HDFS EXAM 3

Filial crisis:

: In Marcoen's terminology, normative development of middle age, in which adults learn to balance love and duty to their parents with autonomy within a two-way relationship

Activities of daily living

Essential activities that support survival, such as eating, dressing, bathing, and getting around the house

1. Compare/contrast the following theories & theorists about stability and change in personality.: The social clock

Every culture has a social clock describing the ages at which people are expected to reach certain milestones. In Western cultures, middle age often rings a restructuring of social roles. A parent may launch children from the family home or become a grandparent, change careers or jobs, or retire. Timing of events models suggest that development is more affected by when these events occur in a person's life than by a person's chronological age.

1. Compare/contrast the following theories & theorists about stability and change in personality.: Trait models

Five different factors: Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness to experience, Conscientiousness, and Agreeableness. Research in this area originally claimed that these traits, known as the Big Five, were relatively continuous and were not believed to change in any appreciable way after the age of 30. But more recent data suggests that slow change during the middle and older years is common and it can be a significant positive change

c. young adults

Generally eager to live their lives they have been preparing for, if they are suddenly struck by a potentially fatal illness or injury, they are likely to be extremely frustrated or angry. Feel like their entire world is collapsing at once

Gerontology

Study of the aged and the process of aging

Myopia

hard to see distant objects

Presbyopia

hard to see near objects

· Japanese Ritual of Mizuko Kuyo

- A rite of apology and remembrance, is observed as a means of making amends to the aborted life - Mizuko means "water child". Japanese Buddhists believe that life flows into an organism gradually, like water, and a mizuko is somewhere on the continuum between life and death.

Terminal drop (decline)

- A widely observed decline in cognitive abilities shortly before death - Declines in verbal ability, spatial reasoning, and everyday cognition - Loses interest in eating and drinking - Steep decline in life satisfaction with a year before death

· Fluid intelligence:

- Ability to solve novel problems on the fly - Requires little previous knowledge - Involves perceiving relations, forming, concepts and drawing inferences - Peaks in young adulthood tends to decline with age

· Crystalized intelligence

- Ability to use information acquired over lifetime (thinking of a synonym for a word) - Increases through middle age

Models of successful aging: Activity theory

- Activity is linked with life satisfaction - "We are what we do" - Regarded as simplistic

1. How do relationships middle-aged people have with their parents change at this stage?

- Adult children still living at home - Adult children returning to live at home - Being "kinkeepers": maintain ties with branches of the extended family (getting people together) - Parents' sense of well-being tied to how well their children turn out

1. What are some characteristics of the graying population?

- Aging populations result from declines in fertility accompanied by economic growth, better nutrition, healthier lifestyles, improved control of infectious disease, safer water and sanitation facilities, and advances in science, technology, and medicine. - The graying of the population is due to high birthrates and high immigration rates during the early to mid-twentieth century and a trend toward smaller families, which has reduced the relative size of younger age groups

1. Read the Research in Action box on p. 562 and be able to discuss and give examples of ambiguous loss.

- Ambiguous loss occurs when there is no tangible confirmation of a death, as when a body cannot by found, people are denied ritual and emotional closure, and their grief may remain frozen. - When there is no body-no clear evidence of death-it can be harder to face the finality of loss - Can also be applied to situations in which the loved one is physically present but not psychologically absent, such as Alzheimer's disease, drug addiction, or chronic mental illness

1. What does great grandparenthood offer the individual and the family?

- Because of age, declining health, and the scattering of families, great-grandparents tend to be less involved than grandparents in a child's life. - Great grandparenthood offers a sense of personal and family renewal, a source of diversion, and a mark of longevity. - Grandparents and great-grandparents are important to their families. They are sources of wisdom, companions in pay, links to the past, and symbols of the continuity of family life. They are engaged in the ultimate generative function: expressing the human longing to transcend mortality by investing themselves in the lives of future generations

1. How does religion or spirituality affect health and well-being?

- Becomes more important as people age - Religion and spirituality positively related to è General well-being è Marital satisfaction è Psychological functioning è Health

1. What are the intertwined aspects of death, particularly the cultural context?

- Biological fact, social/cultural, developmental, historical, religious, legal, psychological, and medical and ethical. - Thanatology: the study of death and dying (cultural context) - Helps us understand these aspects of death, and how we can better accept and prepare for death and care for loved ones who are dying - Cultural aspects of death include care of and behavior toward the dying and the dead, the setting where death usually takes place, and mourning customs and rituals.

a. What are some ways bereavement affects those who are widowed?

- Can impair the immune system, resulting in headaches, dizziness, indigestion, or chest pain. It also entails higher risks of disability, drug use, hospitalization, and even death Can also lead to memory problems, loss of appetite, and difficulty with concentration, and it heightens the risk of anxiety, depression, insomnia and social dysfunction

1. How do cohabiters fare in middle adulthood?

- Cohabiting men (but not cohabiting women) were more likely to be depressed than their married counterparts, even when such variables as physical health, social support, and economic resources were controlled. Indeed cohabiting men were about as likely to be depressed as men without partners.

What are some characteristics of older workers and retirement?

- Compulsory retirement has been virtually outlawed in the US as a form of age discrimination and the line between work and retirement is not as clear as it used to be. There are no longer norms concerning the timing of retirement, how to plan for it and what to do afterward. The biggest factors in the decisions usually are health and financial considerations. For many older adults retirement is a "phased phenomenon, involving multiple transitions out of and into paid and unpaid work" - Retirement is not a single event but a dynamic adjustment process that is best conceptualized as a form of decision making

a. What is the relationship between conscientiousness and health throughout life?

