Chapter 18: Exam 8

Question 1

Theories of Social and Emotional Development in Late Adulthood

Answer 1

Deal with the ways in which we can approach our relationships with our changing bodies, our mental capacities, transitions in intimate relationships, our families, society at large, and voluntary and involuntary relocations.

Question 2

Ego integrity versus despair

Answer 2

Erikson’s eight life crisis [final stage], defined by maintenance of the belief that life is meaningful and worthwhile despite the physical decline and the inevitability of death versus depression and hopelessness.

• People who achieved positive outcomes to earlier life crisis [generativity rather than stagnation in middle adulthood] would be more likely to obtain ego integrity.
• Ego integrity derives from wisdom, as well as from the acceptance of one’s life span being limited and occurring at a certain point in the sweep of history. [Adjustment in later years requires wisdom to let go of things and relationships]

Question 3

Truth or Fiction
The majority of people aged 65 and older consider themselves to be in good or excellent health compared to other people of their age.

Answer 3

True
[Do some people look at themselves through rose-colored glass?]

Question 4

Robert Peek’s Developmental Tasks

Answer 4

1. Ego differentiation versus work-role preoccupation
2. Body transcendence versus body preoccupation
3. Ego transcendence versus ego preoccupation

Question 5

Ego differentiation versus work-role preoccupation

Answer 5

After retirement, people need to find new ways of defining their self-worth outside of their achievements in the workplace, perhaps in terms of roles in the community, activities with friends and family, or spiritual undertaking.

Question 6

Body Transcendence versus body preoccupation

Answer 6

Some point in late adulthod, people face inevitable physical decline, and it is their best interest to come to terms with it by placing more value on cognitive activities and social relationships.

Question 7

Ego transcendence versus ego preoccupation

Answer 7

Means preparing in some way to go beyond the physical limitations of one’s own life span. As death comes nearer, some prepare to transcend death by helping secure the futures of their children or grandchildren. (Others work more broadly to benefit a church, or to have to leave planet Earth in “better shape”)

Question 8

Reminiscence

Answer 8

Was once considered a symptom of dementia, but contemporary researchers consider it to be a normal aspect of aging.

Question 9

Life review

Answer 9

Looking back on the events of one’s life in late adulthood, often in an effort to construct a meaningful narrative.

Robert Butler argues that healthcare professionals rely too much on drugs to ease the discomforts of older adults. Pilot program suggests that therapist may be able to help relieve depression and other psychological problems in older adults by helping them reminiscence about their lives.

Question 10

Disengagement Theory

Answer 10

The view that older adults and society withdraw from one another as older adults approach death.

Theory is not very accurate, as well-being among older adults generally increases when they pursue goals rather than withdraw from society

Question 11

Activity Theory

Answer 11

The view that older adults fare better when they engage in physical and social activities

However, there was also value in independence activities in the home

Question 12

Socioeconomic selectivity theory

Answer 12

The view we place increasing emphasis on emotional experience as we age but limit our social contacts to regulate our emotions

Question 13

Self-esteem Online Questionnaire Results

Answer 13

57% females, and two-thirds from the US

• Self-esteem was higher in males than in females
• High in childhood
• Dipped with entry into adolescence
• Rose gradually through mid-adulthood
• Declined in late adulthood (70 - 85)

Question 14

Possible reasons for self-esteem decline

Answer 14

a.) retirement
b.) loss of spouse or partner
c.) lessened social support
d.) declining health
e.) downward movement in socioeconomic status

Other hypothesis against the decline:
Older people are wiser and more content, coming to accept themselves as they are.

Question 15

Indepedence Versus Dependence

Answer 15

Older people who are independent tend to think of themselves as leading a “normal life” whereas people who are dependent on others, tend to worry more about aging and encountering physical disabilities and stress.

