human development chapters 9-12

how do reltationships between children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren change in late adulthood

Across cultures, contact with children continues to be frequent through late adulthood, and there may be a role reversal between parents and children, with parents now depending on their children for care and support. Although grandparents and grandchildren often decrease their frequency of contact as the grandchildren become busy with the tasks of adult life, feelings of closeness and affection established earlier remain strong for most. Relations with great-grandchildren tend to be less close than with grandchildren, and contact is less frequent.

why is young adulthood the peak of sexual behavior

Across cultures, young adulthood tends to be the life stage when sexual activity reaches its peak; virtually all cultures encourage young adult sexual activity, most often in order to produce children, but in the West for promoting marital intimacy. According to an American survey, compared to young women, young men masturbate more frequently, reach orgasm during sex more consistently, and have more frequent sexual fantasies. Women masturbate more in their 30s than in any other decade of life.

culture variations of criteria for young adulthood

Across developed countries, three common criteria for marking the attainment of adulthood are accepting responsibility for one's self, making independent decisions, and becoming financially independent. Emerging adults in Asian cultures often value being able to support parents financially as a criterion for adulthood, and in many traditional cultures, marriage is the primary marker. There are also culturally-specific criteria such as, in Israel, completing mandatory military service

obesity (ya)

Among adults, a BMI above 25 is classified as overweight and above 30 is considered obesity. Obesity increases sharply in prevalence during young adulthood in developed countries, partly due to a decrease in the basal metabolic rate but also due to sedentary work, little regular exercise, and eating too much food containing fats and sugars. Obesity places young adults at risk for a variety of health problems and social consequences. Although a vast range of diet programs have promised to reduce obesity, the only effective approach supported by research is to exercise more, eat less, and eat healthier foods

change in attention and memory (ma)

Attention declines in some ways in midlife, including the ability to focus attention on relevant information, and also the ability to maintain divided attention. Memory changes little during middle adulthood

American gender beliefs

Beliefs about gender roles have become less restrictive in American society over the last half century. However, gender stereotypes persist in occupational roles, in the expectations for men and women to perform different kinds of jobs, and in less favorable evaluations of women's work performance.

changes in vision, hearing, taste, and smell in late adulthood

Changes to the cornea, lens, retina, and optic nerve in late adulthood may lead to cataracts, macular degeneration, or glaucoma. Hearing typically declines in late adulthood, although hearing aids may help compensate for this decline. Taste and smell also decline, which can have a negative impact on the diet and health of older adults.

midlife crisis (ma)

Claims of a normative midlife crisis have been shown to be false. On the contrary, midlife is more likely to be a period of stability and high life satisfaction.

college students sleep patterns

College students' sleep patterns are often irregular and disrupted, so that they accumulate a large sleep debt during the week and then try to compensate on weekends. Part of the problem is that they tend toward eveningness in their 20s, whereas the older adults who set emerging adults' work and class schedules tend toward morningness. Good sleep hygiene includes waking up at the same time each day, getting regular exercise, and limiting caffeine and alcohol consumption

health problems associated with late adulthood

Common chronic health problem of late adulthood is arthritis, a disease of the joints that especially affects the hips, knees, neck, hands, and lower back. There is no cure, but medication and surgery can be used to treat the pain. Loss of bone mass continues in late adulthood, causing the risk of osteoporosis to rise, mostly for women. Osteoporosis can be delayed or even reversed with a combination of regular bone-strengthening exercise (such as weightlifting) and a calcium-rich diet. Rates of hypertension, or high blood pressure, rise in late adulthood due to primary and secondary aging.

leisure activities (ma)

Community involvement is relatively high in midlife in the United States, although not quite as high as in young adulthood. For people in developed countries, leisure time in middle adulthood is often spent watching TV, socializing with family members, or spending time with friends. Vacations are devoted to similar activities, along with visiting children and grandchildren.

relationship between community involvement and tv (ya)

