Chapter Summary Questions

Question 1

What is gerontology? How does ageism relate to stereotypes of aging?

Answer 1

Gerontology is the study of aging from maturity through old age, as well as the study of older adults as a special group.
Myths of aging lead to negative stereotypes of older people, which can result in ageism, a form of discrimination against older people simply because of their age.

Question 2

What is the life-span perspective?

Answer 2

The life-span perspective divides human development into two phases: an early phase (childhood and adolescence) and a later phase (young adult- hood, middle age, and old age).
There are four key features of the life-span perspective: multidirectionality, plasticity, historical context, and multiple causation.

Question 3

What are the characteristics of the older adult population?

Answer 3

The number of older adults in the United States and other industrialized countries is increasing rapidly because of better health care, including declines in mortality during childbirth. The large numbers of older adults have important implications for human services.
The number of older Latino, Asian American, and Native American adults will increase much faster between now and 2050 than will the number of European American and African American older adults.
Whether older adults reflect individualism or collectivism has implications for interventions.
The increase in numbers of older adults is most rapid in developing countries

Question 4

What four main forces shape development?

Answer 4

Development is shaped by four forces.

(1) Biological forces include all genetic and health-related factors.
(2) Psychological forces include all internal perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and personality factors.
(3) Sociocultural forces include interpersonal, societal, cultural, and ethnic factors
(4) Life-cycle forces reflect differences in how the same event or combination of biological, psychological, and sociocultural forces affects people at different points in their lives.

Question 5

What are normative age-graded influences, normative history-graded influences, and nonnormative influences

Answer 5

Normative age-graded influences are life experiences that are highly related to chronological age. Normative history-graded influences are events that most people in a specific culture experience at the same time. Nonnormative influences are events that may be important for a specific individual but are not experienced by most people

Question 6

How do culture and ethnicity influence aging?

Answer 6

Culture and ethnicity jointly provide status, social settings, living conditions, and personal experiences for people of all ages. Culture can be defined as shared basic value orientations, norms, beliefs, and customary habits and ways of living, and it provides the basic worldview of a society. Ethnicity is an individual and collective sense of identity based on historical and cultural group membership and related behaviors and belief

Question 7

What is the meaning of age, Three types of aging are distinguished.

Answer 7

(1) Primary aging is normal, disease-free development during adulthood.
(2) Secondary aging is developmental changes that are related to disease.
(3) Tertiary aging is the rapid losses that occur shortly before death

Question 8

Chronological age is

Answer 8

is a poor descriptor of time- dependent processes and serves only as a shorthand for the passage of calendar time. Time-dependent processes do not actually cause behavior.

Question 9

Perceived age is

Answer 9

is the age you think of yourself as being.

Question 10

Biological age is

Answer 10

where a person is relative to the maximum number of years he or she could live

Question 11

Psychological age is

Answer 11

where a person is in terms of the abilities people use to adapt to changing environmental demands

Question 12

Sociocultural age is

Answer 12

where a person is in terms of the specific set of roles adopted in relation to other members of the society and culture

Question 13

What are the nature–nurture, stability–change, continuity–discontinuity, and the “universal versus context-specific development” issues?

Answer 13

The nature–nurture issue concerns the extent to which inborn, hereditary characteristics (nature) and experiential, or environmental, influences (nurture) determine who we are. The focus on nature and nurture must be on how they interact.
The stability–change issue concerns the degree to which people remain the same over time.
The continuity–discontinuity issue concerns competing views of how to describe change: as a smooth progression over time (continuity) or as a series of abrupt shifts (discontinuity).
The issue of universal versus context-specific development concerns whether there is only one pathway of development or several. This issue becomes especially important in interpreting cultural and ethnic group differences.

Question 14

What approaches do scientists use to measure behavior in adult development and aging research

Answer 14

Measures used in research must be reliable (measure things consistently) and valid (measure what they are supposed to measure).
Systematic observation involves watching people and carefully recording what they say or do. Two forms are common: naturalistic observation (observing people behaving spontaneously in a real-world setting) and structured observations (creating a setting that will elicit the behavior of interest).
If behaviors are hard to observe directly, researchers often create tasks that sample the behavior of interest.
Self-reports involve people’s answers to questions presented in a questionnaire or interview about a topic of interest.
Most research on adults has focused on middle- class, well-educated European Americans. This creates serious problems for understanding the development experiences of other groups of people.

Question 15

What are the general designs for doing research?

Answer 15

Experiments consist of manipulating one or more independent variables, measuring one or more dependent variables, and randomly assigning participants to the experimental and control groups. Experiments provide information about cause and effect.
Correlational designs address relations between variables; they do not provide information about cause and effect but do provide information about the strength of the relation between the variables.
Case studies are systematic investigations of individual people that provide detailed descriptions of people’s behavior in everyday situations.

Question 16

57. What specific designs are unique to adult development and aging research?

Answer 16

Age effects - reflect underlying biological, psychological, and sociocultural changes. Cohort effects are differences caused by experiences and circumstances unique to the generation to which one belongs. Time-of-measurement effects reflect influences of the specific historical time when one is obtaining information. Developmental research designs represent various combinations of age, cohort, and time-of-measurement effects. Confounding is any situation in which one cannot determine which of two or more effects is responsible for the behaviors being observed.

Cross-sectional designs - examine multiple cohorts and age groups at a single point in time. They can identify only age differences and confound age and cohort. The use of extreme age groups (young and older adults) is problematic in that the samples may not be representative, age should be treated as a continuous variable, and the measures may not be equivalent across age groups.

Longitudinal designs - examine one cohort over two or more times of measurement. They can identify age change but have several problems, including practice effects, dropout, and selective survival. Longitudinal designs confound age and time of measurement. Microgenetic studies are short-term longitudinal designs that measure behaviors very closely over relatively brief periods of time.

Sequential designs - involve more than one cross-sectional (cross-sequential) or longitudinal (longitudinal sequential) design. Although they are complex and expensive, they are important because they help disentangle age, cohort, and time-of-measurement effects.

Meta-analyses examine the consistency of findings across many research studies.

Question 17

What ethical procedures must researchers follow?

Answer 17

Investigators must obtain informed consent from their participants before conducting research.

Question 18

What brain imaging techniques are used in neuroscience research?

Answer 18

Structural neuroimaging such as computerized tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) provide highly detailed images of anatomical features in the brain.
Functional neuroimaging such as single pho- ton emission computerized tomography (SPECT), positron emission tomography (PET), functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), magnetoencephalography, and near infrared spectroscopic imaging (NIRSI) provide an indication of brain activity but not high anatomical detail.

Question 19

What are the main research methods used and issues studied in neuroscience research in adult development and aging?

Answer 19

The neuropsychological approach compares brain- related psychological functioning of healthy older adults with adults displaying pathological disorders in the brain.
The neuro-correlational approach links measures of behavioral performance to measures of neural structure or functioning.
The activation imaging approach directly links functional brain activity with behavioral data.

Question 20

How is the brain organized structurally?

Answer 20

The brain consists of neurons, which are comprised of dendrites, axon, neurofibers, and terminal branches. Neurons communicate across the space between neurons called the synapse via chemicals called neurotransmitters.
Important structures in the brain for adult development and aging include the cerebral cortex, corpus callosum, prefrontal and frontal cortex, cerebellum, hippocampus, limbic system, and amygdala.

Question 21

What are the basic changes in neurons as we age?

Answer 21

Structural changes in the neuron include declines in number, decreases in size and number of dendrites, the development of tangles in neurofibers, and increases in deposits of certain proteins.

Question 22

What changes occur in neurotransmitters with age?

Answer 22

Important declines occur in the dopaminergic system (neurons that use dopamine) that are related to declines in memory, among others.
Age-related changes in serotonin affect memory, mood, appetite, and sleep.
Age-related changes in acetylcholine are related to arousal, sensory perception, and sustained attention

Question 23

What changes occur in brain structures with age?

Answer 23

White matter (neurons covered by myelin) becomes thinner and shrinks, and does not function as well with age. White matter hyperintensities (WMH) are related to neural atrophy.
Many areas of the brain show significant shrinkage with age.

Question 24

What do age-related structural brain changes mean for behavior?

Answer 24

Structural changes in the prefrontal cortex with age cause significant declines in executive functioning.
Age-related structural changes in the prefrontal cortex and the hippocampus cause declines in memory function.
Older and younger adults process emotional mate- rial differently. Older adults show more activity in more areas of the prefrontal cortex.
Brain structures involved in automatic processing (e.g., amygdala) show less change with age, whereas brain structures involved in more reflective processing (e.g., prefrontal cortex) show more change with age.
The positivity effect refers to the fact that older adults are more motivated to derive emotional meaning from life and to maintain positive feelings. Older adults activate more brain structures when processing emotionally positive material.

Question 25

What is the Parieto-Frontal Integration Theory, and what does it explain?