Question 16

Depression

Answer 16

• Affects 10% of people aged 65-80
• Affects 20% of people aged 81 and above
  [could either be a continuation from earlier periods of life or a new development]

Could be connected with:
a.) personality factor of neuroticism
b.) possible structural changes in the brain
c.) genetic predisposition to imbalances of the neurotransmitter noradrenaline

Also, possible links between depression & physical illness:
a.) Alzheimer’s
b.) Heart disease
c.) Stroke
d.) Parkinson’s disease
e.) Cancer

Question 17

Difference between sadness and depression

Answer 17

Sadness is temporaily that stems from an event whereas depression is the inability to bounce back from such an event.

Question 18

Truth or Fiction
It is normal for older people to be depressed when their friends and partners are dying

Answer 18

Fiction
It is normal to be sad when we suffer a loss. Depression is usually defined as a mental disorder

Question 19

Anxiety Disorders

Answer 19

3% of people 65 and older but coexist with depression in about 8-9% of older adults
[Older women twice as likely to be affected than older men]

Types:
1. Generalized anxiety disorder
2. Phobic disorder
3. Panic disorder
4. Agoraphobia

Question 20

Generalized Anxiety Disorder

Answer 20

General feeling of dread and foreboding
[may arise from the perception that one lacks over one’s life]

Question 21

Phobic Disorder

Answer 21

Irrational exaggereated fear of an object or situation

Question 22

Panic Disorder

Answer 22

Recurrent experiencing of attacks of extreme anxiety in the absence of external stimuli that usually evoke anxiety.

Question 23

Agoraphobia

Answer 23

Fear of open crowded places

[levels of the stress hormone, cortisol, rises suppressing the immune system, making people more vulnerable to illness.]

Question 24

Truth or Fiction
People aged 80 and older are more likely to be victimized by crime than people in any other age group

Answer 24

Fiction
Despite experiencing heightened concern about exposure to crime, older people are generally at lower risk.

Question 25

Elder Abuse

Answer 25

The abuse or neglect of senior citizens, particularly in nursing homes.

Question 26

Religion

Answer 26

Nearly half people in the world identify with one of the “Abrahamic” religions
[Judaism, Christianity, and Islam]

All teach life after death and moral living that will enable one to experience the benefits of the after life

Religion and religious activities provide older adults a vast arena for social networking

Question 27

Several Reasons for church goers relative longevity

Answer 27

a.) avoidance of negative coping methods such as aggressive behavior and drinking
b.) success in evading victimization
c.) sense of hopelessness
d.) social support

Question 28

Truth or Fiction
African Americans who attend church more than once a week live more than 13 years longer than African Americans who never attended

Answer 28

True
Of course we have to consider whether a “selection factor’ in involved. In other words, does church “cause” the difference, or do people who choose to attend church regularly differ to begin with from those who do not?

Question 29

Marriage

Answer 29

20-25% last half a century or more, ending with only the death of one of the spouses.

• Middle adulthood, similarity in personality may work against the couple, with each partner competing to handle or avoid the same task.
• Difference rather than similarity, in conscientiousness and extraversion predicts marital satisfaction in the decade of the 40s, where as similarity does just as well in the decade of the 60s.

Question 30

Truth or Fiction
Older married couples argue more than younger couples do

Answer 30

True
Older couples spend more time together, so friction may develop more readily. Women from Cohorts in which they were reared to take a back seat to men also grow more self-assertive with time.

Question 31

Older Couples

Answer 31

Have less disagreement over finances, chores, and parenting (or grandparenting) but have concerns about emotional expression and companionship.

Question 32

Cohabitation

Answer 32

Increasingly likely to cohabit, making up 4% of unmarried couples

Question 33

Gay and Lesbian Relationships

Answer 33

Long term partnerships tend to enjoy higher self-esteem, less depression, fewer suicidal urges, and less alcohol and drug abuse.

Question 34

Widowhood

Answer 34

Men are more likely than women to remarry or form a new relationship

Reasons why men are more likely:
* Women make use of the web of kinship relationships and close friendships available to them
* Women tend to outlive men, so there are more older women who are available
* Men may seek household help from a new partner

Question 35

Singles and Older People without children

Answer 35

Single, never-married, and noncohabiting adults without children makeup a small minority of adult population in the US

• Mothers and women with no children report equally positive levels of well-being
• Married older men without children appear to be especially dependent on their spouses

Question 36

Siblings

Answer 36

Older sibling pairs tend to share each other up with emotional support [especially sisters who are close in age and geographically near one another]

• Life span development study found that twin relationships were more intense in terms of frequency of contacts, intimacy, conflict, and emotional support.
• Frequency of contact and emotional closeness declined from early to middle adulthood but increased again in late adulthood.

