Late Adulthood: SOCIAL & PERSONALITY

Question 1

What is Erikson’s stage in late adulthood?

Answer 1

ego integrity vs despair

Question 2

What is the Ego integrity vs. despair stage?

Answer 2

• the last of Erikson’s psychosocial stages, in which older adults must achieve a sense of satisfaction with their lives
• includes reminiscence and life review

Question 3

What is ego integrity?

Answer 3

the feeling that one’s life has been worthwhile

Question 4

What is reminiscence?

Answer 4

reflecting on past experience; is a positive emotional experience for older adults that is often seen as a way of communicating their experiences to younger individuals

Question 5

What is life review?

Answer 5

an evaluative process in which elders make judgments about past behaviour

Question 6

List the other theories of late-life psychosocial functioning

Answer 6

• selective optimization and compensation
• activity theory
• disengagement theory
• continuity theory

Question 7

What is the selective optimization and compensation theory?

Answer 7

Older adults maintain high levels of performance by focusing on their strengths and compensating for weaknesses

Question 8

What is the activity theory?

Answer 8

the idea that it is normal and healthy for older adults to try to remain as active as possible for as long as possible

Question 9

what is the disengagement theory?

Answer 9

the theory that it is normal and healthy for older adults to scale down their social lives and to separate themselves from others to a certain degree

• has 3 aspects

Question 10

What are the 3 aspects of the disengagement theory?

Answer 10

• Shrinkage of life space (downsize, smaller place)
• Increased individuality
• Acceptance of these changes
• The third aspect of disengagement theory is controversial, since it implies a personality change

Question 11

What is the continuity theory?

Answer 11

the idea that older adults adapt life-long interests and activities to the limitations imposed on them by physical aging

Question 12

What is related to the differences in a varity of behaviours in late adulthood?

Answer 12

• related to overall quality of life as well as to longevity
• reliance on religious beliefs and institutions as sources of support are also correlated with well-being in late adulthood

Question 13

What are the components of successful aging?

Answer 13

• health
• mental activity
• social engagement
• productivity
• life satisfaction

Question 14

Why is successful aging referred to as a paradigm?

Answer 14

presents patterns for or examples of such aging

Question 15

How does willingness and believing affect health?

Answer 15

• When an older adult suffers a stroke or fractures a bone, his willingness to engage in the sometimes painful process of rehabilitation significantly affects his degree of recovery
• Those who believe they can achieve rehabilitation goals are most motivated to participate, and most likely to succeed

Question 16

Can learning protect the brain from deterioration? why?

Answer 16

yes, new learning helps to establish new connections between neurons, connections that may protect the aging brain against deterioration

Question 17

What is verbal intelligence and education related to?

Answer 17

• Verbal intelligence and education are related to physical health and social engagement
• avoidance of learning may contribute to cognitive decline

Question 18

What is cognitive adventurousness?

Answer 18

a willingness to learn new things, contributes to successful aging

Question 19

How does social engagement contribute to successful aging?

Answer 19

Social engagement contributes to successful aging because it provides opportunities for older adults to give support as well as to receive it

• Higher life satisfaction is reported by those who have greater contact with family and friends

Question 20

What is the WHO Global Network of Age-friendly cities and communities?

Answer 20

• An active aging initiative emphasizes eight overlapping domains that cities and communities can focus on in order to develop environments that enhance quality of life as people age
• Three of the domains focus on social engagement: social participation, respect and social inclusion, and civic participation and employment.

Question 21

How does productivity contribute to successful aging?

Answer 21

• People who volunteer, especially with helping others, are happier and healthier in their elder years
• Other types of productivity (art and music lessons, academic classes, etc.) add purpose to life, improve interaction with peers, provide a sense of competence—all of which helps elders stay healthy

Question 22

How does life satisfaction contribute to successful aging?

Answer 22

• A sense of personal well-being is an important component of successful aging
• An individual’s perception of her own situation is critical to life satisfaction
• Older Canadians, along with adolescents, have the highest levels of life satisfaction

Question 23

What are some criticisms of the successful aging paradigm?