Answer 25

The Parieto-Frontal Integration Theory (P-FIT) pro- poses that intelligence comes from a distributed and integrated network of neurons in the parietal and frontal areas of the brain.

Question 26

How do older adults attempt to compensate for age- related changes in the brain?

Answer 26

Older adults compensate for brain changes by activating more areas of the brain than young adults when performing the same tasks.

Question 27

What are the major differences among the HAROLD, CRUNCH, and STAC models of brain activation and aging?

Answer 27

The Hemispheric Asymmetry Reduction in Older Adults (HAROLD) model explains the finding of the reduced ability of older adults in separating cognitive processing in different parts of the prefrontal cortex.
The Compensation-Related Utilization of Neural Circuits Hypothesis (CRUNCH) model describes how the aging brain adapts to neurological decline by recruiting additional neural circuits (in comparison to younger adults) to perform tasks adequately. This model explains how older adults show overactivation of certain brain regions.
The Scaffolding Theory of Cognitive Aging (STAC) model is based on the idea that age-related changes in one’s ability to function reflect a life- long process of compensating for cognitive decline by recruiting additional brain areas. This explains how older adults build and rely on back-up neural pathways.

Question 28

What evidence is there for neural plasticity?

Answer 28

Plasticity involves the changes in the structure and function of the brain as the result of interaction between the brain and the environment. Plasticity helps account for how older adults compensate for cognitive changes.

Question 29

How does aerobic exercise influence brain changes and cognitive aging?

Answer 29

Brain plasticity is enhanced through aerobic exercise

Question 30

How does nutrition influence brain changes and cognitive activity?

Answer 30

Maintaining good levels of certain nutrients in blood plasma helps reduce the levels of brain structural changes and cognitive declines

Question 31

How do rate-of-living theories explain aging?

Answer 31

Rate-of-living theories are based on the idea that people are born with a limited amount of energy that can be expended at some rate unique to the individual.
Metabolic processes such as eating fewer calories or reducing stress may be related to living longer.
The body’s declining ability to adapt to stress with age may also be a partial cause of aging.

Question 32

What are the major hypotheses in cellular theories of aging?

Answer 32

Cellular theories suggest that there may be a limit on how often cells may divide before dying (called the Hayflick limit), which may partially explain aging. The shortening of telomeres may be the major factor.
A second group of cellular theories relate to a pro- cess called cross-linking that results when certain proteins interact randomly and produce molecules that make the body stiffer. Cross-links interfere with metabolism.
A third type of cellular theory proposes that free radicals, which are highly reactive chemicals produced randomly during normal cell metabolism, cause cell damage. There is some evidence that ingesting antioxidants may postpone the appearance of some age-related diseases.

Question 33

How do programmed-cell-death theories propose that we age?

Answer 33

Theories about programmed cell death are based on genetic hypotheses about aging. Specifically, there appears to be a genetic program that is triggered by physiological processes, the innate ability to self-destruct, and the ability of dying cells to trig- ger key processes in other cells

Question 34

How do the basic developmental forces interact in biological and physiological aging

Answer 34

Although biological theories are the foundation of biological forces, the full picture of how and why we age cannot be understood without considering the other three forces (psychological, sociocultural, and life cycle).

Question 35

How do our skin, hair, and voice change with age?

Answer 35

Normative changes with age in appearance or presentation include wrinkles, gray hair, and thinner and weaker voice

Question 36

What happens to our body build with age?

Answer 36

Normative changes include decrease in height and increase in weight in midlife, followed by weight loss in late life

Question 37

What age-related changes occur in our ability to move around?

Answer 37

The amount of muscle decreases with age, but strength and endurance change only slightly.
Loss of bone mass is normative; in severe cases, though, the disease osteoporosis may result, in which bones become brittle and honeycombed.
Osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis are two dis- eases that impair a person’s ability to get around and function in the environment.

Question 38

What are the psychological implications of age-related changes in appearance and mobility

Answer 38

Cultural stereotypes have an enormous influence on the personal acceptance of age-related changes in appearance.
Loss of strength and endurance, and changes in the joints, have important psychological consequences, especially regarding self-esteem.

Question 39

What age-related changes happen in vision?

Answer 39

Several age-related changes occur in the structure of the eye, including decreases in the amount of light passing through the eye and in the ability to adjust to changes in illumination, yellowing of the lens, and changes in the ability to adjust and focus (presbyopia). In some cases these changes result in various diseases, such as cataracts and glaucoma.
Other changes occur in the retina, including degeneration of the macula. Diabetes also causes retinal degeneration.
The psychological consequences of visual changes include difficulties in getting around. Compensation strategies must take several factors into account; for example, the need for more illumination must be weighed against increased susceptibility to glare.

Question 40

How does hearing change as people age?

Answer 40

Age-related declines in the ability to hear high- pitched tones (presbycusis) are normative.
Exposure to noise speeds up and exacerbates hearing loss.
Psychologically, hearing losses can reduce the ability to have satisfactory communication with others.

Question 41

What age-related changes occur in people’s senses of touch and balance

Answer 41

Changes in sensitivity to touch, temperature, and pain are complex and not understood; age-related trends are unclear in most cases.
Dizziness and vertigo are common in older adults and increase with age, as do falls. Changes in balance may result in greater caution in older adults when walking.

Question 42

What happens to taste and smell with increasing age

Answer 42

Age-related changes in taste are minimal. Many older adults complain about boring food; however, these complaints appear to be largely unrelated to changes in taste ability.
The ability to detect odors declines rapidly after age 60 in most people. Changes in smell are primarily What age-related changes occur in the cardiovascular system?
Some fat deposits in and around the heart and inside arteries are a normal part of aging. Heart muscle gradually is replaced with stiffer connective tissue. The most important change in the circulatory system is the stiffening (hardening) of the walls of the arteries.
Overall, men have a higher rate of cardiovascular disease than women. Several diseases increase in frequency with age: congestive heart failure, angina pectoris, myocardial infarction, atherosclerosis (severe buildup of fat inside and the calcification of the arterial walls), cerebrovascular disease (cardiovascular disease in the brain), and hypertension (high blood pressure).

Question 43

What structural and functional changes occur with age in the respiratory system

Answer 43

The amount of air we can take into our lungs and our ability to exchange oxygen and carbon dioxide decrease with age. Declines in the maxi- mum amount of air we can take in also occur.
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), such as emphysema, increases with age. Emphysema is the most common form of age-related COPD; although most cases are caused by smoking, a few are caused by second hand smoke, air pollution, or genetic factors. Chronic bronchitis also becomes more prevalent with age.

Question 44

What reproductive changes occur in women?

Answer 44

The transition from childbearing years to the cessation of ovulation is called the climacteric; menopause is the point at which the ovaries stop releasing eggs. A variety of physical and psycho- logical symptoms accompany menopause (e.g., hot flashes), including several in the genital organs; however, women in some cultures report different experiences.
Menopausal hormone therapy remains controversial because of conflicting results about its long- term effects.
No changes occur in the desire to have sex; how- ever, the availability of a suitable partner for women is a major barrier

Question 45

What reproductive changes occur in men

Answer 45

In men, sperm production declines gradually with age. Changes in the prostate gland occur and should be monitored through yearly examinations.
Some changes in sexual performance, such as increased time to erection and ejaculation and increased refractory period, are typical.

Question 46

What are the psychological implications of age-related changes in the reproductive system?

Answer 46

Healthy adults of any age are capable of engaging in sexual activity, and the desire to do so does not diminish with age. However, societal stereotyping creates barriers to free expression of such feelings.

Question 47

What major changes occur in the autonomic nervous system

Answer 47

Regulating body temperature becomes increasingly problematic with age. Older adults have difficulty telling when their core body temperature drops, and their vasoconstrictor response diminishes. When they become very hot, older adults are less likely than are younger adults to drink the water they need.
Sleep patterns and circadian rhythms change with age. Older adults are more likely to compensate by taking daytime naps, which exacerbates the problem. Effective treatments include exercising, reducing caffeine, avoiding daytime naps, and making the sleep environment as quiet and dark as possible.

Question 48

What are the psychological implications of changes in the brain?

Answer 48

Maintaining body temperature is essential to good health. Getting good sleep is also important for good functioning

Question 49

What is the average and maximum longevity for humans?

Answer 49

Average longevity is the age at which half of the people born in a particular year will have died. Maximum longevity is the longest time a member of a species lives. Active longevity is the time during which people are independent. Dependent life expectancy is the time during which people rely on others for daily life tasks.
Average longevity increased dramatically in the first half of the 20th century, but maximum longevity remains at about 120 years. The increase in aver- age longevity resulted mainly from the elimination
of many diseases and a reduction in deaths during childbirth.

Question 50

What genetic and environmental factors influence longevity?

Answer 50

Having long- or short-lived parents is a good predictor of your own longevity.
Living in a polluted environment can dramatically shorten longevity; being in a committed relation- ship lengthens it. Environmental effects must be considered in combination with each other and with genetic influences.

Question 51

What ethnic factors influence average longevity?