Question 37

Friendships

Answer 37

As a way of regulating emotions, they tend to avoid “friends” with whom they have had conflicts over the years

Question 38

Adult Children and Grandchildren

Answer 38

Grandparent and Grandchildren have unconditional love, emotional support, obligations, and respect. Acting as friends and confidants experiencing life events together.

Question 39

Retirement

Answer 39

Concept of retirement is a rather new human condition

*In the Industrial Revolution, company and government pensions, and extended life expectancies worked together to create a situation in which many or most people expect to spend their “golden years” away from the work place.

Question 40

Retirement Planning

Answer 40

Involves with dealing with some questions?

> What will I do?
* Majority plan some sort of “bridge employment” by continuing to work with reduced workload or obtain new employment possibly part time.

> How will I afford it?

> Where will I live?

> With whom will I share my retirement years?
* If life partners are not in agreement with retirement activities and residences, the stresses of an unwanted living situation can provide stress.

> How will i decide?

Question 41

Three Phases of Retirement Decision Making

Answer 41

1. Imagining the possiblity of retirement
2. Deciding when to let go of one’s job
3. Deciding on how and when to put concrete retirement plans into action

Question 42

Adjustment to Retirement

Answer 42

Study broke down retirees into three groups according to their satisfaction with retirement with other factors:

1. Most satisfied group maintained leisure and other nonwork-related activities or replaced work with more satisfying activities
   * retired at a typical age with a wealth of resources
   *married * good health
   * of high socioeconomic status
2. Retired at a later stage and tended to be female
3. Retired at an earlier stage and tended to be male (spotty employment record)

Groups 2 & 3:
* Not satisfied * Poorer health * less likely to be married * lower in socioeconomic status

Question 43

Dutch & American Retirees factors that impeded adjustment in retirement

Answer 43

• Lengthly attachment to work
• Lack of control over transition to retirement (forced at age 65)
• Worrying about what retirement would bring

Question 44

Leisure Activities and Retirement

Answer 44

Engaging in leisure activites is especially helpful with the cognitive aspects of aging

Study people over age 80:
a.) leisure activities associated with superior perceptual speed
b.) brain imaging found that leisure activities delayed declines in white matter microstructure (myelin)

Question 45

British Study adults with an average age of 72 reports

Answer 45

• 3 in 4 (73%) engaged in leisure activities
• (18%) passive leisure [listening to music or watching television]
• (23%) engaged in “active leisure” [sailing or walking]
• (24%) engaged in social activities
• (20%) engaged in hobbies
• (15%) engaged in other activities

Question 46

Jo-Ida Hansen Factors Analysis of Luisure Activities in Retirees

Answer 46

Factor I - Althletic, competitive, and outdoor activities
Factor II - Artistic, cultural, and self-expressive activities
Factor III - Partying

Question 47

Sucessful Aging

Answer 47

Maximizing one’s life experiences at any age

Question 48

Sucessful Aging Factors

Answer 48

a.) overall good health
b.) absence of chronic illnesses or chronic diseases
c.) engaging in physical activities
d.) social networking
e.) absence of serious cognitive impairment and depression
f.) sexual activity remained desireable

Question 49

Selective Optimization with Compensation

Answer 49

Reshaping of one’s life to concentrate on what one finds to be important and meaningful in the face of physical decline and positive cognitive impairment
[Older people manage to maximize their gains while minimizing their loses.]

Question 50

The average person retiring at age 65 has about how much life to look forward to?

Answer 50

Two decades

Question 51

What percentage of lesbian, gay, and bisexuals adults aged 60 -91 reported a good or excellent mental health in research study?

Answer 51

75%