- Conscientiousness, or dependability, has been found to predict health and mortality, most likely because conscientious people tend to avoid less risks behaviors and to engage in activities that promote their health

1. What are Kübler-Ross' stages of confronting one's own death?

- Denial - Anger - Bargaining - Depression - Acceptance - Experience varies for each person and some people may not get to acceptance

· Kübler-Ross' stages of confronting one's own death

- Denial: this can't be happening to me - Anger: why me - Bargaining: for extra time (if only I can.... i won't ask for anything else) - Depression - Acceptance - The experience varies for each person and some people may not get to acceptance

Models of successful aging: Selective Optimization and Compensation (SOC)

- Developing abilities that allow for gain, and compensate for decline - Conserve resources by: 1. Selecting a fewer and more meaningful activities/goals 2. Optimizing the resources, they have to achieve goals

Models of successful aging: Continuity theory

- Emphasizes people's need to maintain a connection between past and present - People are happy if they are able to continue doing things, they've always enjoyed

· Warning signs of stroke

- Face: drooping-smile is uneven - Arm: weakness-if person raises their arm and one arm drifts downward - Speech: difficulty-speech slurred - Time: call 911-call 911 and get person to the hospital

1. What are some of the factors that affect gay and lesbian relationships in midlife?

- Gays and lesbians now in middle age grew up at a time when homosexuality was considered a mental illness, and homosexuals tended to be isolated not only from a larger community but from each other - One factor that seems to affect relationship quality in gays and lesbians is whether or not they have internalized society's negative views on homosexuality. Those gays and lesbians who have internalized the homophobic attitudes affect their overall self-concept. And when the depressive symptoms increase, so do the relationship issues

1. Why is generativity so important at this stage in life?

- Generativity is an aspect of identity formation. - Identity is an internalized "script" -->A dramatic narrative to make sense of one's life --> Generative adults construct generativity scripts that give life a "happy ending," renewed confidence and determination to help others

1. What is the Hayflick limit?

- Genetically controlled limit, proposed by Hayflick, on the number of times cells can divide in members of a species

1. What are the aspects of grandparenthood and kinship care?

- Grandparents provide kinship care (care of children living without parents in the home of grandparents or other relatives, with or without a change of legal custody), who do not become foster parents or gain custody have no legal status and no more rights than unpaid babysitters. Grandparents can be sources of guidance, companions in pay, links to the past, and symbols of family continuity. They express generativity, a longing to transcend mortality by investing themselves in the lives of future generations

1. Compare the terms grief and bereavement.

- Grief: the emotional response experienced in the early phase of bereavement - Bereavement: the process of adjusting to the loss of someone close è Can affect all aspects of a person's life (e.g. change in roles, change in SES) è Highly personal experience

1. Be able to compare the terms palliative care and hospice care.

- Hospice care (for dying persons) è Focus is on palliative care è Patient and family-centered è Relief of pain and suffering è Allowing the patient to die in peace and dignity - Palliative care: care aimed at relieving pain and suffering and allowing the terminally ill to die in peace, comfort and dignity - Hospice care: personal, patient- and family-centered care for a person with a terminal illness

1. Why is it important for people of all ages and levels of health to establish an advance directive?

- Instructions about when and how to discontinue medical care; important because it can be the determinant of how a person dies è Living will è Durable power of attorney è Medical durable power of attorney

1. How is marriage different at midlife than at other points? How does marital capital affect the quality of a marriage?

- Marriage is very different from what it used to be - When life expectancies were shorter, couples who remained together for 25, 30, or 40, years were rare. The most common pattern was for marriages to be broken by death and for survivors to remarry. People had many children and expected them to live at home until they marry. Today more marriages end in divorce, but couples who stay together can often look forward to 20 or more ears of married life after the last child leaves home - Marital satisfaction generally hits bottom early in middle age, when many couples have teens and are involved in careers. Satisfaction usually reaches a height when children are grown; many people are retired or entering retirement and a lifetime accumulation of assets helps ease financial worries. - Empty nest occurs è Good marriages: empty nest may start a second honeymoon phase è Shaky marriages: may stress marriage, lead to divorce - Marital capital: Financial and emotional benefits built up during a long-standing marriage, which tends to hold a couple together è Long standing marriages; the longer a couple is married, the more likely they are to have built up joint financial assets, to share the same friends, to go through important experiences together, and to get used to the emotional benefits that marriage can provide. This accumulated capital can be difficult to give up, and thus might explain the decreased likelihood of a breakup

1. What are some characteristics of long-term marriages?

- Married couples who are still together in late adulthood are more likely than middle-aged couples to report higher satisfaction and fewer adjustment problems in their marriages. Children tend to become a source of shared pleasure and pride rather than conflict. Men receive social support from wives, whereas women rely more heavily on friends, relatives, and children. The way couples resolve conflicts is key to marital satisfaction throughout adulthood

1. According to the results of George Vaillant's study: Chang people's perceptions of realities that they are powerless to change a. What are examples of adaptive defenses?

- May be unconscious or intuitive - Altruism (selfless concern for others), humor, suppression (keep a stiff upper lip), anticipation (planning for the future), sublimation (redirecting negative emotions into productive pursuits)

a. How does retirement affect well-being?

- Men whose morale at work had been low tended to enjoy a boost during the "honeymoon period" immediately following retirement, but continuous retirement was associated with an increase in depressive symptoms. Women's well being was less influenced by retirement-their own or their husbands; their morale was more affected by marital quality. A sense of personal control was a key predictor of morale in both men and women

1. Why should physicians place as much importance on depression as they do physical health?

- Mental and behavioral disturbances that do occur can result in functional impairment in major life activities as well as cognitive decline. - May older adults with mental and behavioral problems tend not to seek help for their issues. - Vulnerability seems to result from the influence of multiple genes interacting with environmental factors. Special risk factors in late adulthood include chronic illness or disability, cognitive decline, and divorce, separation, or widowhood - Depression is often coupled with other medical conditions. Some physicians when treating multiple illnesses, may give depression lower priority than a physical ailment, such as diabetes or arthritis.

1. What are some of the reasons couples in midlife divorce?

- Most describe the experience as more emotionally devastating than losing a job and about as devastating as a major illness, though less devastating than a spouse's death. Midlife divorce seems especially hard for women, who are more negatively affected by divorce by any age than men are. - Marital loss is associated with an elevated chance of chronic health conditions in both sexes, perhaps driven by the disruption and stress such a loss entails. Luckily most middle-aged divorced people bounce back eventually. - Long-standing marriages may be less likely to breakup than more recent ones because of the concept of marital capital (financial and emotional benefits built up during a long-standing marriage, which tend to hold a couple together). The longer a couple is married, the more likely they are to have built up joint financial assets, to share the same friends, to go through important experiences together, and to get used to the emotional benefits that marriage can provide. - Another important factor that keeps many couples from divorcing is finances. - Number one reason is partner abuse-verbal, physical, or emotional. Other frequent reasons were differing values or lifestyles, infidelity, alcohol or drug abuse, and simply falling out of love.

