Late Adulthood

Question 1

What age range is late adulthood?

Answer 1

60+

Question 2

Name the 3 marker events for this essay

Answer 2

retirement, bereavement and adjustment to old age

Question 3

In the USA how much has the lifespan increased in the 20th Century

Answer 3

26 years

Question 4

Explain how psychology has been applied to everyday life in this topic.

Answer 4

people are living longer, and we need to understand what that means for people, so we research it.

Question 5

What can retirement be likened to?

Answer 5

Being unemployed

Question 6

Who said there are 6 stages of adjustment at retirement?

Answer 6

Atchley (1982)

Question 7

Atchley Phase 1: Pre-retirement phase

Answer 7

Prior to retirement the individual begins to think of some of the consequences such as financial changes and lifestyle changes. This phase is subdivided into “remote” and “near” to express the fact that people start to think about retirement quite a while before it actually happens.

Question 8

Atchley Phase 2 : Honeymoon phase.

Answer 8

Just after retirement there is a period of relative enjoyment and euphoria. It feels as if one is on holiday and it is usually a very busy time. This is especially so for an individual who has taken voluntary retirement.

Question 9

Atchley Phase 3 :Disenchantment phase.

Answer 9

Following the elation of the honeymoon phase, the individual may feel disappointment and even depression when much looked-forward-to activities fail to measure up to expectations. Some of the problems may arise because failing health means that it is not possible to do as much as one would have liked, or it is possible that one’s partner becomes ill or dies.

Question 10

Atchley Phase 4: Reorientation phase.

Answer 10

A time to develop a more realistic approach to retirement and to consider new, previously unplanned activities. The individual may seek new roles such as engaging in voluntary work.

Question 11

Atchley Phase 5: Stability phase.

Answer 11

Life has taken on an orderly routine again, where the individual can cope with new opportunities as before retirement.

Question 12

Atchley Phase 6: Termination phase.

Answer 12

Ultimately poor health may make self-care impossible and significant lifestyle changes are required.

Question 13

Are all of Atchley’s phases experienced by everyone?

Answer 13

No it just suggest a typical experience of retirement.

Question 14

Are there set time periods for each of Atchley’s stages?

Answer 14

No they can vary

Question 15

A real life application from Atchley’s model to avoid the honeymoon and then disenchantment stage is ?

Answer 15

One recommendation arising from this outline is that preretirement education can be helpful in preventing the honeymoon phase and the rather inevitable disenchantment phase that follows it.

Question 16

Name 2 factors that can effect the experience of retirement

Answer 16

• extent work was a fundamental part of the individual’s life- work friends etc
• cessation of a daily routine
• lack of money and status
• voluntary or not

Question 17

Who carried out a 10-year longitudinal study on males who were aged between 15 and 64 at the start of the study.

Answer 17

Moser et al. (1984)

Question 18

What negative physical effects did Moser find in his study into the effects of unemployment?

Answer 18

significantly more likely than employed people to die. especially in relation to suicide or lung cancer.

Question 19

Warr (1977) found what percentage of men experienced positive health effects after unemployment?

Answer 19

10%

Question 20

Where does bereavement of a spouse fall on the Social Readjustment Rating Scale (Holmes & Rahe, 1967)?

Answer 20

The most stressful life event that people experience.

Question 21

Name some reasons why bereavement has such an effect?

Answer 21

• loss of central figure in life
• change of life structure
• change in social identity

Question 22

Stroebe et al. (1982) argued that the loss of one’s spouse affects the survivor’s social functioning in four main ways: What are they?

Answer 22

1. Loss of social and emotional support: this is the key loss
2. Loss of social validation of personal judgements: an individual’s spouse can help to make them confident about the correctness of their views.
3. Loss of material and task supports: in most marriages, there is some role differentiation, with the husband and wife focusing on different tasks and activities; after bereavement, the survivor has to take on the tasks done hitherto by the spouse.
4. Loss of social protection: the spouse can no longer defend the survivor from unfair treatment by other people.

Question 23

Parkes (1986) argued that bereaved people go through a series of stages following the death of their spouse. What are they?

Answer 23

First, there is a period of shock and numbness.
Second, there is a period of intense longing for the dead spouse.
Third, there is a prolonged period of
depression and general hopelessness. Fourth, the bereaved person does what is possible to construct a new life for himself or herself.

Question 24

What criticism did Ramsay and de Groot (1977) make about stage theorists and bereavement?

Answer 24

Ramsay and de Groot (1977) argued that the processes involved in coming to terms with bereavement do not occur in the predictable ways assumed by stage theorists.

Question 25

Stroebe et al. (1982) reported evidence that those who have been bereaved are at what?

Answer 25

increased risk of death from cirrhosis of the liver, accidents, strokes, coronary heart disease, and violence.

Question 26

According to Stroebe et al who is more at risk?

Answer 26

Widowers are more at risk than widows so far as deaths from cirrhosis of the liver and violence are concerned.

Question 27

What did Gallagher-Thompson et al. (1993) find in their longitudinal study?

Answer 27

that bereaved men and women are at increased risk of premature death. They also found that the bereaved who died were less integrated socially than those who did not: their spouse had been the main person in whom they confided; they had small social networks; and they were generally less involved in social activities.

Question 28

Cavenaugh, 1994 argued that men find it harder to adjust to loss of their spouse than do women. What explanations could there be for this?

Answer 28

One reason is that, for many men, their wife is their only close friend, whereas women tend to have a wider circle of friends. Another reason is that many men lack the housekeeping and cooking skills needed to look after themselves properly