Psyc 322: Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Describe and differentiate between the four principles of aging.

1. changes are continuous over the lifespan: Individuals remain the "same" even though they change 2. only the survivors grow old: Aging individuals are increasingly self-selected 3. individuality matters: people vary within and between age groups 4. "Normal" aging is different from disease: Intrinsic aging processes are different from those associated with illness

Besides genetics, what other variables contribute to the likelihood of disease progression?

Environmental variables (and their interaction with genetic variables) play an important role in disease development.

Individuality matters means...

people vary within and between age groups

Genome:

the complete set of instructions for "building" all the cells that make up an organism. The human genome is found in the nucleus of each of a person's many trillions of cells. The genome is contained in DNA.

mesosystem: ecological model

the system in which interactions take place among two or more microsystems i.e. an individual may be having difficulties at home that carry over into relationships with co-workers.

What are some examples that display how arbitrary defining adulthood by age is?

different drinking ages cross-culturally the age people can marry without the consent of their parents the age people can rent cars the age people can vote the way the economy impacts the age people actually get married (are people less "adult" when the economy is bad?)

geriatrics vs. gerontology

geriatrics is the medical speciality in aging vs. gerontology is an interdisciplinary field that draws from biology, sociology, anthropology, the humanities, and other behavioral and social sciences

Socioeconomic status (SES)

"social class" Reflects people's position in the educational and occupational ranks of a society.

Discuss the possible ways in which ageism might impact the process of aging.

-Old age associated with disease & decline -"Belonging" to an age group confers benefit or disadvantage -Ageism an occur among any age, however in general most often it is typically against older individuals -Ageist beliefs are internalized

What evidence supports metabolic theories, specifically caloric restriction studies? What are the findings for humans and animals?

-Organisms have a finite amount of energy to expend in a lifetime -An organism's metabolism is related to its longevity Evidence: caloric restriction impacts longevity: there is support that restricting caloric intake extends longevity (rat study example in powerpoint) Study: In humans 6 months on CR (calorie restriction) in non-obese adults: Biomarkers of longevity: -lower levels of fasting insulin -Lower core body temperature -Less DNA fragmentation (damage) Caloric restriction has SO many influences on so many physiological processes that may ultimately influence longevity and because of this it is really difficult to isolate what exactly is occurring so the takeaway message is that it is complex Remaining questions: What is the specific mechanism(s) that impacts aging? May depend on when, what, and how much is restricted? Decreased risks of morbidity, may not impact longevity? Quality of life for humans? Caloric restriction can be extreme..

The Canadian Longitudinal study on aging:

2009 Involves more than 200 researchers from 26 Canadian universities. The goal is to assess about 50,000 Canadian men and women between 45-85 every 3 years for at least 20 years, providing one of the most comprehensive databases on aging in the world. Multiple aspects of aging will be investigated, including biological, medical, psychological, social, lifestyle, and economic aspects of people's lives. The goal is to better understand how these factors, individually and in combination, influence health, disease, and disability as Canadians grow older.

What is overall life expectancy in Canada at birth?

79 years for men and 84 years for women a major increase from the early 1920s which was 59 and 61 respectively.

Congestive heart failure:

A condition in which the heart is unable to pump enough blood to meet the needs of the body's other organs. Blood flows out of the heart more and more slowly, causing the blood returning to the heart through the veins to back up. Eventually the tissues become congested with fluid. This condition can result from a variety of diseases, including coronary heart disease, scar tissue from a past myocardial infarction, hypertension, disease of the heart valves, disease of the heart muscle, infection of the heart, or heart defects present at birth. People with congestive heart failure are unable to exert themselves without becoming exhausted and short of breath. Their legs may swell due to edema, a condition in which fluid builds up in their bodies. They may also experience fluid buildup in their lungs, along with kidney problems.

Overactive bladder:

A condition related to urge incontinence is overactive bladder, the symptoms of which include, in addition to incontinence, the need to urinate more frequently than normal. Overactive bladder affects 25 percent of the population aged 65 and older. Although these conditions associated with bladder functioning can be particularly distressing, the large majority of older adults are symptom-free.

Disengagement theory:

A contrasting perspective to activity theory proposed in the early 1960s. It proposes that the normal and natural evolution of life causes older adults to purposefully loosen their social ties, and that aging is accompanied by a mutual withdrawal process of the individual and society. This natural detachment, according to disengagement theory, is not only inevitable but desirable. Within this approach, retirement and isolation from family members are sought out by older adults and result in higher levels of well-being.

Urge incontinence:

A form of urinary incontinence in which the individual experiences a sudden need to urinate and may even leak urine; effects approximately 30 percent of all adults 65 and older. Among the risk factors for urge incontinence in women are: being of European descent, having diabetes and treating it with insulin, experiencing symptoms of depression, and currently using estrogen. The prevalence of daily incontinence ranges from 12 percent in women 60 to 64 years old to 21 percent in women 85 years old or older; for about 14 percent of all women reporting incontinence, about 14 percent reported daily occurrences with an additional 10 percent reporting weekly incontinence. Consequently, it is important to remember that urinary incontinence is not a part of normal aging.

Gene:

A gene is a functional unit of a DNA molecule, carrying a particular set of instructions for producing a specific protein. Human genes vary greatly in length, but only about 10 percent of the genome actually contains sequences of genes used to code proteins. The rest of the genome contains sequences of bases that have no apparent coding or any other apparent function. Some of the proteins that the genes encode provide basic house- keeping duties in the cell. In some types of cells, these genes constantly stay active; more typically, a cell activates just the genes needed at the moment to carry out a task and suppresses the rest. Through this process of selective activation of genes, a cell becomes a skin cell, for example, rather than a bone cell.

arthritis:

A general term for conditions affecting the joints and surrounding tissues that can cause pain, stiffness, and swelling in joints and other connective tissues.

arteriosclerosis:

A general term for the thickening and hardening of arteries. Everyone experiences some degree of arteriosclerosis as part of normal agin

Whitehall II

A landmark investigation Survey of a large sample of British adults focusing on the relationships among health, social class, and occupation. The original Whitehall study was established in 1967, involving 18,000 men working in civil service occupations in the United Kingdom. This study showed that men in the lowest employment brackets had poorer health than their health habits would predict. In 1985, Professor Sir Michael Marmot and a team of investigators from University College London set out to determine other factors that might contribute to the poorer health of both men and women at the lower ends of the socioeconomic scale. By 2008, the study had generated a wealth of data, and Marmot's appointment to the World Health Organization Commission on Social Determinants of Health is moving the findings squarely into global public policy.

Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA):

A molecule capable of replicating itself and that encodes information needed to produce proteins. There are so many kinds of proteins, each with different functions. Some proteins provide structure to the cells of the body, whereas other proteins called enzymes assist with biochemical reactions that take place within the cells. Antibodies are proteins that function in the immune system to identify foreign invaders that need to be removed from the body. The entire process of protein manufacture is orchestrated by the genetic code contained in DNA.

Sleep apnea:

A physical condition that particularly interferes with sleep in which the individual becomes temporarily unable to breathe while asleep. People who suffer from this condition typically let out a loud snore followed by silence due to the closing of the airway. The respiratory control centers in the brain respond to the lack of oxygen, and the sleeper awakens. The periods of snoring and choking may occur as many as 100 times a night. To make up for the lack of oxygen that occurs during each one, the person's heart is forced to pump harder to circulate more blood. As a result, the person experiences large spikes in blood pressure during the night as well as elevated blood pressure during the day. Over time, the person's risk of heart attack and stroke is increased. Because so much of the night is spent awake, the individual becomes sleepy during the day and finds it difficult to complete everyday activities. Sleep apnea is more common in older adults with cardiovascular or cerebrovascular disease. The condition can be treated with a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) device, which keeps airways open during sleep, although users often complain that the burdensome equipment inhibits sleep patterns.

How might researchers control for cohort effects in a cross-sectional design?

A researcher needs to design a cross-sectional study, then, in a way that controls as much as possible for the effect of cohort that could potentially obscure or exaggerate the effects of age. The key to controlling for cohort differences is to select younger samples comparable in important ways to the older sample. i.e. For instance, in a study of aging and verbal memory, it would be important for researchers to ensure that the age groups being compared have similar vocabulary or verbal comprehension skills if not actually similar educational backgrounds.

Age-related macular degeneration (ARMD):

A second significant form of blindness that becomes more prevalent in later adulthood is age-related macular degeneration (ARMD), a condition caused by damage to the photoreceptors located in the central region of the retina known as the macula. This area of the retina is normally used in reading, driving, and other visually demanding activities so that the selective damage to the receptors in the macula that occurs is particularly incapacitating. An estimated 15 percent of people 80 and older have this disease, which is one of the leading causes of blindness in those over the age of 65.

How does a sedentary lifestyle increase risk for cardiovascular disease?

A sedentary lifestyle is another major risk factor for heart disease. There is a well-established relationship between leisure activity and heart disease, with estimates ranging from a 24 percent reduction in the risk of myocardial infarction among non-strenuous exercisers to a 47 percent reduced risk among individuals engaging in a regular pattern of strenuous exercise. As it happens, the majority of adults at highest risk for heart disease (i.e., those aged 75 and older) are the least likely to exercise. Statistics Canada (2014b) data indicate that in 2013, 51.6 percent of adults 65 years and older were physically inactive.

Health:

A state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. This multidimensional definition fits well with the biopsychosocial model, as it emphasizes all realms of the individual's functioning.

Self-efficacy:

A term used in the social psychological literature to refer to a person's feelings of competence at a particular task; when identity balance is operating successfully, the individual feels that he or she has a strong sense of self-efficacy.

Variable:

A variable is a characteristic that "varies" from individual to individual. Understanding why people vary as a function of their age is at the heart of the study of development.

The prospective study:

A variant of the longitudinal design is the prospective study, in which researchers sample from a population of interest before they develop a particular type of illness or experience a particular type of life event. i.e. For example, researchers who wish to study widowhood may sample a population of married individuals while they are still married. Over the ensuing period of the study, they can expect that a certain percentage of these individuals will suffer the death of their spouses.

What are ways to prevent or treat bladder dysfunction and why do people often not seek treatment if they have it?

A variety of treatments are available to counteract incontinence, but because people often mistakenly assume that bladder dysfunction is a normal part of aging, they are less likely to seek active treatment. In one study of more than 7.2 million patients diagnosed with overactive bladder, 76 percent went untreated. Medications such as tolderodine (Detrol LA) are becoming increasingly available to help control bladder problems. Behavioural controls used alone, or combined with medication, can also help to reduce the symptoms of overactive bladder and incontinence. Pelvic muscle training can be particularly effective for this purpose. In this exercise, the individual contracts and then relaxes the urinary sphincters for a short period of time to strengthen them. Kegel exercises can also help compensate for or even prevent urinary incontinence. Individuals can also set regular schedules for bathroom use, which helps prevent spillages. Such behavioural methods not only reduce incontinence but also help to alleviate the depression often associated with this condition.

The biopsychosocial perspective

A view of development as a complex interaction of biological, psychological, and social processes (i.e. aging is not a simple, straightforward progression through time; your body undergoes biological changes largely influenced by your genetics or physiology. At the same time, you change psychologically in ways that reflect what's happening to your body that, in turn, affect your body's changes. All of this takes place in a societal context. People age differently depending on where and when they live, who they interact with, resources they have available to them etc.)

Changes with aging and touch:

A well-established body of evidence links loss of the ability to discriminate touch with the aging process throughout adulthood. Age differences have been documented in such areas as the ability to differentiate the separation of two points of pressure on the skin and to detect the location of a stimulus applied to the skin. One estimate places the loss at 1 percent per year over the years from ages 20 to 80. However, the rate of loss varies according to body part. The hands and feet are particularly subject to the effects of aging, compared with centrally located areas such as the lip and tongue. These losses can compromise an adult's ability to grasp, maintain balance, and perform delicate handwork, and can also interfere with speech.

Besides genetic what else plays a major role in the effects of aging on the skin?

Above and beyond genetic inheritance, lifestyle habits are perhaps the next greatest influence on the aging of the skin. The most significant lifestyle habit is exposure to the sun, which results in age changes caused by radiation known as photo-aging. The sun's ultraviolet rays accelerate the process of cross-linking, causing mutations that alter protein synthesis by the cells, and increasing the production of free radicals. Other harmful habits can interact with exposure to the sun, most notably smoking cigarettes. The most significant is the use of sunscreen. Because it is not possible to avoid the sun's rays completely, people who want to protect themselves from photo-aging should use sunscreen with a sun protection factor (SPF) of at least 15. Moreover, the sunscreen should block both UVA and UVB light. Younger adults, in particular, continue to tan exces- sively, either directly in the sun or in a tanning salon, which is quite damaging to the skin and speeds up the aging process.

What is a "normal" ideal BMI?

According to Health Canada, an ideal BMI is in the range of 18.5 to 24.9

Statistics on heart disease and stroke in Canada/worldwide:

According to the Canadian Heart and Stroke Foundation (2014), someone dies of heart disease or stroke every seven minutes, and these are two of the three leading causes of death in this country (along with cancer). They are also the leading cause of hospitalization. In 2011, heart disease and stroke accounted for 25.2 percent of all deaths in Canada. Worldwide, coronary heart disease and stroke were the leading causes of death in 2010, accounting for 12.9 million deaths or 25 percent of all deaths. The countries with the highest death rates as of 2009 were Russia, Bulgaria, Hungary, and Romania; the United States ranked 13th and Canada ranked 26th in the world.

Data and statistics on Glaucoma:

According to the Glaucoma Research Society of Canada, glaucoma is the second-most-common cause of blindness in older North Americans, and more than 400,000 Canadians have glaucoma today. By 2020, glaucoma will affect 80 million people globally. Risk factors include being over the age of 40; family history of glaucoma; abnormally high eye pressure; African, Asian, or Hispanic ancestry; being diabetic; nearsightedness; regular and long-term use of steroids/cortisone; and a previous eye injury. If an individual has risk factors, regular eye exams are an important part of prevention. Once an individual has glaucoma, there is no cure, but medication can slow the rate at which it progresses by lowering intraocular pressure (IOP). If medication is unsuccessful, surgery may also be used to reduce IOP, although surgery will not reverse vision loss.

The Selective Compensation with Optimization Model:

According to the selective optimization with compensation model (SOC), adults attempt to preserve and maximize the abilities that are of central importance and put less effort into maintaining those that are not. Older people make conscious decisions regarding how to spend their time and effort in the face of losses in physical and cognitive resource. The SOC model implies that at some point in adulthood, people deliberately begin to reduce efforts in one area in order to focus more on achieving success in another. It is likely that the areas people choose to focus on are those that are of greater importance and in which the chances of success are higher. Time and health limitations may also be a factor. If someone who has enjoyed high-impact aerobics finds the activity too exert- ing or hard on the knees, this person may compensate by spending more time doing yoga. Similar processes may operate in the area of intellectual functioning. The older individual may exert more effort on solving word games and puzzles and spend less time on pastimes that involve spatial and speed skills, such as fast-moving computer games. If reading becomes too much of a chore because of fading eyesight, the individual may compensate by switching to audio books. Concepts from the multiple threshold model would seem to fit well with the SOC model. People may make choices based on what aspects of functioning are central to their identities. Those who value the mind will compensate for changes in mental abilities by finding other intellectually demanding activities that they can still per- form, rather than switching their focus entirely. Those who are able to make accommodations to age-related changes without becoming overwhelmed or preoccupied will be able to re-establish a sense of well-being after what may be an initially difficult period. Although the SOC model may seem to present a nega- tive view of aging, in that it emphasizes the way that peo- ple adapt to loss, it can also be seen as offering a realistic perspective of the fact that there are losses in adulthood that can often outweigh the gains (Heckhausen, 1997). However, people adapt to these changes by readjusting their goals and, in the process, can maintain their sense of well-being.

Given an example, be able to identify which strategy is being used within the selective optimization with compensation model.

According to the selective optimization with compensation model (SOC), adults attempt to preserve and maximize the abilities that are of central importance and put less effort into maintaining those that are not. People adapt to aging changes by readjusting their goals and, in the process, can maintain their sense of well-being. i.e. spending less time socializing so that an individual may have more energy to read (be intellectually stimulated). Select: Choose areas of focus Optimize: Maximize performance in these areas Compensate: Make up for losses in one area with gains in others

The telomere theory of aging:

According to the telomere theory, aging is caused by loss of telomeres from the ends of chromosomes.

What are acquired mutations?

Acquired mutations are changes in DNA that develop throughout a person's lifetime. Remarkably, cells possess the ability to repair many of these mutations. If these repair mechanisms fail, however, the mutation can be passed along to future copies of the altered cell.

Prevention of heart disease and stroke:

Advances in the understanding of the cause of heart disease and stroke have resulted in safer and more effective medical and dietary supplements, which have lowered cardiovascular death rates. The lowering of cholesterol through preventive medications is becoming the primary mode of intervention. Chief among these medications are statins, which work by lowering the levels of harmful cholesterol (LDL) in the blood. However, in addition to or instead of medication, anyone can benefit from control of diet and participation in exercise as preventive strategies; the earlier you begin to follow these strategies, the better. A diet high in fruits and vegetables significantly lowers mortality; the positive effect is mainly a result of the reduction of cardiovascular disease, particularly ischemic heart disease. Research has continued to advocate the benefits of the "Mediterranean-style diet" as a way of lowering one's risk of cardiac death. This diet promotes the consumption of meals that include minimally processed fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, grains, olive oil as the main source of fat, low amounts of red meat and dairy foods, with moderate amounts of wine during meals. People who follow the Mediterranean diet have a diminished risk of metabolic syndrome and higher levels of high-density lipoprotein as well as less cognitive decline and reduced risk of dementia. Finally, exercise is a vital component of all preventive programs aimed at reducing the prevalence of heart disease. Research based on survey data and exercise training studies suggests that referral to exercise programs for patients with coronary heart disease is underutilized and that greater emphasis should be placed on encouraging these patients to attend such programs. In addition to exercise, older adults with hypertension can also benefit from relaxation training; even a 12-session audio relaxation training program was shown in one study to have beneficial effects.

Sequential Research design:

Age can never be a true independent variable because it cannot be manipulated. Furthermore, age is inherently linked with time, and so personal aging can never be separated from social aging. However, considerable progress in some areas of research has been made through the application of sequential designs. These designs consist of different combinations of the variables age, cohort, and time of measurement. Simply put, a sequential design involves a "sequence" of studies, such as a cross-sectional study carried out twice (two sequences) over a span of 10 years. The sequential nature of these designs is what makes them superior to the truly descriptive designs conducted on one sample, followed over time (longitudinal design) or on different-aged samples, tested on one occasion (cross-sectional design). Not only do sequential studies automatically provide an element of replication, but when they are carried out as intended, statistical analyses can permit remarkably strong inferences to be drawn about the effect of age as distinct from cohort or time of measurement.

Distinguish between age effects, cohort effects, and time of measurement effects.

Age effects: Any differences caused by underlying processes, such as biological or psychological changes that occur with aging. It is often difficult to tease apart age effects because of other effects that may be occurring. Cohort effects: Differences caused by experiences and circumstances unique to the generation to which one belongs. Often normative, history graded influences. May be difficult to define a cohort as they can be specific (i.e. all people born in a particular year) or a little more broad (i.e. the baby boom cohort; 1955-1960ish). Time of Measurement effects: Differences stemming from sociocultural, environmental, historical, or other events at the time of data collection. Would influence the variable that researchers are interested in, but the influence is not as great as a cohort effect (i.e. there may be an economic recession when data is collected, and you are measuring happiness levels in a given year, then happiness levels may be impacted HOWEVER not likely to have the same impact as a cohort such as the great depression would have on an entire generation but if you are collecting data every ten years and one year is during the recession your collection is likely to be influenced); a recession may impact a young person differently to an older person. Also intertwined with age and cohort effects.

Social clock:

Age norms in adult hood are linked to the social clock, the expectations for the ages at which a society associates major life events. These expectations set the pace for how people think they should progress through their family and work timelines.

How does aging change the respiratory system?

Aging affects all of the components of the respiratory system. The respiratory muscles lose the ability to expand and contract the chest wall, and the lung tissue itself is less able to expand and contract during inspiration. Consequently, starting at about age 40, all measures of lung functioning in adulthood tend to show age-related losses. These losses are more severe in women and particularly pronounced during exercise, when people place the most stress on their respiratory systems.

Only the survivors grow old means...

Aging individuals are increasingly self-selected

risk factors and prevention:

All cancer is genetically caused in the sense that it reflects damage to the genes that control cell replication. Some damage is associated with genetic mutations that people inherit. These inherited risks are particularly important for breast and colon cancer. About 5 percent of women with breast cancer have a hereditary form of this disease. Similarly, close relatives of a person with colorectal cancer are themselves at greater risk, particularly if many people within their extended family have had the disease. However, most cancer is not of the inherited variety. Instead, cancer develops when random mutations occur that cause the body's cells to malfunction. The mutations develop either as a mistake in cell division or in response to injuries from environmental agents such as radiation or chemicals. Most cancers become more prevalent with increasing age in adulthood because age is associated with greater cumulative exposure to harmful toxins (carcinogens) in the environment. Skin cancer, the most common form of cancer in adults, is directly linked to exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the sun. In the United States, for example, melanoma is more common in Texas than it is in Minnesota, because levels of UV radiation from the sun are higher in the south than the northern Midwest. Around the world, the highest rates of skin cancer are found in South Africa and Australia, which are also areas that receive substantial amounts of UV radiation. Artificial sources of UV radiation, such as sunlamps and tanning booths, can cause skin cancer despite the claims that the manufacturers make about their safety. In fact, researchers have determined that women in developed countries who use tanning beds before the age of 30 increase their risk of developing skin cancer by 75 percent. Even cancer of the eye is also more likely to develop in people who use artificial tanning devices. Cigarette smoking is in many ways more dangerous than UV exposure, because the forms of cancer related to cigarettes are generally more lethal than skin cancer. Most lung cancer is caused by cigarette smoking. People who smoke also place themselves at risk of developing cancers of the mouth, throat, esophagus, larynx, bladder, kidney, cervix, pancreas, and stomach. The risk of lung cancer begins to diminish as soon as a person quits smoking. The Canadian Cancer Society (2014) estimates that within 10 years of quitting, an ex-smoker's risk of dying from lung cancer is reduced by half. People who had lung cancer and stopped smoking are less likely to get a second lung cancer than are people who continue to smoke. Being exposed to cigarette smoke ("secondhand smoke") can present just as great a risk, if not greater, for lung cancer. Although you are probably aware of the risks of cigarette smoke in developed countries such as the United States, Canada, and Europe, you may not realize that carcinogens are present in substances such as betel quid, which often includes areca nut and tobacco. Approximately 600 million people in India and parts of Southeast Asia (or as many as 80 percent of adults in India) chew betel quid. Even if the betel quid contains no tobacco, people who engage in this habit are at greatly increased risk of liver and esophageal cancer. Being overweight is linked to a variety of cancers of the gastrointestinal system. A nationwide study of over 900,000 adults in the United States who were studied prospectively (before they had cancer) from 1982 to 1998 played an important role in identifying the role of BMI as a cancer risk factor. During this period of time, there were more than 57,000 deaths within the sample from cancer. The people with the highest BMIs had death rates from cancer that were 52 percent higher for men and 62 percent higher for women than for men and women of normal BMI. The types of cancer associated with higher BMIs included cancer of the esophagus, colon and rectum, liver, gallbladder, pancreas, and kidney. Significant trends of increasing risk with higher BMIs were observed for death from cancers of the stomach and prostate in men and for death from cancers of the breast, uterus, cervix, and ovary in women. We can conclude from this research that maintaining a low BMI is a critical preventive step in lowering your risk of cancer. In addition to BMI, eating specific foods seems to play a role in cancer risk. Stomach cancer is more common in parts of the world—such as Japan, Korea, parts of Eastern Europe, and Latin America—in which people eat foods that are preserved by drying, smoking, salting, or pickling. By contrast, fresh foods, especially fresh fruits and vegetables, may help protect against stomach cancer. Similarly, the risk of developing colon cancer is thought to be higher in people whose diet is high in fat, low in fruits and vegetables, and low in high-fibre foods such as whole-grain breads and cereals. For instance, New Zealand and the United States have higher rates of colon cancer and also consume the largest amounts of meat. There are several additional specific types of environmental toxins in the air, food, and water that make certain people more vulnerable to cancer. Such compounds include asbestos, arsenic, beryllium, cadmium, chromium, and nickel. Exposure to these compounds significantly increases a person's risk of cancer in various sites in the respiratory system, including the lung and nasal cavity. People exposed to arsenic are at risk for bladder cancer, and women exposed to asbestos are more likely to develop ovarian cancer. In addition, people exposed to leather, silica, and wood dust are more likely to develop respiratory cancers. People in certain occupations are more at risk for exposure to these carcinogenic substances, including those who work in iron and steel founding or manufacturing of isopropyl alcohol, paint, and rubber. People make many other lifestyle choices that can further contribute to their risk of developing cancer. In the intensive efforts to find the causes of breast cancer, a variety of lifestyle factors have been suggested, such as amount of alcohol consumed and having an abortion. The evidence is somewhat stronger for the effect of personal history in the case of cervical cancer, which has a higher risk among women who began having sexual intercourse before age 18 and/or have had many sexual partners. For men, efforts are underway to determine whether having had a vasectomy increases their risk for prostate cancer.