1. How might personality be a predictor of emotionality, health and well-being in later life?

- Negative emotions tend to decrease with age (with most people) è However, neurotics report negative emotions and tend to become less positive è Neuroticism=powerful predictor of mood and mood disorders - Positive emotions tend to remain stable è Extraverts have higher positive emotion and retain positive moods into later life As people get older, they tend to seek out activities and people that give them emotional gratification. In addition, older adult's greater ability to regulate their emotions may help explain why they tend to be happier and more cheerful than younger adults and to experience negative emotions less often and more fleetingly.

· Models of successful aging: Disengagement theory

- Normal" decline in physical health brings social withdrawal - This theory has received little research support

1. What are some of the stresses associated with widowhood?

- Often affect physical and mental health

a. What happens if someone who is LGBTQ doesn't come out until midlife?

- Often go through prolonged search for identity, marked by guilt, secrecy, heterosexual marriage, and conflicted relationships with both sexes. In contrast, those who recognize and accept their sexual orientation early in life, often cross racial, socioeconomic, and age barriers within the gay community

a. How our brains organizes/re-organizes when performing cognitive tasks

- Our brains do not take aging lying down, they will reorganize themselves in order to process information effectively. - You use different parts of your brain to recognize letter and numbers, and a different part of your brain to recognize faces, buildings, body parts. So each of these different stimulus categories evokes quite distinctive neural activation patterns in young adults - As we get older neural distinctiveness tends to decline as we age, but its not true for everyone (about 50%). The people that showed reduced neural distinctiveness showed a decline in fluid processing - In neural reorganization in young adults tasks that evoke activity in one hemisphere while in older adults it evokes activity in both hemispheres because as you get older you start recruiting newer brain regions

a. In particular, what is the relationship between extraversion and emotionality throughout life?

- People with extraverted personalities (outgoing and socially oriented) tend to report especially high levels of positive emotion initially and are more likely than others to retain their positivity throughout life

a. What is the relationship between neuroticism and emotionality throughout life?

- People with neurotic personalities (moody, touchy, anxious, and restless) tend to report negative and not positive emotions, and they tend to become even less positive as they age. Neuroticism is a far more powerful predictor of moods and mood disorders than variables such as age, health status, education or gender. Highly neurotic people who become more neurotic as they age have low survival rates, possibly because they are neurotic people who become more neurotic as they age have low survival rates, possibly because they are ineffective in managing stress.

1. Be able to discuss the characteristics of wisdom.

- Personality: the culmination of lifetime growth - Cognitive expertise: breadth and depth of knowledge of life - Transcendence: detachment from preoccupation with self

· Ryff's Multiple dimensions of well-being

- Self-acceptance: acknowledges good and bad qualities - Positive relations with others - Autonomy - Environmental mastery: manage environment and achieve goals - Purpose in life: goals and sense of directedness - Personal growth: continued

Helping someone who has lost a loved one

- Share the sorrow: allow or encourage the bereaved person to talk about feelings or loss and share memories of the deceased person - Don't offer false comfort: saying such things as "its all for the best" or "you'll get over it in time" is not helpful. Instead, simply express sorrow-and take time to listen - Offer practical help: babysitting, cooking, and running errands are ways to help someone who is grieving - Be patient: it can take a long time to recover from a significant loss; be available to talk and listen - Suggest professional help when necessary: don't hesitate to recommend professional help when it appears that someone is experiencing too much pain to cope alone

· What to do if someone threatens suicide

- Stay calm, take the threat seriously - Don't leave the person alone. Prevent access to firearms, knives, medications, or any other row the person use to commit suicide - Don't try to handle the situation alone. Call 911 or the local emergency response number. Phone the person's doctor, the police, a local crisis intervention team or others who are trained to help - While waiting for help, listen closely to the person. Let the person know you're listening by maintaining eye contact, moving closer, or holding his or her hand, if appropriate - Ask questions to determine what method of suicide the person is considering and whether he or she has an organized plan - Remind the person that help is available - If the person does attempt suicide, immediately call for emergency medical assistance and administer first aid, it necessary

a. What are some of the stresses and strains of the sandwich generation?

- The sandwich generation is middle-aged adults squeezed by competing needs to raise or launch children and to care for elderly parents - The stress can be caused by incessant, heavy demands of caregiving is so great as to lead to abuse, neglect, or even abandonment of the dependent elderly person - A result of these and other strains may be caregiver burnout, a physical, mental, and emotional exhaustion that can affect adults who care for aged relatives.

a. How does the timing of coming out affect development?

- The timing of coming out can affect aspects of development. Some middle-aged gays and lesbians may be associated openly for the first time and establishing relationships. many are still working out conflicts with parents and other family members (sometimes including spouses) or hiding their homosexuality from them.

Genetic-Programming theories

- Theories that explain biological aging as resulting from a genetically determined developmental timetable

a. How do adaptive defenses work?

- They can change people's perceptions of realities they are powerless to change. The use of adapted defenses predicted subjective physical functioning even though it did not predict objective physical health as measured by physicians

a. What are some other problems associated with adjusting to widowhood?

- Widowed people may have nobody to remind them to take their pills or medications so they may die soon too. The quality of the marital relationship that has been lost may affect the degree to which widowhood affects mental health. In one study, widowed persons who had been especially close to, or highly dependent on, their spouses tended to become more anxious and yearned more for their partners 6 months after the death. - Widows whose husbands were chief breadwinners may experience economic hardships or fall into poverty

· Warning signs of suicide

- Withdrawing from family or friends - Talking about death or suicide - Giving away prized possessions - Abusing drugs and alcohol - Personality changes - Unusual anger, boredom, or apathy - Symptoms of depression

1. What are the dimensions of well-being (Table 3 on p. 480) and why are they important?

- Within the discipline of psychology, a subjective sense of happiness is characterized as well-being. Although people generally have an overall sense of how happy they are, happiness is multidimensional, and people can be more or less pleased with various aspects of this life. - Middle-aged people expressed greater well-being than older and younger adults in some areas, though not in others. They were more autonomous than younger adults but somewhat less purposeful and less focused on personal growth-future oriented dimensions that declined even more sharply in late adulthood. Self-acceptance was relatively stable for all age groups. 1. Self-acceptance: which involves a positive attitude toward the self that acknowledges both good and bad qualities 2. Positive relations with others: warm, trusting relationships with others and an understanding of the dynamics of human relationships 3. Autonomy: about being independent and assured in interactions and beliefs 4. Environmental mastery: the ability to manage the environment to achieve goals, perhaps by choosing or creating contexts to maximize opportunities 5. Purpose in life: having goals and a sense of directedness 6. Personal growth: a feeling of continued development and openness to new experiences

