PSY210: Late Adulthood Flashcards
Functional Age
Actual competence and performance
May not match chronological age
discrepancy is confounding
variability in functioning
functional age - age based on what they can do
65-75 can have dramatically diff experiences based on progression because of functional age
Age Distribution
recent - late 60-80s
pop is growing older - largest section is going to be in late adulthood
baby boomers - boom in pop marching through time
vote the most - tax dollars directed to them
Average Healthy Life Expectancy at Birth
avg healthy life expectancy: how long can i expect to live a healthy life
US + Portugal - 68,69 Canada - 72 Japan - 75
Life Expectancy
Increasing in the North America
• lower infant mortality
• lower adult deaths
avg includes infant mortality
avg for entire pop
substantially increased, 1950s - 50 years, now 74 years
NA - fewer children dying young, less accidents
Life Expectancy
Variations due to heredity, environment
• women live longer
• SES
• ethnicity
• nationality
women live longer - work, disposition to longer life
high SES: live longer, knowledge + access to resources
minority groups tend to be lower SES, genetic predisposition
Life Expectancy in Developed Nations
Japan ranks first.
• low rates of obesity, heart disease
• favourable health-care policies
Japan has a good health care system, better diet
Life Expectancy in Developed Nations
North America lags due to health care and lifestyles.
• but elderly are fastest-growing group
US - lack of access to health care, maybe will get better
Developing nations: age 50
born here - predict to live 24 years longer
where you are born changes your life plan - impact on culture
Life expectancy cross over
in NA around 85, crossover effect - low SES become healthier after 85
high SES can live a bad life and get medical interventions
Maximum Lifespan
Average is age 85.
• varies between age 70 to 110
• centenarians increasing in industrialized world
• more female centenarians
Japan has higher # of centenarians
cognitive capacity drops at around the age of 25
neurons don’t fire as fast
Some scientists believe upper limit not yet reached
Question: Should lifespan be extended?
• quality of life is goal
Aging and the Nervous System
Loss of brain weight accelerates after age 60.
Neurons lost in frontal lobes, corpus callosum, cerebellum (balance), glial cells
Autonomic nervous system less efficient
5-10% loss of brain weight
ventricles get bigger - empty space
ANS - regulation is less effective
Aging and the Nervous System
Brain can compensate
• new fibers, neurons
• new connections
• use more parts of brain
neuroplasticity continues in late adulthood
dies off at greater rate than neurogenesis
more diverse activation to compensate
Sensory Impairments and Aging: Vision
Lower visual acuity
Poor dark adaptation, sensitivity to glare
need prescription
diff seeing at night due to eye muscles becoming stiffer
sunglasses in evening to avoid glare
Sensory Impairments and Aging: Vision
Decreased colour, depth perception Cataracts Macular degeneration Senior Lifestyles cataracs - blurry macular degeneration - fuzziness in centre - retina damage
Effects of Sensory Changes: Vision problems
! Changes in leisure activities ! Loss of self-confidence ! Possible problems in daily activities diff reading small print - cards, book social consequences not wanting to admit diff in daily activities
Effects of Sensory Changes: Hearing loss
! Social isolation
! Lower self-efficacy
! Lower safety and enjoyment
lose high pitch + low pitch sound, noisy environments
decrease WM + processing speed - hard to keep up with conversations
more social isolation even if you are accomodating for their hearing
lower self-efficacy - more cautious
Effects of Sensory Changes: Decreased taste and smell
Nutritional, safety risks
smell reduced + less saliva, medication dries out mouth
nutritional deficits - wants food they can taste - high sodium
forget when they bought the food
Effects of Sensory Changes: Less sensitive to touch
Difficulties with leisure, daily activities
less tactile perception - arthritis, can’t play cards, cutting finger
Stereotypes of Aging: Many assume deterioration is inevitable.
elders experience prejudice, discrimination
! assumptions affected by culture
as long as we stay physically active - only 10% in performance
research contributes to stereotypes of aging
Stereotypes of Aging: Many assume deterioration is inevitable.