Answer 23

• it can give the erroneous impression that all the effects of aging are under one’s control
• An emphasis on successful aging may cause public and institutional support for disease-related research to decline
• Critics concede its influence has been largely positive but suggest there is a need to balance the optimism of the successful aging paradigm against the realities of life in late adulthood

Question 24

What is religious coping used for?

Answer 24

primary means of managing stress

Question 25

What are the sex differences for religious coping?

Answer 25

Canadian women make more use of religious coping than men do, but the effects seem to be the same for men and women

Question 26

What are the benefits of having religious beliefs?

Answer 26

- Seniors who place a great deal of emphasis on religious faith worry much less than those who do not - Religious seniors are more likely than their nonreligious peers to view old age as a chapter in an ongoing story rather than as a period of loss of capacities

Question 27

Adults who attend religious services tend to be:

Answer 27

- more optimistic, physically healthier, live longer - very satisfied with their lives - less stressed than their non-attending peers

Question 28

What are the benefits of attending religious services?

Answer 28

- There is a connection between the sense of belonging and the sense of well-being - Mortality is lowest among religious participants - Participation has many benefits, including opportunity to help others and intergenerational involvement

Question 29

why are social relationships important to late adults?

Answer 29

- Most elderly adults cite meaningful social roles as essential to life satisfaction - There is no doubt that social relationships contribute to older adults’ sense of well-being

Question 30

What are living arrangements like in late adulthood?

Answer 30

- Only 6.8% of Canadians over age 65 live in long-term care or senior’s residential homes. - Most married men will have a spouse until they die, but most married women will live alone for many years - In Canada, living alone is the most common choice among unmarried elders

Question 31

What are predictability factors that a single older adult in Canada will live with a child or with other relatives?

Answer 31

- health - income - adult children's characteristics - public home care and social support services

Question 32

what are partnerships like in late adulthood?

Answer 32

- Higher levels of pleasure and lower levels of conflict are reported - Spend more time with each other than with family or friends, and many provide a remarkable degree of care and assistance to their spouses - Rates of remarriage are higher for older men than for women - Married older adults have higher life satisfaction, better health, and lower rates of institutionalization

Question 33

Is martial satisfaction higher or lower in late adulthood?

Answer 33

Marital satisfaction is higher in the late years, but is based more on loyalty, familiarity, and mutual investment in the relationship

Question 34

What are the benefits of contacts with older children in late adulthood?

Answer 34

- The satisfaction seniors experience with family contacts is more important than the frequency of visitation - Interactions are social as well as functional - The great majority of older adults describe their relationships with their adult children as positive

Question 35

What are the effects of relationships with adult children?

Answer 35

- Good relationships and regular contact with adult children can add to an elderly adult's quality of life, but are not necessary for it - Friendships provide more opportunity to “be yourself” - Relationships with children involve roles and expectations that may add stress to a senior’s life

Question 36

Are Childless elders as happy as those who had children?

Answer 36

Childless elders are just as happy and well-adjusted as those who have children

Question 37

What is the relationship like with grandchildren?

Answer 37

- Interactions between grandchildren and grandparents are beneficial to both - in late adulthood, contact between grandchildren and grandparents declines as the grandchildren become adults themselves

Question 38

What is the relationship like with siblings?

Answer 38

Relationships with siblings may become more important in late adulthood, especially after both parents have died

Question 39

What is the impact of friendships in late adulthood?

Answer 39

- Contact with friends has a significant impact on life satisfaction, self-esteem and loneliness - Relationships with friends are likely to be more reciprocal or equitable, and such equitable relationships are more valued and less stressful than relationships with family members - Friends also provide assistance with daily tasks

Question 40

What are the gender differences in social networks?

Answer 40

- Older women's networks tend to be larger and closer than those of older men - Men's social networks are just as important to them and provide them with the same kinds of emotional support as women's networks do, even though men's networks tend to be smaller