Chapter 17 &18 Short Answers

Question 1

Give a definition of religious coping and give an example of how participation in religious services positively affects aging in late adulthood

Answer 1

Definition: “ the tendency to turn to religious beliefs and institutions for support in times of difficulty”
- Attending religious services provides the opportunity for social engagement, helping to prevent social isolation and loneliness. Attending religious services also provides a support network, as well as a sense of purpose and belonging for older adults. Religious affiliations provide an opportunity for older adults to share their wisdom and experiences with younger individuals who have the same religious and faith beliefs

Question 2

Does Life expectancy increase or decrease with age?

Answer 2

Contrary to popular belief, life expectancy increases as individuals become older. For example on average a 65 year old man will live to 83, and once in their early 80’s a man will live until 90.

Question 3

How do stereotypes about aging held by researchers , by cultures and by individuals affect research on memory? (5)

Answer 3

• when elderly expect to lose their intellectual power, they can easily be hurt by being stereotyped
  -Being stereotyped has the most impact when it is taken as a personal attack
  -People aged 50 to 70 tend to overestimate the memory skills they had in young adulthood, selectively forgetting their earlier forgetfulness
  -More common is exaggeration of memory deficit, which can create a loss of confidence that impairs memory
  -older adults perform better on cognitive tests when they see words that reflected positive stereotypes versus negative stereotypes

Question 4

(1) How does a person in late adulthood achieve Erikson’s ego integrity and (2) what does failure to achieve ego integrity look like?

Answer 4

(1) to achieve ego integrity, the older adult must come to terms with who they are, who they have been, the choices they have made and the opportunities gained and lost. (2) Feelings of hopelessness and despair because there is little time to make changes before death

Question 5

What are Gene Cohen’s 4 stages of mid-to-late creativity? Give the age at which each phase occurs and give an example of what occurs during this phase

Answer 5

1) Reevaluation phase- 50’s; reflect on past accomplishments and formulate new goals
2) Liberation Phase- 60’s; freer to create, more tolerant of their failures, willing to take more risks
3) Summing-up phase- 70’s; desire to knit their accomplishments together into a cohesive story
4) Encore phase- 80’s; desire to complete unfinished works or fulfill desires

Question 6

How do sleeping and eating patterns of older adults change as they get older and how to they compensate for these changes?

Answer 6

Sleeping: they wake up more during the night and get less REM sleep.
Compensate by: Going to bed and waking up earlier and taking naps
Eating: lose their ability to regulate their eating patterns due to the satiety part of the brain being impaired, preventing them from knowing when they are full or hungry.
Compensate by: scheduling regular eating times