Answer 51

Different ethnic groups in the United States have different average longevity. However, these differences result primarily from differences in nutrition, health care, stress, and socioeconomic status.
In late life, people in some ethnic minority groups live longer than European Americans.

Question 52

185. What factors create gender differences in average longevity

Answer 52

Women tend to live longer than men, partly because men are more susceptible to disease and environmental influences. Numerous hypotheses have been offered for this difference, but none have been supported strongly.

Question 53

What are the key issues in defining health and illness?

Answer 53

Health is the absence of acute and chronic physical or mental disease and impairments. Illness is the presence of a physical or mental disease or impairment.
Self-rated health is a good predictor of illness and mortality. However, gender and cultural differences have been found

Question 54

How is the quality of life assessed?

Answer 54

Quality of life is a multidimensional concept that encompasses biological, psychological, and socio- cultural domains at any point in the life cycle.
In the context of health, people’s valuation of life is a major factor in quality of life.

Question 55

What normative age-related changes occur in the immune system

Answer 55

The immune system is composed of three major types of cells, which form a network of interacting parts: cell-mediated immunity (consisting of thy- mus-derived, or T-lymphocytes), humoral immunity (B-lymphocytes), and nonspecific immunity (mono- cytes and polymorphonuclear neutrophil leuko- cytes). Natural killer (NK) cells are also important components.
The total number of lymphocytes and NK cells does not change with age, but how well they function does.
The immune system can begin attacking itself, a condition called autoimmunity.
Psychoneuroimmunology is the study of the relations between psychological, neurological, and immunological systems that raise or lower our susceptibility to and ability to recover from disease.
HIV and AIDS are growing problems among older adults.

Question 56

What are the developmental trends in chronic and acute diseases

Answer 56

Acute diseases are conditions that develop over a short period of time and cause a rapid change in health. Chronic diseases are conditions that last a longer period of time (at least 3 months) and may be accompanied by residual functional impairment that necessitates long-term management.
The incidence of acute disease drops with age, but the effects of acute disease worsen. The incidence of chronic disease increases with age.

Question 57

What are the key issues in stress across adulthood

Answer 57

The stress and coping paradigm views stress, not as an environmental stimulus or as a response, but as the interaction of a thinking person and an event.
Primary appraisal categorizes events into three groups based on the significance they have for our well-being: irrelevant, benign or positive, and stressful. Secondary appraisal assesses our ability to cope with harm, threat, or challenge. Reappraisal involves making a new primary or secondary appraisal that results from changes in the situation.
Attempts to deal with stressful events are called coping. Problem-focused coping and emotion- focused coping are two major categories. People also use religion as a source of coping.
There are developmental declines in the number of stressors and in the kinds of coping strategies people use.
Stress has several negative consequences for health

Question 58

What are the most important issues in chronic disease? What are some common chronic conditions across adulthood?

Answer 58

Chronic conditions are the interaction of biological, psychological, sociocultural, and life-cycle forces.

a) Arthritis is the most common chronic condition. Arthritis and osteoporosis can cause mild to severe impairment.
b) Cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases can create chronic conditions after stroke.
c) Diabetes mellitus occurs when the pancreas produces insufficient insulin. Although it cannot be cured, it can be managed effectively. However, some serious problems, such as diabetic retinopathy, can result.
d) Many forms of cancer are caused by lifestyle choices, but genetics also plays an important role. The risk of developing cancer increases markedly with age. Prostate and breast cancer involve difficult treatment choices.
e) the inability to control the elimination of urine and feces on an occasional or consistent basis, called incontinence, is a source of great concern and embarrassment. How can people manage chronic conditions?

Question 59

What are the developmental trends in using medication?

Answer 59

Older adults use nearly half of all prescription and over-the-counter drugs. The average older adult takes six or seven medications per day. However, the general lack of older adults in clinical trials research means we may not know the precise effects of medications on them.

Question 60

How does aging affect the way that medications work?

Answer 60

The speed with which medications move from the stomach to the small intestine may slow with age. However, once drugs are in the small intestine, absorption rates are the same across adult- hood.
The distribution of medications in the bloodstream changes with age.
The speed of drug metabolism in the liver slows with age.
The rate at which drugs are excreted from the body slows with age.

Question 61

What are the consequences of medication interactions

Answer 61

Older adults are more prone to harmful side effects of medications.
Polypharmacy is a serious problem in older adults and may result in serious drug interactions.

Question 62

What are the important medication adherence issues?

Answer 62

Polypharmacy leads to lower rates of correct adherence to medication regimens.

Question 63

What factors are important to include in a model of disability in late life?

Answer 63

Disability is the effects of chronic conditions on people’s ability to engage in activities in daily life.
A model of disability includes pathology, impairments, functional limitations, risk factors, extraindividual factors, and intraindividual factors. This model includes all four main developmental forces.

Question 64

What is functional health?

Answer 64

Frail older adults are those who have physical dis- abilities, are very ill, or may have cognitive or psychological disorders and who need assistance with everyday tasks.
Activities of daily living (ADLs) include basic self- care tasks such as eating, bathing, toileting, walking, and dressing. Instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs) are actions that entail some intellectual competence and planning.
Rates of problems with ADLs and IADLs increase dramatically with age

Question 65

What causes functional limitations and disability in older adults?

Answer 65

The chronic conditions that best predict future dis- ability are arthritis and cerebrovascular disease. Other predictors include smoking, heavy drinking, physical inactivity, depression, social isolation, and fair or poor perceived health.
Being wealthy helps increase average longevity but does not protect one from developing chronic conditions, meaning that such people may experience longer periods of disability late in life.
Women’s health generally is poorer across cultures, especially in developing countries. Ethnic group differences are also important. The validity of measures of functioning sometimes differs across ethnicity and gender.

Question 66

What is the competence–environmental press model?

Answer 66

Competence is the upper limit on one’s capacity to function.
Environmental press reflects the demands placed on a person.
Lawton and Nahemow’s model establishes points of balance between the two, called adaptation levels. One implication of the model is the less competent a person is, the more impact the environment has.
People can show proactivity (doing something to exert control over their lives) or docility (letting the situation determine their lives).

Question 67

What is the proactive and corrective proactivity (PCP) model?

Answer 67

The preventive and corrective proactivity (PCP) model explains how life stressors and lack of good congruence in person–environment interactions, especially when the person has nothing to help buffer or protect against these things, result in poor life outcomes.
Preventive adaptations are actions that avoid stressors and increase or build social resources. Corrective adaptations are actions taken in response to stress- ors, and can be facilitated by internal and external resources

Question 68

What are the major aspects of stress and coping theory relating to person–environment interaction?

Answer 68

Schooler applied Lazarus’s model of stress and coping to person–environment interactions. Schooler claims older adults’ adaptation depends on their perception of environmental stress and their attempts to cope. Social systems and institutions may buffer the effects of stress.

Question 69

What are the common themes in the theories of person–environment interactions

Answer 69

All theories agree the focus must be on interactions between the person and the environment. No single environment meets everyone’s needs.
Everyday competence is a person’s potential ability to perform a wide range of activities considered essential for independent living.
Everyday competence forms the basis for deciding whether people are capable of making decisions for themselves

Question 70

What is aging in place?

Answer 70

Aging in place reflects the balance of environmental press and competence through selection and compensation. Feeling “at home” is a major aspect of aging in place.
Throughout adulthood people compensate for change; aging in place represents a continuation of that process.
Aging in place has resulted in a rethinking of housing options for older adults.

Question 71

How do people decide the best option?

Answer 71

The best placement options are based on whether a person has cognitive or physical impairment, the ability of family or friends to provide support, and whether intervention, if needed, can be provided in the current residence or a move is necessary

Question 72

How can a home be modified to provide a supportive environment

Answer 72

Modifying a home can be a simple process (such as adding hand rails in a bathroom) or extensive (such as modifying doorways and entrances for wheel- chair access).
Home modifications are usually done to address difficulties with activities of daily living (ADLs).

Question 73

What options are provided in adult day care?

Answer 73

Adult day care provides support, companionship, and certain types of services. Programs include social, health care, and specialized services.
Introduction of adult day care needs to be done carefully with persons who have cognitive impairment.

Question 74

What is congregate housing?

Answer 74

Congregate housing includes a range of options, that provide social support and meals, but not ongoing medical care.

Question 75

What are the characteristics of assisted living?

Answer 75

Assisted living provides options for adults needing a supportive living environment, assistance with activities of daily living, and a modest level of medical care.
Assisted living situations have three essential attributes: a home-like environment; the philosophy of care emphasizes personal control, choice, and dignity; and facilities meet residents’ routine services and special needs.
Research shows assisted living is especially helpful for frail older adults.

Question 76

Living in Nursing Homes

Answer 76

At any given time, only about 5% of older adults are in nursing homes. Such facilities are excellent examples of the importance of person–environment fit

Question 77

What are the major types of nursing homes?

