final Flashcards
epigenetic principle
Each stage unfolds from the previous stage in a predestined order but
People may experience a psychosocial issue at an age other that the one shown where it crosses the diagonal
Dev doesn’t stop at 18, it continues throughout the life course
There is a certain order to things
erikson’s psychosocial theory stages
early infancy - basic trust vs mistrust
toddlerhood - autonomy vs shame
early childhood - initiative vs guilt
middle childhood - industry vs inferiority
adolescence - identity achievement vs identity diffusion
young adulthood - intimacy vs isolation
middle adulthood - generativity vs stagnation
later adulthood - ego integrity vs despair
Middle Adulthood: Generativity vs Stagnation
Focused on psychosocial issues of procreation, productivity + creativity
- Parenthood
- Can also be developed through teaching, mentoring, supervising
Main feature (generativity) = feeling of concern over what happens to younger gen
- How do I contribute to the world
- How do I give back?
- Want to make world a better place for them
- Donations, being more environmentally friendly
- ——->Creating legacy
Once you finish generativity you move on to ego integrity
Stagnation = concerns are focused on own age group
Late Adulthood: Ego Integrity vs Despair
Did I lead a meaningful/fulfilling life?
What are you most proud of?
What did you regret?
Relevant to wisdom assign
Am I happy with the life that I have lived?
critiques of epigenetic principle
Problem with this - in life we may experience psychosocial issue at younger age
Step-wise fashion - critique
Ex: Breast Cancer at a younger age
- Could be facing ego-integrity vs despair
- Facing the end of life at an earlier age
identity process theory
1) identity (favourable view of self)
2) -> threshold experience (normal changes, illness)
3)
- —>identity accomodation
- over the hill syndrome
- compulsive illness beh
- —>identity balance
- gradual integration
- appropriate adaptation
- —> identity assimilation
- unhealthy denial
- healthy denial
video - secret to longevity
Type of data we will be getting when we interview our wisdom person
Refusing to give up Engaged with life Embracing life Being active Try to be happy Eat healthy Be curious Find your passion Moderation - balance Love Friends and family Volunteering Don't give up
How do these relate to stages in theory?
- Love, surround self with family - intimacy
- Giving back - generativity
identity changes - identity process theory
Our identity will change as we get older
Dynamic change
Identity
- Who am I?
As we get older, theory states threshold experiences
threshold experiences
Normal changes associated with aging
Normal, social as well as illness
Something has happened that will affect your identity
Ex. Getting bifocal glasses
Ex. Having an age-related illness
3 ways to respond to threshold experiences
identity assimilation
identity accomodaation
balance
identity assimilation
Threshold experience interpreted in terms of existing identity
Ex: being good student
- You see yourself as, others view you as
- Occasionally may do poorly
- Assimilation sees this as good student who ran through rough patch
- No change in identity, don’t let negative experiences shatter your view
- Exam was unfair; prof was..
Pro: feeling good regardless of having this bad experience
Cons: distorted experiences/interpretations
—-> Blaming other people, external factors
Aging Example: Caring for mom who has dementia, come in one day, she yells, thinking you are intruder
- Can shape identity as good daughter
- Assimilation - good part
- ——>It’s the dementia, not me (not internalizing)
NO CHANGE IN IDENTITY for assimilation
- Resist change in identity when criticized
identity accomodation
Changing your identity in response to an experience
Parent with dementia - instead of seeing yourself as daughter, now caregiver
- Role has shifted
C - CHANGE IN IDENTITY for the accommodation
- The best way to cope
- Feeling over-the-hill syndrome** check in textbook
- —->Omg I’m old
Balance
Maintaining stable sense of who we are, our sense of self but also making the right changes along the way
A combination of the two
Equilibrium
affects of aging on identity
for some ppl, age-related changes in appearance serve to simulate changes in identity
Aging attitude
Simulation in class
- Mimicking normal/common age related problems
- Once people see changes
- Can really stimulate change in identity
One way people age successfully is through self -efficacy
- Where identity is balanced well
- I’m in control, I feel confident
multiple threshold model
Individuals realize that they are getting older through a stepwise process as aging related changes occur; highlighting/indicators that you are getting old
Ex: being called Sir, Ma’am
Not as young as you thought you were
Not being able to keep up with younger people
Realization that you aren’t as young as you thought you were
selecive optimization w compensation model (SOC)
Paul Boulton
Applicable across the life course
1) Select - choose area of focus
2) Optimize - maximize performance in these areas
3) Compensate - make up for losses in one area w gains in another
Ex. When aerobic exercise becomes too strenuous, people might substitute it with gentle yoga
Ex. Piano player
- Threshold experience: rigidity in hand
- Figured he has difficulty playing fast songs