assumes that they can’t do simple tasks
retake driving tests - assumes everyone drops in performance
in first nations - more wisdom + increased capacity with age
Stereotypes of Aging: Stereotype threat
fear of confirming stereotype reduces functioning
use less strategies because they believe it won’t matter
expected it to be worse, but experience is proving them wrong
Stereotypes of Aging: May be changing
positive media portrayals
! source of pride in some cultures
expected it to be worse, but experience is proving them wrong
Mental Disabilities in Late Adulthood
Dementia – thought and behaviour impairments that disrupt everyday life
Cerebrovascular dementia • strokes
bloodclot - neurons die off - more common in M
sudden onset, multiple sequential strokes
more likely to have another
Mental Disabilities in Late Adulthood
Misdiagnosis, reversible dementia • depression
• medication side effects
depressed - isolated, loss of partner, similar symptoms to dementia
heart medication can cause loss in cognitive functioning
Alzheimer’s Disease
Incidence
Higher with age – about 45% over age 85
Symptoms Forgetting>disorientation>personality change>depression>motor problems>delusions> speech problems>infections
irritable, loss of inhibition, depression - recognize it, diff understanding ppl
Alzheimer’s Disease
Brain changes Neurofibrillary tangles, amyloid plaques in cerebral cortex, synapse deterioration
buildup of protein: tangles - excess tao = neural death
plaque outside of neuron - excess amyloid
Alzheimer’s Disease
Risk factors ! Genetic predispositions ! High-fat diet
! Lifestyle factors
chromosome 21
not well understood, only for certain groups
Alzheimer’s Disease
Protective factors Education, active lifestyle ! Mediterranean diet
! Active social life
poor exercise, low activity, keeps up thinking by interacting with ppl
Incidence of Dementia, by Age, Caused by Alzheimer’s Disease or Strokes, Canada 1991-1992
lifestyle and genetic contributing to gender diff
shouldn’t be something we overly worry about
Cognitive Change in Late Adulthood: Memory
Deliberate
Recall more difficult
context helps retrieval, but slower processing, smaller working memory make context harder to encode
deliberate - memory that takes effort - unpracticed
decline in deliberate memory
Cognitive Change in Late Adulthood: Memory
Automatic
Recognition easier than recall
! more environmental support
maintain performance of auto/implicit memory
Implicit memory better than deliberate memory
! without conscious awareness
! depends on familiarity
Cognitive Change in Late Adulthood: Memory
lower processing speed, decrease in WM, slower recall
not spontaneously using strategies
Associative Memory Declines in Late Adulthood
Difficulty in creating or retrieving links between pieces of information
“Using memory cues, enhancing meaningfulness of information, can help
binding of 2 bits of info - more decline than typical memory
Associative Memory Declines in Late Adulthood
test diff in item-pair memory test - dramatic drop in late adulthood
hard to hold info in WM + bind them + create representations
don’t try to bind info, but if they use strategies, it increases performance
Remote Memory
! Very long-term recall
! Autobiographical memory
testing their knowledge for random LTM info - perform worse
autobio memory bump - report few memory betw 30 + 50, but 15-25
most recently is remembered better, but lives are more of the same
misbelieve that they have better memory for younger years
Prospective Memory
Remembering to engage in planned actions ! Event-based easier than time- based ! Use reminders, repetition to help prospective - declines in planning event-based do not decline - cues time based - requires cognitive effort
Language Processing in Late Adulthood
Comprehension changes very little
Problems retrieving specific words
• tip-of-the-tongue state
• use more pronouns, pauses in speech
comprehension doesn’t really decrease, but production does decline
think of concept and word associated with it - associative memory - decreased
tip of the tongue - can’t remember word
Language Processing in Late Adulthood
Problems planning what to say
• hesitations, false starts, repetition, sentence fragments
• statements less organized
more broken speech
Language Processing in Late Adulthood
Compensation
use definition/synonyms for words you forget
• simpler grammar, more sentences, gist
• symbolic interpretation
stories - fewer plot moments + individual details, focus on moral lessons
Problem Solving in Late Adulthood
Real problems
• family relations
• managing daily living activities
improves in everyday problems due to experience - practiced
Problem Solving in Late Adulthood
Extend strategies from middle adulthood • avoid interpersonal conflicts • use experience to decide quickly, when possible • consult others • collaborate base on experience making decisions