Answer 77

A distinction within nursing homes is between skilled nursing care and intermediate care.
Costs of nursing home care are high, and only certain types of insurance cover part of the costs. Future funding is a major concern.

Question 78

Who is likely to live in nursing homes

Answer 78

The typical resident is female, European Ameri- can, very old, financially disadvantaged, widowed/divorced or living alone, has no children or family nearby, and has significant problems with activities of daily living. However, the number of minorities in nursing homes is increasing rapidly.
Placement in nursing homes is seen as a last resort and is often based on the lack of other alternatives, lack of other caregivers, or policies governing the level of functioning needed to remain in one’s present housing. It often occurs quickly in the context of a medical crisis.

Question 79

What are the key characteristics of nursing homes?

Answer 79

Selection of nursing homes must be done carefully and take the person’s health conditions and financial situation into account.
Person-centered planning is the best approach, especially for people who have cognitive impairment.

Question 80

What are special care units?

Answer 80

Special care units provide a supportive environment for people with specific problems such as dementia.
Residents of special care units tend to be younger and more impaired than the rest of the nursing home residents.

Question 81

Can a nursing home be a home?

Answer 81

Residents of nursing homes can come to the conclusion that this can be home. Home is more than simply a place to live: Coming to the feeling that one is at home sometimes entails reflection on what one’s previous home was like and recognizing a nursing home can have some of the same characteristics.

Question 82

How should people communicate with nursing home residents?

Answer 82

Inappropriate speech to older adults is based on stereotypes of dependence and lack of abilities. Patronizing and infantilizing speech are examples of demeaning speech, that are rated negatively by older adults. The communication enhancement model has been proposed as a framework for appropriate exchange. This model is based on a health promotion model that seeks opportunities for health care providers to optimize outcomes for older adults through more appropriate and effective communication.

Question 83

How is decision-making capacity assessed?

Answer 83

The Patient Self-Determination Act (PSDA) requires people to complete advance directives when admit- ted to a health care facility. A major ethical issue concerns how to communicate this information to people with cognitive impairment in nursing homes.

Question 84

What are some new directions for nursing homes?

Answer 84

The Eden Alternative, the Green House concept, and the Pioneer Network have a commitment to viewing older adults as worthwhile members of society regardless of their physical limitations.

Question 85

How do people choose their occupations

Answer 85

• Holland’s theory is based on the idea people choose occupations to optimize the fit between their individual traits and their occupational interests.
• Six personality types, representing different combinations of these, have been identified. Support for these types has been found in several studies.
• Social cognitive career theory emphasizes how people choose careers is also influenced by what they think they can do and how well they can do it, as well as how motivated they are to pursue a career.

Question 86

What factors influence occupational development?

Answer 86

• Reality shock is the realization one’s expectations about an occupation are different from what one actually experiences. Reality shock is common among young workers.
• Few differences exist across generations in terms of their occupational expectations.
• A mentor or developmental coach is a co-worker who teaches a new employee the unwritten rules and fosters occupational development.
• Mentor– protégé relationships, like other relationships, develop through stages over time.

Question 87

What is the relationship between job satisfaction and age?

Answer 87

• Older workers report higher job satisfaction than younger workers, but this may be partly due to self-selection; unhappy workers may quit.
• Other reasons include intrinsic satisfaction, good fit, lower importance of work, finding nonwork diversions, and life-cycle factors.
• Alienation and burnout are important considerations in understanding job satisfaction. Both involve significant stress for workers.
• Vallerand’s Passion Model proposes people develop a passion toward enjoyable activities that are incorporated into identity. Obsessive passion happens when people experience an uncontrollable urge to engage in the activity; harmonious passion results when individuals freely accept the activity as important for them without any contingencies attached to it.

Question 88

How do women’s and men’s occupational expectations differ? How are people viewed when they enter occupations that are not traditional for their gender?

Answer 88

• Boys and girls are socialized differently for work, and their occupational choices are affected as a result. Women choose nontraditional occupations for many reasons, including expectations and personal feelings. Women in such occupations are still viewed more negatively than men in the same occupations.

Question 89

What factors are related to women’s occupational development?

Answer 89

• Women leave well-paid occupations for many rea- sons, including family obligations and workplace environment. Women who continue to work full- time have adequate child care and look for ways to further their occupational development.
• The glass ceiling, that limits women’s occupational attainment, and the glass cliff, that puts women leaders in a precarious position, affect how often women achieve top executive positions and how successful women leaders are.

Question 90

What factors affect ethnic minority workers’ occupational experiences and occupational development?

Answer 90

Vocational identity and vocational goals vary in different ethnic groups. Whether an organization is sensitive to ethnicity issues is a strong predictor of satisfaction among ethnic minority employees.

Question 91

What types of bias and discrimination hinder the occupational development of women and ethnic minority workers?

Answer 91

• Gender bias remains the chief barrier to women’s occupational development. In many cases, this operates as a glass ceiling. Pay inequity is also a problem; women are often paid less than what men earn in similar jobs.
• Sexual harassment is a problem in the workplace. Current criteria for judging harassment are based on the “reasonable person” standard. Denying employment to anyone over 40 because of age is age discrimination.

Question 92

Why do people change occupations?

Answer 92

• Important reasons people change occupations include personality, obsolescence, and economic trends.
• To adapt to the effects of aglobal economy and a gain workforce, many corporations are providing retraining opportunities for workers. Retraining is especially important in cases of outdated skills and career plateauing.

Question 93

Is worrying about potential job loss a major source of stress?

Answer 93

Occupational insecurity is a growing problem. Fear that one may lose one’s job is a better predictor of anxiety than the actual likelihood of job loss.

Question 94

How does job loss affect the amount of stress experienced?

Answer 94

Job loss is a traumatic event that can affect every aspect of a person’s life. Degree of financial distress and the extent of attachment to the job are the best predictors of distress.

Question 95

What are the issues faced by employed people who care for dependents?

Answer 95

Caring for children or aging parents creates dilemmas for workers. Whether a woman returns to work after having a child depends largely on how attached she is to her work. Simply providing child care on-site does not always result in higher job satisfaction. A more important factor is the degree that supervisors are sympathetic

Question 96

How do partners view the division of household chores? What is work–family conflict? How does it affect couples’ lives?

Answer 96

• Although women have reduced the amount of time they spend on household tasks over the past two decades, they still do most of the work. European American men are less likely than either African American or Latino American men to help with traditionally female household tasks.
• Flexible work schedules and the number of children are important factors in role conflict. Recent evidence shows work stress has a much greater impact on family life than family stress has on work performance. Some women pay a high personal price for having careers.

Question 97

What activities are leisure activities?

Answer 97

• Leisure activities can be simple relaxation, activities for enjoyment, or creative pursuits. Views of leisure activities varies by gender, ethnicity, and age

Question 98

What changes in leisure activities occur with age?

Answer 98

As people grow older, they tend to engage in lei- sure activities that are less strenuous and more family-oriented. Leisure preferences in adulthood reflect those earlier in life.

Question 99

What do people derive from leisure activities?

Answer 99

Leisure activities enhance well-being and can benefit all aspects of people’s lives

Question 100

What does being retired mean?

Answer 100

Retirement is a complex process by which people withdraw from full-time employment. There is no adequate, single definition for all ethnic groups. People’s decisions to retire involve several factors, including eligibility for certain social programs, and personal financial and health resources.

Question 101

Why do people retire?

Answer 101

People generally retire because they choose to, but many people are forced to retire because of job loss or serious health problems.

Question 102

How satisfied are people with retirement?

Answer 102

Retirement is an important life transition. Most people are satisfied with retirement. Many retired people maintain their health, friendship networks, and activity levels.

Question 103

What employment and volunteer opportunities are there for older adults

Answer 103

Increasingly, people continue some level of participation in the labor force during retirement, usually for financial reasons. Labor force participation among older adults continues to increase. Volunteer work is another way of achieving this

Question 104

What are the primary aspects of the information- processing model?

Answer 104

The information-processing model is based on a computer metaphor and assumes an active participant, both quantitative and qualitative aspects of performance, and processing of information transformed through a series of systems.
Sensory memory is the first level of processing incoming information from the environment. Sensory memory has a large capacity, but information only lasts there a short time.

Question 105

What are the basic components of attention?

Answer 105

From a functional perspective, attention consists of processing different aspects of stimuli.

Question 106

How does speed of processing relate to cognitive aging?

Answer 106

Speed of processing refers to how quickly and efficiently the early steps in information processing are performed. In general, older adults are slower

Question 107

What types of processing resources relate to attention and memory?

Answer 107

Some researchers claim older adults have fewer processing resources than younger adults. However, this conclusion is suspect because processing resources is ill defined.

Processing resources refers to the amount of attention one has to apply to a particular situation.
Older adults have more difficulty filtering out or inhibiting irrelevant information (called inhibitory loss) than younger adults, but this may also have a beneficial effect under certain circumstances
Divided attention assesses attentional resources and involves doing more than one task that demands attention. Age differences in divided attention depend on the degree of task complexity and practice.