Community involvement often rises in young adulthood as adult roles are taken on, but community involvement has decreased in recent decades across age groups, primarily due to the rise and dominance of television. Watching television is the main leisure activity of young adults in developed countries, even though it is seldom an emotionally-satisfying experience.

cultural variations of marriage (ya)

Cross-national research indicates that there are broad similarities around the world in the criteria young people prize most in a marriage partner, with mutual attraction/love and dependable character at the top of the list. Chastity before marriage ranks very high in some cultures and very low in others. Outside the West, love is generally expected to develop after marriage, not before, and partners tend to have lower intimacy expectations for marriage than in the West. Arranged marriages have been common throughout history and remain common today, especially in Asia, although today they often take the form of semi-arranged marriages in which parents as well as young people are involved in the choice of a marriage partner. In many cultures the groom's family must pay a bride price or offer bride service to the bride's family to compensate them for the loss of her labor, but some cultures have a dowry custom in which the bride's family must pay the groom's.

3 stages of late adulthood

Developmental psychologists divide late adulthood into three substages: young-old (age 65-74); old-old (age 75-84); and oldest-old (age 85 and up). Adults in these substages may differ based on how they perform activities of daily living (ADLs), so gerontologists today often refer to the concept of functional age

divorce (ma)

Divorce in this life stage is often a result of love gone cold rather than anger and conflict.

3 lifestyle habits that have positive influence on health

Eating a healthy diet, exercising regularly, and avoiding unhealthy practices, such as cigarette smoking and excess alcohol consumption, all have a positive effect on health in late adulthood

indicators that emerging adults are at their peak physically

Emerging adulthood is a time of peak physical functioning as indicated in measures such as VO2 max and grip strength. However, many emerging adults feel less than optimally healthy and energetic due to lifestyle factors such as poor nutrition and the strain of balancing school and work obligations

cultural variations of emerging adulthood

Emerging adulthood is longest in Europe, where education often lasts well into the 20s and the median age of entering marriage and parenthood is around 30. In Asian countries, emerging adults balance their identity explorations with a sense of obligation to family. They seek to become capable of supporting their parents, which is seen as a key marker of becoming an adult. Emerging adulthood is rare but growing in developing countries, especially in urban areas

home leaving; Europe vs US

Emerging adults in the United States and northern Europe usually move out of their parents' household at age 19 or 20 to live on their own or with a friend or romantic partner. In southern Europe, emerging adults usually remain at home but enjoy doing so. Relations with parents often improve as emerging adults become better at taking their parents' perspectives.

school to work, emerging adults have more unemployment rates, why?

Emerging adults tend to seek identity-based work that fits their abilities and interests. In developed countries the best jobs require tertiary education, and emerging adults often struggle in the job market because they lack basic skills as well as educational credentials. Across developed countries, unemployment peaks in emerging adulthood. In the United States, unemployment is especially high among African Americans and Latinos, because they are more likely to lack educational credentials.

why is expertise first reached in young adulthood

Expertise is defined as extensive knowledge and skills in a specific field. It usually takes about 10 years to establish, so it often develops as emerging adults become young adults and stay in a stable line of work for an extended period of years

how is creativity related to expertise (ya)

Expertise is usually required before a person knows enough about a field and has sufficient skills to produce a creative work. Consequently, creativity often peaks in young adulthood, although there are wide variations across fields and among individuals.

why does expertise peak in midlife

Expertise tends to peak in midlife because it takes many years to develop knowledge and experience in a given domain. Expertise is one reason middle adults are able to rise to the top of their professions

common factors of divorce (ya)

Factors related to higher likelihood of divorce include young age at marriage (younger than 25), having divorced parents, and low religious involvement. In the United States, divorce rates peak in young adulthood and are especially high among African Americans and young adults with low educational attainment. Young Americans believe in the value of marriage more than young people in most other Western countries, but they also believe that partners should not stay in a marriage that is unhappy.

cognitive changes (ma)

Fluid intelligence declines during middle adulthood in some respects, whereas crystallized intelligence increases.

fluid intelligence (ma)