Why is it bad to get poor sleep at night?

All of these conditions, when they interrupt sleep, can lead to daytime sleepiness and fatigue, which creates a vicious cycle as the individual becomes forced to take naps or is too tired to exercise. Sleep problems also can increase the risk of falling, cause difficulty concentrating, and lead to negative changes in quality of life. A vicious cycle begins where the individual starts to establish a pattern of daytime napping, which increases the chances of sleep interruptions occurring at night.

Changes in the sleep pattern and aging:

Although changes in sleep occur as a normal feature of the aging process, severe sleep disturbances do not. Exercise can be helpful in resetting disturbed circadian rhythms. Sleep specialists can offer innovative approaches such as light therapy, which "resets" an out-of-phase circadian rhythm, and encouragement of improvements in sleep habits.

Why is age not really an independent variable?

Although developmental psychologists classify age as an independent variable, age is truly not "independent" because its value cannot be controlled or manipulated. An experimenter cannot randomly assign people to a particular age group by making some people young and some people old. This means that you can never state with certainty that aging "causes" people to receive certain scores on a dependent variable of interest.

When does cell replication become dangerous, and why is senescence sometimes a form of protection?

Although many cells in the body are thought to be affected by the shortening of the telomeres, not all experience this effect of the aging process. For example, when tumour cells are added to normal cells, they replicate indefinitely. Because of the danger posed by these multiplying tumour cells, senescence may be thought of as a form of protection against cancer. The key to extending the life span based on the telomere theory would be for scientists to find a way to keep cells replicating longer without increasing the risk of cancer cell proliferation.

Joints and aging:

Although most people do not feel that they are getting "creaky" until their 40s, the joints are already undergoing significant changes even before you reach the age of skeletal maturity. These changes continue steadily throughout the adult years and appear to affect women more than men. By the 20s and 30s, the articular cartilage that protects the joints has already begun to degenerate, and as it does so, the bones start to suffer as well. The fibres in the joint capsule become less pliable, reducing flexibility even more.

Treatment and changes to smell/taste with aging:

Although nothing can be done to reverse age-related losses of smell and taste once they occur, people who suffer from severe losses may benefit from medical evaluations and treatments for underlying conditions. Apart from such interventions, older people can also take advantage of strategies to enhance the enjoyment of food, such as expanding their food choices, planning meals in pleasant environments, and finding good dining companions.

cause of COPD, prevention/treatment:

Although the cause of COPD is not known, most who study the disease generally agree that its main cause is cigarette smoking. Exposure to environmental toxins such as air pollution and harmful substances in the occupational setting may also play a role, but even these have much more pronounced effects in people. Apart from quitting smoking, a necessary first step in prevention and treatment, individuals with COPD can benefit from medications and treatments. These include inhalers that open the airways to bring more oxygen into the lungs or reduce inflammation, machines that provide oxygen, or, in extreme cases, lung surgery to remove damaged tissue.

ARMD prevention:

Although there is no known treatment for ARMD, antioxidants and avoidance of cigarette smoking (once again) can serve to reduce a person's risk. Exposure to light is yet another risk factor, so wearing protective lenses may serve as prevention. If you find yourself squinting outside in the sunlight, you might think about decreasing your risk of developing ARMD in the future by putting on a pair of sunglasses. Treatments for the "wet" form of ARMD, which is related to damage to the vascular supply to the retina, so far include only medications that can slow its progression by reducing the growth of new blood cells.

correlational designs:

An alternative approach to describing group differences using the quasi-experimental design is the correlational design, in which relationships are observed among variables as they exist in the world. The researcher makes no attempt to divide participants into groups or to manipulate variables.

How much do the vital bodily systems experience age-related changes each year?

An estimate of around .5% per year. This sounds like a high number, especially when you multiply it by the 40-50 years of adulthood.

Instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs):

An expanded form of the ADL are the instrumental activities of daily living (IADL), which include the ability to use the telephone, go shopping, prepare meals, complete housekeeping tasks, do the laundry, use private or pub- lic transportation, take medications, and handle finances.

Religion

An individual's identification with an organized belief system Has received increased attention as a factor influencing the development in adulthood

dizziness:

An uncomfortable sensation of feeling lightheaded and even floating.

How does diet and obesity impact the likelihood to get a cardiovascular disease?

An unhealthy diet places the individual at risk of developing a BMI in the overweight or obese range. An analysis of 57 longitudinal studies conducted in Western Europe and North America showed a causal relationship between high BMI and mortality due to vascular disease. According to the Community Foundations of Canada (2011), dramatic increases in obesity have occurred among Canadian adults. A factor in obesity that places individuals at greater risk for developing cardiovascular disease and stroke is intake of high-cholesterol foods. Conversely, high levels of the "good" cholesterol (HDL) are related to lower risk of cardiovascular disease.

What are ways that a person's ethnicity defined?

Ancestral origin, homeland, and a shared history, identity, language, religion, or culture It is a fluid concept that changes in response to the social context.

Tennitus (hearing loss and aging):

Another hearing disturbance that is relatively common in older people is tinnitus, a symptom in which the individual perceives sounds in the head or ear (such as a ringing noise) when there is no external source. The condition can be temporarily associated with use of aspirin, antibiotics, and anti-inflammatory agents. Changes in the bones of the skull due to trauma and the buildup of wax in the ears may also contribute to tinnitus. Although treatments are available for tinnitus (generally dependent on the cause of the symptom), there is no cure.

How do cataracts affect an individual's vision and lifestyle?

As a cataract develops, the person's vision becomes increasingly impaired, both under conditions of low light, as acuity is reduced, and under conditions of bright light, as a result of increased susceptibility to glare. Bright lights may seem to have a halo around them. These are significant limitations and can alter many aspects of the person's everyday life. It is more difficult to read, walk, watch television, recognize faces, and perform work, hobbies, and leisure activities. Consequently, people with cataracts may become more dependent on others, because they cannot drive or go out at night on their own.

What are some ethical considerations involved in genomic research?

As genomic research continues to make advances in understanding the complexity of disease and genes, ethical considerations will become increasingly important. For example, if you had your entire genome scanned to determine your risk for developing a disease prevalent in your family, would you want to find out other diseases you may potentially be at risk for developing? Would you change your lifestyle based on this information, and if so, would you want other family members tested? Questions such as these will dominate the biomedical field for years to come.

Sense of balance and problems with aging:

As important as the maintenance of visual and auditory functioning are with increasing age, the sense of balance can mean the difference between life and death. Loss of balance is one of the main factors responsible for falls in older adults. In Canada, falls are the leading cause of injury among older adults, and one in three seniors is likely to fall at least once each year. In 2008/09, more than 50,000 seniors were hospitalized for a fall, with an average inpatient stay of 15 days. Up to 40 percent of fall-related injuries are fractured hips, and 20 percent of people with these injuries will die within a year as a result of post-operative complications or pre- existing conditions. Because of the potentially devastating effects of falls on older people, fall prevention programs have become very popular and widely used in Canada. For example, the Canadian Fall Prevention Education Collaborative provides an evidence-based curriculum for those who work with seniors to prevent falls.

osteoporosis statistics:

As many as 2 million Canadians live with osteoporosis, and 1 in 3 women and 1 in 5 men will suffer an osteoporotic fracture in their lifetime. This places them at greater risk for future fractures, with 1 in 3 hip fracture patients experiencing another fracture within one year, and 1 in 2 suffering another fracture within five years. Osteoporosis Canada is committed to breaking this cycle by implementing adequate screening, diagnosis, and treatment. Rates of osteoporosis-related bone fracture are equivalent to the rates of myocardial infarction.

Principle of individuality

Asserts that as people age, they become more different from each other. This divergence occurs in people's physical functioning, psychological performance, relationships, interest in work, economic security, and personality.

How do the kidneys change with aging and lifestyle factors?

At one time, researchers believed that the fate of the kidneys in late life was to decline steadily as a result of loss of nephrons over time. However, the jury is still out on this question. There do appear to be age differences in the kidneys, but many factors other than age can compromise the nephrons. One of these factors is cigarette smoking, which can lead to serious kidney disease in older adults with other risk factors perhaps through its effect on changes within the nephron's ability to filter wastes. Studies conducted on samples in the past may have yielded exaggerated estimates of the effects of normal aging on the kidneys, reflecting instead the fact that a large percentage of the population smoked cigarettes for much of their adult lives. However, this fact doesn't account for the entire effect of age on the kidneys. Illness, extreme exertion, or extreme heat all serve as stresses that greatly compromise the kidney's ability to do its job.

Morning/Night person and aging:

At some point during middle to late adulthood, people also shift from a preference to working in the later hours of the day and night to a preference for the morning. Adults over 65 tend to classify themselves as "morning" people and the large majority of younger adults classify themselves as "evening" people, as indicated by mean scores on the Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire. The biological basis for this shift in preferences presumably occurs gradually throughout adulthood, along with changes in hormonal contributors to sleep and arousal patterns.

How does atherosclerosis contribute to hypertension?

Atherosclerosis contributes to hypertension in the following way. The accumulation of plaque forces the blood to be pushed through narrower and narrower arteries. As a result, the pressure on the blood as it is being pumped out of the heart becomes greater and greater, and the person now is at risk for hypertension.

Why are age studies quasi-experimental?

Because age cannot be experimentally manipulated, we say that studies of aging represent the quasi-experimental design in which researchers compare groups on predetermined characteristics. The same is true of studies that examine sex, ethnicity, or social class differences. You cannot conclude that the predetermined characteristic caused the variations in the dependent variable, but you can use the results to describe the differences between groups. i.e. Consider a study in which researchers compare adults living in the community with older adults in assisted-living facilities. Since the researchers could not assign the older adults randomly to these groups, they cannot conclude that living situation caused higher levels of happiness in one group over the other. Other factors may account for the differences in happiness rather than living situation. What researchers can do in this situation is attempt to rule out other alternatives, such as levels of physical functioning, which may account for differences in happiness. Once they feel that other explanations have been ruled out, and if the differences are repeatedly demonstrated, researchers can make the cautious inference that living situation had something to do with the variations in people's happiness scores.

Why is the 65-and-older group placed into subgroups?

Because gerontologists recognize that 65 is both an arbitrary number for defining old age and also because it results in people being placed into too broad a category when defined as older adults. i.e. People in this age group vary from each other immensely as well as from older adults twenty years or more older than them.

Why is it important to differentiate between "normal" aging and illness/disease?

Because health cares specialists have a tendency to dismiss diseases as simply "getting older" perhaps impacting the success of diagnosis and treatment. i.e. treating an older man with depression as a real disease versus writing it off as just symptoms of aging

Why are cross-sectional designs the most frequently used research method when researching aging?

Because research on aging is focused on age changes, the cross-sectional design, which looks at age differences, would seem to hold limited value. However, given the expense and the technical and practical problems that plague longitudinal studies, many researchers have little choice but to turn to the cross-sectional method. The challenge they face in cross-sectional research is to make sure they are actually studying the effects of age rather than simply documenting differences between cohorts.

Why may ageism be ironic?

Because unlike other "isms", people who hold aging stereotypes will eventually become the target of their own negative beliefs as they grow old.

How does mobility change with aging?

Beginning in the 40s (or earlier in the case of injury), each component of mobility undergoes significant age-related losses. Consequently, people walk more slowly as they get older. You have probably observed these changes when you're interacting with older relatives or friends who tend to take longer than you to reach the same destination. Unfortunately, older adults may find it hard to adapt to their slower walking speed, leading them to be more likely than the young to make mistakes when predicting how long it will take them to cross the street. Thus, these changes in mobility have practical implications that can have far-reaching consequences on the older adult's life and health.

BMI Classification and the Risk of Developing Health Problems:

Below 18.5 Underweight (increased risk of developing health problems) 18.5-24.9 Normal (least risk of developing health problems) 25.0-29.9 Overweight (increased risk of developing health problems) 30.0-34.9 Obese class 1 (high risk of developing health problems) 35.0-39.9 Obese class 2 (very high risk of developing health problems) 40 and over Obese class III (extremely high risk of developing health problems)

Biological approaches to aging in adulthood:

Biological changes throughout later life, as is true in the years of infancy, childhood, and adolescence, are based on genetically determined events or changes in physi- ological functioning brought about by intrinsic changes within the organism. Inevitably, the body's biological clock continues to record the years. As we discussed at the beginning of this chapter, however, the interaction- ist model of development predicts that environmental factors influence the expression of biological or genetic predispositions. According to the principle of reciprocity, people's actions interact with their genetic inheritance. The result is that relatively large individual differences occur in the nature and timing of age-related changes in physical and cognitive functioning. Ultimately, the aging of the body sets the limit on life's length, but people can the changes associated with the aging process to alter the timing of these events. Acknowledging the role of biology begs the ques- tion, "Why do living organisms grow old and die?" If you are a fan of science fiction, you have surely read stories of a world in which aging does not occur, or occurs so slowly that people live for hundreds of years. While these fictional accounts may be engrossing and even tempting to imagine, there are some obvious problems associated with such a world. Outcomes such as overpopulation, a lack of adequate resources, and intergenerational strife are just some of the possibilities. Presumably, to keep the population in check, birth rates would be reduced to virtually zero. Although it's not possible to know why aging occurs, the fact is that death does occur, and with it the inevita- bility of aging. Yet researchers who study aging continue to explore whether aging is in fact the result of a cor- rectable defect in living organisms. A related possibility is that organisms are programmed to survive until they reach sexual maturity. Having guaranteed the survival of their species, living creatures are programmed to dete- riorate or diminish once the genes programmed to keep them alive past that point are no longer of use to the species. Biologically speaking, according to this view, reproduction is the primary purpose of life, and once this criterion has been met, there are no specific guidelines to determine what happens next.

How is blood pressure measured? When is hypertension diagnosed?

Blood pressure is measured in units of "mm Hg," or millimetres of mercury, referring to the display on a blood pressure scale. Hypertension is diagnosed when a person's blood pressure is equal to or greater than 140 mm Hg systolic pressure or 90 mm Hg diastolic pressure.

What happens to aerobic capacity and cardiac output with age?

Both indices decline consistently at a rate of about 10 percent per decade from age 25 and up, so that the average 65-year-old has 40 percent lower cardiovascular efficiency than the young adult. The decline is more pronounced in males than females. Maximum heart rate, also shows a linear decrease across the years of adulthood.

Are genes or the environment responsible for development? Distinguish between the different models found in the text.

Both play a role in development Different models: -Organismic: Proposes that hereditary drives the course of development throughout life (genes) -Mechanistic: Proposes that people's behavior changes gradually over time, shaped by the outside forces that cause them to adapt to their environments; people who believe in this model propose that growth throughout life occurs through the individual's exposure to experiences that present new learning opportunities and because this exposure is gradual, the model assumes that there are no clear-cut or identifiable stages (environment) -Interactionist: Takes the view that not only do genetics and environment interact in complex ways to produce their effects on the individual, but individuals actively shape their own development (genes & environment)

Describe the general trends in aging in Canada and the world more broadly.

CANADA: That by 2036, seniors will account for more than one-quarter of the Canadian population (the 80 and older group alone will account for 7.6 percent of the population); In 2001, an estimated 3,795 people over the age of 100 lived in Canada. By 2011 this number increased to 5,825, and by 2051 they are predicted to increase eight times to 49,300 GLOBALLY: Data from around the world confirms that an increasing older population will continue to grow globally throughout the 21st century, and the growth will be particularly marked in less developed regions

Canadian gerontology:

CIHR (Canadian Institute of Health Research) and the IA (Institute of aging) determines research priorities in the field of aging. The mandate of the IA is to "to support research, to promote healthy aging, and to address causes, prevention, screening, diagnosis, treatment, support systems, and palliation for a wide range of conditions associated with aging".

Understand the types of conclusions that can be drawn from each type of research design. Be able to identify the benefits and drawbacks of each of the research designs discussed in class and/or text.

CROSS-SECTIONAL DESIGNS: -Snapshot in time: i.e. asking different age groups from the same year the research question -All we can really see is the differences in age groups -Can also measure all ages then form groups to compare Pros: -Examine age differences -Typically fast and usually cheap -Addresses time of measurement effects to some extent; i.e. for instance, if you conduct research during a recession it would impact all age groups, so it would not hold as strong of an effect on the results of the study Cons: -Is it representative? I.e. Can we say that a group of 30 year olds represents ALL, past and future, 30 year olds? And that they will become just like the group of 90 year olds when they become that age? -Doesn't examine age change! -Doesn't account for cohort effects (i.e. because of age or because of what a specific cohort went through at that point in time?) -Often use extreme age groups (3 issues): 1. Representativeness: often times these research groups compare old and young groups and the young group is usually made up of college students, whereas the old group is usually made up of anyone over the age of 65...so the young group is typically a small range and the old group typically has a pretty large range. 2. We should treat age as a continuous variable and not as a category of young and old; viewing age as a continuous variable allows researchers to gain a better understanding of how age relates to observed age differences.) 3. Using extreme age group designs assumes the measures used means the same thing across both age groups (i.e. if you have a measurement of happiness, one measurement might be "how excited do you feel?", younger people may associate excited with happiness whereas older people may not associate excitement with happiness and that would lead researchers to gain construed results. LONGITUDINAL DESIGNS: -Follow the same group of people over some period of time (multiple assessments): -Period of time depends on variable(s) of interest (i.e. cognitive development/decline vs. health status) Pros: -Allows assessment of actual changes as individuals age Prospective longitudinal designs: watches for outcomes during the study to examine suspected risk/protective factors. (this type of design is often used in medical research) Cons: -Assumes this cohort is generalizable to all other cohorts, which is likely not true -Age is confounded -Time of measurement effects are not controlled -Attrition (selective?); this refers to dropout and many people will discontinue participation in a long study design; particularly problematic is if there is selective attrition (i.e. people dropping out for reasons related to health and study measuring happiness levels it may appear that happiness increases over time because the individuals still in the study are healthy and health is related to happiness. -Time consuming & expensive -Possible practice effects -Measures/technology can change over time -Researchers may leave themselves and the project may be abandoned/left unfinished -Progression of knowledge: it is possible the research question will be answered or that changes to the body of knowledge suggests that the question itself is no longer relevant/important SEQUENTIAL DESIGNS: -Very powerful design that include: -A cross-sectional study conducted at two or more times of measurement -Two or more longitudinal designs that represent two or more cohorts -"The most efficient design"-K. Warner Schaie: First to design sequential and was the principle investigator of the Seattle "Longitudinal" Study, which is actually a sequential design *First intake of participants was in 1956 and they recruited 500 adults from Seattle (Ranging from 20s-60s) *Individuals contacted every 7 years *Additional intake at each time-point (8 time-points) *Adds new cohorts & addresses attrition Why are these designs so powerful? -Differing analyses are possible: -At each time-point, a cross sectional comparison can be made -Impact of age: controlling for cohort & time of measurement -We can look at the change from the same cohort (looking at a group born in a certain year at different ages) and you can compare cohorts as well as average these groups to see the average change. For example, you can look at how happiness changes from the age of 5 to 35 over one group born in 1930 and then you can compare them to a group born in 1960...you can average a bunch of these cohort groups to find how the average level of happiness changes from the age of 5 to the age of 35. -When we average across these, you can eliminate time of measurement effects. -Allows different cohorts to be compared at the same age too and you can average the differences between age groups of the same cohort and compare that average to the average of another cohort -So, really a bunch of different comparisons, averages, and analysis can be done on this data Pros: -Can examine possible cohort effects -Permit different types of comparisons to be made -Examine & control possible confounding of effects Cons: -Given the fact that these are longitudinal studies, the same drawbacks of longitudinal effects apply

Social age

Calculated by evaluating where people are compared to the "typical" ages expected for people when they occupy certain positions in life. These positions tend to center on family and work roles. For example, a grandparent would have an older social age than would a parent, although the grandparent might easily be chronologically younger than the parent.

cancer:

Cancer is a generic term that includes a group of more than 100 diseases. Each type of cancer has its own symptoms, characteristics, treatment options, and overall effect on a person's life and health. Cancer is the leading cause of death in Canada. Approximately 2 in 5 of all Canadians will develop cancer in their lifetime and about 1 in 4 will die from the disease. More than half of cancers are lung, breast, colorectal, and prostate (excluding non-melanoma skin cancer). Lung cancer is by far the most lethal, resulting in more deaths than the other three types of cancer combined. On a positive note, mortality due to lung cancer has decreased over the past 25 years, leading to an overall decline in cancer death rates. In general, survival rates for cancer vary dramatically. For example, the five-year relative survival rate for thyroid cancer is 98 percent, in contrast to pancreatic cancer at 8 percent. In economic terms, cancer is the fourth-costliest disease in Canada and, as a result of the aging population, these costs are expected to increase. Around the world, 12 million new cases of cancer were diagnosed in 2008, according to the World Health Organization (2010), which translates into an age-standardized rate of 1.8 per 1,000 in the population; 7.6 million died in that year alone. Among men and women, lung cancer is the most frequent cancer, followed by breast and colorectal cancers.

Cardiovascular disease:

Cardiovascular disease, a term that refers to a set of abnormal conditions that develop in the heart and arteries. The number 1 cause of death worldwide, cardiovascular disease can also cause chronic disability. Because the distribution of blood throughout the body is essential for the normal functioning of all other organ systems, cardiovascular disease can have a widespread range of effects on the individual's health and everyday life.

Understand how telomeres impact aging through the process of cell senescence. How are mutations involved in this process?Is cell senescence beneficial?

Cell senescence: the essentially irreversible arrest of cell proliferation (i.e. growth/division) so at some point cells can no longer divide in this way Senescent cells undergo a series of changes including the excretion of numerous proteins implicated in "normal" aging, leading to: -Thickening of artery walls -Changes in the skin -Arthritic joints -Degeneration of intervertebral discs -Changes in muscles of the heart -Neurodegeneration How do cells know to go into senescence? A result of telomere shortening after repeated divisions over time Telomere: a region of repetitive nucleotide sequences at each end of a chromosome With repeated cell divisions, the telomeres get shorter and shorter until cell division stops and that is when it enters senescence. cancer is basically the uncontrolled cellular growth; the passage of time and repeated cell division can lead to damage and mutations of genes that can lead to cancer, which is uncontrolled cellular growth. Senescences may reduce this risk, which is why it is kind of beneficial. Senescent cell production occurs throughout life and plays beneficial roles in a variety of physiological and pathological processes including embryogenesis, wound healing, host immunity and tumor suppression. Meanwhile, the steady accumulation of senescent cells with age also has adverse consequences.

Centenarians census:

Centenarians who were counted in the 2011 census were born in 1911 or earlier, at a time when Canada was close to five times smaller. They were young children during WW1 and likely entered the workforce, married, and started families during the Great Depression. Interestingly, in 2011 Canada's rate of centenarians was fifth among the G8 countries, at 17.4%. Japan had the highest rate of centenarians, at 36.8% Russia had the lowest, at 3.8%.