Question 108

What are automatic and effortful processing?

Answer 108

Automatic processing places minimal demands on attentional capacity whereas effortful processing requires all of the available attentional capacity. There are relatively no age differences in the former and pronounced age differences in the latter.

Question 109

What is working memory

Answer 109

Working memory refers to the processes and structures involved in holding information in mind and simultaneously using that information, sometimes in conjunction with incoming information, to solve a problem, make a decision, or learn. Information is kept active through rehearsal.

Question 110

What age differences have been found in working memory?

Answer 110

In general, working memory capacity and rehearsal decline with age, although the extent of the decline is still in doubt. There is some evidence age differences in working memory are not universal.

Question 111

How does implicit and explicit memory differ across age

Answer 111

Implicit memory involves retrieval of information without conscious or intentional recollection.
Explicit memory is intentional and conscious remembering of information learned and remembered at a specific point in time.
Older adults are generally better at implicit memory tasks than explicit memory tasks

Question 112

What age differences are there in prospective memory?

Answer 112

Age differences are less likely on event-based prospective memory tasks than on time-based prospective memory tasks. How accurately prospective memory tasks are performed depends on the time of day. Processing speed may help explain these age differences.

Question 113

Within long-term memory, how does episodic and semantic memory performance differ across age?

Answer 113

Long-term memory refers to the ability to remember extensive amounts of information from a few seconds to a few hours to decades.
In episodic memory, age-related decrements are typically found on recall tests but not on recognition tests. Older adults tend not to use memory strategies spontaneously as often or as well as younger adults.
Semantic memory concerns learning and remembering the meaning of words and concepts not tied to specific occurrences of events in time. Fewer age differences are found in semantic memory.

Question 114

What age differences have been found in encoding versus retrieval?

Answer 114

Age-related decrements in encoding may be due to decrements in rehearsal within working memory and being slower at making connections with incoming information. Older adults do not spontaneously organize incoming information as well as younger adults, but they can use organizational helps when told to do so. However, the benefits of this approach are short-lived. Although older adults tend not to use optimal encoding strategies, this does not account for poor memory performance.
Age-related decline in retrieval is related to both poorer encoding to some degree as well as failure to use retrieval strategies. Older adults also have more tip-of-the-tongue experiences than younger adults.

Question 115

How does autobiographical memory change across adulthood?

Answer 115

Some aspects of autobiographical memory remain intact for many years whereas other aspects do not. More memories are present from young adulthood than later in life. Verification of autobiographical memories is often difficult.
Older adults have fewer flashbulb memories and their impact is restricted to particular points in the life span.

Question 116

How does source memory and processing misinformation change across adulthood?

Answer 116

The ability to remember the source of a familiar event or whether the event was imagined or experienced declines with age.
Older adults are more susceptible to false memories in that they remember items or events that did not occur under specific conditions of plausibility and are more likely to believe false information as true.

Question 117

What are some factors that help preserve memory as we grow older?

Answer 117

Exercise, multilingualism, use of semantic memory, and avoiding the application of memory stereo- types are all factors that can enhance memory in older adults and delay cognitive decline

Question 118

What are the major types of memory self-evaluations?

Answer 118

2 general categories of memory self- evaluations. Metamemory refers to knowledge about how memory works and what one believes to be true about it. Memory monitoring refers to the awareness of what we are doing with our memory right now

Question 119

What age differences have been found in metamemory and memory monitoring?

Answer 119

Metamemory is typically assessed with questionnaires. Older adults seem to know less than younger adults about the workings of memory and its capacity, view memory as less stable, believe their memory will decline with age, and feel they have little control over these changes. Memory self- efficacy is an important predictor of performance in several settings.
The ability to monitor one’s performance on memory tasks does not usually decline with age. Memory monitoring may provide a basis for compensating for actual performance declines.

Question 120

What is the difference between normal and abnormal memory aging?

Answer 120

Whether memory changes affect daily functioning is one way to separate normal from abnormal aging. Brain-imaging techniques allow localization of problems with more precision.
Some diseases are marked by severe memory impairments. However, in many cases, telling the difference between normal changes and those associated with disease or other abnormal events is difficult

Question 121

What are the major ways memory skills are trained? How effective are these methods?

Answer 121

The E-I-E-I-O framework, based on explicit-implicit aspects of memory and external-internal types of strategies, is a useful way to organize memory training.
Older adults can learn new internal memory strategies but, like all adults, usually abandon them over time.
External-explicit strategies (such as lists and calendars) are common, but internal-implicit strategies are effective even with persons who have Alzheimer’s disease.
Use of memory enhancing drugs does not work over the long run.

Question 122

What is the connection between memory and physical and mental health?

Answer 122

Dementia (such as Alzheimer’s disease) and severe depression both involve memory impairment.
Temporary global amnesia, more common in middle age than in younger or older adulthood, may be related to blood flow in the brain.
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) can have serious consequences, as seen in the long-term potential dam- age from repeated concussions

Question 123

How Do People Define Intelligence In Everyday Life?

Answer 123

Experts and laypeople agree intelligence consists of problem-solving ability, verbal ability, and social competence. Motivation, exertion of effort, and reading are important behaviors for people of all ages; how- ever, some age-related behaviors are also apparent.

Question 124

What are the major components of the life-span approach

Answer 124

The life-span view emphasizes there is some intellectual decline with age, primarily in the mechanics, but there is also stability and growth, primarily
strategies more often than people who are not wise. On the other hand, some evidence indicates the attainment of wisdom brings increased distress. Perhaps because with the experience that brings wisdom comes an understanding that life does not always work out the way one would like.
in the pragmatics. Four points are central. Plasticity concerns the range within one’s abilities are modifiable. Multidimensionality concerns the many abilities that underlie intelligence. Multi-directionality concerns the many possible ways individuals may develop. Interindividual variability acknowledges people differ from each other.

Question 125

What are the major research approaches for studying intelligence

Answer 125

Three main approaches are used to study intelligence. The psychometric approach focuses on performance on standardized tests. The cognitive- structural approach emphasizes the quality and style of thought. The information-processing approach emphasis basic cognitive mechanisms.

Question 126

What is intelligence in adulthood?

Answer 126

Intellectual abilities fall into various related abilities that form the structure of intelligence.
Intelligence in adulthood focuses on how it operates in everyday life.

Question 127

What are primary mental abilities and how do they change across adulthood?

Answer 127

Primary abilities comprise the several independent abilities that form factors on standardized intelligence tests. 
Five have been studied most: 
i.	Number
ii.	word fluency
iii.	verbal meaning
iv.	inductive reasoning
v.	spatial orientation.
Primary mental abilities show normative declines with age that may affect performance in everyday life after around age 60, although declines tend to be small until the mid-70s. However, within individual differences show few people decline equally in all areas.

Question 128

What are fluid and crystallized intelligence? How do they change?

Answer 128

Fluid intelligence involves innate abilities that make people flexible and adaptive thinkers and underlie the acquisition of knowledge and experience. Fluid intelligence normally declines with age. Crystallized intelligence is knowledge acquired through life experience and education. Crystallized intelligence does not normally decline with age until late life. As age increases, individual differences remain stable with fluid intelligence but increase with crystallized intelligence.
Age-related declines in fluid abilities have been shown to be moderated by cohort, education, social variables, personality, health, lifestyle, and task familiarity. Cohort effects and familiarity have been studied most. Cohort differences are complex and depend on the specific ability. Age differences in performance on familiar tasks are similar to those on standardized tests. Although taking both into account reduces age differences, they are not eliminated.
Several studies show that fluid intelligence abilities improve after direct training and after anxiety reduction. Improvements in performance match or exceed individuals’ level of decline. Training effects appear to last for several years regardless of the nature of the training, but generalization of training to new tasks is rare.

Question 129

What are the main points in Piaget’s theory of cognitive development

Answer 129

Key concepts in Piaget’s theory include adaptation to the environment, organization of thought, and the structure of thought. The processes of thought are assimilation (using previously learned knowledge to make sense of incoming information) and accommodation (making the knowledge base con- form to the environment). According to Piaget, thought develops through four stages: sensorimotor, pre-operations, concrete operations, and formal operations.

Question 130

What evidence is there for continued cognitive development beyond formal operations

Answer 130

Considerable evidence shows the style of thinking changes across adulthood. The development of reflective judgment in young adulthood occurs as a result of seven stages. Other research identified a progression from absolutist thinking to relativistic thinking to dialectical thinking. A key characteristic of post-formal thought is the integration of emotion and logic. Much of this research is based on people’s solutions to real-world problems. Although there have been suggestions that women’s ways of knowing differ from men’s, research evidence does not provide strong support for this view.

Question 131

What are the characteristics of older adults’ decision making?

Answer 131

Older adults make decisions in a qualitatively different way from younger adults. They tend to search for less information, require less information, and rely on pre-existing knowledge structures in making everyday decisions. Older adults perform more poorly when asked to create or invent new decision rules, in unfamiliar situations, and when the decision task requires high cognitive load.