Fluid intelligence involves speed of responding to new information

role of intimacy in emerging adults' friendships

Friends are important to emerging adults, especially to those without a current romantic partner, and intimacy is more important to their friendships than it is in childhood or adolescence. Common activities among friends include unstructured socializing, which may involve alcohol use and media use. Activities with friends decline steadily during the 20s as emerging adults form stable romantic partnerships

gay and lesbian vs heterosexual relationships (ya)

Gay and lesbian partnerships in young adulthood are like heterosexual partnerships in most ways, although sexual frequency is relatively high among gay couples and relatively low among lesbian couples. In recent years, discrimination against gays and lesbians has diminished, especially on the part of the young, and some countries have allowed homosexuals to marry, but a substantial amount of discrimination remains

generativity (ma)

Generativity is the motivation to contribute to the well-being of the generations to come. It may be expressed through being a parent or grandparent, or through roles such as mentor or teacher.

social and emotional impact of becoming a parent (ya)

Having a child is a stress to the intimacy of the marital relationship, but the relationships of couples with strong marriages tend to become stronger under the strain, whereas couples with marital problems prior to becoming parents tend to become even more unhappy with their marriage once a child is born. Single parents have lower family incomes because only one salary comes into the family, and they also have responsibility for parenting duties and household chores, but many of them receive assistance from relatives or friends

marital satisfaction in western cultures (ya)

In American studies, marital satisfaction tends to be highest in the first year of marriage and then declines steadily, as the soul mate ideal collides with the demands and stresses of daily life.

Erikson's theory of young adulthood

In Erikson's theory, the primary crisis of young adulthood is intimacy versus isolation. Establishing intimacy involves uniting one's newly formed identity with another person in an enduring, committed, intimate relationship

how does pragmatism help emerging adults become better at addressing real life problems

In contrast to the thinking of formal operations, which emphasizes scientific approaches to problems, pragmatism recognizes that the problems people confront in their daily lives are often complex and ambiguous and do not submit to definite answers

sleep patterns in late adulthood

In late adulthood many people take longer to fall asleep, wake up more often during the night, and sleep less deeply. Many older adults also experience sleep apnea. Changes in sleep patterns are due both to normal aging and to psychological and medical conditions.

how does the brain change in late adulthood

In late adulthood the brain actually shrinks and total brain mass declines. Declines also take place in certain neurotransmitters, such as acetylcholine and dopamine.

cultural views toward older adults

In many Asian and traditional cultures, status is based partly on age, and older adults are treated with respect and authority. Depictions of late adulthood are becoming more positive in the West as well, as shown in advertisements.

status of middle adulthood women (ma)

In many cultures, midlife is a time of new freedoms and new authority within the household for women. Gender equality tends to be greatest in countries with the highest economic development, although Japan and South Korea are exceptions. However, even in developed countries, women often face many obstacles to reaching the top echelon of occupational achievement in midlife and find they have to relinquish their family goals in order to reach their goals in the workplace.

physical declines in middle adulthood

In midlife, the lens of the eye becomes less flexible and transparent and the number of rods and cones declines, resulting in problems with vision and reading. Hearing declines are due to the thinning of hairs in the inner ear, the eardrum becoming less flexible, and environmental factors such as exposure to loud noises

forms of identity in emerging adults

In the identity status model, James Marcia proposed four categories of identity development: diffusion, moratorium, foreclosure, and achievement. Research indicates that for most people identity achievement is not reached until emerging adulthood or beyond. Cultures influence identity development by the extent to which they allow or restrict their young people's opportunities to make choices in love and work. Today, globalization often influences the cultural context of identity development, resulting in bicultural identities. For members of ethnic minorities, there are a variety of possible forms their ethnic identity may take, including assimilation, marginality, separation, and biculturalism

Describe the effects of intervention studies on cognitive decline, and explain how older adults adapt to physical and cognitive changes