- compensated for the loss of playing fast songs was to make the previous section slow so the change from slow to fast was evident
processing speed + attention
Rivals Khan theory
cognition - how our minds work
- Attention
- Memory
- Intelligence
- Problem solving
- Language use
Processing Speed one of most widely studied measure of cognition
- Amount of time it takes to process information, and output info
- Most pop way its measured is by measuring how fast
simple reaction time
make response as soon as target appears
eg.push F button when you see red “n”
choice reaction task
make one response for one stimulus, and another for the other stimulus
e.g. push F button when you see red “n” and J button when you see green “n”
general slowing hypothesis
Proposes loss of speed in nervous system is main cause of poorer information processing
As task becomes more complicated, older adults take MUCH longer; rxn times much slower
brinley plot deviation
deviation of dots from diagonal line shows extent to which OAas disproportionately slower as task becomes more challenging for young adults
Attention as source of slowing of RXN time
Pyramid
- Problem solving at top
- Memory in middle
- Attention at base
Wider at base: attention as foundation
types of attention
focused vs. divided
Focused - Concentrate on single source of input
Divided - concentrate on 2 or more sources of input
Divided req MORE effort
visual search tasks
require observer to locate specific target among set of distractors
simple visual search
Find the red X in group of all black Xs
Just looking for the target
Will only differ by one variable (colour)
Uses parallel processing
- Scanning full array of stimuli at once
- Older and younger adults - no differences
- Easier than serial processing; less time
conjunction visual search
Looking for what is different
The one thing that is a little bit different from the rest
- find the red square in groups of red triangles + black squares
Target had more than one different feature
- Colour AND shape
Relies on serial processing
- Have to focus on colour AND shape
- Target differs from the stimuli by more than 2 features
Both younger and older adults find it harder than simple
- Both do worse
- If you put older adults in simulating environment
- Older adults are then comparable to younger adults
theories of attention + aging
attentional resources theory
inhibitory deficit hypothesis
stroop effect
Reading words in a box and colored to their respective name
Then, reading words in a box which were not colored to their respective name
Takes people a lil bit longer in the second condition
attention resources theory
Aging reduces available cognitive resources
Older adults have less ability to think, process
Why they aren’t so good at cognition related tasks
Very less empirical support/evidence
inhibitory deficit hypothesis
Aging reduces ability to tune out irrelevant information
Not that they don’t have ability - just problem with tuning our irrelevant info
Ex: Gave older adults task - could be really stressed
- Unable to disregard the unimportant info
More evidence to it
Sometimes things get in the way with their ability to tune out the irrelevant info
when doing research on older adults
One of removed the distractions; both adult and children do the same so remove any distraction when doing research on older adults
studies on video games show……
attentional advantages
young adults:
- improved functional capacity
- faster reaction time
- peripheral attention
- ability to process rapidly changing stream of info
- keeping track of multiple targets
- improving useful field of view
older adults
- newer studies showing benefits as well
driving and aging
Lights present complex visual array - may create confusion for older adults
Merging or yielding to oncoming traffic
Island in the road; confusing turns
Left turns
younger vs older drivers
Younger drivers
- Have faster response times +ve
- More like to drink and drive -ve
- More likely drive while distracted -ve
Older drivers
+ve - more experience
+ve - self regulate
- Avoid driving during rush driver
- Or night
- Avoid talking on the phone while driving
- More likely to leave bigger difference btwn cars
- Have more experience, drive more cautiously
- ve - difficulty with left turns
- Problems/sensitivity with glare
- Causes of accidents
- ve - difficulty merging or yielding
- Problems with field of view
- Harder time responding to stimuli on periphery
- ——->Ex. Pedestrian crossing
% of alc related deaths in canada 2010`
alc related car crashes
under 16 - 17% 16-19 - 47.2% 20-25 - 56.8% 26-35 - 55.3% 36-45 - 49.8% 46-55 - 38.6% over 55 - 16.5%
canada avg - 38.7%
over 55 age group has lowest alc crash %
biopsychosocial view of driving + agign
biological
- changes in vision + reaction time
psychology
- internal distractions causing anxiety
sociocultural
- driving necessary to live independently
- dependent on driving to b independent
- When is it considered time to not be safe to drive anymore - a lot harder to get them to stop driving
aging airline pilots might be safer
fewer accidents (fatal + non fatal)
taking better advatange of training sessions
more likely to identify complex situations
-> air traffic controllers may also benefit from their greater experience
May not be able to react to something as fast, but experience allows them to do their job successfully
memory - diff types + how it works
How does memory work?