Question 132

What age differences are found in practical problem solving?

Answer 132

In Denney’s model, both unexercised and optimally exercised abilities increase through early adult- hood and slowly decline thereafter. Performance on practical problem solving increases through middle age. Research indicates sound measures of practical problem solving can be constructed, but these measures do not tend to relate to each other, creating problem solving is multidimensional. The emotional salience of problems is an important feature that influences problem-solving style with older adults performing better when problems involve interpersonal and emotional features.

Question 133

What is wisdom and how does it relate to age and life experience

Answer 133

Wisdom involves four general characteristics: it deals with important matters of life; consists of superior knowledge, judgment, and advice; is knowledge of exceptional depth; and is well intentioned. Five specific behavioral criteria are used to judge wisdom: expertise, broad abilities, understanding how life problems change, fitting the response with the problem, and realizing life problems are often ambiguous. Wisdom also entails integrating thought and emotion to show empathy or compassion. Wisdom may be more strongly related to experience than age.

Question 134

How does the content of stereotypes about aging differ across adulthood?

Answer 134

The content of stereotypes varies by age:

older adults include more positive stereotypes along with negative ones.

Question 135

How do younger and older adults perceive the competence of the elderly?

Answer 135

An age-based double standard operates when judging older adults’ failures in memory.
Younger adults rate older adults as more responsible despite their memory failures.

Question 136

How do negative stereotypes about aging unconsciously guide our behavior?

Answer 136

Automatically activated negative stereotypes about aging guide behavior beyond the individual’s awareness.
Implicit stereotyping influences the way we patronize older adults in our communications.

Question 137

What are the ways the positive and negative aging stereotypes influence older adults’ behavior

Answer 137

Stereotypic beliefs have a negative impact on the cognitive performance of older adults.
Stereotypic beliefs influence older adults’ health and physical behavior.

Question 138

What are social knowledge structures?

Answer 138

To understand age differences in social beliefs, we must first examine content differences.
Second, we must assess the strength of the beliefs.
Third, we need to know the likelihood beliefs will affect behavior.

Question 139

What are social beliefs, and how do they change with age?

Answer 139

Age differences in social beliefs can be attributed to generational differences and life-stage differences.

Question 140

What are self-perceptions of aging, and what influences them across adulthood?

Answer 140

Labeling theory (the incorporation of negative stereotypes) and resilience theory (distancing from negative stereotypes) both operate to create self- perceptions of aging

Question 141

What is the negativity bias in impression formation, and how does it influence older adults’ thinking?

Answer 141

When forming an initial impression, older adults rely heavily on pre-existing social structures. Older adults weigh negative information more heavily in their social judgments than do younger adults. Older adults use less detailed information in forming impressions than do younger adults.

Question 142

Are there age differences in accessibility of social information?

Answer 142

Social knowledge structures must be available to guide behavior. Social information must be easily accessible to guide behavior.
Accessibility depends on the strength of the information stored in memory. How the situation is framed influences what types of social knowledge will be accessed.

Question 143

How does processing context influence social judgments?

Answer 143

Age-related changes in processing capacity influence social judgments. Stages of processing suggest we make initial snap judgments and later correct or adjust them based on more reflective thinking.

Question 144

To what extent do processing capacity limitations influence social judgments in older adults?

Answer 144

Older adults tend to make more snap judgments because of processing resource limitations.

Question 145

How do causal attributions and the correspondence bias change with age

Answer 145

Older adults display a dispositional bias when con- fronted with negative relationship situations. Older adults display more interactive attributions in negative relationship situations.
The dispositional bias on the part of older adults can be attributed to both processing resource limitations and differences in social knowledge that influence their attributional judgments.
Older adults display a higher level of social expertise than younger adults do when forming impressions

Question 146

How do goals influence the way we process information, and how does this change with age?

Answer 146

Life-span shifts in goal orientation show interests shift toward physical health and socio-emotional domains increase with age.

Question 147

How do emotions influence the way we process information, and how does this change with age?

Answer 147

Older adults tend to focus their processing on positive emotional information more than negative information.

Question 148

How does a need for closure influence how we process information, and how does it change with age?

Answer 148

Need for closure is a need for a quick and decisive answer with little tolerance for ambiguity.
Older adults’ social judgment biases are predicted by the degree they need quick and decisive closure. This is not so for younger age groups.

Question 149

What is personal control, and what age differences exist in this area?

Answer 149

Personal control is the degree that one believes performance depends on something one does.
Age differences in the degree of personal control depend on the domain being studied. Some evidence suggests people develop several strategies concerning personal control to protect a positive self-image.

Question 150

What is the multidimensionality of personal control?

Answer 150

Older adults perceive less control over specific domains of functioning such as intellectual changes with aging.
Perceived control over health remains stable until it declines in old age.
Older adults perceive less control over social issues and personal appearance.

Question 151

How do assimilation and accommodation influence behavior?

Answer 151

Assimilative strategies prevent losses important to self-esteem.
Accommodative strategies readjust goals.
Immunizing mechanisms alter the effects of self- discrepant information.

Question 152

What is primary and secondary control?

Answer 152

Primary control helps change the environment to match one’s goals.
Secondary control reappraises the environment in light of one’s decline in functioning.

Question 153

What is the primacy of primary control over secondary control

Answer 153

Primary control has functional primacy over secondary control.
Cross-cultural perspectives challenge the notion of primacy of primary control.

Question 154

What is the social facilitation of cognitive functioning?

Answer 154

Particular types of social settings where we communicate with others, influence our cognitive processing

Question 155

What is collaborative cognition, and does it facilitate memory in older adults?

Answer 155

Collaborating with others in recollection helps facilitate memory in older adults.
Collaborating with others enhances problem solving in older adults.

Question 156

How does the social context influence memory performance in older adults?

Answer 156

The social context can serve a facilitative function in older adults’ memory performance.

Question 157

What role do friends play across adulthood?

Answer 157

People tend to have more friendships during young adulthood than during any other period. Friend- ships in old age are especially important for maintaining life satisfaction.
Men have fewer close friends and base them on shared activities. Women have more close friends and base them on emotional sharing. Cross-gender friendships are difficult.

Question 158

What characterizes love relationships? How do they vary across culture

Answer 158

Passion, intimacy, and commitment are the key components of love.
The theory that does the best job explaining the process of forming love relationships is the theory of assortative mating.
Selecting a mate works best when there are shared values, goals, and interests. There are cross-cultural differences in which specific aspects of these are most important.

Question 159

What are abusive relationships? What characterizes elder abuse, neglect, or exploitation

Answer 159

Levels of aggressive behavior range from verbal aggression to physical aggression to murdering
one’s partner. People remain in abusive relationships for many reasons, including low self-esteem and the belief they cannot leave.
Abuse, neglect, or exploitation of older adults is an increasing problem. Most perpetrators are spouses/partners or adult children. The causes are complex.

Question 160

What are the challenges of being single?

Answer 160

Most adults in their 20s are single. People remain single for many reasons; gender differences exist. Ethnic differences reflect differences in age at marriage and social factors.
Singles recognize the pluses and minuses in the lifestyle. There are health and longevity consequences from remaining single for men but not for women

Question 161

Why do people cohabit?

Answer 161

Cohabitation is on the increase globally.

Three primary reasons for cohabiting are convenience (e.g., to share expenses), trial marriage, or substitute marriage.

Question 162

What is marriage like across adulthood?

Answer 162

The most important factors in creating stable marriages are maturity, similarity (called homogamy), and conflict resolution skills. Exchange theory is an important explanation of how people contribute to their relationships.
For couples with children, marital satisfaction tends to decline until the children leave home, although individual differences are apparent, especially in long-term marriages.
Most long-term marriages tend to be happy, and partners in them express fewer negative emotions.
Caring for a spouse presents challenges. How well it works depends on the quality of the marriage. Most caregiving spouses provide care based on love.

Question 163

Why do couples divorce?

Answer 163

Currently, half of all new marriages end in divorce. Reasons for divorce include a lack of the qualities that make a strong marriage. Also, societal attitudes against divorce have eased and expectations about marriage have increased.
Recovery from divorce is different for men and women. Men tend to have a tougher time in the short run. Women clearly have a harder time in the long run, often for financial reasons. Difficulties between divorced partners usually involve visitation and child support.

Question 164

What are the experiences of widows and widowers

Answer 164

Widowhood is more common among women because they tend to marry men older than they are. Widowed men typically are older.
Reactions to widowhood depend on the quality of the marriage. Men generally have problems in social relationships and in household tasks; women tend to have more financial problems.

Question 165

How do middle-aged adults get along with their children? How do they deal with the possibility of providing care to aging parents?