Intervention studies show that regular mental exercise enhances mental abilities and slows the cognitive decline that takes place with primary aging. This could include activities such as crossword puzzles, playing card games, watching educational television, and reading books. The most successful adaptation to declining physical and cognitive abilities in late adulthood involves selective optimization with compensation (SOC).

positives and negatives in the workplace (ma)

Job satisfaction peaks in midlife, due to rising status, expertise, and authority in the workplace. Losing a job is more difficult in midlife than at younger ages, and it may result in a longer period of unemployment, especially for those workers who lack the skills to compete in the global economy

leisure actvities, community involvement, religious involvement and media use changes in late adulthood

Leisure activities in late adulthood tend to be a continuation of things adults had enjoyed earlier in life. Many older adults travel, but most of older adults' leisure time is spent watching television, reading, and visiting family and friends. Volunteering, involvement in civic organizations, and religious participation are high during late adulthood. Television use is also high, and Internet use can enhance the health care and social lives of older adults

cultural variations of intelligence (ya)

Many cultures include social skills and social responsibility in their conceptions of intelligence. According to Sternberg, intelligence also has a practical dimension that is culture-specific, reflecting knowledge of culturally important information and mastery of cultural skills

explain how romantic and sexual relationships change in late adulthood

Marital satisfaction increases from middle adulthood to late adulthood and reaches its highest point of the entire life span. Many people, especially women, lose their spouse during late adulthood, a painful and difficult transition for most. Rates of remarriage are low but tend to be more successful in late adulthood than at earlier ages. There are wide cultural variations in views of the acceptability and appropriateness of sexual activity in late adulthood. Sexual activity depends crucially on physical health. A U.S. study reported that frequencies of kissing, hugging, and sexual touching and caressing were higher than rates of intercourse in late adulthood.

marital satisfaction (ma)

Marriage quality generally improves in midlife, as couples have fewer stresses from caring for small children and from financial concerns. While many middle adults enjoy an active sex life, there are biological changes associated with the female and male climacteric that influence sexuality, specifically slower sexual arousal in women and erectile dysfunction in men.

reproductive changes (ma)

Menopause takes place in middle adulthood for women, and is the culmination of hormonal declines over a decade of perimenopause. There are great variations in women's experience of menopause around the world, but in all cultures women welcome the end of monthly menstruation. Men experience slight declines in testosterone through middle adulthood but nothing comparable to menopause.

midlife health habits

Midlife health habits such as smoking, alcohol abuse, and being overweight have a negative effect on later health. Other factors, including educational attainment, marriage stability, and personality characteristics such as sociability, can have a positive impact

decline of perpetual speed (ma)

Perceptual speed declines during middle adulthood, most noticeably in tests of reaction time. The decline in perceptual speed has limited real-life significance, however

what are the signs of the beginnings of aging and when do they appear (ya)

Physical health is generally very good in young adulthood, but the aging process is evident in changes such as graying hair and a less effective immune system.

why are emerging adults at the forefront of political movements

Political participation is low in emerging adulthood with respect to conventional measures such as voting. However, emerging adults are more likely than older adults to engage in volunteer work and to join extreme political movements, due to their ideological identity search and their lack of binding social commitments

explain why late adulthood is a time of high esteem and positive emotions

Positive emotions and self-esteem rise during late adulthood, because older adults tend to be more accepting of their past and present selves than young or middle adults are. Gender differences in self-esteem diminish or disappear by late adulthood.

why do young drivers have highest rates of crashes and what can we do about it

Rates of automobile fatalities are high in adolescence and emerging adulthood due to a combination of inexperience and risky driving behaviors, but have been reduced substantially by GDL programs

ethnic variations of singlehood (ya)

Rates of remaining single are exceptionally highin Asian cities such as Tokyo. Within the United States, African Americans are most likely to remain single, but they have higher rates of cohabitation, so their rates of long-term partnerships are about the same as for other ethnic groups.

benefits of exercising in young adulthood

Regular exercise promotes a healthy weight and reduces the risk of a variety of diseases. It also promotes mental health by increasing well-being and reducing anxiety and depression

cultural variations in family relationships (ma)

Relations with parents often improve from young to middle adulthood. Midlife adults sometimes receive support of various kinds from their parents, but over time the direction of support shifts steadily toward parents, especially once they have health problems. Cultures vary in expectations for whether elderly parents will live with their children and how long midlife parents will have children in their household. Parents are generally willing to support their children to some degree through emerging adulthood and young adulthood, provided that the parents have sufficient resources themselves. Relations with grandchildren tend to be close and meaningful across cultures, although grandparents often have less contact with their grandchildren in developed countries.