Muscle strength predictors and aging:

Changes in muscle mass strongly, but not entirely, predict age-related reductions in strength in adulthood. One other contributor to loss of muscle strength comes from disruptions in the signals that the nervous system sends to the muscles telling them to contract. In addition, the tendons become stiffer, which makes it more difficult to move the joint and hence exert muscular strength

How might sleep patterns be improved in middle and later life?

Changes in sleep patterns in middle and later adulthood may be prevented or corrected if the individual makes a few simple changes in sleep habits. A sedentary lifestyle is a major contributor to sleep problems. Therefore, another reason for older adults to EXERCISE is to improve their sleep quality. A variety of psychological disorders can also interfere with the sleep of middle-aged and older adults, including depression, anxiety, and bereavement. Seeking psychological intervention for these disorders may ultimately benefit a person's sleep, which will in turn help to alleviate these mental health conditions.

How does the skin change the appearance of the eyes in aging?

Changes in the skin also affect the appearance of the eyes, which develop bags, small lines at the creases ("crows feet"), areas of dark pigmentation, and puffiness. In addition, the need for eyeglasses, which increases in middle adulthood, means further changes in the appearance around the eyes.

Secondary/impaired aging

Changes over time leading to impairment due to disease rather than normal aging. These changes are not due to universal, intrinsic processes but are a function of an abnormal set of changes afflicting a segment rather than the entirety of the population. i.e. developing skin cancer in later life

chronic bronchitis:

Chronic bronchitis is a long-standing inflammation of the bronchi, the airways that lead into the lungs. The inflammation of the bronchi causes an increase in mucus and other changes, which in turn lead to coughing and expectoration of sputum. bronchial tubes inflamed and irritated; main cause is smoking.

Cardiac and Cerebrovascular conditions:

Chronic diseases that fall into the category of cardiac and cerebrovascular conditions are linked by the fact that they involve disturbances of the cardiovascular system. Fat and other substances accumulate in the walls of the arteries throughout the body as a part of the normal aging process.

Distinguish between the different ways age can be classified (e.g. chronological, biological, psychological & social).

Chronological: the units of chronological age are not inherently tied to the aging process; the general order of growth tied to the measurement of time: refers to the actual amount of time a person has been alive. In other words, the number of days, months or years a person has been alive and does not reflect the actual quality of life. Biological: The age of an individual's bodily systems which tells us exactly how well people are able to perform vital functions; functioning of organ systems. How old a person seems physiologically, and takes into account diet, sleeping habits, exercise, etc. Psychological: the performance an individual achieves on measures of such qualities as reaction time, memory, learning ability, and intelligence will set their age Social: Calculated by evaluating where people are compared to the "typical" ages expected for people when they occupy certain positions in life. These positions tend to center on family and work roles.

Cognitive changes and loss of smell sensitivity:

Cognitive changes are also believed to be associated with loss of smell sensitivity. Older adults who have experienced the greatest impairment in cognitive functioning may be the most vulnerable to loss of odour identification abilities. In one longitudinal study, researchers followed older adults over a three-year period and observed that people with the most rapid decline in cognitive processes had the greatest rate of decline in the ability to label various odours.

Cohort effects:

Cohort effects refer to the social, historical, and cultural influences that affect people during a particular period of time. In many cases, cohort effects are taken to mean the influences present during the early years of development that cause people to behave in a certain way at the current time. i.e. For example, the baby boomers were thought to have become their rebellious selves because their parents were so permissive in raising them, a fact that could be traced to the popularity of a particular parenting advice book. When the baby boomers reached their adolescent years, this "anything goes" attitude combined with the natural tendency of teenagers to forge their own paths to produce an authority-flouting generation. Another way to think about cohort effects is that they are normative history-graded influences present at or around the time of a person's birth.

simple correlational designs:

Comparisons of age groups or groups based on divisions such as year of birth or time of measurement are useful for many research questions in the field of gerontology. However, often this approach is neither the most efficient nor the most informative. By grouping people into categories, researchers lose a great deal of information that could be preserved if they used actual age in years. The variable of age is a continuous variable, meaning that it does not have natural cutoff points as does a categorical variable such as gender. There may be a difference between people of 42 and 45 years of age, but when they are all grouped in the "40-year-old" category, this distinction is obscured. In the correlational design, age can be treated as a continuous variable and is therefore unnecessary or even desirable to put people into arbitrarily defined groups. The relationship between age and another variable is expressed through the statistic known as the correlation (represented by the letter r), whose value can range from +1.0 to -1.0. A significant positive correlation indicates that the two variables are positively related, so that when the value of one variable increases the other one does as well. A significant negative correlation indicates that the two variables are negatively related, so that when one increases in value the other one decreases. A correlation of zero indicates no relationship between the variables. In a correlational study, the researcher makes no assumptions about what caused what—there are no "independent" or "dependent" variables. A correlation between two variables means simply that the two variables are related, but like the proverbial chicken and egg, the researcher cannot say which came first.

pros of correlational designs:

Correlational studies contain a wealth of information despite their inability to determine cause and effect. The value of the correlation itself provides a useful basis for calculating the strength of the relationship. Furthermore, it is possible to manipulate a larger number of variables at one time than is generally true in studies involving group comparisons.

Life expectancy global increase:

Data from around the world confirms that an increasing older population will continue to grow globally throughout the 21st century, and the growth will be particularly marked in less developed regions

Declines in aerobic capacity and aging:

Declines in aerobic capacity occur even in highly trained athletes, but those who continue to exercise at a high level of intensity maintain their aerobic capacity longer than non-athletes. One study of former football players followed into middle age showed that they had favourable body composition and reduced risks of cardiovascular disease and osteoporosis.

identity

Defined as a composite of how people view themselves in the biological, psychological, and social domains of life. The interaction of these domains forms an overall view of the "self".

How do researchers deal with these effects with hypotheses about age?

Descriptive research designs are unable to offer any solutions to the inevitable confounding of age and context. They fall into two categories, based on whether people are followed up over time or whether two or more differing age groups are compared.

pros of longitudinal studies:

Despite their flaws, longitudinal studies have the potential to add invaluable data on psychological changes in adulthood and old age. Furthermore, as data accumulate from multiple investigations concerning related variables, a body of evidence builds up that helps to inform the larger research questions. Even though one study may have its problems, convergence across several investigations allows researchers to feel greater confidence when findings are similar from one study to the next.

Exercise and the respiratory system:

Despite these perhaps discouraging effects of aging, exercise can still have positive effects on the respiratory system, strengthening the chest wall and, in the process, compensating for the fact that the respiratory muscles lose their pumping capacity. Unfortunately, though, aerobic exercise cannot overcome the changes in the lung tissue itself, which loses elasticity and is not modifiable by activity, as the muscles are.

Inter-individual differences

Differences between people i.e. some older adults may perform younger ones on particular tasks

What may ethnic differences in functioning in adulthood/aging reflect?

Differences in genetic inheritance: I.e. People who have inherited a risk factor that has been found to be higher within a certain ethnic group, for example, are more likely to be at risk for developing that illness during their adult years. Genetic risk factors may also interact with different ethnic backgrounds. For example, people at risk for a disease with a metabolic basis such as the inability to metabolize fats will be more likely to develop that disease depending on whether cooking foods high in fat content is part of their culture or not. In addition, ethnic background may also alter an individual's development in adulthood through the structure of a society and whether there are systematic biases against people who identify with that ethnic background. It is also often studied as an influence on a person's familial attitudes and experiences. People of certain ethnic backgrounds are thought to show greater respect for older adults and feel a stronger sense of obligation to care for their aging parents. i.e. among Chinese people the confucian philosophy of filial piety refers to the need to respect one's parents and ancestors. This philosophy has been shown to influence the caregiving relationship in Chinese-Canadian families.

How does increasing individual health also help the economic health of society?

Diseases contribute heavily to health care costs around the world. To the extent that individuals are able to reduce their risk factors for chronic disease, they therefore improve not only their quality of life, but also the economic health of society.

Distinguish between Bronfenbrenner's model, continuity theory, activity theory and disengagement theory. What are some criticisms of these theories?

Ecological systems theory was developed by Urie Bronfenbrenner. It offers a framework through which community psychologists examine individuals' relationships within communities and the wider society. identifies multiple levels of the environment as they affect the individual over time; defines five systems of the environment which interact in there influence on the individual. continuity theory: Proposes that whether disengagement or activity is beneficial to the older adults prefer to withdraw from active involvement with their families and communities; others are miserable unless they are in the thick of the action. What makes older adults experience lower life satisfaction is when they don't want to be excluded from their social roles by virtue of age. activity theory: the view that older adults are more satisfied if they are able to remain involved in their social roles. If forced to give up their roles, they will lose a major source of identity as well as their social connections. disengagement theory: proposes that the normal and natural evolution of life causes older adults to purposefully loosen their social ties, and that aging is accompanied by a mutual withdrawal process of the individual and society. This natural detachment, according to disengagement theory, is not only inevitable but desirable. Within this approach, retirement and isolation from family members are sought out by older adults and result in higher levels of well-being.

What is the process of strength training in adulthood?

Effective muscle strength training typically involves 8 to 12 weeks, three to four times per week, at 70 to 90 percent of the one-repetition maximum. In order for these benefits to be maintained, the individual has to keep exercising. It's not enough to exercise for a year or two and then stop. Aerobic exercise can provide additional benefits to boost the effects of muscle training.

What are the estimates of bone mineral content loss in adulthood?

Estimates of the decrease in bone mineral content over adulthood are about 0.5 percent per year for men and 1 percent per year for women. Further weakening occurs as a result of microcracks that develop in response to stress placed on the bones. Part of the older bones increased susceptibility to fracture can be accounted for by a loss of collagen, which reduces the bone's flexibility in response to pressure. The problem is particularly severe for the upper part of the thigh bone right below the hip, which does not receive much mechanical pressure during walking and therefore tends to thin disproportionately.

Other ways to improve hearing in conversation:

Even without a hearing aid, however, it's possible for older adults to improve their ability to understand speech if they take advantage of various communication strategies. The first is to look directly at the person speaking to them and to make sure that there is enough light that they can clearly see the person's face. Older adults should also turn down background noise that could interfere with the audio stream they are trying to follow, whether it's a person, a television, or the radio. At restaurants and social gatherings, they should find a place to talk that is as far as possible from crowded or noisy areas. They can also ask the people speaking to them not to chew food or gum while talking, and not to speak too quickly.

Normative history-graded influences

Events that occur for everyone within a certain culture or geopolitical unit (regardless of age), and include large-scale occurrences such as world wars, economic trends, or sociocultural changes in attitudes and values. The impacts of these events on people's lives may be felt immediately. They can continue to have a lasting impact for many years on the subsequent patterns of work, family, and quality of life of the people affected by those events. An individual does not have to experience a historical event directly to be affected by a normative-history graded influence. Anytime there is a significant enough event or set of events affecting a large number of people, the event's aftermath may continue to have an impact on aspects of each person's life for years to come.

Identity balance: aging

Eventually, if the pendulum swings from identity accommodation back to identity assimilation, the individual can reestablish a middle ground between becoming overly preoccupied with change versus pretending that changes are not occurring. People who use identity balance accept that they are aging, without adopting a defeatist attitude. They take steps to ensure that they will remain healthy, but do not become demoralized about conditions or limitations they may already have developed. Additionally, they are not deluded by thinking that they will be young forever.

dysthermia:

Every summer or winter, when regions of the country suffer extreme weather, older adults are among those reported to be at greatest risk of dying from hyper-or hypothermia, conditions known together as dysthermia. Aging alone, however, does not seem to be the main cause of deaths due to hyperthermia, as the majority of those who die in conditions of extreme heat have heart disease.

What are benefits of exercise?

Exercise builds aerobic power and improves breathing. Ordinarily, people lose about 1 percent a year of their aerobic power or, if you'd like to do the math, 10 percent per decade. That's a lot of unnecessary huffing and puffing. Both long-term and short-term exercise train- ing studies show that you can cut this loss in half, so that you're losing 15 percent rather than 30 percent in that 30-year period. Exercise reduces blood pressure, the number 1 form of heart disease, by giving your heart a workout. The stronger your heart muscle gets, the greater its ability to pump blood through the arteries, which also helps to reduce your blood pressure. Exercise lowers your risk of developing Type 2 diabetes, an illness that is becoming a world- wide public health crisis. Even if you don't care about the health of the world, you should care about your own risk of developing diabetes. The complications of adult-onset Type 2 diabetes pose a serious risk to your physical well-being. By engaging in regular physical exercise, you improve your body's ability to metabolize glucose, the key to staving off this disease. Exercise maintains immune functioning, protecting you from infection and other chemical toxins. Even short-term exercise programs can reverse some of the deleterious effects of aging on this sensitive, complex, and crucial regulatory system that controls so much of your everyday health. Exercise helps keep bones strong and build muscle mass. Since we lose 1 percent of both our bone mineral strength and muscle mass per year, it is important to engage in resistance or strength training to offset this loss. Exercise can also lower your risk of developing dementia based on cardiovascular illness, because you're improving the flow of blood throughout your body, including your brain. Preserving the neurons in your brain can give you an added advantage should you develop dementia. It's even possible that exercise can help slow or prevent Alzheimer's disease by improving your glucose and fat metabolism, because some of the brain alterations found in Alzheimer's disease may be due to abnormalities in these processes.

Exercise and osteoarthritis:

Exercise can also help to reduce the pain of osteoarthritis, particularly when the disease is in its early stages. The best exercise for osteoarthritis helps the individual strengthen the muscles around the joint and stretch the tendons. People whose osteoarthritis is made worse by their obesity can also benefit from a program of exercise that focuses on weight loss. Another benefit of exercise is that it can offset the effects on mood of the chronic pain associated with osteoarthritis.

How to reduce wear on the joints?

Exercise can ameliorate some effects of aging on the joints if you use caution. The best form of exercise is strength training in which you build the muscles that support the joints while at the same time avoiding putting stress on impaired tendons, ligaments, and arterial surfaces. In addition to increasing muscle strength (see below), resistance training in which people use weight machines can also increase the flexibility of the tendons, allowing the joint to move more comfortably and effectively. Particularly important is flexibility training that increases the range of motion of the joint, such as stretching or practising gentle forms of yoga. Because the increased weight associated with obesity contributes to joint pain and stiffness and loss of cartilage volume, an exercise program should also focus on lowering body fat.

Fall prevention in older adults:

Exercise can help older adults learn to compensate for factors that increase their chance of falling. The most beneficial forms of exercise include learning how to step with assistance and strengthening the leg muscles. People who are concerned about falling should also cut back on the medications they take for other conditions that can cause confusion or disorientation. Falls can also be prevented if a person wears proper eyeglasses, uses a prosthetic aid in walking, outfits the home with balance aids such as handrails, and develops greater sensitivity to the need to take care while walking. Having an accurate eyeglass prescription is crucial given that vision provides important cues to navigating the environment. Accordingly, older adults with uncorrected visual problems are more vulnerable to falls. Older adults can also benefit from tai chi to help them improve their balance and lessen the likelihood of falling. Most recently, researchers have suggested martial arts training as an effective intervention. Although a person may resist using a walking stick, this is an adaptation to changes in balance that can lead to significant improvements in mobility. At home, people can also make relatively simple adaptations that prevent falling such as getting a shower chair or bath bench in the tub and installing a handheld shower head. Learning to sit while performing ordinary grooming tasks, such as shaving, further reduces a person's risk of falling. People can also outfit their kitchens to minimize the fall risk— for example, by bringing in a tall (but stable) chair or stool that they use while they cook. Having multiple telephones in the home is another useful strategy, reducing the need to hurry to reach the phone (and possibly fall). Even better, keeping a cell phone close by reduces this risk entirely. The person at risk of falling can also derive feelings of security, and a lower risk of falling, by having the cell phone nearby in case he or she actually does fall and needs help. In addition to practical strategies, older individuals can learn to develop greater sensitivity to the floors that they navigate—for example, when stepping onto a tile floor from a carpet. They can also be trained to recognize situations that should be avoided, such as bumpy side-walks or wet floors. As they do, they gain a greater sense of personal control over the likelihood of falling, lowering their fear of falling and increasing their ability to navigate around their environments within safe limits

Why is exercising so important as we age?

Exercise, even in small doses, can have beneficial effects not only on physiological status but also on feelings of psychological well-being. Recall our discussion at the beginning of the chapter on the interactions of aging and identity. One intriguing study provided dramatic support for this relationship. Researchers tested older adults on a measure of "social physique anxiety," the extent to which one is afraid of what other people think of one's body. Over the course of a six-month exercise training study, older adults decreased their social physique anxiety and felt more fit. They also gained on a measure of self-efficacy, or the feeling of confidence in being able to complete physically demanding tasks. In subsequent studies, social physique anxiety in middle-aged obese women in turn predicted their level of involvement in physical activity.

How do changes to the urinary system as well as menopausal changes impact sleep performance?

Finally, as we discussed earlier, people experience normal age-related changes in the bladder that lead to a more frequent urge to urinate during the night. As a result of these changes, the individual is likely to experience sleep disruptions. Menopausal symptoms can also lead to frequent awakenings during the night, although exercise seems to help minimize the impact of menopause on aging. Periodic leg movements during sleep (also called nocturnal myoclonus) are another source of nighttime awakenings.

Hormones and risk factors for developing cancer:

Finally, certain hormones may increase cancer risk, interacting in complex ways with other factors that we have already mentioned. Although the cause of prostate cancer is not known, the growth of cancer cells in the prostate, like that of normal cells, is stimulated by male hormones, especially testosterone. Estrogen in post-menopausal women is thought to increase their likelihood of developing uterine cancer. However, women may counter this risk through HRT that includes both progesterone and estrogen. The link between BMI and uterine cancer in women may be due to increased production of estrogen among heavier women, so that the estrogen rather than fat increases the risk of uterine cancer. (Likewise, findings that diabetes and high blood pressure increase the risk of uterine cancer may be related to the fact that these conditions are more likely to occur in overweight women who have higher levels of estrogen.)

How does alcohol consumption impact the risk of getting a cardiovascular disease?

Finally, some alcohol consumption appears to have a protective effect on the risk of cardiovascular disease as well as on functional health declines in general, at least for women. Moreover, there may be gender differences in the relationship between alcohol intake and metabolic syndrome, with alcohol having more negative effects for men than for women.

Why are genetic theories appealing but limited?

Findings in support of genetic theories are particularly intriguing in view of the considerable progress being made in the field of genetics. The ability to identify and then control the "aging" gene or genes would go a long way toward changing the very nature of aging. That there is one or multiple genes that control the aging process from birth to death is very appealing, but the approach has its limits. We cannot say for sure that evolution has selected for the aging process so that old generations die in order to make room for new ones. Historically, few species survived long enough to be exposed to the evolutionary selection process.

Interactionist model and physical changes:

Following from the interactionist model, you will find that there are ways to prevent many age-related changes, or at least substantially slow them down. If you adopt them now, you can grow older more successfully regardless of your current age. You will see that the measure we most commonly refer to is physical activity. While we may have a bias toward the adoption and maintenance of activity, given that we are all avid exercisers, it may surprise you to see just how beneficial a physically active lifestyle can be. Furthermore, changes that occur in the body reflect social factors, such as class, race, and gender. These social factors in turn affect how people interpret changes in their physical functioning. i.e. women in Western culture are socialized to care more about their appearance than are men. This means that women are more likely both to feel differently about themselves as they age. However, women may also be more likely to take preventive steps to maintain their appearance.

Why do some sociologists argue that the modernization hypothesis is overly simplistic?

For example, even when life expectancy was lower and there were fewer older adults in the population, attitudes toward age were not consistently positive. Evidence for negative attitudes toward elders is also found in current pre-industrialized societies. Conversely, in some highly developed countries, older adults are treated with reverence and respect and are well provided for through health care and economic security programs. Modernization alone does not seem able, then, to account for ageism.

What could the identification of biological age help with?

For example, it could help people learn how best to improve their muscle and bone strength We would need a large repository of data showing what is to be expected for each major biological function at each age Although we don't have reliable biological age measures yet, there are a multitude of online calculations available and these measures are becoming more sophisticated and may eventually serve a purpose

How are cataracts treated?

Fortunately, cataracts can be successfully treated with little inconvenience or pain. Enormous strides have been made in the treatment of cataracts through advances in surgical procedures. Currently, cataract surgery is completed in about an hour or less, under local anesthesia, and with no hospital stay. Visual recovery is usually achieved within one to seven days, and vision in many people is so improved that they rely only minimally on corrective lenses.

When do people typically experience bone density loss?

Fortunately, most people aren't significantly affected by bone loss until they are in their 50s or 60s.

How might one offset the impact of aging on the body build?

Fortunately, much of the impact of aging on body build and composition can be offset by exercise. i.e. one short-term study lasting only 20 weeks showed that women with mild to moderate cases of bone loss gained bone and muscle strength as a result of this training

How does genetic background play a role in the rate of skin aging?

Genetic background plays an important role in the rate of skin aging. Fair-skinned people tend to display more rapid effects of aging than those with darker skin.

Human Genome Project:

Geneticists have provided many fascinating and important perspectives on the aging process. The completion of the Human Genome Project in 2003 and progress by the International HapMap project paved the way for researchers to identify successful analytic techniques to map complete sets of DNA. Genome-wide association studies, in which the entire genome is searched for genetic variations related to complex diseases, offer a promising avenue for aging research. Hundreds of studies have successfully identified novel genes involved in aging-related diseases, such as heart failure , Alzheimer's disease, and osteoarthritis.

Optimal aging

Gerontologists believe that despite the changes in the body that lead to loss, aging can also involve gains. Refers to age-related changes that improve the individual's functioning.

What do the terms primary, secondary, and tertiary aging refer to?

Gerontologists use these terms to describe processes that accumulate over time and, in the absence of accident or injury, cause the individual's death.

prevention and treatment of diabetes:

Given the clear relationship between obesity and diabetes, the most important means of preventing Type 2 diabetes is control of glucose intake, blood pressure, and blood lipids. Moderate alcohol consumption also seems to offer a protective effect. People with diabetes require frequent testing, usually by measuring blood levels. Depending on the severity, once an individual has Type 2 diabetes, diet and exercise may be sufficient to control its symptoms. If not, the individual requires insulin injections or oral forms of diabetes medications. There are currently six classes of oral diabetes medications, each of which works in a unique way to control blood glucose levels.

Developmental science

Gradually replacing the term "developmental psychology" as the focus continues to encompass a broader variety of domains rather than just the psychology of the individual; this shift conveys the transition toward understanding the systematic effects of multiple influences on the growing individual over time (i.e. including biology, sociology, health, etc.)

How and why does hair change as we age?

Hair does not literally turn grey. Instead, the number of pigmented (coloured) hairs diminishes over time, while the number of hairs that are no longer pigmented increases. The reason that hair loses its pigment is that the production of melanin, which gives hair its colour, slows and eventually ceases. It is very likely that by the time a person reaches the age of 75 or 80, there will be virtually no naturally coloured hairs left on the scalp or other hair-covered areas of his or her body. But there are variations in the rate at which the change takes place. You may have an older relative or friend whose hair is only slightly grey or, conversely, you may know people in their 20s who have a significant amount of grey hair already. The thinning of the hair, though more visible in men, actually occurs in both sexes. In general, hair loss results from the destruction of the germination centres that produce the hair in the hair follicles.

Presbycusis (hearing loss and aging):

Hearing loss is a common occurrence in later adulthood. The most common form of age-related hearing loss is presbycusis, in which degenerative changes occur in the cochlea or auditory nerve leading from the cochlea to the brain. Presbycusis is most often associated with loss of hearing of high-pitched sounds, because the cochlear cells that are triggered by high-frequency stimuli are located toward the front of the cochlea, the area that receives the most stimulation by noise waves in general. Hearing loss clearly has an effect on the older adult's ability to engage in conversation. In turn, older adults may be more likely to avoid potentially noisy situations, such as eating at a restaurant. Fortunately, although hereditary factors play a role in presbycusis, there are steps you can take to protect yourself from the environmental contributors that are almost as, if not more, important. Various health problems, such as diabetes, heart disease, and high blood pressure, can also put a person at higher risk. However, exposure to loud noise is the most frequent cause of presbycusis. The next time you turn up the music playing in your headphones or go to a loud concert, think about the long-term effects on your hearing, particularly if you wake up the following morning with your ears still ringing.