Answer 165

Most parents do not report severe negative emotions when their children leave. Difficulties emerge to the extent that children were a major source of a parent’s identity. However, parents typically report distress if adult children move back.
Middle-aged women often assume the role of kin- keeper to the family. Middle-aged parents may be squeezed by competing demands of their children, who want to gain independence, and their parents, who want to maintain independence; therefore, they are often called the sandwich generation. Most caregiving by adult children is done by daughters and daughters-in-law. Filial obligation, the sense of responsibility to care for older parents, is a major factor.
Caring for aging parents can be highly stressful. Symptoms of depression, anxiety, and other problems are widespread. Financial pressures also are felt by most. Parents often have a difficult time in accepting the care. However, many caregivers also report feeling rewarded or uplifted for their efforts.

Question 166

How do grandparents interact with their grandchildren? What key issues are involved?

Answer 166

Being a grandparent is a meaningful role. Individual differences in interactive style are large. Ethnic differences in grandparenting are evident. Ethnic groups with strong family ties differ in style from groups who value individuality. Grandparents are increasingly being put in the position of raising their grandchildren. Reasons include incarceration and substance abuse by the parents. Great-grandparenthood is a role enjoyed by more people and reflects a sense of family renewal

Question 167

What is the five-factor model of dispositional traits?

Answer 167

The five-factor model posits five dimensions of personality: neuroticism, extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, and conscientiousness. Each of these dimensions has several descriptors. Several longitudinal studies indicate personality traits show long-term stability.
When combined with the data from the dispositional trait and personal concerns literatures, research findings on identity and the self, provide the capstone knowledge needed to understand what people are like.

Question 168

What happens to dispositional traits across adulthood?

Answer 168

Studies find evidence for change in Big Five fac- tors such as neuroticism, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and extraversion. These are related to two dimensions of personality: adjustment and growth.
Both stability and change characterize personality development in advanced old age.

Question 169

What are some criticisms of the five-factor mode

Answer 169

The research may have methodological problems; dispositional traits do not describe aspects of human nature and do not provide good predictors of behavior; and dispositional traits do not consider the contextual aspects of development.
An intraindividual perspective challenges stability by examining personality at the level of the individual.

Question 170

What conclusions can we draw about dispositional traits

Answer 170

The bulk of the evidence suggests dispositional traits are relatively stable across adulthood, but there may be a few exceptions. Criticisms of the research point to the need for better statistical analyses and a determination of the role of life experiences

Question 171

What’s different about personal concerns

Answer 171

Personal concerns take into account a person’s developmental context and distinguish between “having” traits and “doing” everyday behaviors. Personal concerns entail descriptions of what people are trying to accomplish and the goals they create

Question 172

What are the main elements of Jung’s theory?

Answer 172

Jung emphasized various dimensions of personality (masculinity–femininity; extraversion–introversion). Jung argues people move toward integrating these dimensions as they age, with midlife being an especially important period.

Question 173

What are the stages in Erikson’s theory?

Answer 173

The sequence of Erikson’s stages is trust versus mis- trust, autonomy versus shame and doubt, initiative versus guilt, industry versus inferiority, identity versus identity confusion, intimacy versus isolation, generativity versus stagnation, and ego integrity versus despair

Question 174

What are the main points and problems with theories based on life transitions

Answer 174

life transition theories postulate periods of transition that alternate with periods of stability. These theories tend to overestimate the commonality of age-linked transitions.
Research evidence suggests crises tied to age 30 or the midlife crisis do not occur for most people.
However, most middle-aged people do point to both gains and losses that could be viewed as change. A midlife correction may better characterize this transition for women

Question 175

What can we conclude about personal concerns?

Answer 175

Theory and research both provide support for change in the personal concerns people report at various times in adulthood.

Question 176

What are the main aspects of McAdams’s life-story model

Answer 176

McAdams argues that people create a life story as an internalized narrative with a beginning, middle, and anticipated ending. An adult reformulates that life story throughout adulthood. The life story reflects emotions, motivations, beliefs, values, and goals to set the context for his or her behavior.

Question 177

What are the main points of Whitbourne’s identity theory

Answer 177

Whitbourne believes people have a life-span construct: a unified sense of their past, present, and future. The components of the life-span construct are the scenario (expectations of the future) and the life story (a personal narrative history). She integrates the concepts of assimilation and accommodation from Piaget’s theory to explain how people’s identity changes over time. Family and work are two major sources of identity.

Question 178

What is self-concept and how does it develop in adulthood

Answer 178

Self-concept is the organized, coherent, integrated pattern of self-perception. The events people experience help shape their self-concept. Self- presentation across adulthood is related to cognitive-developmental level. Self-concept tends to stay stable at the group mean level.

Question 179

What are possible selves and how do they show differences during adulthood

Answer 179

People create possible selves by projecting them- selves into the future and thinking about what they would like to become, what they could become, and what they are afraid of becoming.
Age differences in these projections depend on the dimension examined. In hoped-for selves, young adults and middle-aged adults report family issues as most important, whereas 25- to 39-year- old’s and older adults consider personal issues to be most important. However, all groups include physical aspects as part of their most feared possible selves.
Although younger and middle-aged adults view themselves as improving, older adults view them- selves as declining. The standards by which people judge themselves change over time

Question 180

What role does religion or spiritual support play in adult life

Answer 180

Older adults use religion and spiritual support more often than any other strategy to help them cope with problems in life. This provides a strong influence on identity. This is especially true for African American women, who are more active in their church groups and attend services more frequently. Other ethnic groups also gain important aspects of identity from religion.

Question 181

What conclusions can we draw about narratives, identity, and the self

Answer 181

The life-narrative approach provides a way to learn how people integrate the various aspects of their personality. Possible selves, religiosity, and gen- der-role identity are important areas in need of additional research

Question 182

How are mental health and psychopathology defined?

Answer 182

Definitions of mental health must reflect appropriate age-related criteria.
Behaviors must be interpreted in context. Mentally healthy people have positive attitudes, accurate perceptions, environmental mastery, autonomy, personality balance, and personal growth.

Question 183

What key areas are included in a multidimensional approach to assessment

Answer 183

Considering key biological, psychological, sociocultural, and life-cycle factors is essential for accurate diagnosis of mental disorders.
Diagnostic criteria must reflect age differences in symptomatology

Question 184

Why are ethnicity and aging important variables to consider in understanding mental health?

Answer 184

Little research has been done to examine ethnic differences in the definition of mental health and psychopathology in older adults.
There is some evidence of different incidence rates across groups.

Question 185

What are the key dimensions used for categorizing psychopathology

Answer 185

Accurate assessment depends on measuring functioning across a spectrum of areas, including medical, psychological, and social

Question 186

What factors influence the assessment of adults?

Answer 186

Negative and positive biases can influence the accuracy of assessment.
The environmental conditions that the assessment is made can influence its accuracy.

Question 187

How are mental health issues assessed?

Answer 187

Six assessment techniques are used most: interview, self-report, report by others, psychophysiological assessment, direct observation, and performance- based assessment.

Question 188

What are some major considerations for therapy across adulthood?

Answer 188

• The two main approaches are medical therapy (usually involving drugs) and psychotherapy.
• With psychotherapy, clinicians must be sensitive to changes in the primary developmental issues faced by adults of different ages.
• Clear criteria have been established for determining “well established” and “probably efficacious” psychotherapies

Question 189

What are the most common characteristics of people with depression? How is depression diagnosed? What causes depression? What is the relation between suicide and age? How is depression treated?

Answer 189

• The prevalence of depression declines with age. Gender and ethnic differences in rates have been noted.
• Common features of depression include dysphoria, apathy, self-deprecation, expressionless changes in arousal, withdrawal, and several physical symptoms. In addition, the problems must last at least 2 weeks, not be caused by another disease, and negatively affect daily living. Clear age differences exist in the reporting of symptoms. Some assessment scales are not sensitive to age differences in symptoms.
• Possible biological causes of severe depression are neurotransmitter imbalance, abnormal brain functioning, or physical illness. Loss is the main psycho- social cause of depression. Internal belief systems also are important.
• Three families of drugs (SSRIs, HCAs, and MAO inhibitors), electroconvulsive therapy, and various forms of psychotherapy are all used to treat depression. Older adults benefit most from behavior and cognitive therapies.

Question 190

What is delirium? How is it assessed and treated?

Answer 190

• Delirium is characterized by a disturbance of consciousness and a change in cognition that develop over a short period of time.
• Delirium can be caused by a number of medical conditions, medication side effects, substance intoxication or withdrawal, exposure to toxins, or any combination of factors.
• Older adults are especially susceptible to delirium.
• Most cases of delirium are cured, but some may be fatal.

Question 191

What is dementia? What are the major symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease? How is it diagnosed? What causes it? What intervention options are there? What are some other major forms of dementia? What do family members caring for patients with dementia experience?