Be able to compare and describe the different types of living arrangements in older adulthood, along with pros and cons of each

1. Aging in place: remining in one's own home, with or without assistance, in later life - Pros: makes sense for those who can manage on their own or with minimal help, have an adequate income or a paid-up mortgage, can handle the upkeep, are happy in the neighborhood, and want to be independent, to have privacy, and to be near friends, adult children, or grandchildren - Cons: most informal caregivers who provide aging in place willingly can become extremely stressed and worried 2. Living alone: older women are more likely then men to live alone. - Pros: the growth of elderly single-person households has been spurred by greater longevity, increased benefits and pensions, increased home ownership, elder-friendly housing, more availability of community support, and reduced public assistance with nursing home costs. - Cons: such factors as personality, cognitive abilities, physical health, and a depleted social network may play a greater role in loneliness. Loneliness is more closely tied to disability and withdrawal from the social world than it is to age itself 3. Living with adult children: most older people in developed countries even when in difficult circumstances, prefer not to live with their children. They are reluctant to burden their families and to give up their freedom. It can be inconvenient to absorb an extra person into a household and everyone's privacy and relationships may suffer. The parents may feel useless, bored, and isolated from friends. If the adult child is married and the spouse and parent do not get along well, or caregiving duties become too burdensome, the marriage may be threatened 4. Living in institutions in all countries the likelihood of living in a nursing home increases with age - The number of US nursing home residents has increased considerably because of the growth of older population - Cons: if the baby boom generation ages and if current nursing home usage rates continue, the number of residents is projected to rise sharply. Such growth would greatly burden Medicaid, the national health insurance program for low-income persons and the major source of payments for nursing home usage - Pros: federal law sets strict requirements for nursing homes and gives residents the right to choose their own doctors, to be fully informed about their care and treatment, and to be free from physical or mental abuse, corporal punishment, involuntary seclusion, and physical or chemical restraints. Autonomy in elders showed increases in perceptions of the choices and freedom available to them 5. Alternative housing options: some older adults who cannot or do not want to maintain a house, do not need special care, do not have family nearby, prefer a different locale or climate, or want to travel more into maintenance-free or low-maintenance townhouses, condominiums, cooperative or rental apartments, or mobile homes. - Assisted living facilities enable tenants to live in their own homelike space while giving them easy 24-hour access to needed personal and health care services. However assisted living facilities vary widely in accommodations, operation, philosophy, and rates, and those offering adequate privacy and services are generally not affordable for moderate- and low-income persons unless they dispose of or spend down their assets to supplement their income. Facilities are disproportionately found in areas with more educated residents and higher incomes

1. Review all 8 of Erikson's Stages of development (know the names of the stages and the associated periods of life)

1. Basic trust vs mistrust: infants develop a sense of reliability of people and objects - Begins in infancy and continues until about 18 months 2. Autonomy vs shame and doubt: Children achieve a balance between self-determination and control by others - 18 months to 3 years 3. Initiative vs Guilt: children balance the urge to pursue goals with reservations about doing so - About 3-5 years; preschooler 4. Industry vs Inferiority: children must learn the productive skills their culture requires or else face feelings of inferiority - School aged children; 6-12 years about 5. Identity vs identity confusion: an adolescent seeks to develop a coherent sense of self, including the role she or he is to play in society. - Adolescence; 12-18 about 6. Intimacy vs isolation: young adults either form strong, long-lasting bonds with friends and romantic partners or face a possible sense of isolation and self-absorption - Young adulthood; 18-35 years old 7. Generativity vs stagnation: The middle-aged adult develops a concern with establishing, guiding, and influencing the next generation or else experiences stagnation (a sense of inactivity or lifelessness) - Middle aged adult; 35-55 or 65 8. Ego integrity vs despair: people in late adulthood either achieve a sense of integrity of the self by accepting the lives they have lived, and thus accept death, or yield to despair that their lives cannot be relived. - Late adulthood; 55 or 65-death

1. Compare/contrast the following theories & theorists about stability and change in personality.: Normative Stage model - Jung -Erikson Valliant and Levinson

1. Carl Jung: Time of Turning Inward - Emergence of true self through balance of the whole personality - Combine conscious and unconscious aspects of the psyche into an integrated whole - Two difficult but necessary tasks of middle age: giving up image of youth, acknowledging mortality-requires a search for meaning within the self 2. Erik Erikson: Time of Turning Outward - Generativity è Meaning through contribution è Concern for guiding the next generation (leaving a legacy) è Virtue of care è Prosocial behavior: teaching and mentorship, parenting and grandparenting, productivity or creativity, "self-generation" or self-development, associated with a greater sense of well-being and satisfaction - Stagnation è People who do not find an outlet for generativity become self-absorbed 3. Jung's and Erikson's Legacy: Valliant and Levinson - Describing major midlife shifts-from occupational striving in the 30s to reevaluation and often drastic restructuring of lives in the 40s to mellowing and relative stability in the 50s - Valliant, like Jung, reported a lessening of gender differentiation at midlife and a tendency for men to become more nurturant and expressive. Likewise, Levinson's men at midlife became less obsessed with personal achievement and more concerned with relationships; and they showed generativity by becoming mentors to younger people

1. living will 2. durable power of attorney 3. medical durable power of attorney

1. Document specifying the type of care wanted by the maker in the event of an incapacitating or terminal illness 2. Legal instrument that appoints an individual to make decisions in the event of another person's incapacitation 3.Expressly for decisions about health care.