What methods can improve cardiovascular health while aging?

However, exercise and avoiding bad habits such as smoking and eating a high-fat diet can slow down the clock by benefiting functional capacity, lifestyle, and changes in body mass.

cons of correlational designs:

However, if you are a psychology student, you have probably incorporated the mantra "correlation does not equal causation" into your everyday language. You know, because you've heard it so many times, that correlations do not allow researchers to state that one variable was the direct cause of another. However, it's also true that two variables may appear to be correlated with each other because there is a third unmeasured variable that both are correlated with. i.e. The apparent correlation between age and response speed might disappear entirely when number of brain cells is measured and factored into the relationship. When examining data from a typical correlational study, then, it is important to keep in mind that causation cannot be inferred from correlation and to be on the lookout for competing hypotheses related to unmeasured variables. Because arguments that increasing age "causes" changes in other variables are so compelling, it is difficult to remember that there can be other causes lurking in the background.

What psychological problems are associated with overactive bladder and incontinence in older adults?

However, older adults with overactive bladder and incontinence often experience a number of associated psychological problems, including symptoms of depression, difficulty sleeping, and various forms of sexual dysfunction. These individuals are also likely to experience embarrassment and concern over having an accident. They may also be more likely to fall and suffer a fracture if their incontinence leads them to have to rush to the bathroom.

Why is hypertension dangerous?

Hypertension itself creates dangerous changes in the arteries. The greater pressure that the blood exerts in its passage through the arteries places strain on their delicate walls. Over time, these walls become weakened and inflamed. As they do, they accumulate even more plaque, which tends to settle into those cracks and weak areas. Consequently, the individual's hypertension becomes even more pronounced. The problems are worse in the larger arteries, particularly the ones leading from the heart, which take the full force of the heart's pumping action. In addition to damaging the arteries, hypertension has the effect of increasing the workload on the heart. Because the arteries have narrowed, the heart must pump harder and harder to push out the blood. The heart muscle in the left ventricle (the part that pumps out the blood) becomes thickened and overgrown. This hypertrophy of the left ventricle further compromises the health of the cardiovascular system.

Describe Identity Process theory and differentiate between identity accommodation, association and balance. How are thresholds related to this model?

Identity process theory: Proposes that identity continues to change in adulthood in a dynamic manner. Identity accommodation: When people make changes in their identities in response to experiences that challenge their current view of themselves. Identity association: Identity balance: Refers to the dynamic equilibrium that occurs when people tend to view themselves consistently but can make changes when called for by their experiences. The multiple threshold model of change in adulthood proposes that individuals realize that they are getting older through a stepwise process as aging-related changes occur. Each age-related change brings with it the potential for another threshold to be crossed. Whatever the area of greatest relevance, at the point of crossing a threshold, people are prompted to recognize the reality of the aging process in that particular area of functioning. It is during the process of moving from identity assimilation to identity accommodation through the occurrence of these thresholds that a new state of balance is reached. Ultimately, people will only be able to adapt to age-related changes once they have examined the meaning of the change and incorporated it into their existing view of the self. The unhealthy type of identity assimilation occurs when people ignore warning signs that the changes their body is going through require attention. Theoretically, identity accommodation helps to keep identity assimilation in check. However, people who conclude that one small age change means they are "over the hill" may be just as likely to avoid taking preventive actions as those who engage in unhealthy denial.

When may identity assimilation be negative? How may identity accommodation help?

If an individual is using it to bolster a negative, not a positive, view of the self. Such as people who suffer from chronic depression who often have an unduly pessimistic outlook on their identities, focusing on their weaknesses rather than their strengths. In that case, identity accommodation can help them develop a more realistically positive set of schemas about their personal characteristics and strengths. Another negative circumstance would be if people are refusing to incorporate their experiences into their positive view of their identity, therefore stunting growth and avoiding accepting imperfections.

How does exercise and other lifestyle choices (such as smoking) impact lipid metabolism:

Improvements in blood pressure associated with short-term training may in part reflect the favourable effect that exercise has on enhancing lipid metabolism. Exercise increases high-density lipoproteins (HDLs), the plasma lipid transport mechanism that carries lipids from the peripheral tissues to the liver, where they are excreted or synthesized into bile acids. In contrast, low- density lipoproteins (LDLs) transport cholesterol to the arteries. The ideal combination in terms of heart health is a low overall blood cholesterol level, in which HDLs are greater than LDLs. As is true for the effects of exercise on aerobic power and muscle strength, even moderate levels of exercise can have a beneficial impact on cholesterol metabolism. Conversely, smoking has deleterious effects on cholesterol, leading to decreased HDLs and increased LDLs, as well as the accumulation of other harmful forms of fat in the blood.

Growth of centenarians: Canada

In 2001, an estimated 3,795 people over the age of 100 lived in Canada. By 2011 this number increased to 5,825, and by 2051 they are predicted to increase eight times to 49,300

How does smoking lead to/lack of smoking prevent cardiovascular disease?

In 2011, 17.3 percent of Canadians 15 years of age and older were smokers. Tobacco smoking is the leading preventable cause of death, with 100 Canadians dying of a smoking-related disease every day. The highest smoking rates are found among those aged 25 to 34 (23.8 percent) and 20 to 24 (21.5 percent), decreasing to 9 percent for those aged 65 and older Public Health Agency of Canada, 2010. It is very possible that smoking rates are lower among seniors—in part, because smokers are less likely to survive. Smoking is a major risk factor for heart disease. Although it is not known exactly why smoking increases the risk of heart disease, most researchers believe that smoking damages the arteries, making them more vulnerable to plaque formation and ultimately leading to the deleterious changes we outlined earlier. Although having long-lived parents is related to a lower level of cardiovascular risk factors, the benefits of heredity are offset among women who smoke.

terminal decline (selective attrition):

In a process called terminal decline, individuals gradually lose cognitive abilities as they draw closer to death. After that point, they quite obviously cannot be tested, yet while they were in the sample in their declining years, they may have pulled down the group's average. The researcher may erroneously conclude that participants in the sample "improved" when in reality, the sicker and perhaps less motivated are simply gone from the sample, leaving the higher-performing top scorers remaining. You can compare this to a marathon run. As the race nears its conclusion, only the hardiest remain on their feet to make it to the finish line. If you had measured the finishers at the beginning of the race, they would have scored higher than the dropouts on such critical factors as endurance and speed.

cross-sectional designs:

In a study using a cross-sectional design, researchers compare groups of people with different ages at one point in time. Typically, older adults (ages 60 or 65 and higher) are compared with younger adults (often of college age). The cross-sectional design is by far the more frequently used research method in the field of developmental science in general, but particularly in research on aging.

Longitudinal design:

In a study using a longitudinal design, people are followed repeatedly from one test occasion to another. By observing and studying people as they age, researchers aim to determine whether participants have changed over time as a result of the aging process.

Race/ethnicity and risk factors for developing cancer:

In addition to a person's lifestyle and history of disease, people's race and ethnicity may contribute to certain types of cancers. Skin cancer is more likely to develop in people with fair skin that freckles easily; black people are less likely to develop any form of skin cancer. Uterine cancer is more prevalent among people of European descent, and prostate cancer is more prevalent among black people. Stomach cancer is twice as prevalent in men and is more common in black people, as is colon cancer. Rectal cancer is more prevalent among Caucasians.

Which older individuals are more likely to experience falls?

In addition to experiencing changes in balance, people who are more likely to fall have a history of previous falls, are weaker, have impaired gait, and are more likely to be on medications. Older individuals who have more difficulty detecting body position are more likely to lose their balance or fail to see a step or an obstacle in their path on a level surface.

cataracts:

In addition to experiencing normal age-related changes in vision, older people become increasingly vulnerable to visual disorders. In fact, about half of adults over the age of 65 report that they have experienced some form of visual impairment. The most common impairment is a cataract, a clouding or opacity in the lens. This results in blurred or distorted vision because the retina cannot clearly focus the images. The term "cataract" reflects a previous view of this condition as a "waterfall" behind the eye that obscured vision. The main form of eye disease, cataracts, affects about 17 percent of the over-40 population. Cataracts usually start as a gradual cloudiness that progressively grows more opaque and bothersome. Although they are most often white, they may also appear to be yellow or brownish in colour. If the cataracts have a yellow or brown tone, colours will take on a yellow tinge similar to the effect of wearing coloured sunglasses. Cataracts appear to develop as a normal part of the aging process, but other than the changes that occur in the lens fibres, their cause is not known. Factors such as heredity, prior injury, and diabetes may play roles in cataract formation. Cigarette smoking and nutritional deficits are additional risk factors for the development of cataracts. Evidence suggests that a high intake of carbohydrates may increase the probability of a person developing cataracts. Conversely, taking vitamin C may reduce the chance of their formation.

archival research:

In archival research, investigators use existing resources that contain data relevant to a question about aging. The archives might consist of a governmental data bank, or the records kept by an institution, school, or employer. Another source of archival data is newspaper or magazine reports. An advantage of archival research is that the information is readily accessible, especially given the growth of web-based data sets, including those from Statistics Canada. Data files can be downloaded directly from the Internet, or publications can be accessed using portable document files (PDFs) that are easily read and searched. Disadvantages are that the researcher does not necessarily have control over the form of the data. For instance, a governmental agency may keep records of employment by age that do not include information on specific occupations of interest to the researcher. Another disadvantage is that the material may not be systematically collected or recorded. Newspaper or school records, for example, may have information that is biased or incomplete.

meta-analysis:

In comparing the findings across investigations that examined similar phenomena, researchers can take advantage of meta-analysis, a statistical procedure that allows them to combine findings from independently conducted studies. i.e. For example, it is common for multiple researchers to test the effect of a particular psychological treatment such as psychotherapy. The investigator who conducts the meta-analysis sets criteria for including particular studies, such as the type of therapy, use of similar outcome measures, and gender distribution of the sample. Then the investigator calculates a statistic that reflects the extent of the therapy's effect, known as the "effect size." This statistic can then be used to estimate, across studies, the statistical significance of the outcomes observed in the studies included in the analysis. Studies on aging also benefit from meta-analysis. In these cases, investigations that include estimates of age differences or age changes can then be compared using a single statistic. That statistic then provides an estimate that incorporates all the studies that the researcher includes. Meta-analysis is far superior to the approaches previously used, in which researchers would have no statistical basis for comparing one study with another. Although somewhat rare at this point in the field, with the accumulation of more research investigating similar problems, meta-analyses may become more common and therefore provide a more accurate picture of how a given variable or set of variables changes over the adult years.

Independent vs. dependent variable:

In scientific research in general, the dependent variable is the outcome that researchers observe. The independent variable is the factor that the researcher manipulates.

Summary of aging changes to the cardiovascular system:

In summary, although there are a number of deleterious cardiovascular changes associated with aging, they are by no means uniformly negative. More important, there are many ways that you can both prevent and compensate for these changes. With regard to aerobic functioning, exercise is one of the best ways you can slow down the rate of your body's aging process.

microsystem: ecological model

In the center the setting in which people have their daily interactions and which therefore have the most direct impact on their lives

What happens to the cardiovascular system with aging?

In the heart itself, the left ventricle is the chamber that pumps the oxygenated blood out to the arteries, and its performance is therefore key to the efficiency of the entire cardiovascular system. However, because of a combination of aging of the muscle and changes in the arteries themselves, the walls of the left ventricle lose their ability to contract enough to accomplish an efficient distribution of blood through the arteries. The arteries accommodate less blood flow, which in turn further stresses the left ventricle. The reason the arteries accommodate less blood flow is that fats circulating throughout the blood eventually form hard deposits inside the arterial walls known as plaque.

observational methods:

In the observational method, researchers draw conclusions about behaviour through careful and systematic examination in particular settings. Recordings may be made using videotapes or behavioural records. In one type of observational method known as participant-observation, the researcher participates in the activities of the respondents. i.e. For example, a researcher may wish to find out about the behaviour of staff in a nursing home. The researcher may spend several days living with people in the nursing home. The researcher's subjective experiences would become part of the "data." There are elaborate procedures available for creating behavioural records in which the researcher precisely defines the behaviour to be observed (the number of particular acts) and specifies the times during which records will be made. This procedure may be used to determine whether an intervention is having its intended effects. i.e. For example, if an investigator is testing a method to reduce aggressive behaviour in people with Alzheimer's disease, behavioural records could be made before and after the intervention is introduced. After observing the effects of the intervention, the method's effectiveness could be determined by a return to the baseline condition to assess whether the aggressive behaviour increases without the intervention.

What are the behavioral risk factors for a chronic disease?

Includes a sedentary lifestyle, smoking, alcohol use, and unhealthy diet.

Foreign-born population (immigrant population)

Includes permanent residents and citizens who were born outside of Canada but exclude persons born outside of Canada who are Canadian citizens at birth (which are part of the non-immigrant population).

How does stress impact human health and aging? What does the research on stress and telomeres tell us?

Indirect effects: via health behaviors (i.e. diet, sleep patterns, etc.) Direct effects on physiological function Stress: a negative emotional experience accompanied by predictable biochemical, physiological, cognitive, and behavioral changes Psychological stress is a subjective experience that is dependent on the interaction between the individual and the environment Any circumstances that threaten or are perceived to threaten one's well-being and that thereby tax one's coping abilities and resources If we have the coping abilities to deal with the event that is occurring we are much less likely to feel stressed Stress' impact on telomeres: Study results: -the length of caregiving for the women dealing with a chronically ill child was correlated with the length of the telomeres -Independent of whether the individual was caring for a sick child or not, the mothers that reported greater stress had lower length of telomeres -Even found that mother's under high stress gave birth to babies with shorter telomeres

Changes are continuous over the lifespan means...

Individuals remain the "same" even though they change

How can relying too heavily on identity accommodation have destructive consequences?

Individuals who define themselves entirely on the basis of their experiences, such as being viewed negatively by others, may be devastated by an event when they feel rejected. In this case, you would benefit from ignoring those experiences that unrealistically cause you to question yourself.

What diseases are inherited mutations responsible for?

Inherited mutations are responsible for diseases such as cystic fibrosis and sickle cell anemia. They also may predispose an individual to developing cancer, major psychiatric illnesses, and other complex diseases.

symptoms of osteoarthritis:

Injury or repeated impact contributes to osteoarthritis by thinning or wearing away the cartilage that cushions the ends of the bones in the joint as they rub together. The synovial fluid that fills the joint loses its shock-absorbing properties as well, further contributing to the development of osteoarthritis. Bony spurs and joint swelling also develop as the disease progresses. These changes in the joint structures and tissues cause the individual to experience pain and loss of movement.

How does the immune systems change as we age? What are the possible consequences?

Innate immunity (Rapid response) Adaptive immunity (slow response) These cells learn what the specific pathogen is and it won't respond the first time, but rather learns about it and at the next exposure it builds up a specific response to a specific virus or bacteria Takes longer to develop but next time that pathogen is encountered it responds better and quicker (i.e. why we use vaccines) Immunosenescence: refers to the gradual deterioration of the immune system brought on by natural age advancement. Difficult to isolate the impact of aging on the function of the immune system because there are other things that appear to impact the immune system too (i.e. nutrition, exercise, lifestyle, etc.)

What are the two differences in reference to individuality?

Inter-individual differences and intra-individual differences

"Normal" aging is different from disease means...

Intrinsic aging processes are different from those associated with illness

Visible minority

Is defined in the Employment Equity Act as "persons, other than Aboriginal peoples, who are non-Caucasian in race or non-white in colour.". In Canada this includes primarily: Chinese, South Asian, Black, Arab, West Asian, Filipino, Southeast Asian, Latin American, Japanese, and Korean. In addition, Aboriginal populations are composed of three distinct groups: First Nations, Inuit, and Metis.

The value in using chronological age to describe an individual:

It has some value, however, like other descriptive features of a person, i.e. gender, eye color, it is the social meaning attached to chronological age that often outweighs any intrinsic usefulness and people at the same age can vary substantially from one another as well as people of different ages can be more similar to each other than their differing age might lead you to expect. Basically...the units of chronological age are not inherently tied to the aging process i.e. "30 is the new 20" capture the difficulty of defining age based solely on a number..

Fear of falling and the vicious cycle:

It is natural that people who have a painful and perhaps frightening experience with a fall become anxious in a subsequent situation where they feel insecure; subsequently they become even more unsteady in their gait. The fear of falling can create a vicious cycle in which older individuals increasingly restrict their movement. When they become less physically active, they risk further losing their strength, which in turn increases the risk of a fall. You can think of fear of falling as a form of low self-efficacy as much as an actual fear. The individual is convinced that he or she lacks the ability to avoid a fall.

coronary (ischemic) heart disease:

It is possible to live with atherosclerosis and not encounter significant health problems. However, people who have atherosclerosis will eventually build up so much plaque in a particular artery that blood no longer reaches its destination. The organs or tissues that are fed by that artery will then suffer serious damage as a result of the lack of blood supply. When this process affects arteries that feed the heart muscle, the individual is said to have coronary (or ischemic) heart disease.

How might we define adult?

It might be wise to recommend that we set the entry into adulthood on the basis of the individual's having reached the chronological age associated with the expectations and privileges of a given society or subculture. i.e. In Canada, individuals may be considered to have reached adulthood when they can vote, drink, drive, and get married...for most provinces this is 18 or 19. However, in the U.S. this may be 21.

Who is the oldest documented living human?

Jeanne Louise Calment lived till 122

Example of unique social clock: John Glenn:

Joined space shuttle Discovery crew on nine-day orbital mission at the age of 77.

What lifestyle factors may prevent cardiovascular diseases?

Lifestyle factors contribute significantly to all forms of heart disease. Even people who have a strong genetic predisposition to cardiovascular disease can reduce (or increase) their risk through the choices they make on a daily basis. There are four main risk factors in terms of cardiovascular disease: smoking, exercise, diet, and alcohol consumption.

How do teeth change with aging?

Loss of enamel surface leads the teeth to become yellow as stains accumulate from a lifetime's intake of coffee and tea, certain types of food, and—for smokers—tobacco. With increasing age, many people lose their teeth, a process which affects not only their appearance, but is also related to aspects of their health in general. In Canada, data from 2009 indicated that 21.7 percent of adults between the ages of 60 and 79 had no natural teeth. This percentage is significantly lower than in data from 1990, which showed that 43 percent of people in this age group had no natural teeth (Statistics Canada, 2010). This is largely a result of the widespread use of fluorides in Canada and improved access to dental care, at least for those who can afford it. Nevertheless, some changes in the teeth are bound to occur—if not in the teeth, then in the gums.

Sandra Scarr

Made a contribution to the nature-nurture debate that changed the tone developmental psychologist that introduced the concept of niche-picking (Scarr & McCartney, 1983).

Activities of daily living (ADL):

Many health researchers and practitioners find it useful to assess an older adult's ability to perform activities of daily living (ADL), which are the individual's ability to complete the tasks of bathing, dressing, transferring, using the toilet, and eating. These measures provide a functional assessment of health status by indicating the degree of independence the individual can maintain, whether living at home or in an institution.

Challenges with minority groups in Canada and aging:

Many older family members that come to Canada face language barriers and a variety of new customs and traditions, making them vulnerable to social exclusion, loneliness, and isolation. i.e. there is evidence that rates of depression among older Chinese immigrants are nearly twice those found in the general elderly Canadian population.

How to speak to an individual with hearing loss:

Many people talking to an older adult (with or with- out hearing loss) tend to overcompensate and raise their voices unnecessarily high. This has the unfortunate effect of interfering with the speech signal. It is also important for the speaker to enunciate carefully, speak in a low tone (to offset presbycusis) and look straight at the older adult. Most importantly, if you're the speaker, you should avoid talking to the person as if he or she is a child. This also includes referring to the individual in the third person or leaving the person out of the conversation altogether (based on the assumption that he or she can't hear). Providing context is also useful, because this provides additional cues for the listener about your topic of conversation. You can also gauge whether you are being understood by paying careful attention to how the other person is responding to you, both verbally and nonverbally. Finally, rather than becoming frustrated or upset with the listener, maintaining a positive and patient attitude will encourage the listener to remain more engaged in the conversation.

Distinguish between lifespan, life expectancy, active and dependent life expectancy. What factors influence life expectancy?

Maximum Longevity (aka lifespan): the oldest age to which any individual of a species lives. Average Longevity (aka average life expectancy): refers to the age at which "half" of the individuals who are born in a particular year will have died. Active life expectancy (aka healthspan): refers to years living in a healthy state Dependent life expectancy: refers to remaining years living in a dependent state Genetics Gender: -In developed countries women tend to live about 5 years longer than men: Possible reasons may include: *Biological differences (women have two x chromosomes and men tend to have more infections, immune problems as they age) *Lifestyle differences: men tend to engage in more risky behaviors, smoke and drink more, and other poorer lifestyle habits than women etc. *Types of work they have engaged in the past (logging, fishing, roofing, etc. pose greater risks for accidents)/more men enlisted in war *In certain underdeveloped countries women unfortunately die during childbirth because of lack of proper medical care or are less valued than men (i.e. horrible fact that infanticide of girls still occurs in some places). Environment Country of Residence (place of living): -Things that have a great impact on life longevity include our healthcare system, socioeconomic status, living in peace, etc.

How can flexibility exercises help those already experiencing joint damage?

Middle-aged individuals already experiencing joint damage can benefit from flexibility exercises that expand a stiff joint's range of motion. Exercise that strengthens the muscles supporting the joint also helps to improve its functioning. Both kinds of exercise have the additional benefit of stimulating circulation to the joints, thereby enhancing the blood supply that promotes repair processes in the tendons, ligaments, and surfaces of the exercising areas.

How might researchers get around problems with longitudinal studies?

Most importantly, investigators need to monitor and maintain their databases of contact information. Administrative personnel whose job it is to retain study participants can maintain the "care and feeding" of the sample in between testing occasions. Research staff may send out greeting cards for holidays and birthdays, or update participants on study progress via newsletters and emails. Many longitudinal studies use websites to allow participants to engage interactively. Creating a personal touch encourages respondents to continue their involvement and also enables investigators to keep better track of moves, deaths, or email address changes. The problem of having to wait years, if not decades, for results can also be partly overcome. Investigators often publish multiple studies from the same investigation, some of which may be spinoffs addressing slightly different research questions. They can also look at analyses based on measures taken at the same testing point that are not dependent on the longitudinal analyses.

musculoskeletal disorders:

Musculoskeletal diseases include a range of conditions that develop in the bones and joints. Not fatal in and of themselves, these diseases can be crippling and may lead to injury or bodily harm that can eventually lead to the death of the afflicted individual.

What is mitochondrial DNA? Who is mitochondrial DNA inherited from?

Mutations can also occur in the mitochondrial DNA, which is the DNA found in the tiny structures within the cell called mitochondria. These structures are crucial to the functioning of the cell because they are involved in producing cellular energy. Unlike DNA found elsewhere in the cell, mitochondrial DNA is inherited solely from the mother.

Is there an age limit to strength training?

No, there seems to be no age limit to who can benefit, as adults in their 90s also show improvement in muscle strength after training.

Primary aging

Normal aging refers to the normal changes over time that occur due to universal, intrinsic, and progressive alterations in the body's system. i.e. skin wrinkling

characteristics of diabetes:

Normally, the digestive process breaks food down into components that can be transported through the blood to the cells of the body. The presence of glucose in the blood stimulates the beta cells of the pancreas to release insulin, a hormone that acts as a key at the cell receptors within the body to "open the cell doors" to let in the glucose. Excess glucose is stored in the liver or throughout the body in muscle and fat, at which point its level in the blood returns to normal. In Type 2 diabetes, the pancreas produces some insulin, but the body's tissues fail to respond to the insulin signal, a condition known as insulin resistance. Because the insulin cannot bind to the cell's insulin receptors, the glucose cannot be transported into the body's cells to be used. Eventually the excess glucose overflows into the urine and is excreted. The body therefore loses a main source of energy, while large amounts of glucose remain in the blood.

Differentiate between personal and social forms of aging, including normative age-graded, normative history graded and non-normative.