- Starts with stimulus
phonological loop
visuospatial scratch pad
episodic buffer
central executive
phonological loop
Auditory memory
Can recourse information through repeating it over and over
visuospatial scratch pad
Visual memory
How do I get to your house?
- Go through route in head
episodic buffer
Retrieving information from long term memory
Bring info temporarily into working memory
Working memory keeps info temporarily + ready for use
central executive
Allocated cognitive resources
How to allocate
processes of long term mem
encode -> store -> retrieve
aging + long term mem
abilities that decline
Episodic memory
- What did you do last night
Source memory
- Who said what
False memory
- Something that happened but really didn’t
Tip of the tongue (names)
- Harder time, recalling simple
Prospective memory
- Remembering to do something in the future
- Important as we age
- Taking medication
aging + long term mem
abilities that do not decline
Flashbulb memory
- Really important events ; may not be part of the personal life
- Weddings, deaths
Semantic memory
- Words, facts
Procedural memory
- Remember how to do things
- Riding a bike
- Playing piano
- Cooking
Implicit memory
- Memory/info that we take on without actively trying
Autobiographical memory
- Whatever is important to our own life
self-efficacy
Confidence that your memory is in good shape
If you have this confidence more likely to do well
memory self-efficacy
greater self-efficacy -> better memory performance
stereotype threat
fear of being judged according to neg stereotype about a group of which you belong
- reduces memory performace
Ex: experiment when told which group they were competing with
- Stereotypical threat
- Affects performance
- If you threaten someone’s memory - reduces negative performance
memory controllability
identity + memory controllability
- higher identity accomodation (e.g. over the hill) -> lower memory control beliefs
higher memory control beliefs -> better use of strategies -> better memory performance
memory also related to health-related beh in middle and later adulthood
Cigarette smoking
- Poorer memory among smokers and former smokers
Exercise
- Positive benefits of aerobic exercise and strength training
Consumption of fish
- Lower rate of cognitive decline in fish eaters (Omega-3)
Metabolic factors
- Lower levels of IGF-1 associated with better memory
Dietary intake of:
- Vit B12, B6, folate (+)
- Homocytesine, or meat (neg)
- Flavonoids including chocolate (+)
Emotions
- Stress and depression can interfere with memory performance
Gingko boloba
- No benefits
Sleep
- Related to better memory, but only in young adults
memory training studies show benefits for OA
Strategy training
- Practice (esp in group setting)
- —-Better memory performance
- —-Better self efficacy
Support during encoding / learning
- Additional cues
- —-Ex: pair pictures and words
- Think about meaning of info
Training that taps into areas of expertise
- Ex: Older Adult who worked with numbers will do better with number related encoding strategy
- Fit training to their expertise
future of helping ppl through gaming + VR
Virtual reality
Helped older adults by simulating walking through various destinations
- Playing soothing music
- Method of Loci - better performance
- Technique to remember things
Imagine where you’re going - walking through a place that you know really well and associating one item with another thing
ACTIVE study
Advanced Cognitive Training for Independent and Vital Elderly
2800 adults 65-94
2 yr period, 10 sessions, 1hr each, 5-6 weeks
memory, reasoning, or speed of processing
gains maintained for 2 yrs (and counting)
Huge increase in reaction speed/speed of processing
- CAN learn and CAN be trained in older adulthood
speed - 87%
reasoning - 74%
memory - 26%
measuring wisdom
Problem with “mechanism of intelligence”
Focus on “pragmatic of intelligence”
problem w “mechanics of intelligence”
First started with research on intelligence
Knowledge could be a criteria of wisdom
There are 2 components of intelligence
1) Mechanics - what we’ve talked about so far
- —- Speed, working memory
- —-Doesn’t capture wisdom
2) Focus on ‘pragmatics of intelligence’
- –How to respond; addressing complicated issues
- –Ability to apply your cognitive ability towards solving complicated life problems
berlin wisdom paradigm
Life span contextualism
- Role of culture in shaping you, your life
- Being aware of this is an important part of being wise
Value relativism
- Wise people less likely to judge
- Greater appreciation for indiv differences
- ——>Values, experiences