Factors Related to Cognitive Change
Mentally active life • education, stimulating leisure, social participation, flexibility Health higher education, stimulating - musical active mind, practicing, less effortful - automatic
Factors Related to Cognitive Change
Retirement
Distance to death
• terminal decline
retirement - depends on transition, poor cognitive task to boring life, but better if from boring life to active life
years prior to dying - steady sharp decline in cognitive ability
predictor of death, but can last from 3-14 years
Factors Related to Cognitive Change
Cognitive interventions
• ADEPT, ACTIVE
simply teaching them to use strategies + engage in mental tasks increases performance on basic memory tests
Ego Integrity
Feel whole, complete, satisfied with achievements
!Serenity and contentment
!Associated with psychosocial maturity
Despair
!Feel many decisions were wrong, but now time is too short
!Bitter and unaccepting of coming death
!Expressed as anger, contempt for others
Erikson’s Theory: Ego Integrity versus Despair
middle adulthood - contribute to society or you feel like you’re doing nothing
some ppl have integrity and feel like they can still learn things
attitudes they express coming from their life review
Peck: Three Tasks of Ego Integrity
Ego differentiation versus work- role preoccupation
retire - don’t do the things that used to define you, role in society is changing
lose purpose after work role is lost
Peck: Three Tasks of Ego Integrity
Body transcendence versus body preoccupation
can become preoccupied with things they are no longer able to do
have to be ok with the idea of dying - life had meaning
Peck: Three Tasks of Ego Integrity
Ego transcendence versus ego preoccupation
overcome with early generativity
Gerotranscendence
Beyond ego integrity
Cosmic, transcendent perspective
Directed beyond self
“ forward and outward
Gerotranscendence
Heightened inner calm Quiet reflection unique stage toward end of life efforts and interests beyond self thinking forward in terms of society as a whole
Labouvie-Vief’s Emotional Expertise
Cognitive-affective complexity “ declines for many
Affect optimization improves
“ maximize positive emotions, dampen negative ones
ability to think complexity of emotions and social relationships
improves substantially in early and middle adulthood - not as angry - we understand ourselves and others better
Labouvie-Vief’s Emotional Expertise
More vivid emotional perceptions “ use emotion-centered coping
engage in affect optimization - focus on bright side of life
better, we recognize the things that don’t matter
better in tune with own emotions, focus on it, feel it more
Reminiscence
Telling stories about people, events, thoughts and feelings from past
“ self-focused: can deepen despair
reminiscence - involves other ppl
self-focused: wanna talk about it regardless if you’re there - fixated interally
Reminiscence
other-focused: solidifies relationships
“ knowledge-based: helps solve problems
telling them because you think they wanna hear it - help solve a problem
generativity, pass on wisdom
Life Review
Considering the meaning of past experiences
A form of reminiscence
For greater self- understanding
Can help adjustment
life reviews are generally good, reminisce on good times,
even if times are bad - can reflect positively on life
Self-Concept in Late Adulthood
Secure, multifaceted self-concept " allows self-acceptance " continue to pursue possible selves how they view themselves as a person secure - know who they are still believe they can learn new things, have several possible selves
Self-Concept in Late Adulthood
Shifts in some characteristics “ more agreeable
“ less sociable
multifaceted - as a partner, parent, retired, employee, sibling
greater self acceptance, comfortable with who they are
still believe they can learn new things, have several possible selves
more agreeable - don’t get upset
Self-Concept in Late Adulthood
greater acceptance of change
“ Resilience promotes adaptive functioning.
interact with fewer ppl, already experienced a great amount of change
The New Old Age: Third Age
Third Age
“ ages 65 to 79 and beyond
“ marked by personal fulfillment, self-realization
“ high life satisfaction
The New Old Age: Third Age
” need more opportunities
happy, know they have time to do new things
generally knows what’s gonna happen
society doesn’t have jobs for elderly, less activities available
The New Old Age: Fourth Age
” physical decline “ need for care
Spirituality and Religion in Late Adulthood
About three-fourths of N.A. elders say religion is “very important.”
Over half attend services weekly.
ppl go back to church after they have children
culture, low income - more religious, W more religious, and low educated
Spirituality and Religion in Late Adulthood
Many become more religious/spiritual with age.