Normative age-graded influences: lead people to choose experiences that their culture and historical period attach to certain ages or points in the life-span. Normative history graded influences: Events that occur for everyone within a certain culture or geopolitical unit (regardless of age), and include large-scale occurrences such as world wars, economic trends, or sociocultural changes in attitudes and values. Non-normative influences: The random idiosyncratic events that occur throughout life.

obesity and osteoarthritis:

Obesity is another risk factor for osteoarthritis, because the extra weight of the obese person's body puts stress on the joints in the lower part of the body. Individuals who are obese are four times more likely to have knee osteoarthritis than the general population. Researchers followed patients with osteoarthritis who underwent bariatric (or weight loss) surgery to assess the effect on knee symptoms and saw significant improvement in the arthritis symptoms at 6 and 12 months post-surgery.

Terror management theory:

Of the many possible causes of ageism, perhaps the root is that we view older adults negatively because they remind us of the inevitability of our own mortality. According to terror management theory, people regard with panic and dread the thought of the finitude of their lives. They engage in defensive mechanisms to protect themselves from the anxiety and threats to self-esteem that this awareness produces. Younger people therefore unconsciously wish to distance themselves as much as possible from older adults. Having acquired ageist attitudes when younger, older adults themselves may express ageist beliefs because they wish to distance themselves from what they have come to learn is a devalued social identity.

Visual acuity and aging:

Older adults are also likely to experience the loss of visual acuity, or the ability to see details at a distance. The level of acuity in an 85-year-old individual is approximately 80 percent less than that of a person in his or her 40s. Increasing the level of illumination is an effective strategy to compensate for loss of acuity, but at the same time, older adults are more sensitive to glare. For example, older drivers are more vulnerable to the glare caused by the lights of oncoming traffic on a dark road at night or the light of the setting sun shining directly on the windshield. As a result, making lights brighter may actually impair rather than improve an older person's visual acuity.

Inoculation hypothesis:

Older minorities and women have actually become immune to the effects of ageism through years of exposure to discrimination and stereotyping. The upper-income white male may actually find it more difficult to accept stereotypes of ageism than the low-income minority women, according to this argument, because she is used to being treated as a less desirable member of society after years of discrimination.

treatment for osteoporosis:

Once an individual develops osteoporosis, there are a variety of medications currently available to slow or stop bone loss, increase bone density, and reduce fracture risk. The bisphosphonate known as alendronate is a medication used to increase bone density. Unfortunately, it can have serious side effects, particularly bone loss in the jaw. The naturally occurring hormone calcitonin may also be given to help regulate calcium and bone metabolism. However, calcitonin may actually cause bone pain and set off other unpleasant side effects. A deficiency of sex hormones, in both men and women, may be a contributing cause of osteoporosis; as discussed above, the risks of hormone replacement therapy need to be weighed against the gains in preserving bone health. Calcitrol, though linked to risks involving buildup of calcium byproducts in the body, may also prove to be effective when combined with other treatments. Interestingly, certain types of alcohol may be preventive for women. In a study of beer drinkers compared to women who drank no beer or other forms of alcohol, it was the women who consumed beer who had the lowest rates of osteoporosis, perhaps because beer contains a form of estrogen.

How does life span contribute to programmed aging theories?

One argument long used to support programmed aging theories is based on the fact that species live to different maximum ages. The fact that life spans vary so systematically across species supports the role of genetics in the aging process, according to many biologists.

What causes a systematic bias that exaggerates the extent of age differences in performance studies?

One intriguing implication of the changes in circadian rhythm with age is the possible confound that time of day presents in studies of aging and cognitive functioning. Older adults tested at their non-optimal hours (such as late afternoon) are more disproportionately affected than are young adults. This can result in a systematic bias that exaggerates the extent of age differences in performance. The effect of time of day on memory performance is less pronounced among older adults who engage in regular patterns of physical activity than their sedentary peers.

Activity theory:

One of the guiding frameworks regarding age and role satisfaction is based on activity theory, which is the view that older adults are more satisfied if they are able to remain involved in their social roles. If forced to give up their roles, they will lose a major source of identity as well as their social connections. According to activity theory, older adults should be given as many opportunities as possible to be engaged in their work, families, and community.

Prolonged sitting and harmful effects on the body:

One of the more recent and interesting findings focuses on the deleterious effects of prolonged sitting, for example, on the computer, watching TV, and playing video games. The Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS, 2010) poses this question on its website: "Why is there so much fuss being made about sitting?" It cites the widespread trend toward mechanization and automation in the workplace. In addition, the growing popularity of video and online gaming has created an epidemic of sedentary "couch potatoes." The CCOHS reports many harmful effects of prolonged sitting, including disorders in blood circulation, musculoskeletal injuries, reduced heart and lung efficiency, digestive problems, and generally decreased fitness.

The most efficient design:

One of the most influential articles to be published in the field of adult development and aging was the landmark work by psychologist K. Warner Schaie (1965), in which he outlined what would later be called the Most Efficient Design, a set of three designs manipulating the variables of age, cohort, and time of measurement. It is "most efficient" because it enables the most amount of information to be condensed into the most inclusive data framework. Researchers organize their data by constructing a table that combines year of birth (cohort) with year of testing (time of measurement). The three designs that make up the Most Efficient Design and the respective factors they include are the time-sequential design (age by time of measurement), the cohort-sequen- tial design (cohort by age), and the cross-sequential design (cohort by time of measurement). When all three designs are analyzed, they make it theoretically possible for the researcher to obtain separate statistical estimates of the effects of each of the three factors. Schaie and his collaborators have employed such techniques in the Seattle Longitudinal Study, a large-scale study of intelligence. Thus, depending on the pattern of significant effects, the researcher may be able to draw conclusions about the relative influences of personal and historical aging on test performance. For example, if age effects are significant in the time-sequential and cohort-sequential designs and not in the cross-sequential design, then a strong argument can be made for the possibility of "true" aging effects. Another scenario involves significant effects of time of measurement in both the time-sequential and cross-sequential designs, patterns that suggest it was the time in history rather than the age of the participants that most influenced the pattern of scores. Similarly, if the cohort factor is significant in the two designs in which it is used and significant age or time-of-measurement effects are not observed, then the researcher may look at early childhood environmental factors in these samples.

atherosclerosis:

One of the most pervasive cardiac/cerebrovascular conditions. Aa term that derives from the Greek words athero (meaning paste) and sclerosis (meaning hardness). In atherosclerosis, fatty deposits collect at an abnormally high rate, substantially reducing the width of the arteries and limiting the circulation of the blood.

What areas of society relevant to gender have become a limiting factor for women adult development?

Opportunities in education and employment are two main areas in which gender influences the course of adult development and becomes a limiting factor for women. Women continue to face a more restricted range of choices and the prospects of lower earnings than do men. Furthermore, these differences are important to consider when studying the current generation of older adults, as they were raised in an era with more traditional gender expectations.

What are the three prominent models in developmental science?

Organismic Mechanistic and Interactionist

How does religion play a role in adult development?

Organized religions form an alternative set of social structures that are partly connected with ethnicity. More importantly, religion provides many people with a source of coping strategies, social support in times of crisis, and a systematic basis for interpreting life experiences. There is relatively little research on the role of organized religion in the lives of aging adults, and even less on spirituality and its role in middle and later adulthood.

Plastic surgery and botox:

Other anti-aging treatments for the face can only be provided by a plastic surgeon or dermatologist. The most popular is the injection of botulinum toxin (Botox). In a Botox treatment, a syringe containing a small amount of a nerve poison is injected into the area of concern, such as around the eyes or in the middle of the fore- head muscle. This paralyzes the muscle, relaxing the skin around it and causing a temporary reduction in the appearance of the wrinkle. Although cosmetics companies have invested heavily in finding over-the-counter alternatives to botox, at present there are no substitutes for this procedure. A host of other interventions are performed by dermatologists and plastic surgeons, such as injections of artificial fillers, laser resurfacing treatments, and micro- dermabrasion. Increasingly, products that simulate these procedures are being introduced into the market so that in coming years, people who seek to reverse or alter the course of their face's aging will have a wider variety of affordable and convenient options.

How does skin become less flexible and more susceptible to damage?

Over time, collagen undergoes the cross-linking process we described in Chapter 2, leading to the skin becoming less flexible. Elastin, a molecule that is supposed to provide flexibility, becomes less able to return to its original shape after it is stretched during the person's movements. With the changes in collagen and elastin, the skin eventually can no longer return to its original state of tension and begins to sag. At the same time, the sebaceous glands, which normally provide oils that lubricate the skin, become less active. Consequently, the skin surface becomes drier and more vulnerable to damage from being rubbed or chafed.

Personal vs. social aging

Over time, the changes we see within the individual represents the unique blend of personal and social aging Within the category of social aging, the changes that take place in an individual's life can reflect a multitude of interacting factors. At any one time, the individual's life reflects one or more of three basic categories of social influences. The influences, identified by psychologist Paul Baltes, include normative age-graded influences, normative history-graded influences, and non-normative influences.

Why do people lose bone at varying rates? Does everyone lose bone mineral?

People lose bone at varying rates as a result of a number of other causes. Genetic factors are estimated to account for as much as 70 percent of bone mineral content in adulthood. Consequently, not all older adults experience loss of bone mineral; i.e. in one longitudinal study of aging and bone mineral density, a subset of older adult women showed no significant bone loss. Heavier people in general have higher bone mineral content, so that they lose less in adulthood, particularly in the weight-bearing limbs involved in mobility. However, the amount of muscle mass rather than the weight is important, since greater fat mass is related to higher loss of bone mineral content. Perhaps reflecting their greater mobility, people living in rural areas have higher bone density than people living in cities. Osteoporosis Canada (2014) reports that bone loss affects both men and women, beginning in their mid-30s. However, women lose bone at a greater rate, as they approach menopause, from 2 to 3 percent per year. Environmental factors also play a role in maintaining bone health. People who live in climates with sharp demarcations between the seasons appear to be more likely to suffer from earlier onset of bone loss; for example, people living in Norway have among the highest rates of bone fracture of anyone in the world.

Centenarians

People over the age of 100 becoming more and more commonly represented in the population

osteoporosis:

People steadily lose bone mineral content throughout the decades of adulthood. This loss of bone mineral content occurs because of an imbalance between the rates of bone resorption and bone growth. Osteoporosis (literally, "porous bone") is said to occur when the bone mineral density reaches a point that is more than 2.5 standard deviations below the mean of young, white, non-Hispanic women.

Supercentenarians

People who are 110 and older It won't be long before reaching the age of a supercentenarian is more prominant

What may be a negative aspect of the social clock?

People who may see themselves as "off-time" with regard to the social clock may become distressed, especially when they are criticized by others who expect people to follow the normative prescriptions for their age group. Non-events, which are the failure to experience an expected life change, may have as much of an influence on an individuals life as actual events.

How to minimize the effects of aging on the lungs?

People who want to minimize the effects of aging on the lungs can use two main strategies: -The first may be the most obvious to stay away from or quit smoking cigarettes. People who smoke lose more forced expiratory volume in later adulthood than those who do not. This causes them to have an older so-called "lung age". Although it is better to quit smoking than continue smoking, there are unfortunately deleterious changes in the body's cells that remain for at least several decades after a person has quit smoking. Maintaining a low BMI is the second way to preserve the functioning of the respiratory system. Researchers have determined that obesity is related to poorer respiratory functioning.

chronic emphysema

People with chronic emphysema are more likely to develop frequent and severe respiratory infections, narrowing and plugging of the bronchi, difficulty breathing, and disability; loss of elasticity in the alveoli. Chronic emphysema is a lung disease that causes permanent destruction of the alveoli. Elastin within the terminal bronchioles is destroyed, causing the airways to lose their ability to become enlarged during inspiration and to empty completely during expiration. The result is that the exchange of carbon dioxide and oxygen becomes compromised. People with COPD experience this situation as shortness of breath, making it difficult for them to complete the tasks of daily life.

diabetes:

People with diabetes are unable to metabolize glucose, a simple sugar that is a major source of energy for the body's cells. Adult-onset diabetes, also known as Type 2 diabetes, develops over time, gradually reducing the individual's ability to convert dietary glucose to a form that can be used by the body's cells.

treatment and osteoarthritis:

People with osteoarthritis require pain management. Medications used to help alleviate the pain of osteoarthritis include aspirin, acetaminophen, ibuprofen, and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). Although these can help alleviate the individual's pain, NSAIDs can create their own set of problems. People who take NSAIDs on a chronic basis are at risk for kidney disease as well as ulcers. Another strategy is to inject corticosteroids directly into joints to reduce swelling and inflammation. These drugs are used sparingly, however, because they can themselves destroy bones and cartilage. Even the best pain medications only alleviate symptoms; they do not provide a cure for the disease. More active forms of treatment are increasingly becoming available to treat osteoarthritis. One approach is to receive an injection of a synthetic material into an arthritic joint to replace the loss of synovial fluid. A second option is to have sodium hyaluronate injected directly into the joint. This is a version of a chemical normally present in high amounts in joints and fluids. When these pain or injectable treatments no longer produce relief, the individual with osteoarthritis may undergo the total replacement of the affected joint. Although hip or knee replacement surgery may seem like a drastic measure, it is one that typically proves highly satisfactory. Following the surgery, many individuals are not only able to lead pain-free lives, but are also able to resume some of their former activities.

Measures to limit baldness:

Pharmaceutical companies are actively working to find a solution for baldness. The multitude of products designed to stop or mask the balding process range from chemicals applied directly to the scalp, most notably topical minoxidil (Rogaine), to herbal remedies and surgically implanted hair plugs. Available by prescription only, oral finasteride (Propecia) is another alternative. Although there is no "cure" for grey hair or baldness, improvements in products that stimulate hair growth and the production of melanin are probably not far off. Researchers are currently investigating the efficacy of a steroid used in treating a condition in which the prostate gland becomes enlarged (which we discuss later in the chapter) as a way to reverse hair loss in men.

Why are sex and gender important in the study of adult development and aging?

Physiological factors relevant to sex influence the timing and nature of physical aging processes, primarily through the operation of sex hormones. For example, estrogen is though to play at least some role in affecting a woman's risk of heart disease, bone loss, and possible cognitive changes.

What determines how well a person's digestive system will function later in life?

Physiology is not the only determinant that regulates how well a person's digestive system functions in later life. There are many lifestyle factors that change in middle and later adulthood which contribute to overall digestive health. For example, families typically become smaller as children move out of the home, financial resources may decrease when people retire, and age-related mobility and cognitive problems can make cooking a more difficult task for the older adult to manage. As a result, the older adult may be less motivated to eat, or to eat a healthy diet. Unfortunately, by being exposed to constant advertising about the need for older adults to use dietary supplements, digestive aids, and laxatives, older adults may suffer changes that could otherwise be avoided. The best way for older adults to maintain their digestive health is to eat a diet that includes a balance among foods containing protein, complex carbohydrates, and fats. As you will see later, the Mediterranean diet is perhaps the easiest and tastiest way to maintain adequate and healthy nutrition.

Schemas

Piaget Development involves continuous growth of the individual's knowledge about the world through a set of opposing, complementary processes. These processes target schemas, the mental structures we use to understand the world. Children's schemas change and mature as they explore their environment-a process which, ideally, helps them to bring their schemas increasingly into tune with reality.

"Age-friendly" communities:

Places in Canada where physical and social environments support active aging, helping seniors live healthy and engaged lives For example, age-friendly communities have out-door spaces that are accessible and well designed for seniors, public transportation that is affordable and accessible, adequate health and community supports, and opportunities for social interaction

Gompertz function:

Plots the relationship between age and death rates for a given species to clearly illustrate variations in life span among species. The originator, Benjamin Gompertz, was an 18th-century British mathematician who worked as an actuary, a profession where the financial impact of risk is calculated. In 1825, he applied calculus to mortality data and showed that the mortality rate increases in a geometric progression with age. When plotted as a logarithmic function, it takes the form of a straight line.

Programmed aging theories:

Programmed aging theories propose that aging and death are built into the hardwiring of all organisms and therefore are part of the genetic code. Every living organism has, then, "aging genes" that count off the years past maturity, just as "development genes" lead to the point of maturity in youth.

What evidence supports programmed aging theories?

Programmed theory is the idea that aging is genetically programmed to occur with time, and this process of deterioration eventually leads to death. Programmed theory also has specific sub-theories, such as: Endocrine theory. Programmed senescence theory. Immunological theory. -Aging and death are encoded within our genes -Genetic timing mechanism triggers declines in physiological function (such as puberty triggering certain genetic mechanisms) Evidence: -Species specific/differing life spans suggests that there is something encoded in our particular genes that triggers it.

Ecological perspective

Proposed by developmentalist Urie Bronfenbrenner in 1994; identifies multiple levels of the environment as they affect the individual over time; defines five systems of the environment which interact in there influence on the individual The individual is aware of some of these influences but the farther from the center, the less likely the individual is to have direct experiences with those systems

The age-as-leveler view:

Proposes that as people become older, age overrides all other "isms". Older adults, whatever their prior status in life was, all become victims of the same stereotypes. Meaning, regardless of minority status, gender, or other social characteristics, all older adults are viewed in the same harshly negative light. This argument would mean older adults are somehow protected from multiple jeopardy.

Organismic model

Proposes that hereditary drives the course of development throughout life "nature" side of the debate Changes over time occur because the individual is programmed to exhibit certain behaviors at certain ages with distinct differences between stages of life Nature of change: qualitative Contribution of organism: Active Main force in development: Biological (intrinsic) i.e. theories proposing that development is the result of ontogenetic changes

Identity Process Theory:

Proposes that identity continues to change in adulthood in a dynamic manner We assume that people approach their experiences from the vantage point provided by identity

Mechanistic model

Proposes that people's behavior changes gradually over time, shaped by the outside forces that cause them to adapt to their environments; people who believe in this model propose that growth throughout life occurs through the individual's exposure to experiences that present new learning opportunities and because this exposure is gradual, the model assumes that there are no clear-cut or identifiable stages development is a smooth, continuous set of gradations as the individual acquires new experiences Nature of change: quantitative Contribution of organism: passive main force in development: external (environmental) i.e. learning theory falls into this category because it proposes that development proceeds according to environmental influences

Continuity theory:

Proposes that whether disengagement or activity is beneficial to the older adults prefer to withdraw from active involvement with their families and communities; others are miserable unless they are in the thick of the action. What makes older adults experience lower life satisfaction is when they don't want to be excluded from their social roles by virtue of age. Both forced retirement and forced activity will cause poorer adjustment and self-esteem in middle-aged and older adults than will letting them find their own "just right" amount of involvement.

diabetes incidence and risk factors:

Public Health Agency of Canada (2011a) data indicate that the prevalence of diabetes increases sharply after the age of 40, with prevalence by age group as follows: 65 to 69 years, 20.7 percent; 70 to 74 years, 24.1 percent; 75 to 79 years, 25.5 percent; 80 to 84 years, 25.2 percent; 85 years and older, 21 percent. It is estimated that 20 percent of all cases of diabetes among those aged 6 and older are undiagnosed. Although diagnosed diabetes is more common among older adults, it is important to note that more than 50 percent of the affected Canadian population is between 25 and 64 years of age. According to the World Health Organization (2013a), the number of people suffering from diabetes worldwide was approximately 347 million in 2013, with more than 80 percent of cases in low- and middle-income countries. The World Health Organization projects that diabetes will be the seventh-leading cause of death by 2030. The International Diabetes Federation reported that Canada had the third-highest prevalence of diabetes among 21 countries in Europe, North America, and Oceania. Only the United States and Portugal had higher rates. From a biopsychosocial perspective, diabetes shares many of the physical, behavioural, and sociocultural risk factors noted earlier in the chapter as risk factors for heart disease. Researchers in this area warn that older adults are becoming increasingly likely to experience metabolic syndrome, insulin resistance, high lipid levels, and hypertension, leading to greater risk of cardiovascular and kidney disease. Echoing the findings of other research on the benefits of moderate consumption of alcohol, research on diabetes risk also indicates a protective effect of between 30 and 60 millilitres (or between 1 and 2 ounces) of alcohol per day. Ethnicity also contributes to diabetes risk. In Canada, people of South Asian, Hispanic, Chinese, and African ancestry are at higher risk of developing Type 2 diabetes than those of European descent. Moreover, risk factors for diabetes also vary by ethnicity. For example, rates of obesity are lower among Chinese-Canadians than Caucasian-Canadians. South Asians have higher rates of physical inactivity than Caucasians. In addition, after adjusting for the younger age structure among Canadian Aboriginal groups, rates of diabetes were as follows: for First Nations individuals living on-reserve, 18 percent (18+ years); First Nations living off-reserve, 8.7 percent (12+ years); Métis, 5.8 percent (12+ years); and Inuit, 4.3 percent (15+ years). Prevalence among Métis and Inuit groups is much closer to that of non-Aboriginal Canadians (50 percent, 12+ years). However, in contrast to non-Aboriginal groups, Aboriginal groups tend to be diagnosed at a younger age and diabetes is more frequent among children and youth. In addition to the general risk factors, it has been suggested that Aboriginal people have a unique genetic risk factor called the "thrifty gene effect," which is thought to be a protective mechanism in response to historical periods in a hunter-gatherer society when food was scarce. Essentially this gene serves to conserve calories; however, with access to high-calorie processed foods it becomes a liability, leading to weight gain. There is still considerable debate about the importance of this gene and its relationship to other risk factors in understanding prevalence of diabetes among Canadian Aboriginal groups.

What did critics say about disengagement theory when it was first proposed?

Rather than describing a desirable end product of a mutual withdrawal process, critics of disengagement theory regarded it as disrespectful of older adults and as a justification for what is already harsh treatment by society of its older adult members.

The Mobility in Aging Initiative:

Recognizing the importance of mobility in aging, in 2005 the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) launched the Mobility in Aging Initiative of the CIHR Institute of Aging. They provided funding to researchers and community partners in order to better understand a wide range of challenges to mobility for Canadian older adults, ranging from biological, physiological, and psychosocial factors to environmental factors—social, economic, policy, and physical. There was a strong emphasis on knowledge translation—that is, getting the research results to those who need it most: older adults and those who work with and on behalf of older adults.

Gender

Refers to an individual's identification as being male or female

Personal aging

Refers to changes that occur within the individual and reflect the influence of time's passage on the body's structures and functions

myocardial infarcation:

Refers to the acute condition in which the blood supply to part of the heart muscle (the myocardium) is severely reduced or blocked.

Identity balance:

Refers to the dynamic equilibrium that occurs when people tend to view themselves consistently but can make changes when called for by their experiences. i.e. if you had the tendency to avoid letting your academic disappointments permeate your identify through identify assimilation, it would benefit you to use identity accommodation to acknowledge your areas of weakness, such as perhaps not being that well suited to your college major. A balance between identity assimilation and identity accommodation may be achieved in adulthood. Piaget proposed that the natural tendency to use assimilation when confronted with a new situation. People use what has worked in the past to help understand what is happening in the present. However, when the situation warrants changes you should be able to make those adjustments. Though it would hardly be ideal to change your self-view completely when someone criticizes you, if the criticism is consistent enough and comes from enough different quarters, you may be well advised to look honestly at yourself and see whether something should be changed.

Social aging

Refers to the effects of a person's exposure to a changing environment

Sex

Refers to the individual's inherited predisposition to develop the physiological characteristics typically associated with maleness or femaleness.

Psychological age

Refers to the performance an individual achieves on measures of such qualities as reaction time, memory, learning ability, and intelligence Just like biological age, a person's performance on these tasks would be compared with those of other adults, and then scaled accordingly

vertigo:

Refers to the sensation of spinning when the body is at rest.

Identity assimilation:

Refers to the tendency to interpret new experiences in terms of a person's existing identity. When people use identity assimilation they tend to resist changing their identities in the face of criticism or disconfirming experiences. In fact, most people prefer to see themselves in the positive light, and the advantage of identity assimilation is that it allows people to feel reasonably happy and effective, despite being less than perfect. The downside is that it can lead you to distort your interpretation of experiences when change would truly be warranted. i.e. seeing yourself as a good student might color your academic experiences; if you are actually a good student you will have plenty of instances to bolster this view such as receiving good grades. If you do receive a bad grade, however, identity assimilation will allow you to continue to see yourself as a good student who just ran into rough material, unfair test, or inordinately harsh professor.

