Middle Adulthood Flashcards
Primary Aging
Aging that occurs due to biological factors
Molecular/Cellular changes
Secondary aging
Aging that occurs due to controllable factors
Unhealthy lifestyle, less physically active, stress
Is aging more stressful for men or women?
Women
Hair changes
Less melanin causing grey hair
Hair losss
Sarcopenia
Loss of muscle mass and strength
Especially in the back and legs
Leads to frailty
Lung functioning in aging
thinning of bones in the ribcage
reduced lung capacity
Skin changes
Wrinkles, lose fat in the face
Loss of muscle tone in the face
Dark spots from sun exposure
Muscle:fat ratio in aging
Accumulation of fat in stomach area
More fat, less muscle
Height and weight in aging
Lose height
Gain weight
Presbyopia
Loss of elasticity in the lens
Hard time reading small print
Floaters (vision)
Spots that float around the visual field
Scotopic sensitivity
Declines in middle adulthood
Less ability to see in dimmer light
Poorer night vision in middle adulthood is caused by____
The pupil losing ability to accomodate
Light sensitivity in middle adulthood
More sensitive to light
Dry Eye Syndrome
Does not produce tears properly
More often in women
Hearing Changes
Problems understanding speech in loud environments
Lose ability to hear high frequencies
Sleep
Require at least 7 hours of sleep per night
Lack in sleep can increase stress, raised cortisol levels
Less deep sleep in middle adulthood
Contributes to less growth hormone being released: physical decline
Why is weight gain common in middle age?
Diets often haven’t changed but metabolism has slowed
Brain development in middle adulthood
Maintains many abilities of early adults, gains new ones
Plasticity
White matter continues to increase
Better management of emotions
Climacteric
Midlife transition when fertility declines
Biologically based but impacted by the environment
Age-related changes affecting sexual functioning in women
Decreased desire, pain, less lubrication
Age-related changes affecting sexual functioning in men
Need more direct stimulation, erectile dysfunction
Menopause
12 months without menstruation
Average age is 51 but large variation
Perimenopause
Period of transition, ovaries stop releasing ova and hormone production decreases
2-8 years before menopause
Erectile dysfunction
Inability to achieve an erection or inconsistent ability to achieve an erection
Primarily medical, some psychological factors
Increases with age
Testosterone levels in middle age
Decline especially after 50s
Slow decline unlike in women
Lower sex drive
Heart failure
Heart can’t pump enough blood
Heart attack
Blood clot blocks flow to heart
Cardiovascular disease
Narrowed, blocked, or stiffened blood vessels
Sudden Cardiac Arrest
Unexpected loss of heart functioning, breathing, and consciousness
Hypertension
High blood pressure
Blood flows with greater force, strains the heart
Cancer
#2 cause of death Collection of diseases in which the body's cells begin to divide without stopping and spread into surrounding tissues
Diabetes
Disease in which the body does not control the amount of glucose in the blood
Does not make enough insulin or use insulin properly
Insulin
Type of hormone that helps glucose in the blood enter cells to give them energy
Rheumatoid Arthritis
Inflammatory disease that causes pain, swelling, stiffness, loss of function in joints
Immune system attacks the membrane lining the joints
Begins middle age, increases in frequency with age
Heartburn
Stomach acid backing up into esophagus
Acid indigestion
If prolonged can lead to more serious complications
Gallstones
Hard particles that develop in the gallbladder
Take years to develop
Stress
Pattern of responses after an organism perceives a threatening event that disturbs homeostasis and taxes abilities to cope
What is the most important psychological predictor of illness
Stress
Stressor
A stimulus with the effect of stress on the body
Type A behaviour
Competitive, impatient, hostile
More related to experience of stress, higher risk of heart disease
Type B behaviour
Easygoing and relaxed
Less stress
Problem-focused coping (stress)
Actively addressing the stressful event in an effort to solve the problem
Emotion-focused coping
Regulates the emotions that come with stress
Social integration
Concept used to describe the number of social roles an individual has
importance of social relationships for health
Which strategy for coping with stress has the greatest impact on mental wellness
Problem-focused coping
Which strategy for coping with stress is best when events are uncontrollable
Emotion-focused coping
study examining association between financial hardship, relationship confidence, physical health
Indirect link between financial hardship and physical health through relationship confidence
Greater social support can buffer the negative effects of stress on physical health