Smith and Snell's religious beliefs of emerging adults

Religious beliefs and practices decline in emerging adulthood, reaching their lowest point in the life span. Emerging adults tend to hold highly individualized religious beliefs rather than adhering to a traditional doctrine

self concept (ma)

Self-development matures in many ways in middle adulthood, as many people lower their ambitions and focus on making the most of the life they have. Identity struggles lessen as people reach a mature self-knowledge and self-acceptance. Midlife adults in collectivistic cultures may emphasize relations with others rather than self-development, although some Japanese women focus on individual arts.

self esteem from adolescent to emerging adult

Self-esteem often rises for emerging adults because they have moved beyond some of the difficult issues of adolescence and they have more control over their lives.

attention and memory changes in late adulthood

Several different types of attention decline in late adulthood, including selective, divided, and sustained attention. Memory declines vary based on the type of memory involved. There is relatively little decline in procedural memory and semantic memory, but declines are steeper in working memory, long-term memory, episodic memory, and source memory.

sings of physical aging in late adulthood

Signs of physical aging include graying and thinning hair, age spots, decrease in body weight, and possible loss of teeth. Many of these changes are due to primary aging, although influences such as sun exposure and diet have an effect as well.

why does substance use peak in the early 20s then decline

Substance use rates peak in the early 20s primarily because this is when social control is lowest. The decline in substance use in the late 20s and beyond is primarily due to taking on new social roles such as spouse and parent, which provide new sources of social control

variations of retirement and the impact of retirement on older adults

The decision about precisely when to retire is based on a variety of factors, especially financial considerations, physical health, and job satisfaction. Many older Americans enter retirement gradually, through bridge jobs that do not require full-time hours. Most older adults adjust well to retirement, but adults who were forced into retirement are less happy with retirement than those who retired by choice. People who choose to retire generally experience improvements in their physical and mental health following the transition, whereas people who retired involuntarily tend to decline.

symptoms and risk factors of Alzheimers

The earliest symptom of Alzheimer's disease is a loss of memory for recent events and familiar names and tasks. Personality is often negatively affected, along with the ability to control bodily functions. A specific gene known as the ApoE gene indicates risk for Alzheimer's disease, but not everyone with the gene develops the disease. Diets high in fats and sugars increase the risk of developing the disease, and maintaining a high level of cognitive activity appears to be a protective factor against it.

common myths about single adults (ya)

The majority of adults in all cultures marry, but about 10% remain single through young adulthood, across cultures. Single young adults rate lower on health and happiness than young adults who are happily married, buthigher than those who are in unhappy marriages or who are separated, divorced, or widowed.

old age dependency ratio

The old-age dependency ratio (OADR) is calculated by dividing the number of persons age 65 or older by the number of persons age 20-64 and multiplying by 100. The OADR in developed countries is rising because of decreasing fertility rates and increased life expectancy, due largely to medical interventions. Countries such as Japan face strains on their social welfare systems due to the rising OADR.

five developmental features of emerging adulthood

The rise of emerging adulthood was due to four revolutions that began in the 1960s and '70s: the Technological Revolution, the Sexual Revolution, the Women's Movement, and the Youth Movement. Emerging adulthood is the age of identity explorations, the age of instability, the self-focused age, the age of feeling in-between, and the age of possibilities

stages of development in Super's theory (ya)