Changes to the urinary system with aging:

Regardless of the cause of changes in the kidney with age, there are important implications to consider. Glomerular filtration rate (GFR) is the volume of fluid filtered through the kidneys, and is most typically measured by creatinine clearance. Older adults are likely to have slower excretion rates of chemicals from the body, as evidenced by lower GFR even in healthy older adults. Given these changes, health professionals prescribing medication must carefully monitor middle-aged and older adults to avoid inadvertent over-doses. Changes with aging may also occur in the elastic tissue of the bladder, making it no longer capable of efficiently retaining or expelling urine. Older adults also experience slight changes in the perception that they need to urinate, although the bladder itself does not shrink in size in normal aging. Adding to intrinsic changes in the bladder that lower the rate of urinary flow in men is the fact that many men experience hypertrophy (enlargement) of the prostate, a gland located on top of the bladder. This puts pressure on the bladder and can cause men to feel frequent urges to urinate.

What are your stereotypes of aging?

Research on college students shows that the ones most likely to experience ageist attitudes are those who identify most strongly with their own age group.

Other causes of changes to taste/smell with aging:

Research suggests that these environmental toxins may play a larger role in olfactory impairment than changes due to the aging process. Chronic diseases, medications, and sinus problems may be a more significant source of impairment than age per se over the life span. Tobacco smoke is a major source of interference with taste and smell. Although people who quit smoking eventually experience an improvement in their sense of smell, this can take many years (equal to the number of years spent smoking). Dentures are another cause of loss of taste sensitivity because they may block the receptor cells of the taste buds. Add to this the fact that certain medications also interfere with the sense of taste, makes it difficult to determine whether aging brings with it inherent changes in taste or not.

Study: individuality and aging

Researchers examined a large number of studies of aging to compare how differently older versus younger adults responded to the same measures. Rather than their scores converging, they grew further apart. Research continues to underscore the notion that individuals continue to become less alike with age. Therefore diversity becomes an increasingly prominent theme during the adult years.

The cons of longitudinal design:

Researchers face the challenge of determining whether changes observed over time in longitudinal studies result from the person's own aging or the changing environment in which the person functions. The individual cannot be removed from the environment to see what would happen if he or she had lived in a different time or place. It is simply not possible to know if people are inherently changing or whether they alter as a result of the circumstances in which they are aging. This is the key limitation of longitudinal studies: the inability to differentiate between aging within the individual from changes in the social and historical context. In addition to this thorny theoretical problem, practical problems also plague longitudinal research. The most significant is perhaps the most obvious. It takes years, if not decades, to see the study come to fruition, making it both expensive and technologically challenging. In other words, it takes money and a great deal of clerical effort to keep the project going. On top of this, the results are not available for many years, meaning that researchers cannot focus their entire professional energy on this one study. In many cases, the original investigator may not even live long enough to see the results come to fruition. Further complicating the longitudinal study is the problem of attrition, as participants either die or drop out of the study for other reasons. As the number of participants diminishes, researchers find it increasingly difficult to make sense of the data because there are too few participants left to allow for statistical analyses across the multiple time points of the study. Practice effects are another theoretically thorny issue that complicate longitudinal studies. Because they repeatedly take the same tests, participants may improve simply because they become better able to answer the questions. The investigator faces a far more serious dilemma with regard to the nature of the tests themselves, which, over time, may become outdated. The cutting-edge theory developed in the 1980s may have since been refuted, but the researcher is still left with measures based on that theory. One way to address this problem is to reanalyze or rescale the test scores to correspond to the newer theory, if possible.

What is the new focus on developmental science?

Researchers now attempt to explain the underlying processes of development rather than the descriptive approach; developmental scientists are attempting to discover orderly principles underlying growth through life, the "whys" and not just the "whats" Developmental science is also increasingly relying on advances in the field of neuroscience, or the study of brain-behavior relationships

surveys:

Researchers rely on the survey method to gain information about a sample that can then be generalized to a larger population. Surveys are typically short and easily administered with simple rating scales to use for answers. i.e. For instance, surveys are given to poll voters on who they will be casting their ballots for in upcoming elections. Occasionally, more intensive surveys may be given to gain in-depth knowledge about aging and its relationship to health behaviours, health risks, and symptoms.

Why do researchers have a difficult time testing hypotheses involving age?

Researchers who study development would like to be able to test hypotheses involving age, meaning that they are primarily interested in the impact of chronological time on a person's functioning. However, as we discussed above, researchers face the thorny problem of disentangling a person's age from the period of history in which the person is living. People in their 80s now were born at a time (approximately the 1930s) in which many people experienced economic hardship. We don't know, therefore, whether an 80-year-old person's performance reflects aging or the circumstances associated with growing up in the 1930s. Descriptive research designs can never hope to provide solutions to this problem because they don't allow researchers to manipulate age and environmental influences in such a way as to pull them apart.

Experimental design:

Researchers who use an experimental design to study a question of interest decide on conditions that will allow them to manipulate a particular independent variable. In the typical experimental study, the researcher randomly assigns respondents to groups. These groups represent different levels of the independent variable, such as exposure to a treatment (in the experimental group) versus no exposure to treatment (in the control group). The researcher then compares the performance of the two groups on the dependent variable. Should people differ on the dependent variable, the researcher assumes that this is because they were exposed to different levels of the independent variable.

Risk factor for cardiovascular diseases and First Nations people:

Risk factors for cardiovascular disease are particularly high among First Nations individuals. According to the Public Health Agency of Canada (2009), in 2009, among those living on-reserve, 46.0 percent smoked daily. Smoking rates were highest among those 18 to 29 years, at 53.9 percent, and lowest among those aged 60 and older, at 23.5 percent. About three-quarters of First Nations adults living on-reserve were overweight or obese and physically inactive, and 20.4 percent had been diagnosed with high blood pressure. For those 60 years of age and older, rates of high blood pressure were 44 percent among women and 34.9 percent among men, rates that are substantially higher than those found in the general Canadian population. Similarly, rates of diabetes in this population are almost four times greater than those found in the general population, and these are likely underestimates, given the under-diagnosis of this condition. The health status of Inuit people is somewhat better. Compared to the general Canadian population, mortality rates from heart attack and ischemic heart disease are lower, as are rates of diabetes. However, 7 in 10 Inuit adults smoke and the majority of those aged 18 to 74 are overweight (29.8 percent) or obese (28.3 percent). In addition, 82.1 percent do not exercise enough to receive significant health benefits. There are many social and economic factors that influence the health status of Inuit people, including the high cost of living in northern communities, poverty, high unemployment, and crowded and substandard housing. In particular, food choices are limited and can cost several times more than the cost of similar items purchased in the south.

When is exercise maximally effective?

Short-term training studies further reinforce these conclusions about the value of exercise for middle-aged and older adults. To be maximally effective, exercise must stimulate the heart rate to rise to 60 to 75 percent of maximum capacity, and this training must take place three to four times a week. People benefit from many forms of aerobic activities, including walking, hiking, jogging, bicycling, swimming, and jumping rope. However, even moderate or low-intensity exercise can have positive effects on previously sedentary older people.

How and when does skin change with aging?

Skin, the largest organ in the body, is most vulnerable to a series of age-related changes that become visible as early as the 20s and continue throughout adulthood. The first signs of aging appear in the 30s, when the skin starts to show small wrinkles, slight drooping or loss of resilience, and changes in colour and texture. Later, the skin also becomes more translucent, and it is easier to see the underlying bones and veins, particularly in the hands. Skin discolorations and small outgrowths accumulate so that by the 50s, the skin (particularly in the face) shows distinctive marks of the passage of time. What you see on the skin's surface reflects the changes that occur underneath.

What leads to sleep problems in middle and later life?

Sleep problems in middle and later life relate in part to lifestyle as well as physiology. You almost certainly know from your own experience that your sleep is more disrupted when you are experiencing periods of stress. For instance, middle-aged adults who live with high degrees of job-related stress suffer from sleep disturbances. Other lifestyle factors also play an important role, including obesity, physical inactivity, and alcohol use.

Time of Measurement effects:

Social, historical, and cultural influences that are presently affecting people are called time-of-measurement effects. As used in developmental research designs, time-of-measurement effects are like cohort effects in that they are also normative history-graded influences that affect many people who are alive at the same time. i.e. In the 2010s, time-of-measurement effects could include the rapid growth of personal technology, a slowing of the world's economy, and the impact of political and social change in the Middle East on global relations. As in Bronfenbrenner's ecological model, time-of-measurement effects may be far removed from the individual, but still impact people indirectly by affecting the conditions that actively impinge on their lives. i.e. For example, the rising cost of gasoline can limit a family's finances, which in turn has an effect on the health of individual family members.

Modernization hypothesis:

Sociologists emphasize, in contrast, that older adults are seen negatively because they have lost their utility to society. According to the modernization hypothesis, the increasing urbanization and industrialization of Western society is what causes older adults to be devalued. They can no longer produce, so they become irrelevant and even drain on the younger population.

What are some of the most common negative behaviors that may accelerate the aging process?

Some of the most common negative behaviours that may accelerate aging, include overexposure to the sun and smoking.

What are ways to counteract the negative effects of prolonged sitting? When should you begin taking action?

Standing workstations and repeated breaks are two ways of overcoming the negative effects of prolonged sitting, and, because these effects are cumulative over a lifetime, it's never too early to start!

Multiple jeopardy hypothesis:

States that older individuals who fit more than one discriminated-against category are affected by biases against each of these categorizations. i.e. women are subject to ageism and sexism; minority-status women are subject to ageism, racism, and sexism. Heterosexism and classism further add to multiple jeopardy. These systematic biases interact with age to produce greater risk for discrimination in attitudes and the provision of services to specific subgroups of older adults.

The survivor principle

States that people who live to old age are the ones who managed to outlive the many threats that could have caused their deaths at earlier ages. Perhaps this is obvious, because clearly, to grow old, you have not to die.

What is the best preventative measure to counteract the process of sarcopenia in adulthood?

Strength training with free weights or resistance machines is the top preventive measure that can counteract the process of sarcopenia in adulthood. Although older adults do not achieve as high a degree of improvement as do younger adults, even a program as short as 16 weeks of resistance training can build fast-twitch muscle fibre numbers to the size of those found in the young. One of the major benefits of muscle training is that the stronger the muscles become, the more pull they exert on the bones. As we will see next, loss of bone strength is as, if not more, significant a limitation on the health and well-being of older adults as loss of muscle mass.

Why does biology not completely explain the loss of telomeres over the course of life?

Supporting the idea of biopsychosocial interactions in development, researchers have linked telomere length to social factors. Analyzing blood samples from more than 1,500 female twins, researchers in the United Kingdom determined that telomere length was shorter in women from lower socioeconomic classes. There was a difference of seven "biological years" (measured in terms of telomeres) between twins with manual jobs and their co-twins in higher-ranking occupations. The researchers attributed this difference to the stress of being in a lower-level occupation in which people have less control over their day-to-day activities. Body mass index, smoking, and lack of exercise were additional factors influencing telomere length. A subsequent study on this sample provided further research of the important role of lifestyle factors. Even after the researchers adjusted for such factors as age, socio-economic status, smoking, and body mass index, people who engaged in higher levels of physical activity had longer telomeres than those who did not.

Jean Piaget and Cognitive-developmental theory:

Swiss psychologist who brought an entirely new perspective to bear on the process of cognitive development. Rather than simply describing children's development, as his predecessors had done, Piaget tried to explain the processes underlying the growth of their cognitive abilities.

Interactionist model

Takes the view that not only do genetics and environment interact in complex ways to produce their effects on the individual, but individuals actively shape their own development This model is the one most similar to niche-picking because it proposes that an individual is shaped by AND can shape their own environment Nature of change: multidirectional Contribution of organism: multidimensional; active Main force in development: reciprocal i.e. theories that regard development as the product of joint influences such as the biopsychosocial perspective (because it considers multiple influences on development and views the individual as an active contributor to change throughout life)

How is SES calculated?

Technically, SES is calculated through a weighted formula that takes into account a person's highest level of education and prestige level of occupation. However, there is no one set way to calculate SES. Various researchers have developed scales of socioeconomic status that give differing weights to these values in coming up with a total score. People with higher levels of education tend to have occupations that are higher in prestige, and so some researchers use level of education alone as the index of SES. Some researchers use income as the basis for analyzing social class differences in health and opportunities, however, high-prestige jobs are often associated with mid-or even low-level incomes (i.e. teaching).

Who are the Baby Boomers and why are they important in the study of AD&A?

Term used to describe people born in the post-World War 2 years between 1946 and 1965. The baby boom generation is now in their 50s and 60s. As the bulge continues to move upward through the 21st century, the baby boom generation will have a continued impact on the nature of society, particularly in the way everyone views aging, as indeed it already has.

Baby boom generation

Term used to describe people born in the post-World War 2 years between 1946 and 1965. The term baby boom generation was coined to reflect the huge increase in babies born to couples after servicemen returned home from the war. The boom continued through the early 60's during years of economic prosperity.

What does the Statistics Canada estimate?

That by 2036, seniors will account for more than one-quarter of the Canadian population (the 80 and older group alone will account for 7.6 percent of the population)

What is a more defensible alternative to genetic theory?

That evolution has selected for species that are vigorous through the period of optimal sexual reproduction and then are less important once that period is passed. According to the "good genes gone bad" theory, aging genes take over in the post-reproductive years and lead to the ultimate destruction of the organism. Researchers continue to investigate the notion that the very genes that have a positive effect on development during early life create susceptibility to a variety of diseases in later life. i.e. for example, senescent cells may act as a protective device against the continued growth of cancerous cells. The senescent cells, in turn, are eliminated by the immune system. However, the immune system does not destroy all of the senescent cells, and so they continue to remain present in the body's tissues.

What is the ideal situation in a given society?

That individuals have both long health and life expectancy, meaning that they are able to be productive and free of chronic illness until close to the time that they die

What are some effects of ageism?

That it may cause younger people to avoid close proximity to older people. In fact, ageism may also take the form of not being openly hostile but of making older adults feel they are not worthy of attention at all. Ageism is often experienced in the workplace although prohibited by law: i.e. older workers may be penalized differently for making a mistake than younger workers.

What is the primarily negative feature of ageism?

That, like other stereotypes, it is founded on overgeneralizations about individuals based on a set of characteristics that have negative social meaning. However, that negative social meaning may have a positive spin: ageism applies to any view of older adults as having a set of characteristics, good or bad, that are the same for everyone.

Ethnic variations in the over-65 population:

The 2006 census indicated that 16.2 percent of the Canadian population were visible minorities and 7.3 percent of these were 65>. In the senior population, the largest visible minority group was Asian, at 71.7% (composed of Chinese, South Asian, Indian, Filipino, Southeast Asian/other than from India, Korean, and Japanese) Other visible minority seniors were Black, Latin American, and Middle Eastern. Statistics Canada estimates that by 2017 roughly one in five Canadians will be a visible minority person.

What does the CSEP suggest for daily exercise of older adults?

The CSEP guidelines suggest that adults aged 65 years and older should accumulate at least 150 minutes of moderate-to vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity per week, in bouts of 10 minutes or more. In addition, they should engage in muscle- and bone-strengthening activities at least two days per week, and those with poor mobility should do exercises that will enhance balance and prevent falls. i.e. older adults who have impaired balance and mobility can perform chair aerobics, such as raising and lowering their arms; Individuals who have mobility problems or are frequent fallers can perform balance training that includes progressively difficult postures; dynamic movements such as turning in circles, heel stands, and toe stands; and standing with their eyes closed; For those who are very sedentary, doing smaller amounts of exercise and gradually increasing the duration, frequency, and intensity, in consultation with a health care professional, will be important.

The Canadian Centre for Activity and Aging:

The Canadian Centre for Activity and Aging, in the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Western Ontario, has been a leader in research and practice in the activity and aging field for more than 20 years. Its goal is to use empirically supported research to train senior fitness instructors and restorative care specialists so that older adults can benefit from the latest advances in both basic and applied research.

The Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology (CSEP):

The Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology is a volunteer organization devoted to the scientific study of exercise physiology, exercise biochemistry, fitness, and health. In addition to publishing the academic journal Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism, CSEP provides physical activity guidelines and toolkits for different ages and special populations (e.g., multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injury, Parkinson's disease).

the census of Canada surveying:

The Census of Canada was collected through survey methodology. However, it is considered archival in that it has extensive historical records going back to the year 1871, when the first national Canadian Census was conducted. Statistics Canada conducts a census every five years, most recently in 2011. Topics include Canada's population, resources, economy, society, and culture. In addition, there are approximately 350 active surveys pertaining to many aspects of life in Canada. Statistics Canada has multiple stakeholders that make use of the data collected, including the Canadian public and media, government, businesses, labour unions, the academic sector, and foreign and international bodies. Of particular relevance to aging are the Canadian Community Health Surveys that provide data on the health and well-being of all Canadians. i.e. For example, results from the 2012 Canadian Community Health Survey found that one in six Canadians said they needed mental health care in the year prior to the survey. These survey data also revealed that adults aged 65 and older had the lowest rates of all mental health problems. These data are important for many reasons and have many uses, including comparing health and mental health status across age groups, information that is pivotal

Muscles/sarcopenia and aging:

The adult years are characterized by a progressive age-related loss of muscle tissue, a process known as sarcopenia. The number and size of muscle fibres decreases, especially the fast-twitch muscle fibres that you use in speed and strength. As indicated by research from cross-sectional studies, muscle strength (as measured by maximum force) peaks in the 20s and 30s, remains at a plateau until the 40s to 50s, and then declines at a faster rate of 12 to 15 percent per decade, with more pronounced decreases, at least cross-sectionally, for men. In contrast to declines in their speed and strength, people retain their muscular endurance, as measured by isometric strength. There are also relatively minor effects of age on eccentric strength, the action involved in such activities as lowering arm weights (such as the downward motion of a bicep curl) or going down the stairs. Eccentric strength is preserved through the 70s and 80s in men and women.

How may identity balance and behavioral modification be beneficial to the aging process?

The advantages of identity balance (and to an extent healthy denial) are that the older adult adopts an active "use-it-or-lose-it" approach to the aging process. By remaining active, people can delay or prevent many if not most age-related negative changes. On the other hand, there are many "bad habits" or ways in which a person's behaviour can accelerate the aging process. Ideally, people adapt to the aging process by taking advantage of the use-it-or-lose-it approach and avoiding the bad habits. Less strain will be placed on both identity assimilation and accommodation if people can maintain functioning designed to promote good health for as long as possible.

Biological age

The age of an individual's bodily systems which tells us exactly how well people are able to perform vital functions; functioning of organ systems

Cardiac output:

The amount of blood that the heart pumps per minute and cardiovascular efficiency is also indexed by.

Life expectancy

The average number of years of life remaining to the people born within a similar period of time. It is calculated by statisticians taking into account death rates for a particular group within a population, and using these figures to project how long it will take for that entire group to die out completely.

What will the baby boomers show us about adulthood and aging?

The baby boom generation is now in their 50s and 60s. As the bulge continues to move upward through the 21st century, the baby boom generation will have a continued impact on the nature of society, particularly in the way everyone views aging, as indeed it already has.

cancer treatment:

The best way to treat cancer is to prevent it by avoiding known carcinogens. People at risk based on their age, sex, and lifestyle should also undergo screenings as recommended by health care professionals. Organizations such as the Canadian Cancer Society and the American Cancer Society publicize the need for tests such as breast self-examination and mammograms for women, prostate examinations for men, and colon cancer screenings for both men and women. As important as detection is, however, public health officials often change their recommendations for the frequency and nature of cancer screening. The Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care (CTFPHC) monitors the scientific developments for a range of health and mental health disorders and regularly updates screening guidelines, including those for cervical cancer in 2013 (CTFPHC, 2013) and breast cancer in 2011 (CTFPHC, 2011). Depending on the stage of cancer progression at diagnosis, various treatment options are available. Surgery is the most common treatment for most types of cancer when it is probable that all of the tumour can be removed. Radiation therapy involves the use of high- energy X-rays to damage cancer cells and stop their growth. Chemotherapy uses drugs to kill cancer cells. Patients are most likely to receive chemotherapy when the cancer has metastasized to other parts of the body. Biological therapy uses substances called biological response modifiers that improve the way the body's immune system fights disease and may be used in combination with chemotherapy to treat cancer that has metastasized. As more information is gathered through the rapidly evolving program of research on cancer and its causes, new methods of treatment and prevention can be expected to emerge over the next few decades. Furthermore, as efforts grow to target populations at risk for the development of preventable cancers (such as lung cancer), we can expect that cancer deaths will be reduced even further in the decades ahead.

How does the body shape change with aging?

The body's shape also changes significantly for most people in the adult years. The lean tissue, or fat-free mass (FFM), decreases. Countering this decrease is an increase in the Body Mass Index (BMI), an index of body fat. The BMI is calculated by dividing weight in kilograms by height in metres squared.

The Subcutaneous fat layer:

The bottommost layer of skin giving the skin its opacity and smoothing the curves of the arms, legs, and face Starting in middle adulthood, this layer starts to thin, providing less support for the layers above it, which then exacerbates the wrinkling and sagging caused by changes in the dermis. The blood vessels beneath the skin therefore become more visible.

The Cardiovascular System:

The cardiovascular system includes the heart, the arteries that circulate blood throughout the body away from the heart, and the veins that bring the blood back to the heart. The most significant changes in the cardiovascular system involve the heart muscle itself and the arteries, leaving the veins relatively spared.

Continuity principle

The changes that people experience in later adulthood build on the experiences they had in their earlier years. This means we can never isolate the later years of life without considering the years preceding them.

Telomeres:

The chromosome is made up largely of DNA. Telomeres are repeating sequences of proteins that contain no genetic information located at either end of the chromosomes. The primary function of the telomeres is to protect the chromosomes from the damage to them that accumulates over repeated cell replications. With each cell division, more of the telomeres are lost, exposing more and more of the active part of the chromosome. Once telomeres shorten to the point of no longer being able to protect the chromosome, adjacent chromosomes fuse, the cell cycle is halted, and ultimately the cell dies. Evidence linking telomere length to mortality in humans suggests that the telomeres may ultimately hold the key to understanding the aging process.

Metabolic syndrome:

The cluster of symptoms associated with these high-risk factors for cardiovascular (and other) diseases is known as metabolic syndrome. The symptoms include high levels of abdominal obesity, high blood fats (known as triglycerides), abnormal levels of blood cholesterol (low "good" cholesterol, or HDL, and high "bad" cholesterol, or LDL), hypertension, and high glucose. Even possessing three of the risk factors involved in metabolic syndrome increases a person's risk of mortality from cardiovascular disease.

Multidirectionality

The concept that development can proceed in multiple directions within the same person

How is the consequence of bone loss severe?

The consequences of bone loss can be severe, as one in three women and one in five men will have an osteoporotic fracture in their lifetime. i.e. in 2010, treating osteoporosis and the related bone fractures cost the Canadian health care system $2.3 billion. Hip fractures are particularly devastating for older adults, as 28 percent of women and 37 percent of men who have a hip fracture will die within the following year.

Skin products on aging and the best moisturizer:

The cosmetics industry, taking advantage of many people's desire to remain youthful in appearance, is flooding the marketplace with new anti-aging products. Although many of the early formulations were nothing other than glorified moisturizers, newer entries are using technology developed from advances in understanding the biology of aging combined with improved delivery systems for such ingredients as collagen and tretinoin (the active ingredient in retinol). The best type of moisturizer combines these active ingredients with SPF-15 and UVA/UVB protection. If used on a daily basis, a good moisturizer can help to counteract the fragility, sensitivity, and dryness of the exposed areas of skin. The addition of alpha-hydroxy acid agents to a basic moisturizer can help stimulate cell growth and renewal to offset sun damage.

Principle of plasticity in development

The course of development may be altered depending on the nature of the individual's specific interactions in the environment individuals can alter not only the nature of their interactions with the environment, but also the rate and direction of change

What are the cons of cross-sectional studies?