Crystallized intelligence
Accumulated knowledge of the world acquired throughout life
Increases with age
Fluid intelligence
Capacity to learn new ways of solving problems and performing actives quickly and abstractly
Decreases with age, poorer working memory
Flow
The mental state of being completely present and fully absorbed in a task
Blocking out distractions
Associated with intellectual satisfaction and intrinsic rewards
Tacit Knowledge
Knowledge that is practical and learned through experience rather than explicitly taught
Increases with age
Can’t be written down
Expertise
Specialized skills and knowledge that pertain to a particular topic of activity
Task-specific
Long process
Expert thought characteristics- Intuitive
Call upon vast amount of information
Not following steps or rules
Expert thought characteristics-Automatic
Routine and instinctive
Process information faster
Expert thought characteristics- Strategic
More effective strategies
Better hypotheses
Expert thought characteristics-Flexible
More curious and enjoy challenge
Sandwich generation
Adults who have at least one parent 65+ and are raising/supporting grown children
Supporting their parents and children
Greater financial strain
Kinkeeper
Person(s) who keep the family connected and promote solidarity and continuity in the family
Tends to be women
Empty nest
Time period when children are grown and have left home
Role loss hypothesis of empty nesters
Lose an important role (parent) and experience a decrease in emotional well-being
Role stress relief hypothesis of empty nesters
The responsibility of raising children is lifted, experience greater satisfaction
Boomerang Kids
Grown children who return home after having lived independently
Financial reasons, mental health/emotional reasons
Return to education in middle adulthood
Rate of older individuals entering college rising faster
Developing skills and expertise to launch a 2nd career or a new direction in career
Differences in learning approaches in middle adulthood compared to young-adults
Greater use of higher order skills- strategies to enhance memory
Take longer to learn but less likely to forget
More task oriented
Work in middle adulthood
Job satisfaction tends to peak: higher wages, greater involvement in decisions, more goals
Job burnout
Unsuccessfully managed work place stress
Energy depletion, mental distance from job, job negativism, reduced efficacy
Leisure
Time off work and duties
Important aspect of middle adulthood
Most common in television
Reduces job stress, improves mental health, improves productivity
Generativity vs stagnation
Generativity: desires to leave legacies of themselves to the next generation
Stagnation: not being active in generative matters, not feeling needed or challenged
Particularly demanding stage
4 types of generativity
Biological: Birth to a child
Parental: nurturance and guidance to children
Work: developing skills and passing down to others
Cultural: creating or conserving culture
Most common relationship status for middle-age
Marriage
Graying of divorce
Greater divorce in later marriage more recently
Less stigma to divorce, women are more financially independent, increase in lifespan
Dating after divorce
Most have dated 1 year after divorce
Rate of remarriage declining
Remote grandparents
Rarely see grandchildren
Contact on special occasions
Companionate grandparents
Do things with grandchildren but have little authority over them
Involved grandparents
Active role in grandchildren’s’ lives
Frequent contact and authority
Friendships in middle adulthood
Contribute to life satisfaction and well-being
Shared consumption of alcohol in male friendships
Friendships in the workplace leads to higher job satisfaction
Midlife crisis: previous beliefs
Believed that many individuals experience a midlife crisis
Re-evaluating previous commitments, dramatic changes, suspended between past and future
Midlife crisis: today’s beliefs
Most research suggests most individuals do not experience a midlife crisis
Large individual variation in experiences
4 main needs for meaning
Need for purpose
Need for values
Need for a sense of self-efficacy
Need for self-worth
Need for purpose
Having goals and fulfillments
Need for values
Deciding whether certain acts are right or wrong
Need for a sense of self-efficacy
Belief that one can make a difference
Need for self-worth
Thought of feeling good and worthy
Individually or collectively
Religion and spirituality in adulthood
Many adults identify religion and spirituality as being important in their lives
Assists in coping with age-related losses and stress, social support, leading better lifestyles
Religiosity
Engaging with a formal religious group’s doctrines, values, traditions, and co-members
Spirituality
Individual’s intrapsychic sense of connection with something
Feelings of gratitude and compassion
Relationship to psychological well-being