- ——>Can accept and recognize multiple perspectives
Rich base of factual knowledge
- People who just know a lot of stuff
Extensive background of procedural knowledge
- Know how things work
Can recognize and manage uncertainty
Brofbrenner’s ecological perspective
development affected by processes at multiple levels
indv -> microsystem -> mesosystem -> exosystem -> macrosystem
Has implications on family members and who cares for us
This looks at way we develop and the process that occurs in different levels
- Start at individual (physical and psychological aspects) - are very much within the person
This perspectives looks at the various influences that affect the individual
Microsystem:
- Inner circle, high importance: Family, peers
- The type of people you hang out with will determine your health status
Also looks at other factors beyond immediate circle
- Role of school, HC agencies, media and larger systems
- Policy, political systems and culture
- —->These are all systems that are important in our own development
Systems are also changing/maturing
- Not static
chronosystem
change in systems over time
brofbrenner’s ecological perspective - what each stage entails
indv
microsystem
- daily life, daily impact
- coworkers, peers, classroom, fam
mesosystem - 2+ systems interacting exosystem - not regular but impactful - community, health agencies, school, mass media
macrosystem
- larger social system indirectly through exo
- political systems, economics, society, nationality, culture
social clock
Something seen a lot in 4th year students by Sav
- Not sure what they want to do, stressed out
- Norms are - ‘need to be applying to med school, PT’
Those who have a difficult time feel that their social clock is out of whack
- Not in sync with what they expect from their life
- Stress of not doing what everyone else is
norms, roles, attitudes about age help shape person’s life
Example in life course:
Everyone having a baby
life course perspective - aging
what happens over time (life events, life transitions)
Key historical life events
- Ex: 9/11, WW2, Great Depression
- They help to influence how we think about the world
- Ex. 2009 financial crisis had a great impact on baby boomers
Personal decisions
- Choices we make will have a huge impact on our life
Individual opportunities
- Different sets of opportunities based on where we grew up
- —> Low/high SES
- —> More opportunities to go to school in stress free enviro
- —> Good connections, easier to get a job (not what you know, WHO you know)
what is life course perspective
emphasizes the way in which ppl’s locations in the following shape their experience of old age:
Social system
- Especially in terms of SES
The historical period (in which they live)
- Ex: older adults lived through different periods in life
Their own personal biographies
transitions - life course perspective
Changes in roles (e.g., student, employee, retiree, caregiver)
Age graded
- Expect “at a particular age”
- But there are always exceptions to expectations
Older adulthood: becoming more of an ambiguous transition
- Fewer rituals surrounding transitions in older adulthood
- Not really sure when being an “OA” starts
Why people get stressed in 4th year - go from being student to being in work force
- As well as retirement
- Taking on role of caregiving for older parent
- Transitions are usually age graded
- —–> Student, employee, retiree etc
trajectories - life course perspective
series of transitions
1) Ex: 2 Students in second year of high school
- One is successful
- Another becomes pregnant
- —-> The life course of this student will change
- —-> Teen to becoming a mother
- —-> Kinds of opp will change
- —-> They can still be successful- but the key point will set off different transitions
They may not finish school at the same time, do they keep the baby?
Timing
- Say there is an expected death (person is 89, lived a good life) vs a sudden death
2) Getting in and out of the workforce
- “Sandwich generation”
- —-> Carrying on either end (kids and their own parents)
- —-> Work and family trajectory
- —-> Employment opp will change esp for money
3) Order of transitions are imp
linking early life to later outcomes
1) sociodemographic factors
- gender, ethnicity/ race, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, educational attainment
2) opportunities later in life
3) disparities
- health, economics, educational
racism, sexism, homophobia
Becomes chronic stress when microaggression and overt-aggression causes stress (referring to racism)
African women made fried food when they got stressed because they want to feel good RIGHT AWAY. .