“ not all: about one-fourth get less religious
“ cultural, SES, gender differences Physical, psychological benefits
“ social engagement
healthier and happier, less stress - religious
religious practice engage in social interaction - with other ppl
form friendships, support network
Factors in Psychological Well-Being
Control versus dependency Health
“ poor health, depression linked
“ suicide risk
depression - greater in late adulthood, similar to early adulthood
Factors in Psychological Well-Being
death of partners, children, friends - too much too fast can lead to suicide
control vs dependency
Negative life changes Social support, interaction
Control and Dependency in Late Adulthood
Dependency–support script
“ attend immediately to dependent behaviours
want to feel like we are in control, we have a choice
like to have a say in what happens
we can’t care for ourselves, losing control over our lives
nice intentions may make them feel like their dependent
Control and Dependency in Late Adulthood
Independence–ignore script " ignore independent behaviours engage in independence - isolated help them - feel dependent just interact with them while they’re being independent
Control and Dependency in Late Adulthood
Scripts work together
“ both reinforce dependency
“ make social contact less pleasant
Social Theories of Aging
Disengagement theory
mutual withdrawal of elders and society
Activity theory
social barriers cause declining interaction
Continuity theory
strive to maintain consistency between past and future
Socioemotional selectivity theory
social networks become more selective with age; extends lifelong process
Social Theories of Aging
emphasize emotion-regulating functions of social contact
society gives them space to self-reflection
wrong: don’t wanna be isolated
activity: things that prevent ppl - inaccessible travel, don’t like being forced into social interaction
continuity: want similar types of relationship, quantity less important
recognize who we want to be around, we only need a certain groups
Age-Related Changes in Number of Social Partners
mean number of social partners declines overall
close friends don’t reduce quite as much
Social Contexts of Aging
Communities
“ majority live in suburbs – higher income
“ minorities in cities – better transportation, social services
“ few small town, rural – far from children; interact with neighbours, friends
Social Contexts of Aging
Neighbourhoods " prefer other seniors " fear of crime and victimization Housing " prefer aging in place most live in the suburbs - afford it
Social Contexts of Aging
in cities - lower SES
less support and hospitals in rural areas
want to live with similar ppl that reinforce world view
Social Contexts of Aging
least likely to be victims of crime, but in urban centers, more likely victim of pickpocket and theft
in urban centres, then victimized at higher rate
wanna stay home - familiar space
Housing Arrangements in Late Adulthood
Ordinary homes 80%
“ own home – preferred and most control “ with family
“ number living alone increasing
widows on the rise
value independence so much that we prefer to live in our own homes
Housing Arrangements in Late Adulthood
Residential communities 15%
“ congregate housing
“ life-care communities
own apartment, but around other ppl
Housing Arrangements in Late Adulthood
Nursing homes 5%
“ restricts autonomy, social integration “ Green House model better
focus on medical care in nursing homes
abysmal conditions in nursing homes - more likely for lower SES
treat it more like dorm life
Relationships in Late Adulthood
MARRIAGE Satisfaction peaks in late adulthood " fewer stressful responsibilities " fairness in household tasks " joint leisure " emotional understanding,
Relationships in Late Adulthood
regulation
If dissatisfied, harder for women
happier with partner than when they first got married
fewer societal pressures on men to be masculine
experience understanding partner - likes/dislikes
W more likely to fix it
Divorce
Few divorces in late adulthood, but increasing
“ hard to recover; especially women
harder due to separation of income, didn’t work so don’t have pension
more likely to remain widow
ppl just start living with others, do avoid financial reasons
Remarriage
Rates low; decline with age
“ higher for divorced than widowed “ late remarriage stable
Cohabitation
Growing trend
“ financial and family reasons “ relationships stable
ppl just start living with others, do avoid financial reasons
Widowhood
Most stressful event of life for many “ one-third of elderly
“ significantly more women than men
Few remarry; most live alone “ must cope with loneliness
Reorganizing life harder for men
“ more likely to remarry
19
don’t need another person moving forward
men have fewer social partners, lose wives social circles
Friendships in Late Adulthood
Friends provide: " intimacy " companionship " acceptance " link to community " help with loss Feel closest to a few nearby friends Choose friends similar to self Sex differences continue W have higher levels of intimacy + discussions M continue to do activities with friends
Relationships with Adult Children
Quality of relationship affects elders’ physical, mental health
Assist each other
“ direction changes toward children helping as parents age “ closeness affects willingness to help
“ emotional support most often
“ parents try to avoid dependency
Relationships with Adult Children
Sex differences
“ mother–daughter ties often closest
physically and mentally better if good relationship
less likely to help if they had a terrible relationship
avoid codependency
form more intimate relationships - mother-daughter
Relationships with Grandchildren, Great-Grandchildren
Half of elders have adult grandchildren. “ wider network of support
Relationships vary
“ involvement during childhood
predicts later relationship
Relationships with Grandchildren, Great-Grandchildren
gradually reduced contact for many
“ grandparents still express affection
Limited, but affectionate role with great- grandchildren
wider network of support