Compare: 1. Dementia 2. Alzheimer's Disease 3. Parkinson's Disease

1. Physiologically caused cognitive and behavioral decline 2. Progressive, degenerative brain disorder 3. Progressive neurological degeneration

· Types of intergenerational families

1. Tight-knit: emotionally and geographically, frequent contact and support 2. Sociable: contact with less emotional commitment 3. Obligatory: much interaction, little emotional attachment 4. Detached: emotionally and geographically distant 5. Intimate but distant: physically distant but emotionally attached

Mortality revolution:

Advances in medicine and sanitation, new treatments for many once-fatal illnesses, and a better-educated, more health-conscious population have brought about a mortality revolution. Women today are less likely to die in childbirth, infants are more likely to survive their 1st year, children are more likely to grow to adulthood, young adults are more likely to reach old age, and older people often can overcome illnesses they grew up regarding as fatal

Life expectancy

Age to which a person in a particular cohort is statistically likely to live (given his or her current age and health status), on the basis of average longevity of a population

Kinship care

Care of children living without parents in the home of grandparents or other relatives with or without a change of legal custody

Caregiver burnout

Conditions of physical, mental, and emotional exhaustion affecting adults who provide continuous care for sick or aged persons

b. adolescence

Death is not something they normally think much about unless they are directly faced with it. Many of them take unnecessary risk. They hitchhike, drive recklessly, or experiment with drugs and sex-often tragic results. In their urge to discover and express their identity, they tend to focus more on how they live than on how long they are likely to live

Active euthanasia:

Deliberate action taken to shorten the life of a terminally ill person in order to end suffering or to allow death with dignity; also called a mercy killing

e. older adults

Have mixed feelings about the prospect of dying. Physical losses and other problems and losses of old age may diminish their pleasure in living and their will to live. Some adults give up on achieving unfulfilled goals. Other push harder to do what they can with life in the time they have left. Many try to extend their remaining time by adopting healthier lifestyles or struggle to live even when they are profoundly ill. Some older adults express fear when thinking about death

Cognitive reserve:

Hypothesized fund of energy that may enable a deteriorating brain to continue to function normally

Longevity

Length of an individuals life

Sandwich generation

Middle-aged adults squeezed by competing needs to raise or launch children and to care for elderly parents

d. mature adults

Most adults understand that they are indeed going to die. Their bodies send them signals that they are not as young, agile, and hearty as they once were. More and more they think about how many years they may have left and how to make the most of those years.

Interiority

Neugarten's term for a concern with inner life (introversion or introspection), which usually appears in middle age

1. Be able to describe how sensory and psychomotor functioning changes in later life.

Older eyes need more light to see, are more sensitive to glare, and may have trouble locating and reading signs è Cataracts: cloudy or opaque areas in the lens of the eye è Age-related macular degeneration: condition in which the center of the retina gradually loses its ability to discern fine details; leading cause of irreversible visual impairment in older adults è Glaucoma: irreversible damage to the optic nerve caused by increased pressure in the eye - Strength, endurance, balance and reaction time: adults generally lose about 10-20% of their strength up to age è People in their 60s and 90s, weight training, power training, or resistance training programs lasting 8 weeks to 2 years increased muscle strength, size, and mobility; speed, endurance, and leg muscle power; and spontaneous physical activity

Senescence:

Period of the life span marked by declines in physical functioning usually associated with aging; begins at different ages for different people

Models of successful aging: The role of productivity

Productive activity (paid or unpaid) plays a significant role in successful aging -Higher self-rated happiness - Better physical functioning -Less chance of dying six years after self-report Leisure activity can be just as beneficial The key may simply be any regular activity

1. Compare the ways individuals view and understand death across the lifespan a. children

Sometime between ages 5-7 most children come to understand tht death is irreversible-that a dead person, animal or flower cannot come to life again, at about the same age they realize that death is universal and therefore is inevitable and second that a dead person is nonfunctional. Before then, children may believe that certain groups of people do not die, that a person who is smart enough or lucky enough can avoid death, and that they themselves will be able to live forever. They also may believe that a dead person still can think and feel. The concepts of irreversibility, universality, and cessation of functions, usually develop during the shifts from preoperational to concrete operational thinking, when concepts of causation become more mature Children can better understand death if they are introduced to the concept at an early age and are encouraged to talk about it. Adjusting to loss is more difficult is a child had a troubled relationship with the person who died; if a surviving parent depends too much on the child; if the death was unexpected, especially if it was a murder or suicide; if the child has had previous behavioral or emotional problems; or if a family and community support are lacking

Filial maturity

Stage of life, proposed by Marcoen and others, in which middle-aged children; as the outcome of a filial crisis, learn to accept and meet their parents' need to depend on them

Stress

Stress can be physical or psychosocial demands on a person or organism; response to physical or psychological demands

Variable-Rate theories

Theories that explain biological aging as a result of processes that involve damage to biological systems and that vary from person to person

Variable-rate theories:

Theories that explain biological aging as a result of processes that involve damage to biological systems and that vary from person to person

Genetic-programming theories:

Theories that explain biological aging as resulting from a genetically determined developmental timetable

Passive euthanasia:

Withholding or discontinuation of life-prolonging treatment of a terminally ill person in order to end suffering or allow death with dignity

1. Who makes up the following groups of older adults (what are their approximate age ranges)?

a. Young old: 65-74 b. Old old: 75-84 c. Oldest old: 85+

Fluid processing:

a. refers to kind of processes that don't depend on what you know - Identifying patterns - Thinking logically - Solving novel problems - Tends to decline when growing older

Crystallized processing:

a. tasks that do depend critically on your knowledge, on your experience and on your acquired skills - Solving crossword puzzles - Doesn't decline when we get older

Ego-resiliency

able to adapt flexibly to stress; have a sense of mastery and control

Social convoy theory:

aging adults maintain their level of social support by identifying members of their social network who can help them and avoiding those who are not supportive. As former coworkers and casual friends drop away, most older adults retain a stable inner circle of social convoys: close friends and family members on whom they can rely and who strongly affect their well-being

Cataracts

cloudy or opaque areas of eyes

The social clock:

every culture has a social clock describing the ages at which people are expected to reach certain milestones. In western cultures, middle age often brings a restructuring of social roles. Timing of events model suggests that development is more affected by when these events occur in a person's life than by a person's chronological age.