mrs tanaka - background, life course,
83 yo japanese, american born in seattle, living in vancouver
- lives alone in vancouver, but has multiple med problems + mild dementia
- her doctor recommends higher level of care
HER LIFE COURSE
- born in early 1920s
- japanese - so personal + structural racism growing up -> housing + employment discrimination
- sent to internment camp at 17, didnt finish highschool
- lived through great depression in 1930s
- widow at 75, no kids, moderate savings
she experienced:
- Disparities in health, economic and educational
- Indiv opportunities low bc didn’t attend school
- Historical event
- Sociodemographic factors
mrs tanaka care plan
Has to be based on life course perspective - take more into account that just her medical history
Whoever is in charge of care plan - good idea for similar cultural background
- May have mistrust after years of discrimination
Social isolation and loneliness - important to take this into account
- Especially susceptible - lost husband, no children
- Focus on social support to reduce risk of further health problems
Moderate life savings - try to keep at home as much as possible
- Comfort, familiarity
- To relocate into LTC home (especially ones that focus on certain treatments such as dementia)
Racism issue - integrating with her race of people
- To feel comfort being around people who have experiences sim culture
- Be sensitive to further marginalization by creating ghettos of older adults from same background
These are all important factors that will influence her care plan beyond multiple medical issues + dementia
A lot that can be done when taking into LC perspective
cohort effects are limited by history
Don’t just look at her present problems alone, but look at the social determinants
Consider Mrs. Tanaka’s life course and transitions, not just the present context
- Find culturally competent care setting
- Familiar food, faces, customs, language
- Honors/ accommodators Mrs. Taneka’s life course in a community-based enviro
- Look for community-based assisted lvig and skilled nursing with Asian ancestry clients
mrs tanaka - cohort, history, culture/location, gender, stregnnths
cohort effects - great depression, internment of japanese americans
history - ww2, discrimination/ racism
culture/ location - strong ties to japanese, american community in seattle
gender - was wife + homemaker for most of life; held some low-paying jobs
strengths - resilient, community-oriented
contrasting life course theories
DISENGAGEMENT THEORY
normal (+ desirable) course of life is for OA to loosen their social ties (e.g. retirement)
- Highly criticized by gerontologists
- Has most criticism
- Says older adults just want to ‘duck out of life’
- No one really buys into this theory
ACTIVITY THEORY
OA better adjusted + more satisfied when remain involved in social roles
- People want to keep maintaining their social roles
- Post retirement - if they played tennis, may still want to continue
- Remain INVOVLED
- Those are the people we end up being ‘successful aging’
CONTINUITY THEORY
The individual’s personality determines whether activity or disengagement is optimal for the older adult
- Content loners - perfectly happy being alone
- Social butterfly
—–> They will continue to maintain their personality and it is an important factor as they age
contrasting life theories - Q - shouldlife long runner continue running even tho he’s an OA?
disengagement theory -> No
activity theory -> yes
continuity theory -> depends on person’s personality
marriage - the facts
46.4% of Can adults 15+ were legally married in 2011
percent as decreased over the yrs
mean age at first marriage in Can in 2008 was 31 for me, 29.6 for women
% of people getting married decreasing and age at which people are marrying is increasing
Delaying the onset of first marriage
role of historical events and policies on marriages and divorces
MARRIAGES
1930s: fewer marriages here then after
- Tough economic times
- High rates of unemployment (especially during the great depression)
- Marriage wasn’t a priority
1939: spike in marriages
- WW2
- Some people married to avoid being enlisted in the military
- After WW2: steady increase
Peaks in 1972: PEAK: Baby boomer started to get married
- Been steady but kind of decline since high peak in 1972
DIVORCES
1968: Government “No Fault Divorce”
- Nobody’s fault
- Separated for 3 years
1986: Amendment to the divorce act
- After Amendment = only separated for a year
- Spike in divorces
Appreciate power of historical events and policies on marriages and divorces
- is an example of Life course perspective in action
same sex marriiages + mixed couples
Same sex marriages become legal in 2005
- They are aging - faced with a lot of discrimination when they have to move to a nursing home
- The people around them may not be accepting of same sex relationships
Mixed couples - marriage/ common-law btwn member of visible minority + someone who isnt & couples of 2 diff visible minorities
- More mixed-couples; diverse set of relationships
The structure of our relationships is changing
marriage has advantages for both aprtners
PRODUCTIVE EFFECTS OF MARRIAGE
- 9-15% reduction in mortality among OA for married men and women
- greater happiness + higher quality of life for both partners
men vs women - living alone
There seems to be more women living alone (compared to men) (decrease in living in a couple)
More men are living in a couple situation (increase in living in a couple)
Part of the reason for this - women out live men
Think about planning for the future - there will be a lot of demand for women who are living alone
Having resources to connect to each other as well as catered to them and their needs
Co-housing?
