Socioemotional Development in Late Adulthood Chapter 20: Socioemotional Development in Late Adulthood

Theories of Socioemotional Development

Theories Related Adult Development: Erikson’s stage: “integrity versus despair”—those in late adulthood reflect on past efforts or do a life review, evaluating and then reinterpreting their lives. Robert Peck reworked Erikson’s final stage and described three developmental tasks aging people face: Differentiation vs. role preoccupation. Body transcendence vs. body preoccupation. Ego transcendence vs. ego preoccupation.

Conflict and Resolution Positive Resolution in Erikson’s Eight Stages Can Culminate in Wisdom and Integrity in Old Age Conflict and Resolution Culmination in Old Age Old age Existential identity Middle adulthood Empathy, concern, caring for others Early adulthood Sense of complexity of relationships Adolescence Sense of complexity of life School age Humility and acceptance in life Early childhood Humor, empathy, and resilience Toddlerhood Acceptance of life cycle Infancy Appreciation of interdependence Fig. 20.1

Activity Theory states that older adults become more active and productive in society; aging successfully makes them more satisfied in society. Socioemotional Selectivity Theory claims older adults seek higher emotional satisfaction as they age by being more selective about their type of social networks—focus is on goals. Selective optimization with compensation theory claims successful aging is linked to 3 main factors: Selection. Optimization. Compensation.

Idealized Model of Socioemotional Selectivity Through the Life Span

In research that compares older and younger adults from diverse samples, older adults report: Better control of their emotions. More mellowing of feelings. Fewer negative emotions. Positive connections with friends and family.

Changes in Positive and Negative Emotion Across the Adult Years 35 45 55 65 75 25 Age (years) 11 15 19 23 7 Emotion score Negative emotion Positive emotion Fig. 20.3

Weakening in old age forces older adults to reduce the scope of their activities. Loss is common in old age, and reactions vary according to one’s life history, values, health, and interests. Most older adults find life satisfying through attaining meaningful goals. As one ages, health becomes the most important personal investment. Optimization is more difficult for the oldest-old.

Degree of Personal Life Investment at Different Points in Life

Personality, the Self, and Society

Exploration of the self includes focusing on changes in: Self-esteem: in men appears to be higher than in women through most of adult years, but converges at age 70–80. Self-acceptance: more realistic about the future and accepting of the past. Personal control: perceptions of having internal locus of control appears to decrease with age. Ability to control personal life outcomes declines in late adulthood but varies among individuals.

Self-Esteem Across the Life Span 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 3.9 4.0 3.0 Mean self-esteem score 18-22 9-12 23-29 30-39 40-49 50-59 60-69 70-79 80-90 13-17 Age Fig. 20.5

Changes in Self-Acceptance Across the Adult Years 115 75 105 95 85 Middle adult Older adult Young adult Present Past Future Ideal Mean self-acceptance score Fig. 20.6

Older adults in society are often stereotyped. Ageism is a negative form of prejudice. Some social policies contribute to stereotyping. Some families reject their older members. Older members of action groups have gained political clout and lobbying power. Social issues associated with aging include: Social security and economic stability. Medicare and health-care costs.

Older adults, when compared with younger adults: Have more illnesses and doctors’ visits. Are hospitalized more often and have longer stays. Have more chronic than acute health problems. Eldercare can be very stressful for family members and is a very important issue for older adults. Generational inequity is a very controversial issue for young and older adults.

Policy Issues in an Aging Society: Viability of Social Security. Need for limits on Medicare health care insurance due to large number of aging population and incidence of chronic diseases. Eldercare and how it can best be provided. Poverty (more than 25 percent of older women who live alone live in poverty). Low income—retired Americans earn about half of what they did when employed.

Living Arrangements: 95% of older adults live in the community. Two-thirds live with family members, one-third alone. Half of older women 75 years and older live alone. Only 5 percent of adults over 65 live in institutions, but the older they are, the more likely they are to live in an institution. 23% of adults 85 years and over live in institutions.

Technology: The Internet is increasingly important to the elderly. They can keep up with communications and the world if they learn the technology. But older adults are less likely to have a computer. If they do, they spend more time and money on the Internet than younger people.

Families and Social Relationships

Lifestyles of older adults are changing: One-third will marry, divorce, and remarry, replacing the traditional marriage that ends only in widowhood. 74% of men, and only 43% of older women are married. Half of older adult women are widows. Those married or partnered in late adulthood are happier than those who are single. Marital satisfaction is often greater for older women than older men.

Causes of increase in remarriage by older adults: Rising divorce rates. Increased longevity. Better health. About 8% of all older adults have never married. An increasing number of older adults cohabit due to social pressures and family sanctions. More older adults are in the dating pool and may express their sexuality differently from young adults.

About 80% of older adults have middle-aged children. Childless older adults have more contact with relatives than older adults with children. Gender affects relationships between older adults and their children—daughters are three times more available. Adult children coordinate and monitor services for aging disabled parents. Relationships between adult children and aging parents are both positive and negative.

As four-generation families become more common, great-grandparenting is not a clearly defined role. Young children interact more with grandparents than great-grandparents. Sibling relationships are the longest relationships that most experience in a lifetime—sisters being more likely than brothers to maintain family ties.

Siblings with close family ties tend to feel better about themselves than estranged siblings—most siblings “mellow out” from old grudges. Sibling ties tend to be strongest in adulthood. Older adults prefer fewer close friends than making new friends—having a best friend lessens depression, especially among married women.

Social support and integration of older adults: Friendship with unrelated adults often tends to replace warmth, companionship, and nurturance once traditionally supplied by family. Social support and integration of older adults: Improves their physical and mental health. Reduces symptoms of disease. Increases one’s ability to meet health-care needs. Decreases risk of institutionalization. Women rely more heavily on friends than do men.

Altruism and Volunteerism: Older adults benefit from altruism and engaging in volunteer activities. Helping others may reduce stress hormones, improve cardiovascular health, and strengthen the immune system. Volunteers are more satisfied with their lives and have more positive affect.

Ethnicity, Gender, and Culture

Older minority adults, especially African Americans, are over-represented in poverty statistics. Older adults in ethnic minorities have greater challenges, but most have developed better coping mechanisms and more social support, including extended families. Some older adults in ethnic minorities derive satisfaction from their churches and communities. Some researchers believe gender role changes in older adults lead to decreased femininity in women and decreased masculinity in men, but evidence suggest that men might actually become more “feminine” as they age, but women don’t become more “masculine.”

Older women may face double jeopardy from both ageism and sexism, and triple jeopardy from racism as well if they are members of an ethnic minority. Older men tend to disengage from work and other outside-the-home activities, while women tend to engage more in these activities and work. African American women show remarkable coping skills, adaptability, and resilience when facing stress.

Older adults can enjoy high status in a culture if they: Have valuable knowledge. Control key family/community resources. Are allowed to engage in useful/valued functions as long as possible. Have role continuity throughout their life span. Make age-related role changes that give greater responsibility, authority, and advisory capacity.

Successful Aging

Being an older adult has many positive aspects. Older adults’ functioning is the result of better health habits such as: Eating a proper diet. Having an active lifestyle. Engaging in mental stimulation and flexibility. Having positive coping skills. Having good social relationships and support. Avoiding disease. Successful aging involves having a sense of self-efficacy and a perceived control of environment.