Marital capital:

financial and emotional benefits built up during a long-standing marriage, which tend to hold a couple together

Glaucoma:

irreversible damage to optic nerve caused by increased pressure

name the 3 advanced directives

living will durable power of attorney medical durable power of attorney

· Types of living arrangements: living with adult children

o : Most older people in developed countries even when in difficult circumstances prefer not to live with their children. They are reluctant to burden their families and to give up their freedom. It can be inconvenient to absorb an extra person into a household, and everyone's privacy-and relationships-may suffer. The parent may feel useless, bored, and isolated from friends. If the adult child is married and the spouse and parent do not get along well, or caregiving duties become too burdensome, the marriage may be threatened - The success of such an arrangement depends largely on the quality of the relationship that has existed in the past and on the ability of both generations to communicate fully and frankly. The decision to move a parent into an adult child's home should be mutual and needs to be thought through carefully and thoroughly.

· Types of living arrangements: living alone

o Because women live longer than men and are more likely to be widowed, older women in the united states are more than twice as likely as older men to live alone, and the likelihood increases with age.

· Patterns of grieving:

o Classic Grief Work Model: includes three stages of letting go of the bond with the deceased person 1. Shock and disbelief: feel lost and confused, perhaps numbness, as the loss sinks in, overwhelming sadness 2. Preoccupation with memory of dead person 3. Resolution: renewed interest in everyday life; fond memories of the dead person o Multiple Variations: - Commonly expected pattern: the mourner goes from high to low distress -Absent grief: the mourner does not experience intense distress, either immediately or later -Chronic grief: the mourner remains distressed for a long time; may be especially painful and acceptance most difficult when a loss is ambiguous as when a loved one is missing and presumed dead -Resilience: a low and gradually diminished level of distress

· Types of long-term memory:

o Episodic memory: Memories of specific events (what did you have for breakfast) - Decline: tasks that require elaboration o Semantic memory: Meanings, facts and concepts accumulated over a lifetime (vocabulary and knowledge of language) - May improve o Procedural memory: motor skills (riding a bike) and habits (taking a certain street home) - Retained: tasks that require rehearsal

types of living arrangements: group living arrangements

o For those who cannot or prefer not to live completely independently, a wide array of group housing options, have emerged some of these newer arrangements enable older people with health problems or disabilities to receive needed services or care without sacrificing autonomy, privacy and dignity. Retirement hotels, retirement community, shared housing, accessory apartment, congregate housing, assisted-living facility, foster-care home, continuing care retirement community

· Identity process theory (IPT)

o Identity schemes: identity made of accumulated perceptions of self that individuals use to interpret their experiences o Perceptions continually revised and updated with new information through two processes: identity assimilation and identity accommodation o Identity assimilation: holding on to consistent self in the face of contradictory or confusing information o Identity accommodation: adjusting identity to fit new experiences (changing the understanding of the self) o Identity balance: Ability to maintain stable sense of self while incorporating new information (e.g. signs of aging)

· Advance Directives

o Living will: document specifying the type of care wanted by the maker in the event of an incapacitating or terminal illness - May contain specific provisions with regard to circumstances in which treatment should be discontinued, what extraordinary measures-if any-should be taken to prolong life, and what kind of plan management is desired. o Durable power of attorney: legal instrument that appoints an individual to make decisions in the event of another person's incapacitation o Medical durable power of attorney: expressly for decisions about health care

· Types of living arrangements: aging in place

o Remaining in one's own home, with or without assistance, in later life - Makes sense for those who can manage on their own or with minimal help, have an adequate income or a paid-up mortgage, can handle the upkeep, are happy in the neighborhood, and want to be independent, to have privacy, and to be near friends, adult children, or grandchildren

· Types of short-term memory:

o Sensory memory: initial, brief, temporary storage of sensory information o Working memory: short-term storage of information being actively processed

· Types of living arrangements: living in institutions

o the use of nonfamily institutions for care of the frail elderly varies greatly around the world. Institutionalization has been rare in developing regions but is becoming less so in southeast Asia, where declines in fertility have resulted in a rapidly aging population and a shortage of family caregivers. Comprehensive geriatric home visitation programs in some countries, such as the United Kingdom, Denmark, and Australia, have been effective in holding down nursing home admissions.

Dementia:

physiologically caused cognitive and behavioral decline

Parkinson's disease:

progressive neurological degeneration

Life review:

reminiscence about one's life in order to see its significance

Macular degeneration:

retina loses ability to distinguish details

Creativity

seems to be the product of particular social contexts as well as individual proclivities. With respect to environment, creativity seems to develop from diverse experiences that weaken conventional constraints and challenging experiences that strengthen the ability to persevere and overcome obstacles. Individual differences also can make creativity more likely.

· Types of living arrangements: alternative housing options

some older adults who cannot or do not want to maintain a house, do not need special care, do not have family nearby, prefer a different locale or climate, or want to travel more into maintenance-free or low-maintenance townhouses, condominiums, cooperative or rental apartments, or mobile homes.

Grief

the emotional response experienced in the early phase of bereavement

Thanatology

the study of death and dying

Menopause:

when a woman permanently stops ovulating and menstruating; no longer able to conceive a child; on average about 50-52 years

· The intertwined aspects of death

· - Biological fact, social/cultural, developmental, historical, religious, legal, psychological, medical and ethical - Thanatology: the study of death and dying - Helps us understand these aspects of death, and how we can better accept and prepare for death and care for loved ones who are dying

Perimenopause

· 3-5 year slowing process before menopause

Midlife crisis

· : In some normative-crisis models, stressful life period precipitated by the review and reevaluation of one's past, typically occurring in the early to middle 40s What brings it on is the awareness of mortality Stressful crisis of identity -Second adolescence Triggered by -Review of one's life (mid-life review) -Awareness of mortality Occurrence is rare -Some suffer turmoil, others feel at their peak -Least likely among those with ego resiliency Midlife is just one of many transitions -Middle age may be stressful -But no more than other stages of life

Ego integrity vs despair:

· According to Erikson, the eighth and final stage of psychosocial development, in which people in late adulthood either achieve a sense of integrity of the self by accepting the lives they have lived, and thus accept death, or yield to despair that their lives cannot be relieved - Ego integrity (integrity of the self): evaluate and accept their lives so as to accept death; builds on all previous stages; gain a sense of meaning of their lives - Despair (to lose hope): over the inability to relive the past differently - Successful crisis resolution brings virtue of wisdom ; having lived a life without regrets

Problem-focused coping:

· Action-oriented strategies to eliminate, manage or improve stress - Seek to lessen harm to self - Example: spending more time studying

Vital capacity

· Amount of air that can be drawn in with a deep breath and expelled - May begin to diminish at about age 40 - Temperature regulation may begin to weaken, and sleep may become less deep

Integrative thought:

· An important feature of postformal thought is its integrative nature. Mature adults integrate logic with intuition and emotion; they put together conflicting facts and ideas; and they compare new information with what they already know. They interpret what they read, see, or hear in terms of its meaning for them. Instead of accepting something at face value, they filter it through their life experience and previous learning - Society benefits from this integrative feature of adult thought. Generally, it is mature adults who translate their knowledge about the human condition into inspirational stories to which younger generations can turn for guidance

Long-term marriage

· Because women usually marry older men and outlive them and because men are more likely to remarry after divorce or widowhood, a higher proportion of men than women throughout the world are married in late life - Married couples who are still together in late adulthood are more likely then middle-aged couples to report higher satisfaction and fewer adjustment problems in their marriages. Because divorce has been easier to obtain for some years, spouses who remain together are likely to have worked out their differences and to have arrived at mutually satisfying accommodations. Children tend to become a source of shared pleasure and pride rather than conflict.

Geriatrics:

· Branch of medicine concerned with processes of aging and medical conditions associated with old age

Generativity vs stagnation:

· Erikson's seventh stage of psychosocial development, in which the middle-aged adult develops a concern with establishing, guiding, and influencing the next generation or else experiences stagnation (a sense of inactivity of lifelessness). Virtue of this period is care - Generativity: Meaning through contribution, concern for guiding the next generation (leaving a legacy), virtue of "care" è Erikson's term for concern of mature adults for finding meaning through contributing to society and leaving a legacy for future generations è People who do not find an outlet for generativity run the risk of becoming self-absorbed, self-indulgent, and stagnant. - Stagnation: people who do not find an outlet for generativity become self-absorbed è Adults who slide into stagnation may find themselves disconnected from their communities because of their failure to find a way to contribute

Gender crossover

· Gutmann's term for reversal of gender roles after then end of active parenting - Men, now free to explore their previously repressed feminine side, become more passive; women, free to explore their masculine side, become more dominant and independent

Erectile dysfunction

· Inability of a man to achieve or maintain an erect penis sufficient for satisfactory sexual performance - Multiple causes such as diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, kidney failure, depression, neurological disorders, and many chronic diseases have been implicated

1. What are the characteristics of expertise?

· Mature adults show increasing competence solving problems in their field · Form of crystallized intelligence that is related to the process of encapsulation · Seems automatic and intuitive, characteristic of postformal thought - Involves cognitive performance and problem solving within a social context · Encapsulation (specialized knowledge or expertise): - Information processing becomes dedicated to specific knowledge - Captures fluid ability for expert problem solving

1. Why was the Seattle Longitudinal Study important in our learning about cognitive abilities in middle age?

· Measures successive cohorts (ages 22-67 y.o., every 7 years) · Middle-aged people are in their prime cognitively · Most participants showed no significant reduction in cognitive abilities until after age 60 · Several abilities peaked during middle age

1. What does the chapter introduction say about midlife or middle adulthood?

· Middle Age is a social construct - No consensus on when it begins and ends (40-65 years) - No specific biological or social events that mark its boundaries - In U.S. middle age is increasingly a state of mind (many people in their 60s and 70s consider themselves middle-aged) · Midlife: In industrial societies, middle adulthood is considered to be a distinct stage of life with its own societal norms, roles, opportunities, and challenges.

1. Is there a midlife crisis? What are some considerations when answering this question?

· Midlife crisis: in some normative-crisis models, stressful life period precipitated by the review and reevaluation of one's past, typically occurring in the early to middle 40s · Stressful crisis of identity - Second adolescence · Triggered by - Review of one's life (mid-life review) - Awareness of mortality · Occurrence is rare - Some suffer turmoil, others feel at their peak - Least likely among those with ego resiliency which is ability to adapt flexibility to stress and have a sense of mastery and control · Midlife is just one of many transitions - Middle age may be stressful - But no more than other stages of life · Midlife is one of life's turning points-psychological transitions that involve significant change or transformation I the perceived meaning, purpose, or direction of a person's life. Turning points may be triggered by major life events, normative changes or a new understanding of past experience, either positive or negative, and they may be stressful. - Turning points often involve an introspective review and reappraisal of values and priorities.

Primary aging:

· Nature - Gradual, inevitable process of aging - Occurs throughout the years, despite efforts to slow it

1. How do emotions influence health?

· Negative emotions associated with poor physical and mental health - Depression - Anxiety - Despair - Negative moods seem to suppress immune functioning and increase susceptibility to illness · Positive emotion may protect against the development of disease; good health and longer life (hope and curiosity) - Positive moods seem to enhance immune functioning · Not a causal relationship

Secondary aging

· Nurture - Results from disease, abuse, and disuse - Factors within a person's control

1. How does socioeconomic status (SES) influence health?

· People of lower SES tend to have - Poorer health - Lower life expectancy - More activity limitations - Lower well being - More restricted access to health care - People with low SES tend to have more negative emotions and thoughts and live in more stressful environments. In addition, even when younger, they tend to engage in unhealthy behaviors at higher rates than do those with high SES. People with higher SES, by contrast, tend to have a greater sense of control over what happens to them as they age. They tend to choose healthier lifestyles and to seek medical attention and social support when they need it and they tend to shoe higher compliance with lifestyle modifications recommended to improve health indices.

Stressors

· Perceived environmental demands that may produce stress · Know how stress affects health - The body's capacity to adapt to stress involves the brain, which perceives danger(either real or imagined); the adrenal glands, which mobilize the body to fight it; and the immune system, which provides the defenses

Revolving door syndrome:

· Tendency for young adults who have left home to return to their parents' household in times of financial, marital, or other trouble - Increasing numbers of young adults, especially men, return to their parents' home, sometimes more than once, and sometimes with their own families

Life span

· The longest period that members of a species can live

Socioemotional selectivity theory

· Theory proposed by Cartensen, that people select social contacts on the basis of the changing relative importance of social interaction as a source of information, as an aid in developing and maintaining a self-concept, and as a source of emotional well-being - Offers a life-span perspective on how people choose with whom to spend their time - Social interaction has three main goals 1. It is a source of information 2. It helps people develop and maintain a sense of self 3. It is a source of pleasure and comfort, or emotional well-being

Social convoy theory

· Theory, proposed by Kahn and Antonucci, that people move through life surrounded by concentric circles or intimate relationships on which they rely for assistance, well-being, and social support - People move through life surrounded by social convoys; characteristics of the person (gender, race, religion, age, education, and marital status) together with characteristics of that person's situation (role expectations, life events, financial stress, daily hassles, demands, and resources) influence the size and composition of the convoy, or social network; the mount and kinds of social support a person receives; and the satisfaction derived from this support. The composition of the convoy can change also.