cohabitation
steady increase in cohabitation in Canadians
1981 - first assessed in canada - 5.6% of all census families were common-law unions
2011 - 16.7% were common law unions
- Nunavut - 32.7% - highest
- Quebec - 31.5%
- Ontario - 10.9% - lowest
US - 50-60% all marriages preceded by cohabitation
increases in cohabiting couples w children from 197000 in 1960 to 1.5 mil by 2011
cohabitation effect
higher divorce rates btwn couples who cohabitate before becoming engaged, esp “serial” cohabitors
Living together before marriage works well if you’re in a committed relationship and know the next step is marriage
- Especially good if not too long
People feel that they ‘slide’ into marriage
- People haven’t thought it through
- Likelihood is that the couple wasn’t well matched to begin with
- Just think it’s the next thing they should do
Serial cohabitators - like to live with somebody and then break up
If live together before marriage; higher likehood for divorce
- People who live together slide into marriage without much reflection
intention of moving in w partner decreases w age
Turcotte, 2013
Living apart together (LAT) - couples in long-term committed relationships, but choose to have seperate residences
- 1/ 13 Can are LAT couples
- 1/3 in 20-24
- only 2% in 60+
Age was inversely related to the intention to move in together
- older age = less likely to want to move in
We can see interesting age effect
- When younger - want to live with partner
- Couples who still want to be in a relationship but don’t want to live together increase when older
- —> These are likely widowed or divorced people
Lived on their own, like their situation but also like companionship
- They want to keep their living situation as is
same sex couples - stats
canada - legal in 2005
2011 - 64 575 same sex hosueholds
- > increased 42.4% from 2006
- > ~ 21000 married, 43000 common-law
Rltp dynamic sim to hetero
But more likely to share household tasks q
divorce + remarriage
Increase of 6.4% between 1981 to 2011 in divorce or separation in Canada
(2011: 11.5%)
Average marriage lasts 14 years (2008)
Between 1981 and 2011 rates of divorce or separation increased from 4% to 12%
Divorced have lower well-being, health, higher mortality, more mental health problems, less satisfying sex lives, and more negative life events.
- > psychological aspects of divorce
divorce stats can be misleading
50% rate not based on the same couples
- Not taking 5000 couples married in a certain year and following through
- It’s not as simple as 1/2 marriages
The divorce prone increase the apparent odds
- Also includes those who divorce for 2nd or 3rd time
- they inflate overall stats
divorce prone - addicted to divorcing
children in divorce
In 2011, approximately ¼ of the 5 million Canadians who had divorced or separated within the last 20 years had at least one child together, aged 18 years or younger.
The majority of these children lived in the mother’s home (70%)
15% lived in the father’s home
9% lived at both residences
What are some implications of this on aging?
- If one kid lives with the mom -they will be more drawn to taking care of the mom vs a dad
- Seen in hospital setting, OA comes into ER - who is there to care for them when they are released
- Long term care homes - people may not visit their parents due to events that happened earlier in life
Mediation – an alternative to dispute settlement (less adversarial)
Neutral third party involvement
- The living arrangement may be preferable for these children than living in a conflicted household
- Many complex situations arrive for all parties involved following a divorce or separation
widowhood
Declined between 1971 and 2006 in Canada
Average age of the widowed population: 75 years
Men more prone to depression than women
Anniversary reactions may continue for 35 years or longer
female has a larger social network than males
- Women are the social department of the family
We have more single and divorced older adults
less widowers because health care advancement
widowhood effect, showing higher risk of mortality for widows than for married men and women
Time since death and all cause mortality
We see a gender effect
Males: more likely to die after losing spouse compared to females
There is a greater probability of death for widower/general males in general
Widows vs Married
- Widows have a higher mortality rate
- Especially in widower male vs female (men dying more likely than women)
mediators
Multiple mediators explaining why we see relationship between widowhood and death
May have depression
May be dealing with stress
- Associated with losing spouse
- Relocating
- How to do things alone? - taking on tasks of other partner
Financial hardship
Loss of social support
- Couples tend to be friends with other couples
ppl vary reactions to widowhood
Different reactions to widowhood
- Before and after loss
Higher scores mean that there is more depression
Most people will show what is seen at bottom
Resilient grief - 65+
- Common ones
- Goes down - can happen with family caregivers
- Almost experience of relief
- ——> Free to do own thing
- ——> Feel that the person they were caring for is no longer suffering
Some people have chronic depression
- Depression will go up after loss
Most often we see common grief
- Low depression, increases after loss and then back to what it was before the loss
Widowhood is not a unitary process
- People will vary over time
sexulaity remains improtant to OA
% of OA having sexual intercourse
There is a good % in just below older adults
Majority of people
Numbers drop a bit as get older
If you have access to a partner, more likelihood to engage in sexual activity
Current cohort will be less likely to be grimes about sexuality bc they have gone through depression and availability of birth control pill aka baby boomers.