The cross-sectional design reflects not only differences between cohorts, but also the effects of current social and cultural influences. In other words, everyone participating in the study at about the same time is affected by normative history-graded influences. i.e. For example, you and everyone else living now are going through the same events affecting your country, if not the world. What would make this even more problematic from the standpoint of studies on aging is if younger and older adults experience these events differently. Selective survival, the bane of longitudinal investigators, also serves to challenge the work of researchers whose primary work involves the cross-sectional design. Study participants, by definition, are survivors of their respective age groups. Thus, they may represent a healthier or luckier group of people than those in their cohort who did not live as long. Perhaps they are the ones who are more cautious, smarter, and genetically hardier and so were able to avoid the many diseases that could have caused their death prior to old age. As a result, older adults in a cross-sectional study may look different from the younger ones because the two groups are drawn from two different populations—those who will die young (but are still represented in the young adult group) and those who survive to be old. The sampling of young adults drawn exclusively from a college population, a common technique in psychological research, may not be representative of the younger cohort either. The problem of assigning participants to specific age groups presents additional difficulties with cross-sectional research. If researchers wish to compare "young adults" with older adults, should they restrict themselves to the sort of typical 18-22 years age range or should they allow the age range to expand to the mid-or even late 20s? As it turns out, the age range of older adult samples is rarely defined as narrowly as is the range of those in university. Often, researchers have to settle for an age range for the older group that is larger than is desirable. In some studies, the range is as large as 20 to 30 years (or more). Some researchers define the "older" sample as all respondents over the age of 50 or 60 and, having done so, fail to look for any possible age differences within the older sample. By the time all is said and done, age differences in the older sample may be as great as, if not greater than, differences between the older and younger samples. A problem related to determining acceptable age ranges is the question of how to divide samples when sampling the adult years. Is it better to divide samples of people in cross-sectional studies into decades and then examine age differences continuously across the adult years? Or is it better to compare people at the two extremes of the adult span? Researchers increasingly include middle-aged samples along with the younger and older adults rather than compare only those at the two extremes of the age distribution. The inclusion of three age groups creates a more justifiable basis for "connect- ing the dots" between their scores on measures of psychological functioning across the adult years. Another area of concern to researchers conducting cross-sectional studies is the need to take into account the possibility that different age groups will react differently to the test materials. In studies of memory, for example, there is a risk that the older adults will find some of the measures challenging and perhaps intimidating because they are not used to having their abilities evaluated in a formal setting such as the psychology lab. Young adults are far more comfortable with test situations, because they either are currently or were recently in school, where testing is part of the fabric of everyday life. To an older adult, particularly one who is sensitive to memory loss, anxiety about the situation rather than actual performance can result in decreased scores. Task equivalence also applies to the way different cohorts react to measures of personality and social attitudes. i.e. For example, a measure of depression may have been tested on a young adult sample but not on an older sample. Items on such a scale concerning physical changes, such as alterations in sleep patterns (a symptom of depression), may in fact reflect normal age-related differences and not differences in depression. Older adults will therefore receive a higher score on the depression scale by virtue of changing their sleep patterns alone, not because they are actually suffering from depression.

hypertension:

The disease in which an individual chronically suffers from abnormally elevated blood pressure. The technical definition of hypertension is based on two measures of blood pressure: systolic and diastolic.

How does height change as we age?

The first set of changes in body build involves height. Cross-sectional and longitudinal studies convincingly show that people get shorter as they get older, a process that is more pronounced for women. The reason for this loss of height is the loss of bone material in the vertebrae. With the weakening of the vertebrae, the spine collapses and shortens in length.

Emerging adulthood

The first three or four years of adulthood The transition prior to assuming the full responsibilities may occur during the years that follow university graduation or, for those individuals who do not attend university, when they face the need to find full employment of make family commitments.

John B. Watson

The founder of American behaviorism; challenged the nature position of development and took the extreme "nurture" position-that a child's development was entirely dependent on the environment the parents provided.

The respiratory system:

The function of the respiratory system is to bring oxygen into the body and move carbon dioxide out. The respiratory system accomplishes this through the mechanical process of breathing, the exchange of gases within the innermost reaches of tiny airways in the lungs, and the transport of gases to and from the body's cells that occur in these airways.

How does the face's structure change with aging?

The general changes that occur in the skin contribute to the aging of the face, but the face's underlying structure also changes as a result of bone loss in the skull, particularly in the jaw. Changes in the cartilage of the nose and ears cause them to become longer, further altering the face's shape. The muscles of the face also lose their ability to contract, meaning that the person's face while smiling becomes more and more similar to the face while at rest.

What happens to bone remodelling with aging?

The general pattern of bone development in adulthood involves an increase in the rate of bone destruction, rather than renewal, and greater porosity(becoming full of holes) of the calcium matrix, leading to loss of bone mineral content. The remodelling process that results in these changes is controlled in part by a set of protein-like substances that act on the bone cells. These substances are, in turn, under the influence of the sex hormones estrogen for women and testosterone for men. Therefore, as people experience decreases in sex hormones, they also lose bone mineral content.

Chromosomes:

The genome is organized into chromosomes, which are distinct, physically separate units of coiled threads of DNA and associated protein molecules. In humans, there are two sets of 23 chromosomes, one set contributed by each parent. Each set has 23 single chromosomes: 22 are called "autosomes" and contain non-sex-linked information, and the 23rd is the X or Y sex chromosome. The presence of the Y chromosome determines maleness, so that a normal female has a pair of X chromosomes and a male has one X and one Y in the 23rd chromosome pair. Although each chromosome contains the same genes, there is no rhyme or reason for the distribution of genes on chromosomes. A gene that produces a protein that influences eye colour may be next to a gene that is involved in cellular energy production.

How might people counteract the affects of bone density loss?

The good news is that people can stave off this significant bone loss by modifying their lifestyle and diet. The key lifestyle factors are to exercise, not smoke, and maintain a BMI of approximately 25. Resistance training with weights in particular can help slow down the rate of bone loss. A fourth key way to maintain bone health is through diet, including eating high amounts of dietary protein, increasing calcium intake prior to menopause, and using vitamin D. Additional dietary controls include taking in adequate quantities of magnesium (found in foods such as bananas, certain types of nuts, and potatoes and caretenoids.

Why do a majority of studies on aging us the descriptive research design?

The great majority of studies on aging use what we call here a descriptive research design, providing information about age differences but not attempting to rule out social or historical factors. i.e. For example, a study may show that older adults are more likely to have a certain health problem than are younger adults. You have no way of knowing whether that health problem is a natural result of the aging process or a result of environmental conditions that were present during the individual's lifetime. Perhaps the older people were exposed to poorer nutritional practices than their younger counterparts, so the findings reflect disparities in their early life experiences rather than age. Further research, using adequate controls, would be needed to rule out this possibility.

What is maximum heart rate?

The heart rate achieved at the point of maximum oxygen consumption. decreases with aging.

Compression of morbidity hypothesis

The illness burden to a society can be reduced if people become disabled closer to the time of their death

What tools may be used to further maximize the results of exercising? What else can exercise help with the cardiovascular system?

The increasing popularity of incorporating heart rate monitors (such as a chest strap that connects wirelessly to a watch) into an exercise program is making it relatively simple to track the intensity of how hard the heart is working during a workout. In addition to incorporating aerobic exercise into their workout routine, people should add resistance training. Not only does exercise help maximize the heart's functioning, but it can also counteract the increased stiffness of the arteries. In one training study, a simple program of daily walking for 12 weeks was sufficient to have beneficial effects.

Stress incontinence:

The individual is unable to retain urine while engaging in some form of physical exertion.

Challenges to an increasing older global population?

The larger proportion of the aging population in the world will place a strain on the economies and health care systems of all nations, but particularly on those of developing nations.

Sleep in adulthood:

The literature on sleep in adulthood clearly refutes a common myth about aging: namely, that as people grow older they need less sleep. Regardless of age, everyone requires seven to nine hours of sleep a night. Middle-aged and older adults who experience changes in sleep-related behaviour and sleep problems can suffer adverse effects on their mental and physical well-being. Unfortunately, sleep problems seem to affect up to half of all older adults.

Presbyopia:

The loss of ability to focus vision on near objects, and is the primary culprit for the need for reading glasses. The cause of presbyopia is thickening and hardening of the lens, the focusing mechanism of the eye. These changes mean that the lens cannot adapt its shape when needed to see objects up close to the face. The entire population is affected by presbyopia by the age of 50. There is no treatment for presbyopia, as the cause is unknown. Bifocals have been the only correction available since the time of Benjamin Franklin (who invented them). Newer multifocal contact lenses are becoming increasingly available. Although you cannot cure presbyopia, you may be able to alter its onset, because lifestyle habits seem to affect the rate at which the presbyopic aging process occurs. For example, smoking accelerates the aging of the lens.

Why is the loss of muscle mass negative?

The loss of muscle mass brings with it a set of negative consequences, including increased risk of falling, limitations in mobility, and reduced quality of everyday life. Unfortunately, sarcopenia can become part of a vicious cycle because the greater the loss of muscle mass, the greater the difficulty in undertaking exercise, leading to more muscle loss weakening. If sarcopenia occurs in the presence of gains in fat, a condition known as sarcopenic obesity may develop, in which the individual both loses muscle and gains body fat.

chronic obstructive pulmonary disease:

The main form of respiratory disease affecting adults in middle and late life is chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a group of diseases that involve obstruction of the airflow into the respiratory system. Two related diseases—chronic bronchitis and chronic emphysema—often occur together in this disease. People with COPD experience coughing, excess sputum, and difficulty breathing even when they carry out relatively easy tasks, such as putting on their clothes or walking on level ground. According to the internationally based Global Initiative for COPD, the disease is the fourth-leading cause of chronic illness and death worldwide and the fifth in terms of the burden of disease. The prevalence of COPD increases with age throughout adulthood. By age 75 and older, an estimated 25 percent of the population has COPD.

What determines whether an athlete remains fit while aging?

The major factor determining whether an athlete remains fit appears to be the difficulty of maintaining an active training program in the late 70s. Complications other than those involving the cardiovascular system, such as joint pain, interfere with even the most motivated person's ability to participate in high-intensity exercise. Continued involvement in exercise throughout adulthood therefore does not appear to result in stopping the biological clock.

Laboratory studies:

The majority of information about physical and cognitive changes associated with the aging process comes from laboratory studies, in which participants are tested in a systematic fashion using standardized procedures. The laboratory method is considered the most objective way of collecting data because each participant is exposed to the same treatment, using the same equipment and the same data-recording procedures. i.e. For example, in a study of memory, participants may be asked to recall a set of items presented on a computer. At a later point, they may be asked at to recall as many of those items as possible using some type of automated response system.

Aerobic capacity:

The maximum amount of oxygen that can be delivered through the blood and cardiovascular efficiency is indexed by.

Life Span:

The maximum length to which a given species can live. For example, butterflies have life spans of 12 weeks, and giant tortoises have life spans of 180 years. Humans have the longest life span of any mammals, at 120 years.

Dermis:

The middle layer of the skin contains protein molecules of collagen and elastin, among which various nerve cells, glands, and the hair follicles reside

osteoarthritis:

The most common form of arthritis, affects joints in the hips, knees, neck, lower back, and small joints of the hands. These are joints vulnerable to injuries that people sustain through repeated overuse in the performance of a particular job or a favourite sport.

What is androgenetic alopecia?

The most common form of hair loss with increased age is male and female pattern hair loss, technically known as androgenetic alopecia. This is a condition that affects, to some degree, 95 percent of adult men and 20 percent of adult women. Androgenetic alopecia causes the hair follicles to stop producing the long, thick, pigmented hairs known as terminal hair and instead start producing short, fine, unpigmented, and largely invisible hair known as vellus hair. Eventually, even the vellus hair is not visible, because it no longer protrudes from the follicle, which itself has shrunk. Although hair stops growing on the top of the head where it is desired, it may appear in larger amounts in places where it is not welcome, such as the chin on women, the ears, and in thicker clumps around the eyebrows on men.

Replicative senescence:

The most compelling attempts to explain aging through genetics are based on the principle of replicative senescence, or the loss of the ability of cells to reproduce. Scientists have long known that there are a finite number of times (about 50) that normal human cells can proliferate in culture before they become terminally incapable of further division. Until relatively recently, scientists did not know why cells had a limited number of divisions. It was only when the technology needed to look closely at the chromosome was developed that researchers uncovered some of the mystery behind this process.

The Multiple Threshold Model (Whitbourne):

The multiple threshold model of change in adulthood proposes that individuals realize that they are getting older through a stepwise process as aging-related changes occur. Each age-related change brings with it the potential for another threshold to be crossed. People are likely to monitor the areas of the greatest significance to their identities with great care or vigilance, while paying less attention to the thresholds that don't mean as much to them. (i.e. while one individual is preoccupied with greying hair another individual may disregard the hair and feel fixated on the loss of muscle strength).

How are nails subject to age-related changes?

The nails are a part of the skin and are also subject to age-related changes. The toenails in particular grow more slowly and may become yellowed, thicker, and ridged. Adding to these normal age-related changes in the nails is the fact that many older adults develop fungal infections in their toenails, causing the nails to thicken and separate from the nail bed. Older adults with limited joint movement and flexibility experience more difficulty in caring for their own feet, and so may have more trouble caring for their lower extremities

What are the new breast cancer screening guidelines and why are they controversial?

The new breast cancer screening guidelines represent a significant change from earlier versions, advocating no routine screening with mammography for women aged 40 to 49 because of weak scientific evidence. Routine screening with mammography is recommended every two to three years for women aged 50 to 74. Note, however, that these standards do not apply to women with risk factors such as a personal history of breast cancer, and recommendations were not made for women aged 75 and older because of a weak evidence base. Nevertheless, these new guidelines, which recommend reduced screening, were harshly criticized by advocacy groups and sparked debate in the medical field and the media. In 2009, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force made similar changes to the breast cancer guidelines. In order to determine the impact of these changes, researchers examined self-reported mammography rates between 2006 and 2010. Although mammography rates declined slightly across all age groups over 40 (adjusted for a variety of demographic factors, including race/ethnicity) in 2010, the differences were not statistically significant. A national telephone survey conducted a year after the revised recommendations were implemented suggested that fewer than half of the women surveyed were aware of the changes in screening guidelines, and those who were more aware of the changes were younger and had higher rates of education and income.

Health-adjusted life expectancy

The number of years a person could expect to live in good health if current mortality and morbidity rates persist.

Epidermis:

The outermost layer of the skin consists of a thin covering that protects the underlying tissue. Over time, and not visible to the naked eye, the epidermal skin cells lose their regular patterning.

How does weight change in adulthood and aging?

The overall pattern of body weight in adulthood shows an upside- down U-shaped trend by age. Most people increase their weight from their 20s until their mid-50s, after which they tend to lose those added pounds. The weight gain during middle adulthood is mainly due to an increase in BMI representing the accumulation of body fat around the waist and hips (commonly referred to as the "middle-aged spread"). Unfortunately for most people, when they lose body weight in their 60s and beyond, it's due not to loss of fat but to loss of muscle. Instead, older adults lose pounds because they suffer a reduction of FFM due to loss of muscle mass, even if they maintain high levels of activity. At the other end of the spectrum, some older adults continue to gain weight to the point of developing a BMI that places them in the overweight or obese categories. According to the Public Health Agency of Canada (2010), the percentage of seniors 65 years and older considered to be obese has increased from 22 percent in 1978/79 to 29 percent in 2008. Overall, 28 percent of older men and 31 percent of older women are obese as defined by their BMI measurements.

systolic blood pressure:

The pressure exerted by the blood as it is pushed out of the heart during contraction.

diastolic blood pressure:

The pressure when the blood is relaxed between beats.

Selective attrition (longitudinal study):

The problem of losing participants is compounded by selective attrition, the fact that the people who drop out of a longitudinal study are not necessarily representative of the sample that was originally tested. They may drop out because of illness, lack of motivation, instability, death, or lack of motivation, or there may be an inability to continue in the study because they have moved so frequently that the researcher loses track of them. Another reason that becomes an increasingly significant problem is the death of participants who perhaps were initially in poorer physical health. One direct consequence of selective attrition is that the data from the study become increasingly skewed as the study wears on.

Bone remodelling:

The process of bone reconstruction in which old cells are destroyed and replaced by new cells (bone is a living tissue).

Pain sensitivity in aging and research restrictions with pain and aging:

The question of whether older adults are more or less sensitive to pain is a topic of considerable concern for health practitioners. Changes in pain perception with age could make life either much harder or much easier for individuals with illnesses (such as arthritis) that cause chronic pain. There is no evidence that older adults somehow become immune to or at least protected from pain by virtue of age changes in this sensory system. Lower back pain for at least 30 days in the past year was reported among 12 percent of a large-scale sample of Danish elders. Although benign back pain shows a decrease across adulthood, back pain that is more severe and disabling increases in the later years. Most older adults are able to maintain their daily functioning despite the presence of chronic pain, but as one would expect, the pain makes it more difficult for them to carry out their everyday activities. The experience of pain can also interfere with cognitive performance, in addition to placing limitations on an individual's everyday life. In one sample of more than 300 older adults, poorer performance on tests of memory and spatial abilities was observed among individuals who suffered from chronic lower back pain. In a study of more than 11,000 elders in the United Kingdom, researchers found that regardless of the presence of other complicating conditions, such as depression and anxiety, the experience of chronic pain had a direct relationship to the experience of cognitive symptoms. You should keep this finding in mind when evaluating studies of cognitive performance in older adults, because it is possible that many reports of age differences reflect the fact that older adults are distracted by pain. In addition, pain can be particularly difficult to detect in older persons with dementia, as their ability to self-report their pain levels is impaired. In their program of research on pain in older adults, Thomas Hadjistavropoulos and his colleagues at the University of Regina are developing research measures to evaluate pain in older adults who have communication difficulties.

Non-normative influences

The random idiosyncratic events that occur throughout life If life course was influenced only by normative age- and history-graded influences, predicting the course of development of people of the same age living in the same culture would not be easy, but would be a manageable problem. However, there are an almost infinite number of examples of non-normative influences. i.e. winning the lottery, car accident, fire, or death of relative, fired from a job, developing a chronic illness not related to aging, going through divorce etc..

What is plaque (cardiovascular system)?

The reason the arteries accommodate less blood flow is that fats circulating throughout the blood eventually form hard deposits inside the arterial walls known as plaque, consisting of cholesterol, cellular waste products, calcium, and fibrin.

What information can you obtain from scanning your genome for around $1000?

The result is a personal genetic profile that calculates your risk of developing certain diseases. Of course, even if you had the money to afford this, you might prefer not to learn what lies in store for you.

prevalence and incidence statistics:

The results of epidemiological studies can provide researchers with two types of population estimates. Prevalence statistics provide estimates of the percentage of people who have ever had symptoms in a particular period. Incidence statistics provide estimates of the percentage of people who first develop symptoms in a given period. i.e. For example, the lifetime prevalence of a disorder signifies what percentage of the population had the disease at any time since they were born. A one-year incidence estimate would tell you what percentage of the population develop symptoms of the disease within a one-year period.

Identity:

The set of schemas that the person holds about the self; your identity is your own answer to the question "who am I?" For most people this includes their views about their physical self, their cognitive abilities, their personality characteristics, and their social roles; also includes their sense of connection to their cultural heritage

How does skin colouring change with aging?

The skin's colouring also changes over the course of adulthood, most visibly in fair-skinned people. People develop discoloured areas referred to in colloquial terms as "age spots" (officially called lentigo senilus). These areas of brown pigmentation that show up on the skin of fair-skinned people are more likely to occur in the sun-exposed areas of the face, hands, and arms. Also developing on the skin are pigmented outgrowths (moles) and elevations of small blood vessels on the skin surface (angiomas).

Ageism:

The social context in which aging occurs is, unfortunately, one that is not necessarily favorable to the overall well-being of older adults. Ageism is a set of beliefs, attitudes, social institutions, and acts that denigrate individuals or groups based on their chronological age. It occurs when an individual is assumed to possess a set of stereotyped traits. This term may theoretically be applied to any age, however, for all practical purposes ageism is usually used to refer to adult population stereotypes.

smoking and emphysema:

The specific mechanism involved in the link between smoking and emphysema is thought to involve the release of an enzyme known as elastase, which breaks down the elastin found in lung tissue. Cigarette smoke stimulates the release of this enzyme and results in other changes that make the cells of the lung less resistant to elastase. Normally there is an inhibitant of elastase found in the lung, known as alpha-1 antitrypsin (AAT). However, cigarette smoke inactivates AAT and allows the elastase to destroy more lung tissue. Of course, not all smokers develop COPD, and not all people with COPD are or have been smokers. Heredity may also play a role. There is a rare genetic defect in the production of AAT in about 2 to 3 percent of the population that is responsible for about 5 percent of all cases of COPD.

epidemiology:

The study of the distribution and determinants of health-related states or events (including disease), and the application of this study to the control of diseases and other health problems. Governments, funding agencies, or interested researchers often need to gather data on the frequency of a particular disease in the population. An epidemiological study may use survey methodology in which questionnaires asking about a particular disease or set of diseases are sent to a representative sample of the population. Epidemiologists may also collect data through interviews and, increasingly, by obtaining biological samples for genetic and genomic analysis

diabetes symptoms:

The symptoms of diabetes include fatigue, frequent urination (especially at night), unusual thirst, weight loss, blurred vision, frequent infections, and slow heal- ing of sores. If blood sugar levels dip too low (a condition known as hypoglycemia), the individual can become nervous, jittery, faint, and confused. The only way to correct this condition is for the individual to eat or drink a sugary substance as quickly as possible. Alternatively, in hyperglycemia, when blood glucose levels become too high, the person can also become seriously ill. Type 2 diabetes is associated with long-term complications that affect almost every organ system, contributing to blindness, heart disease, strokes, kidney failure, the necessity for limb amputations, and damage to the nervous system.

Cerebrovascular disease:

The term cerebrovascular disease refers to disorders of circulation to the brain.

Glaucoma:

The term used for a group of conditions causing blindness related to changes in pressure within the eyeball. The most common type of glaucoma develops gradually and painlessly, without symptoms. Therefore, it may not be detected until the disease reaches advanced stages. Eventually, glaucoma causes a loss of peripheral vision and, over time, may cause the remaining vision to diminish altogether. More rarely, the symptoms appear suddenly, including blurred vision, loss of side vision, perception of coloured rings around lights, and experience of pain or redness in the eyes.

What are the three factors that jointly influence the individual's performance on a given psychological measure?

The three factors that jointly influence the individual's performance on a given psychological measure at any point in life are age, cohort, and time of measurement. Age is an objectively determined measure of how many years (and/or months or days) a person has lived up to the present moment. Cohort is the term we use to describe the year (or period) of a person's birth. Time of measurement tells us the year or period in which a person is tested.

When is identity assimilation unhealthy and healthy in regard to the multiple threshold model?

The unhealthy type of identity assimilation occurs when people ignore warning signs that the changes their body is going through require attention. i.e. If your blood pressure really is too high, you should explore ways to lower it, no matter what your age. It would not be healthy to deny the condition. On the other hand, healthy denial occurs when people avoid becoming overly preoccupied with age-related changes that are truly inconsequential to their overall health and well-being, especially if there is nothing they can do to ameliorate the process. Healthy deniers continue or begin to engage in preventative behaviours, without overthinking their actions and reflecting at length about their own mortality. However, at some point, everyone needs to confront these changes to some extent. You can't completely ignore the fact that you are getting older no matter what your age.

The urinary system:

The urinary system is made up of the kidneys, bladder, ureters, and urethra. The kidneys are composed of nephron cells that serve as millions of tiny filters that cleanse the blood of metabolic waste. These waste products combine in the bladder with excess water from the blood to be eliminated as urine through the urethra.

Vestibular dysfunction and aging:

The vestibular system refers to the balance system within the inner ear. Because the vestibular system is so intimately connected to other parts of the nervous system, people may experience symptoms of vestibular disturbance in the form of problems such as headache, muscular aches in the neck and back, and increased sensitivity to noise and bright lights. Other signs of vestibular disturbance include fatigue, inability to concentrate, unsteadiness while walking, and difficulty with speech. Increased sensitivity to motion sickness is another common symptom. Some of these changes may come about with diseases that are not part of normal aging, and others may occur as a result of normative alterations in the vestibular receptors. The two symptoms most frequently associated with age-related vestibular dysfunction are dizziness and vertigo.

When is identity accommodation unhealthy and healthy in regard to the multiple threshold model?