The Seattle Longitudinal Study

· Use it or lose it - Indicates tremendous variation - Cognitive performance can be improved with use, with cognitive training, and social support - Cognitive deterioration may be related to disuse

Presbycusis

· a gradual hearing loss-especially sounds at pitches higher than speech

Empty nest:

· a transition period when the youngest child leaves home - Women who are heavily invested in mothering typically find this transition difficult - Most women find the transition liberating (relief from the "chronic emergencies" of parenthood) - Good marriages: empty nest may start a "second honeymoon" phase - Shaky marriages: may stress marriage, lead to divorce

Common chronic conditions:

· about 80% have at least one chronic condition; 50% have at least 2 - Heart disease, cancer, stroke, lower respiratory disease, diabetes, influenza/pneumonia

Coping:

· adaptive behavior that reduces stress from conditions that are: harmful, threatening, or challenging - Very important aspect of mental health

Use it or lose it" principle:

· applies to the mind; seeking out mentally stimulating work helps the mind stay sharp (meaningful and challenging) - Complex work stimulates flexible thinking - Requires thought and independent judgment - Adaptability and self-management help improve cognitive abilities - Openness to experience affects cognitive

Reserve capacity:

· backup capacity that helps body systems function in times of stress - With age, reserve levels drop, so the body doesn't recover from physical stress as quickly

Adaptive defenses

· change people's perceptions of realities that they are powerless to change - Altruism (selfless concern for others) - Humor - Suppression (keep a stiff upper lip) - Anticipation (planning for the future) - Sublimation (redirecting negative emotions into productive pursuits) - Adaptive defenses may be unconscious or intuitive

Individuation

· emergence of true self through balance of the whole personality - Healthy midlife includes individuation - Adolescents struggle for autonomy and personal identity; Jung's term for emergence of the true self through balancing or integration of conflicting parts of the personality - Combine conscious and unconscious aspects of the psyche into an integrated whole - Union of opposites - Two difficult but necessary tasks of middle age: giving up image of youth and acknowledging mortality which requires a search for meaning within the self

Emotion-focused coping:

· energy directed toward feeling better, rather trying to change the situation - Useful when a solution is not available - Helpful for coping with ambiguous loss - Example: go out with friends instead of studying o Proactive: seeking social support; confronting or expressing feelings o Passive: avoidance, suppressing emotions - Denial - Accepting situation as it is

Wisdom:

· exceptional breadth and depth of knowledge about the conditions of life and human affairs and reflective judgment about the application of this knowledge. It may involve insight and awareness of the uncertain, paradoxical nature of reality and may lead to transcendence, detachment from preoccupation with the self - 3 approaches to studying wisdom 1. Personality: the culmination of lifetime growth 2. Cognitive expertise: breadth and depth of knowledge of life 3. Transcendence: detachment from preoccupation with self

Hospice care

· focus is on palliative care - Patient and family-centered - Relief of pain and suffering Allowing the patient to die in peace and dignity

Narrative psychology:

· identity is an internalized "script" - A dramatic narrative to make sense of one's life - Midlife can be a time to revise the life story - Generative adults construct generativity scripts that give life a "happy ending," renewed confidence and determination to help others

Midlife review:

· involves introspective review and reappraisal of values - Introspective examination that often occurs in middle age, leading to reappraisal and revision of values and priorities

Functional age:

· more meaningful classification; measures a person's ability to function effectively in his or her physical and social environment in comparison with others of the same chronological age - How well a person function physically and socially

Ambiguous loss

· occurs when there is no tangible confirmation of a death, as when a body cannot be found. People are denied ritual and emotional closure, and their grief may remain frozen. The path forward is not clear. People may find themselves unable to go on with the necessary tasks of reorganizing family roles and relationships, and their feelings are often confusing and difficult to resolve. When such a loss continues on without resolution, it can create physical and emotional exhaustion, and the support of friends and family may drop away with time. Ambiguous loss is not a psychological disorder; rather it is a relational disorder

Cognitive appraisal model:

· people consciously respond to challenging situations based on two types of analyses 1. Primary appraisal: is the situation a threat to my well-being? 2. Secondary appraisal: what can be done to prevent harm? 3. Choose a coping strategy

Centenarians

· people over 100-are a fast growing segment of the world population

Ageism

· prejudice or discrimination based on age - We see this more in the US than in other countries or cultures - Aging is seen as undesirable in the US

Alzheimer's disease:

· progressive, degenerative brain disorder

Turning points

· psychological transitions that involve significant change in person's life - Psychological transitions that involve significant change or transformation in the perceived meaning, purpose, or direction of a person's life - May bring developmental deadlines-time constraints on life events (e.g. having a child, making up with an estranged friend)

Socioemotional selectivity theory

· somewhat different explanation of changes in social contact; as remaining times becomes short, older adults choose to spend time with people and in activities that meet immediate emotional needs. A college student may put up with a disliked teacher for the sake of gaining needed knowledge; an older adult may be less willing to spend precious time with a friend who gets on her nerves.

Encapsulation:

· specialized knowledge or expertise; information processing becomes dedicated to specific knowledge; captures fluid ability for expert problem solving - The process that allows expertise to compensate for declines in information-processing ability by building relevant knowledge together

Assisted suicide

· suicide in which a physician or someone else helps a person take his or her own life

Bereavement:

· the process of adjusting to the loss of someone close - Can affect all aspects of a person's life (e.g. change in roles, change in SES) Highly personal experience

Basal metabolism

· use of energy to maintain vital functions, typically measured in calories - Decrease in basal metabolism - Affects endurance but remember the "use it or lose it principle"