1. LATE ADULTHOOD: Emotional and social development
CHAPTER 18
LATE ADULTHOOD:
Emotional and social development

2. Social Responses To Aging
Research in major aspects of aging:
Behavior change that prevents damage and maintains health
Psychological health of oldest old
Maximizing and maintaining productivity
Assessing mental health and treating mental disorders

3. False Stereotypes
Old age last stage before death; no one wants to talk about mortality
Old age is undefined: Few rites of passage; not all are married, grandparents or retired
Many types of elders;”typical” older adult difficult to define

4. Positive and Negative Attitudes
Factors for positive affect
Social relationships
Reading and following news
Extroverted personality
Death of a close friend
Definite beliefs and disbeliefs
Living with other persons

5. Positive and Negative Attitudes
Factors for negative affect:
Neuroticism
Own major illness
Money problems
Living alone

7. Self-Concept and Personality Development
Psychosocial Theories
Erikson’s Integrity versus Despair
Individuals recognize that they are reaching the end of life. If they can take satisfaction in having led a successful life they will experience integrity

8. Psychosocial Theories
Peck’s Psychosocial Tasks of Later Adulthood
Ego Differentiation Versus Work-Role Preoccupation
Body Transcendence Versus Body Preoccupation
Ego Transcendence Versus Ego Preoccupation

9. Psychosocial Theories
Vaillant’s Theory of Emotional Health
Emotional health, a sense of resilience
Pragmatism and dependability
Being close to one’s siblings

10. A Trait Theory of Aging
Major personality patterns or traits:(Neugarten, Havighurst, Tobin)
Integrated
Armor-defended
Passive-dependent
Disintegrated

11. Other Models of Aging Theories of psychological/sociological aging
Disengagement Theory of Aging
Activity Theory of Aging
Role Exit Theory of Aging
Social Exchange Theory of Aging
Modernization Theory

12. Selective Optimization with Compensation
Life-span model endorsed by Paul and Margret Baltes.
Older people cope with aging through a strategy that involves focusing on the skills most needed, practicing those skills, and developing ways to compensate for other skills

13. The Third Age Includes emotional intelligence and wisdom:
“Expert knowledge about life in general and good judgment and advice about how to conduct oneself in the face of complex, uncertain circumstances.”

14. The Fourth Age
Elderly will face increasingly difficult obstacles and become more vulnerable

15. A Life-Span Model of Developmental Regulation
Schulz and Heckhausen
Control is the central theme for characterizing human development
Primary control: the external world
Secondary control: the self
Elderly able to engage and impact their environment for the longest time: the most successful

16. Impact The Impact of Personal Control and Choice A Sense of Purpose
“Some of the negative consequences of aging may be retarded, reversed, or possibly prevented by returning to the aged the right to make decisions and a feeling of competence.” (Langer and Rodin)

17. Faith and Adjustment to Aging
“Widows and widowers with an authentic sense of personal relationship with God cope better with the loss of their spouses than do their nonreligious peers or religious individuals who do not experience an active awareness of the presence of God in their lives.” (Rosick)

18. Familial Roles: Continuity and Discontinuity
Love and Marriage
Companionship, respect and the sharing of common interests improve during later adulthood

19. Previous problems resolved
Problems with retirement issues
Marriage protects people from premature death

20. Widows and Widowers More widows than widowers
Elderly women higher risk to live in poverty
Most not able to afford adequate health care
More likely to experience neglect and elder abuse

21. Remarriage and Singles
Remarriage and the Elderly
Half-million people over 65 remarry each year in the U.S.
Singles have more emotional and physical pathology than marrieds
Elderly singles without spouse or children: poor social network

22. Lesbian and Gay Elderly
Older gays and lesbians have reconstituted families in the form of friendship and support networks

23. Children or Childlessness
Reciprocal intergenerational assistance
80% of elder care provided by family
Elder value independence and privacy
“Intimate distance”: living near but not with children

24. Families Grandparenting and Great-Grandparenting Siblings
Grandparents and grandchildren benefit from each others’ company
Siblings
Closeness grows with age

25. Social and Cultural Support
Friendships
In terms of companionship, friends are more important and satisfying to older people than their offspring

26. Retirement/Employment
Only 16% of males over 65 are employed today.
The right to work is viewed as an American basic right
Choice to ease to part-time employment rather than full retirement should be an option
Better health and higher socioeconomic status: better adjustment to retirement

28. Living Arrangements Living Alone at Home and Assisted-Living Services
Encourage independent living until health and cognitive problems make it impossible to remain at home safely

29. Living Arrangements Living with Children and Adult Day Care
Long-term care support to adults who live in the community, providing health, and social services in a safe setting during any part of the day

31. Institutional Care 1.6 million elderly people in 22,000 nursing homes
Characteristics of institutionalized aged:
Depression
Feelings of helplessness
Accelerated decline
Retirement Communities
Adult Group Homes

32. Elder Abuse
Elder abuse and neglect are both acts of commission and omission that cause unnecessary suffering to older persons
Elder Abuse in the Long-Term Care Community
Patients and families can now file criminal charges against caregivers and facilities

33. Elder Abuse Legal Definition of Abuse:
Abuse: intentionally inflicting, or allowing someone else to inflict, bodily injury or pain
Psychological abuse: verbal harassment, intimidation, denigration and isolation
Neglect: Failure to provide goods, services or care necessary to maintain health
Exploitation: Taking advantage of an older adult for monetary gain

34. Caregiver Burnout Strategies: Join support group
Continue activities you enjoy
Seek professional help
Get more information about burnout
Investigate adult day care options in community

35. Policy Issues and Advocacy
Policy Issues and Advocacy in an Aging Society
Supportive services include:
Information, referral, outreach, case management, escort, transportation
In-home services
Community services
Caregiver services