pathways of longterm relationships (3)
Enduring Dynamics
- A couples interactions early in relationship characterizes course of relationship over time
- Most research support
- —-> Marriages that end up in divorce prob had early problems
Emergent Distress
- Relationship begins to develop problems over time, made worse by poor conflict resolution
- Instead of resolving conflict with open communication
Become defensive, withdrawn
- Trouble in the future - bc of conflict resolution
—–> Relationship will dissolve because of this
- Become increasingly unhappy over time
Disillusionment
- On a really HIGH then develop problems over time and get disappointed/disatisfcation
- Couple starts out happy and in love and develop problems over time
- Ex: meet couple that everyone thinks is right for each other, 20 years go by, call it quits
- No one saw it coming
- Say they ‘grew apart’
- Didn’t work to maintain relationship
enduring dynamics pathway has most empirical (research) support
perspectives on long term relationship
socioemotional selectivity theory
- ppl prefer long-term relationships to max positive effect
social exchange theory
- relationships evaluated according to costs + benefits
equity theory
- balance is sought btwn what each contributes to the relationship
similarity
- couples who are similar are happier
need complementarity
- couples who are diff are happier
behavioural approach
- behaviours couples engage in affect their relationship satisfaction
families
9.4 million Canadian families in 2011
In Canada the average family size was 2.9 in 2011
In Canada in 2011, there were 377,636 births (up slightly from 2010 but down from 2009).
In 2011, the average age of first-time mothers was 28.5 years.
Fertility rates in Canada were 1.61 children per woman in 2011, a figure that is significantly lower than the 2.1 children per woman that is required to replace the population in the absence of Migration.
- fertility rates low rn - ppl having less kids
Common low couples started emerging in 1980’s
- before 80s - lone parents & married parents
- after 80s, lone + married + common law parents
change in fam structure + functioning
Same-Sex Families
Fathers are taking on a greater role in raising children
- Changes relationships with others in social network
- How mothers perceive them can affect their involvement with children
- Single fathers seem to spend less time with children than mothers, but more than married fathers
Little is known about blended families
- Two divorcees getting together
- Partners that have had children from previous relationships coming together
- People who don’t have children coming together with those who do
empty nest
can be positive step for couple’s relationship
More leisure time together
Can also be stressful
- Children aren’t there in the home
- Peak time for divorces
- —->Maybe their relationship was focused on kids
- —–>Now they’re on their own - also when there are increased separations
- —–> Must face each other without distraction of kids
Improved sexual relations
Some are at risk, however, of “empty nest syndrome”
- Feelings of grief and loneliness when kids leave
- Sim to retirement
concepts in parent-adult child relationships
INTERGENERATIONAL STAKE
- older gen value relationship w adult children than children value relationship w their parents
DEVELOPMENTAL SCHISM
- gap btwn parents + kids in how much they value relationship + seek independence
ROLE REVERSAL
- discredited view that parents + kids switch roles
- Seen a lot in dementia care giving
- Roles never truly reversed
- Take on more roles, but never fully reversed
FILIAL MATURITY
- developmental changes in chidl
FILIAL ANXIETY
- worried about being forced to take on care of parents
FILIAL OBLIGATION
- Child should care for parent
- Feeling that you will never place parents in nursing home
- Feeling from parents that their children must take care of them
- Law in Singapore
- Can have complications if relationship is also complicated