Theoretically, identity accommodation helps to keep identity assimilation in check. However, people who conclude that one small age change means they are "over the hill" may be just as likely to avoid taking preventive actions as those who engage in unhealthy denial. They incorrectly conclude that there's nothing they can do to slow down the aging process, so why try? i.e. similarly, people who are told they must watch their blood pressure may go overboard and do nothing but worry about what this means for their health. They "become" their illness, which they allow to take over their identity.

How does illness impact sleep?

There are a number of medical illnesses that can disrupt a person's sleep. These include arthritis, osteoporosis, cancer, chronic lung disease, congestive heart failure, and digestive disturbances. People with Parkinson's disease or Alzheimer's disease also suffer from serious sleep problems.

Temperature control and aging:

There are also increasing numbers of deaths due to hypothermia in older adults. The cause of the higher death rates under conditions of hypothermia may be an impaired ability of older adults to maintain their core body temperature during extremely cold outside temperatures. In less extreme conditions, older adults are less able to adjust their internal bodily temperature. This is because their sweat output is reduced, causing their core temperature to rise. Adding to this is the fact that the dermal layer of the skin becomes thinner, making it more difficult to cool the skin.

Why does diversity increase with age?

There are always going to be differences within any sample of people in almost any characteristic you can name. As people get older, these differences become magnified. (this is partially due to statistical disability, as it is difficult to find a sample of older adults who are as close in age as the young adults researchers tend to study. If age is related to performance than the odds are the older group will differ simply because they differ more in age). HOWEVER, the increasing variation among older adults is not just a statistical artifact and this is because older adults have lived through more experiences affecting everything from their health to their psychological well-being. Those experiences have cumulative effects, causing them to change at different rates and to differing degrees.

advantages and limitations to lab studies:

There are obvious advantages to the laboratory study. The objective and systematic way in which data are recorded provides the investigator with assurance that the results are due to the variables being studied rather than to extraneous factors. i.e. For instance, in the memory study, all participants would be presented with the recall items systematically, in a way that does not depend on the voice inflections of the researcher, the quality of the visual stimuli, or the amount of time used to present the items. A limitation of the laboratory study is the inability to apply the stimuli presented to real-life experiences of most adults. It is possible that the older person feels uncomfortable when tested in an impersonal and possibly intimidating manner using unfamiliar equipment. Consequently, the findings may underestimate the individual's abilities in everyday life, and may not generalize to real-world scenarios.

qualitative studies:

There are often instances in which researchers wish to explore a phenomenon of interest in an open-ended fashion. The investigation of social influences on adult development such as, for example, personal relationships, may demand that the researcher use a method that captures potentially relevant factors within a broad spectrum of possible influences. The qualitative method allows for the exploration of such complex relationships outside the narrow restrictions and assumptions of quantitative methods. In other cases, researchers may be working in an area in which conventional methods are neither practical nor appropriate for the problem under investigation. Qualitative methods are also used in the analysis of life history information, which is likely to be highly varied from person to person and not easily translated into numbers. The main advantage for using qualitative methods is that they provide researchers with alternative ways to test their hypotheses. The qualitative method can be adapted in a flexible manner to the nature of the problem at hand.

International differences and cardiovascular disease:

There are significant international differences in mortality due to heart disease, with the highest rates in Eastern European and Central Asian countries and the lowest rates in high-income countries. Among 46 high-income countries, the United States had the highest rate of death due to heart disease and Canada ranked ninth. In the Eastern European/Central Asian regions, Russia and Ukraine ranked first and second respectively. An analysis of the dietary habits and food intake of almost 27,000 people living in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe suggested that poor dietary habits contribute significantly to the high rates of morbidity and mortality in these countries.

Geographic variations within Canadian older adult population

There is significant variability in geographic distribution as well as variability across communities in providing for the specific needs of elderly Canadians

What is optimal aging the result of?

These changes may reflect the preventive or compensatory measures that adults take to counter the toll that aging would normally take on their physical and psychological functioning. However, some individuals do not make special efforts to alter their own aging, but for reasons not always entirely clear, seem to age at a slower rate than their peers

What makes the baby boom generation special?

These individuals were born during a period of high birth rates and are expected to live later, into their 80s-100s, increasing the numbers of very old individuals society will experience throughout the century

The pros of cross-sectional studies:

These problems aside, cross-sectional studies are relatively quick and inexpensive compared to longitudinal studies. Another advantage of cross-sectional studies is that the latest and most up-to-date technology can be brought to bear on the problem. If a new tool or technique comes out one year, it can be tested cross-sectionally the next. Researchers are not tied to obsolete methods that were in use some 30 or 40 years ago. The best cross-sectional studies, though never able to permit causal inferences about aging, employ a variety of controls to ensure that differences other than age are kept to a minimum and that the ages selected for study span across the adult years. Most researchers regard their cross-sectional findings as tentative descriptions of the effects of aging on the function of interest. They are aware of the importance of having their findings replicated and verified through studies employing a longitudinal element.

How are social/cultural factors relevant to gender's effect on adulthood and aging?

They are important to the extent that the individual assumes a certain role in society based on being viewed as either male or female.

Early in 20th century developmental psychologist views:

They took a largely "nature" approach, regarding growth in childhood as a clock-like process that reflected the unfolding of the individual's genetic makeup; according to these early developmentalists, such changes reflected the influence of ontogenesis, or maturational processes, as they unfolded within the child; these authors placed minimal emphasis on the environment. i.e. Arnold Gesell

Reciprocity in development

This concept states that people both influence and are influenced by the events in their lives, meaning that not only are you shaped by your experiences, but you in turn shape many of the experiences that affect you 1. experiences are influenced by prior life events 2. the effect you have on your environment which in turn affects subsequent life events The reciprocal process takes on a basic assumption that people are not passive recipients of environmental effects but that our choices and behaviors leave a mark on the world Reciprocal views of development regard these continuing processes as both ongoing and, to some extent, unpredictable

What does cerebrovascular disease lead to?

This condition may lead to the onset of a cerebrovascular accident, also known as a stroke or brain attack, an acute condition in which an artery leading to the brain bursts or is clogged by a blood clot or other particle. The larger the area of the brain deprived of blood, the more severe the deterioration of the physical and mental functions controlled by that area. Another condition caused by the development of clots in the cerebral arteries is a transient ischemic attack (TIA), also called a mini-stroke. The cause of a TIA is the same as that of a stroke, but in a TIA, the blockage of the artery is temporary. The tissues that were deprived of blood soon recover, but chances are that another TIA will follow. People who have had a TIA are also at higher risk of subsequently suffering from a stroke.

fecal incontinence:

Though troubling when it occurs, fecal incontinence affects only 4 percent of the over-65 population. As is true with urinary incontinence, training in behavioural controls can help to manage the condition. Increasing the amount of fibre in the diet can also help older adults maintain bowel regularity and prevent incontinence.

assimilation:

Through the process Piaget calls assimilation, people use their existing schemas as a way to understand the world around them. The term "assimilation", in this context, does not have its common meaning, as when you say that a person has become assimilated to a new culture. In Piaget's model, assimilation has the opposite meaning, referring to the situation in which individuals change their interpretation of reality to fit the schemas they already hold. Instead of changing themselves to fit the culture, they change their perception of the culture to fit their own way of understanding it.

How do researchers address selective attrition?

To address the problem of selective attrition, longitudinal researchers typically conduct analyses to determine whether the pattern of participant dropout was random, or whether it reflected a systematic bias that kept the healthier and more motivated participants in the sample. Such a technique is referred to as non-random sampling, and means that successive samples are increasingly unlike the populations they were intended to represent. Various statistical techniques are employed to determine whether non-random sampling has occurred, and if so, whether relationships between the variables are affected. Without such procedures, the study's results become difficult to interpret. Beyond a certain point, however, there is little that the researcher can do. The healthiest individuals will always be the last ones standing at the end of a study, and therefore may never have been representative of their age group.

Arnold Gesell (1880-1961)

Took on the task of chronicling the changes from birth to adolescence.

tertiary aging

Toward the very end of life, individuals experience a rapid loss of functions across multiple areas of functioning.

What happens to the joints as we age? How are they different to the muscles?

Unlike muscles, joints do not benefit from constant use. On the contrary, stress and repeated use cause the joints to wear out more rapidly. As they become less flexible and more painful, people find it increasingly hard to move the affected limbs, hands, and feet. In fact, osteoarthritis affects 85 percent of Canadian seniors aged 75 years and older.

Developmental neuroscience:

Use brain scanning methods to correlate changes in the structures of the nervous system with changes in behavior from birth through later life; they may also draw from research on species other than humans in which experimental methods can be used to manipulate both genes and the environment in ways not possible with human participants

Hearing aids:

Using hearing aids can help adults with hearing loss overcome many hearing-related problems. With increasing improvements in the quality of hearing aids, as well as reductions in size, people no longer need to rely on devices that are visible to others. These miniature devices considerably reduce the social stigma many associate with the need to wear a hearing aid. They are also more effective, particularly because people are more likely to use them given that they are so small and easily hidden.

Life span perspective

Views development as continuous from childhood through old age Includes focus on the contextual influences on development

Visual disturbances in older adults problems:

Visual disturbances in older adults, whatever their cause, require the attention of health care professionals. They might be treatable, but even if they're not, their presence can relate to psychological symptoms including depression and isolation. Moreover, visual problems can create difficulties in other areas of functioning, such as increasing the likelihood of a person's falling or making medication errors that can have serious consequences in their own right.

The descriptive approach to development:

Was practised for many decades as researchers attempted to establish the ages at which particular events occur within the individual.

What can age tell you in research?

What you can establish is whether different age groups varied in their responses to the experimental manipulation.

Identity changes in terms of threshold experiences:

Whatever the area of greatest relevance, at the point of crossing a threshold, people are prompted to recognize the reality of the aging process in that particular area of functioning. It is during the process of moving from identity assimilation to identity accommodation through the occurrence of these thresholds that a new state of balance is reached. Ultimately, people will only be able to adapt to age-related changes once they have examined the meaning of the change and incorporated it into their existing view of the self. Almost all young adults see themselves as "youthful." In Western society, this youthful image is one that many people would like to preserve and therefore they resist making changes in it. It won't be too long, however, before you encounter experiences that lead you to your first "threshold." At that point, you may start to challenge the view you had of yourself as a young person. Your options now are to disregard the whole experience and not change your identity or to see yourself as not-so-young (identity assimilation). Or you might become completely thrown by the experience, and conclude that you are heading more swiftly than you hoped to middle age (identity accommodation). It's also possible that you might note the experience, admit that you're not a teenager any more, and feel perfectly fine with the fact that people are treating you with a bit more dignity (identity balance).

How does aging effect sleep patterns?

Whatever the cause, we know that older adults spend more time in bed relative to time spent asleep. They take longer to fall asleep, awaken more often during the night, lie in bed longer before rising, and have sleep that is shallower, more fragmented, and less efficient. Their sleep patterns on the EEG show some corresponding age alterations, including a rise in Stage 1 sleep and a large decrease in both Stage 4 and REM (rapid eye move- ment) sleep. These changes occur even in people who are in excellent health.

Mutations:

When DNA reproduces itself, the process often occurs without a problem, and the DNA copy is the same as the original molecule. However, for various reasons, genes may undergo the alterations known as mutations. When a gene contains a mutation, the protein encoded by that gene will most likely be abnormal. Sometimes the protein can function despite the damage, but in other cases, it becomes completely disabled. If a protein vital to survival becomes severely damaged, the results of the mutation can be serious. Genetic mutations are either inherited from a parent or acquired over the course of one's life. Inherited mutations originate from the DNA of the cells involved in reproduction (sperm and egg).

Identity accommodation:

When people make changes in their identities in response to experiences that challenge their current view of themselves. Identity change may be difficult, particularly at first, because you must come to grips with your weaknesses. However, the result will ultimately produce a self-image that is more in sync with reality.

What are inherited mutations?

When reproductive cells containing mutations are combined in one's offspring, the mutation is in all the bodily cells of that offspring.

case report:

When researchers want to provide an in-depth analysis of particular individuals, they use the case report, which summarizes the findings from multiple sources for those individuals. Data may be integrated from interviews, psychological tests, observations, archival records, or even journal and diary entries. The focus of the case report is on the characteristics of the individual and what has influenced his or her development and life experiences. Personal narratives may also be obtained with this method, in which individuals describe their lives as they have experienced them and provide their ideas about why their lives have evolved in a given manner. Although the case report has the benefit of providing insights into the lives of individuals as they change over time, it relies heavily on clinical judgements by the researcher. Therefore, for a case report to provide valuable information, a high level of expertise is required to ensure that the findings are presented in a manner that balances the objective facts with the subjective analysis of the researcher.

Accommodation:

When you change your schema in response to new information about the world; when you change yourself in order to fit the larger culture that you're now a part of Piaget

What is one of the most debated discussions surrounding nature/nurture and human development?

Whether or not intelligence is inherited or acquired; the debates took on a different tone as researchers understood more and more that neither nature/nurture alone could account for individual differences in performance on intelligence tests, in children or adults

Prevention and risk factors for developing osteoporosis:

Women (particularly post-menopausal women) are at higher risk than men because they have lower bone mass in general. However, osteoporosis is a significant health problem in men. Women vary by race and ethnicity in their risk of developing osteoporosis; women of European and Asian descent have the highest risk, whereas black and Hispanic people have the lowest risk. In addition, women who have small bone structures and are underweight have a higher risk for osteoporosis than heavier women. Excessive use of alcohol and a history of cigarette smoking increase an individual's risk of developing osteoporosis. Conversely, people can reduce their risk by taking in adequate amounts of calcium present in dairy products, dark green leafy vegetables, tofu, salmon, and foods fortified with calcium, such as orange juice, bread, and cereal (a regimen similar to that recommended to prevent heart disease). Other dietary measures include eating foods high in protein and nutrients such as magnesium, potassium, vitamin K, several B vitamins, and carotenoids. Vitamin D, obtained through exposure to sunlight (while wearing sunblock) or as a dietary supplement, is another important preventive agent. Exercise and physical activity are also significant factors in reducing a person's risk of osteoporosis, particularly when that exercise involves resistance training with weights.

Gender variations in the over-65 population:

Women life expectancy is higher for women than for men, however, life expectancy gains have been more rapid for men than women in recent years and this trend is expected to continue and to narrow the gap in numbers between men and women

Smell/taste and aging:

You are able to enjoy food thanks to your taste buds (responsible for gustation) and smell receptors (responsible for olfaction). Smell and taste belong to the chemical sensing system referred to as chemosensation. The sensory receptors in these systems are triggered when molecules released by certain substances stimulate special cells in the nose, mouth, or throat. Despite the fact that the olfactory receptors constantly replace themselves, the area of the olfactory epithelium shrinks with age, and ultimately the total number of receptors becomes reduced throughout the adult years. At birth, the olfactory epithelium covers a wide area of the upper nasal cavities, but by the 20s and 30s, its area has started to shrink noticeably. Approximately one-third of all older adults suffer from some form of olfactory impairment, with almost half of those 80 years and older having virtually no ability to smell at all. The loss of olfactory receptors reflects intrinsic changes associated with the aging process, as well as damage caused by disease, injury, and exposure to toxins.

Somatosensory system: propriception & kinesthesis:

You are able to move around in the environment through the operation of the somatosensory system, which sends information about touch, temperature, and position to the nervous system. Awareness of bodily position is made possible by proprioception, which provides information about where the limbs are placed when you are standing still. Kinesthesis applies to the knowledge that receptors in the limbs provide when the body is moving. Through proprioception, you would know that you are poised at the top of a staircase, ready to take your first step downward, and through kinesthesis you would know that you are actually moving down those stairs.

Vision and aging:

You may associate growing older with the need to wear reading glasses and, in fact, this is what occurs. Most people require some form of corrective lenses by the time they reach their 50s or 60s.

Generations:

You may not be particularly familiar with the term "cohort," but you almost certainly know about "generational" effects. A generation is simply a period that spans about a 20- to 30-year time frame. Cohort can be any length of time, which is why researchers use it rather than generation. However, the concept is still the same. You've undoubtedly heard of "Generation X," who are now in their early 40s, and you may be a member of the "Millennial Generation" of people born in the 1990s. There are other generations as well who have taken their place in history: "the Greatest Generation" (born in the 1920s), "the Silent Generation" (born in the 1930s) and, as we discussed in Chapter 1, "the baby boomers" (born in the post-war era between 1946 and 1962). Each of these names is intended to conjure up images of the prevailing historical and social period. The Silent Generation, as the name implies, created very little fuss as they tended to their families and jobs. The baby boomers, in contrast, were seen at the time as rebellious "hippies" who were anything but silent as they protested every- thing from the Vietnam War to button-down collars.

The Digestive System and aging:

You no doubt hear a great deal in the media about middle-aged and older people requiring aids to their digestive system, such as treatments for heartburn (acid reflux), gas, bloating, and bowel irregularity. Surprisingly, the reality is that the majority of older people do not experience significant losses in their ability to digest food. For example, physiological changes in the esophagus are relatively minor, as are changes (for people in good health) in the remaining organs of the stomach and lower digestive tract. Saliva production decreases, fewer gastric juices are secreted, and the stomach empties more slowly in older adults. There is also a decrease in liver volume and blood flow through the liver. However, these changes vary tremendously from person to person, in part because of variations in overall health status. Smoking status and medications also affect digestive system functioning in older adults.

What are the implications of these figures for your future as you enter into and move through your adult years?

You will likely have more friends and associations than is true of the current older population, simply because there will be more peers of your age group to socialize with. If you are male, the news is encouraging: you will be more likely to live into old age than the current cohorts of older adults. For those of you who are younger than the baby boomers, the statistics are also encouraging if you are considering a career related to the field of aging. Changes in various aspects of lifestyle can also be expected in the next decades, as adjustments to the aging population in the entertainment world and media are made.

What are some health and lifestyle choices that may decrease longevity?

being overweight risky behaviors like drinking and driving dietary choices, such as high consumption of fat being physically inactive smoking

Diabetes: What are the possible causes and consequences of diabetes? How should diabetes be managed?

causes: People with diabetes are unable to metabolize glucose, a simple sugar that is a major source of energy for the body's cells. Adult-onset diabetes, also known as Type 2 diabetes, develops over time, gradually reducing the individual's ability to convert dietary glucose to a form that can be used by the body's cells. consequences: The symptoms of diabetes include fatigue, frequent urination (especially at night), unusual thirst, weight loss, blurred vision, frequent infections, and slow healing of sores. If blood sugar levels dip too low (a condition known as hypoglycemia), the individual can become nervous, jittery, faint, and confused. The only way to correct this condition is for the individual to eat or drink a sugary substance as quickly as possible.Alternatively, in hyperglycemia, when blood glucose levels become too high, the person can also become seriously ill. Type 2 diabetes is associated with long-term complications that affect almost every organ system, contributing to blindness, heart disease, strokes, kidney failure, the necessity for limb amputations, and damage to the nervous system. How should diabetes be managed: Given the clear relationship between obesity and diabetes, the most important means of preventing Type 2 diabetes is control of glucose intake, blood pressure, and blood lipids.Moderate alcohol consumption also seems to offer a protective effect. People with diabetes require frequent testing, usually by measuring blood levels.Depending on the severity, once an individual has Type 2 diabetes, diet and exercise may be sufficient to control its symptoms.If not, the individual requires insulin injections or oral forms of diabetes medications. There are currently six classes of oral diabetes medications, each of which works in a unique way to control blood glucose levels.

What are the four principles that form the foundation of the biopsychosocial approach to studying adult development and aging?

changes are continuous over the lifespan. only the survivors grow old. individuality matters. "Normal" aging is different from disease.

4-2-1 phenomenon

families with four grandparents, two parents and one child taking care of them all; a result of China's One Child Policy of Mao Zedong that led to a dramatic drop in fertility from 1963 to 2003. This comes with challenging social and economic consequences.

Niche-picking

genetic and environmental factors work together to influence the direction of a child's life; according to this concept children literally pick out their "niche", or area in which they develop their talents/abilities and once they start down that particular pathway, they experience further challenges that influence the later development of those particular abilities i.e. a child whose genetic potential predisposes her to be a talented dancer who sees a ballet performance and is inspired to take ballet lessons...the child has chosen dancing as a "niche", having been exposed to a ballet performance and once allowed to pursue her talent she continues to thrive-thus, her dance genes lead her to develop an interest in exactly the activity that will allow her talents to flourish

Functional age

how people actually perform rather than chronological age With functional age as the basis for a system of studying aging, we could gain a better grasp of a person's true characteristics and abilities an advantage is that they may be more accurate than chronological age, however, they must be constantly calibrated and recalibrated to ensure accuracy (i.e. a biological index based in part on blood pressure may require adjustments as health practitioners change the definition of what is considered "old". Of course, it is much easier to use chronological age than these more sophisticated calculations but we must keep in mind that it does not tell the whole story.

Cultural dualism

i.e. Canada recognizes the historical colonization by French and English people, and is reflected in legislation and policies in many different areas, including language, education, and the institutional rights of provinces.

exosystem: ecological model

includes the environments that people do not closely experience on a regular basis but that impact them nevertheless these environments include such institutions as the workplace and community centers as well as extended family, whom people may not see very often

macrosystem: ecological model

includes the larger social institutions, ranging from a country's economy to its laws and social norms influences the individual indirectly through the exosystem

Contextual influences on development:

incorporates the effects of sex, race, ethnicity, social class, religion, and culture Researchers now consider both nature and nurture as influences on life span change

Normative age-graded influences

lead people to choose experiences that their culture and historical period attach to certain ages or points in the life-span. Events that occur in response to normative age-graded influences occur in part because a given society has developed expectations about what is assumed for people of certain ages. They exert their impact because people are socialized into believing they should structure their lives so that they conform to these influences. When they don't, they often feel like something is wrong with them. The normative age-graded influences are partially linked to the biological aging process, particularly in the area of family.

What is the ideal combination of lipoproteins in terms of heart health?

low overall blood cholesterol level HDLs are greater than LDLs

Life course perspective

norms, roles, and attitudes about age have an impact on the shape of each person's life The term life "course" is not the same as life "span", a term we will define shortly

Differentiate between presbyopia, cataracts, macular degeneration, & glaucoma (don't need to know rates).

presbyopia: farsightedness caused by loss of elasticity of the lens of the eye, occurring typically in middle and old age. cataracts: a clouding or opacity in the lens. This results in blurred or distorted vision because the retina cannot clearly focus the images. macular degeneration: Macular degeneration causes loss in the center of the field of vision. In dry macular degeneration, the center of the retina deteriorates. With wet macular degeneration, leaky blood vessels grow under the retina. Causes blurred vision. glaucoma: The most common type of glaucoma develops gradually and painlessly, without symptoms. Therefore, it may not be detected until the disease reaches advanced stages. Eventually, glaucoma causes a loss of peripheral vision and, over time, may cause the remaining vision to diminish altogether.

What factors have contributed to increase in life expectancy?

reduced death rates for children and young adults people are also living longer once they reach the age of 65

chronosystem: ecological model

refers to the changes that take place over time the interacting systems within the ecological model are affected by historical changes. These can include events within the family, for example, as well as events in the larger society that indirectly affect the individual by affecting the macrosystem

What are Piaget's stages of development?

sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operations, formal operations Each stage represents a time of equilibrium, when assimilation and accommodation are perfectly balanced. The equilibrium achieved in formal operations is the most stable because it is when the individual is able to use the highest level of thought to understand and learn from experience. However, we rely on all forms of thought, ranging from sensorimotor(nonverbal) to concrete(the here and now).

Describe and distinguish between the key social factors in AD&A.

sex gender religion SES ethnicity culture

gerontology

the interdisciplinary scientific study of aging and the elderly

Intra-individual differences

variations in performance within the same individual; development may proceed in multiple directions within the same person (multidirectionality) i.e. some functions may increase over time, others decrease, and others stay the same. Even within a construct such as intelligent, an individual may show gains in one area, losses in another, and stability in yet another domain.

What are the subgroups most frequently used in gerontology to break up the 65-and-older group?

young-old (ages 65-74) old-old (ages 75-84) oldest-old (ages 85 and older) Although, we should remember that we shouldn't place too much credence on numbers