The stages of Super's theory are crystallization, specification, implementation, stabilization, and consolidation. Holland has proposed a theory to explain how occupations are chosen based on the fit with the individual's personality, but most personalities could fit a wide range of jobs, and most jobs include persons with a wide range of personalities. Gender is a major predictor of job choice, with many professions remaining sharply segregated by gender, although less now than in the past for professions such as law and medicine

three qualities of sternberg's theory of love (ya)

The three qualities of love are passion, intimacy, and commitment. In terms of Sternberg's theory, young adulthood is when passion reaches its peak and intimacy and commitment grow steadily

cultural differences of living situations in late adulthood

There is great variety in living situations for older adults: Some live independently, others live with children, and still others live in assisted living facilities or nursing homes. In Asian cultures, where filial piety is strong, older adults have traditionally lived with their children, although this pattern may be changing.

media use in emerging adults

Today's emerging adults are "digital natives," having grown up with the Internet, and they eagerly adopt new technologies such as mobile phones. Many emerging adults use the Internet for social networking and to access pornography. Mobile phones are most often used for text messaging.

how do romantic behaviors and sexual relationships change in emerging adulthood

Today's emerging adults often seek a "soul mate" who provides an ideal fit with their own identity. Cohabitation is now normative in most Western countries. In northern Europe cohabitation relationships are as enduring as marriages, but in the United States they typically dissolve within a year or two. Worldwide, emerging adults' premarital sexual behavior varies greatly across countries and cultures. STIs are more common in emerging adulthood than in any other age group, including chlamydia, HPV, herpes, and HIV/AIDS.

major health problems (ma)

Various health problems increase during middle adulthood, including sleep problems and, especially for women, osteoporosis. The two main causes of death in midlife are cardiovascular disease and cancer. Rates of cardiovascular disease are higher in countries with high-fat diets or high smoking rates. Effective treatments for both cancer and cardiovascular disease have been developed in recent years, but both can be best prevented by avoiding smoking and eating a low-fat diet.

Perry's reflective judgement

William Perry found that college students' reflective judgment develops through stages of dualistic thinking, multiple thinking, relativism, and commitment, but other research indicates this pattern is due more to education than to maturation

wisdom and the impact of age and culture on wisdom

Wisdom is defined by Baltes as "expertise in the conduct and meaning of life," and wisdom research has focused on rating responses to hypothetical questions. Research on responses to hypothetical situations has found that wisdom is as likely to be found among the young as among the old. Wisdom accumulated by late adulthood may be more valuable in a culture where social change is slow than in a culture where change is rapid, because if it is slow, the life experiences of elders may be more relevant to the current experiences of people of younger ages.

iq scores predict young adult success

Young adulthood is a period when many aspects of intelligence reach their peak. IQ scores in childhood and adolescence predict many aspects of young adult development with substantial accuracy, including income and occupational status.

pros and cons of tertiary education

articipation in tertiary education has risen dramatically in recent decades. A majority of emerging adults now obtain tertiary education in most developed countries, with women consistently attaining higher educational achievement than men. Countries vary greatly in their tertiary education systems, with Europe the most structured and Japan the least.Tertiary education has been shown to have many benefits, occupationally and financially, as well as personally. Benefits include greater earnings and better verbal and quantitative skills, as well as nonacademic benefits such as developing a clearer identity and more definite values

crystallized intelligence (ma)

crystallized intelligence involves the accumulation of culturally-based knowledge

difference between Erikson and Carstensen's socioemotional selectivity theory

rikson proposed that late adulthood is a period when the central challenge is ego integrity versus despair. Ego integrity means looking back on one's life and accepting the outcome of it, whereas despair entails regrets and bitterness about the course of one's life, and a conclusion that it has not gone well and now cannot be changed. Carstensen's socioemotional selectivity theory states that older adults maximize their emotional well-being by becoming increasingly selective in their social contacts. Carstensen argues that in late adulthood, knowledge-based goals fade in importance as people leave the workplace and no longer have daily responsibilities as coworkers and parents, causing relationship goals to become more emotion-based.