Answer 191

• Dementia is a family of disorders. Most older adults do not have dementia, but rates increase significantly with age.
• Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive, fatal disease diagnosed at autopsy through neurological changes that include neurofibrillary tangles and neuritic plaques.
• Major symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease include gradual and eventually pervasive memory loss, emotional changes, and eventual loss of motor functions.
• Diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease consists of ruling out all other possible causes of the symptoms. This involves thorough physical, neurological, and neuropsychological exams.
• Although no cure for Alzheimer’s disease is available, interventions to relieve symptoms are advisable and possible, including various drug and behavioral interventions. Dealing with declining functioning is especially difficult. Respite and adult day care are two options for care providers.
• Vascular dementia is caused by several small strokes. Changes in behavior depend on where in the brain the strokes occur.
• Characteristic symptoms of Parkinson’s disease include tremor and problems with walking, along with decreases in the ability to smell. Treatment is done with drugs. Some people with Parkinson’s dis- ease develop dementia.
• Huntington’s disease is a genetic disorder that usually begins in middle age with motor and behavioral problems.
• Alcoholic dementia (Wernicke-Korsakoff syn- drome) is caused by a thiamine deficiency.
• AIDS dementia complex results from a by-product of HIV. Symptoms include a range of cognitive and motor impairments.

Question 192

What are the symptoms of anxiety disorders? How are they treated

Answer 192

• Anxiety disorders include panic, phobia, and obsessive–compulsive problems.
• Symptoms include a variety of physical changes that interfere with normal functioning. Context is important in under- standing symptoms.

Question 193

What are the characteristics of people with psychotic disorders?

Answer 193

• Psychotic disorders involve personality disintegration and loss of touch with reality. One major form is schizophrenia; hallucinations and delusions are the primary symptoms.
• Schizophrenia is a severe thought disorder with an onset usually before age 45, but it can begin in late life. People with early-onset schizophrenia often improve over time as neurotransmitters become more balanced. Treatment usually consists of drugs; psychotherapy alone is not often effective

Question 194

What are the major issues involved with substance abuse?

Answer 194

• With the exception of alcohol, the substances most likely to be abused vary with age; younger adults are more likely to abuse illicit substances, whereas older adults are more likely to abuse prescription and over-the-counter medications.
• Alcohol dependency declines with age from its highest rates in young adulthood. Older adults take longer to withdraw, but similar therapies are effective in all age group

Question 195

How is death defined?

Answer 195

Death is a difficult concept to define precisely.
Different cultures have different meanings for death.
Among the meanings in Western culture are images, statistics, events, state of being, analogy, mystery, boundary, basis for anxiety, and reward or punishment

Question 196

What legal and medical criteria are used to determine when death occurs

Answer 196

For many centuries, a clinical definition of death was used: the absence of a heartbeat and respiration.
Currently, whole-brain death is the most widely used definition. It is based on several highly specific criteria, including brain activity and responses to specific stimuli.

Question 197

What are the ethical dilemmas surrounding euthanasia?

Answer 197

Two types of euthanasia are distinguished:
Active euthanasia consists of deliberately ending someone’s life, such as turning off a life-support system.
Physician-assisted suicide is a controversial issue and a form of active euthanasia. Passive euthanasia is ending someone’s life by withholding some type of intervention or treatment (e.g., by stopping nutrition). It is essential people make their wishes known through either a health care power of attorney or a living will.

Question 198

What issues surround the costs of life-sustaining care?

Answer 198

The personal and financial costs of prolonging life when the patient would have preferred another option are significant

Question 199

How do feelings about death change over adulthood?

Answer 199

Young adults report a sense of being cheated by death. Cognitive developmental level is important for understanding how young adults view death.
Middle-aged adults begin to confront their own mortality and undergo a change in their sense of time lived and time until death.
Older adults are more accepting of death.

Question 200

How do people deal with their own death?

Answer 200

Kübler-Ross’s approach includes five stages: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. People may be in more than one stage at a time and do not necessarily go through them in order.
A contextual theory of dying emphasizes the tasks a dying person must face. Four dimensions of these tasks have been identified: bodily needs, psychological security, interpersonal attachments, and spiritual energy and hope. A contextual theory incorporates differences in reasons people die and the places people die.

Question 201

What is death anxiety, and how do people show it?

Answer 201

Most people exhibit some degree of anxiety about death, even though it is difficult to define and measure. Individual difference variables include gender, religiosity, age, ethnicity, and occupation. Death anxiety may have some benefits:
The main ways death anxiety is shown are by avoiding death (e.g., refusing to go to funerals) and deliberately challenging it (e.g., engaging in dangerous sports).
Several ways to deal with anxiety exist: living life to the fullest, personal reflection, and education. Death education has been shown to be extremely effective.

Question 202

How do people deal with end-of-life issues and create a final scenario?

Answer 202

Managing the final aspects of life, after-death disposition of the body, memorial services, and distribution of assets are important end-of-life issues. Making choices about what people want and do not want done constitute making a final scenario

Question 203

What is hospice?

Answer 203

The goal of a hospice is to maintain the quality of life and manage the pain of terminally ill patients. Hospice clients typically have cancer, AIDS, or a progressive neurological disorder. Family members tend to stay involved in the care of hospice clients.

Question 204

How does one make one’s end-of-life desires and decisions known?

Answer 204

End-of-life decisions are made know most often through a living will, health care power of attorney, or a Do Not Resuscitate order. It is important family and health care professionals are aware of these decisions. The Patient Self-Determination Act requires health care facilities to inform patients of these rights.

Question 205

How do people experience the grief process

Answer 205

Grief is an active process of coping with loss. Four aspects of grieving must be confronted:
the reality of the loss, the emotional turmoil, adjusting to the environment, and loosening the ties with the deceased. When death is expected, survivors go through anticipatory grief; unexpected death is usually more difficult for people to handle.

Question 206

What feelings do grieving people have?

Answer 206

Dealing with grief, called grief work, usually takes at least one to two years. Grief is equally intense for both expected and unexpected death, but it may begin before the actual death when the patient has a terminal illness. Normal grief reactions include sorrow, sadness, denial, disbelief, guilt, and anniversary reactions.

Question 207

How do people cope with grief?

Answer 207

In terms of dealing with normal grief, middle-aged adults have the most difficult time. Poor copers tend to have low self-esteem before losing a loved one.

Question 208

Prolonged grief involves symptoms of

Answer 208

separation distress and traumatic distress. Excessive guilt and self-blame are common manifestations of traumatic grief.

Question 209

What developmental aspects are important in understanding grief

Answer 209

Young and middle-aged adults usually have intense feelings about death. Attachment theory provides a useful framework for understanding these feelings.
Midlife is a time when people usually deal with the death of their parents and confront their own mortality.
The death of one’s child is especially difficult to cope with.
The death of one’s parent deprives an adult of many important things, and the feelings accompanying it are often complex.

Question 210

What key demographic changes will occur by 2030

Answer 210

The rapid increase in the number of older adults between now and 2030 means social policy must take the aging of the population into account.
Changing demographics will affect every aspect of life in the United States and in most other countries, including health care and all social service programs.

Question 211

What are the challenges facing Social Security and Medicare

Answer 211

a. Although designed as an income supplement, Social Security has become the primary source of retirement income for most U.S. citizens.
b. The aging of the baby boom generation will place consider- able stress on the financing of the system.
c. Medicare is the principal health insurance program for adults in the United States over age 65. Cost containment is a major concern, resulting in emphases on program redesign for long-term sustainability

Question 212

What are the key issues in health promotion and quality of life?

Answer 212

Health promotion will become an increasingly important aspect of health care for older adults. Two models of behavioral change currently drive research: the self-efficacy model and the self- regulation model.
Quality of life, a person’s well-being and life satisfaction is best studied from the perspective of the individual.

Question 213

What are the major strategies for maintaining and enhancing competence

Answer 213

A useful framework for enhancing and maintaining competence is the selection, optimization, and compensation (SOC) model.
The life-span approach provides a guide for designing competency-enhancing interventions.

Question 214

What are the primary considerations in designing health promotion and disease prevention programs?

Answer 214

Effective strategies for health promotion and disease prevention are adopting a healthy lifestyle, staying active cognitively, maintaining a social net- work, and preserving good economic habits.

Four levels of prevention are: primary (preventing a disease or condition from occurring), secondary (intervening after a condition has occurred but before it causes impairment), tertiary (avoiding the development of complications), and quaternary (improving functional capacities in people with chronic conditions).

Question 215

What are the principal lifestyle factors that influence competence?

Answer 215

Maintaining a good exercise program and getting good nutrition are essential for delaying or preventing many negative aspects of physiological aging, especially chronic diseases.

Question 216

What is successful aging? What theoretical models have been proposed

Answer 216

Successful aging is a commonly used, but ill-defined framework. Models of successful aging include this notion: Rowe and Kahn’s, Vaillant’s, and variations on the selection, optimization, and compensation (SOC) model.

Question 217

What criticisms have been raised about the successful aging framework

Answer 217

The successful aging framework has been criticized because of its reliance on good health, adequate income, and other variables that heavily influence outcomes in late life. Advocating a balance in one’s life may be a better approach