing to society

Question 5

Late Adulthood (65+) - Physical changes

Answer 5

– Many physical changes in late adulthood
■ Thinning and graying hair, skin wrinkling, and a slight loss of height…senses are less sensitive, reaction time slows, and changes in physical stamina

Question 6

Late Adulthood (65+) - Physical changes - What causes these changes? - Genetic programming theories of aging

Answer 6

built-in time limit to the reproduction of human cells (kind of like an automatic self-destruct button has been pushed)

Question 7

Late Adulthood (65+) - Physical changes - What causes these changes? - Wear-and-tear theories of aging

Answer 7

mechanical functions of the body simply stop working efficiently as people age (eventually the body just wears out like an old automobile)

Question 8

Late Adulthood (65+) - Cognitive changes

Answer 8

Some declines in intellectual functioning during late adulthood…skills relating to fluid intelligence do show declines in old age yet skills relating to crystallized intelligence remain steady

Question 9

Late Adulthood (65+) - Does memory really decline with old age?

Answer 9

Most evidence says not really…
– Neural processing does slow down which in turn cause it to take longer to process the memory
■ Most memory loss tends to be limited to episodic memory…other types are largely unaffected by age
■ If a person stays active…physically and mentally…the memory loss seems almost non-existent

– Some memory loss is due to disease…Alzheimer’s disease

Question 10

Late Adulthood (65+) - Social World of Late Adulthood - How does one successfully age?

Answer 10

■ Disengagement theory of aging – aging produces a gradual withdrawal from the world on physical, psychological and social levels
– Not a bad thing…disengagement provides opportunity
for increased reflectiveness and decreased emotional
investment in others at a time of life when social
relationships will inevitably be ended by death

Question 11

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

Answer 11

■ Spent much of her career studying tragedy, death/dying, and the cycle of grief as it relates to these events
■ From her research she developed the FIVE STAGES OF GRIEF that all people facing death/grief experience (in no particular order)
– Denial
– Anger
– Bargaining
– Depression
– Acceptance
■ You can see these stages when dealing with many of the traumas we encounter in life…from learning of a terminal illness to dealing with the death of a loved one or other loss such as the ending of a relationship