1. PSYC 2314 Lifespan Development
Chapter 25
Late Adulthood:
Psychosocial Development

2. Theories of Late Adulthood
Self-theories: emphasize the active part played by each person in fulfilling his or her potential
Maslow’s: self-actualization
Erikson’s: integrity vs. despair
Paul Baltes: “selective optimization with compensation”
Paul Baltes: the idea that individuals set their own goals, assess their own abilities, and then figure out how to accomplish what they want to achieve despite the limitations of later life.

3. Theories of Late Adulthood
Stratification Theories: social forces limit individual choice and direct life at every stage. Cultural forces become even more important but less supportive in old age.
Stratification by Age
Stratification by Gender and Race

4. Theories of Late Adulthood
Stratification by Age: segregate their oldest citizens
Disengagement vs. activity
Disengagement: aging makes a person’s social sphere increasingly narrow, resulting in role relinquishment, withdrawal, and passivity.
Activity: people need to remain active in a variety of social spheres—with relatives, friends, and community groups
Segregate by giving them limited roles and circumscribed opportunities in order to make way for upcoming generations. The elderly are induced and compelled to retire, offered fewer lifesaving medical treatments, etc.
The dominant view is that the more active the elderly are and the more roles they play, the greater the life satisfaction and the longer their lives.

5. Theories of Late Adulthood
Stratification by Gender and Age
Sexual Discrimination
Feminist theory: since most social structures and economic policies have been established by men, women’s perspectives and needs are devalued.
Money and Independence
Most men marry younger women and die at younger ages, there are far more widows than widowers and being unmarried doubles the risk of living in poverty and ill health.

6. Theories of Late Adulthood
Stratification by Gender and Race
Racial Discrimination
Critical race theory: decades of racial stratification resulted in poverty and frailty for minority elderly who were excluded from the economic mainstream. They have less access to senior-citizen centers, nursing homes, and other social services and amenities.
Many contemporary analysts argue that stratification theory unfairly stigmatizes women and minority groups, who often have remarkable strengths in late adulthood. Gender and race may no longer have so powerful an impact, but other factors—immigration status or language skill—may come to the fore.

7. Theories of Late Adulthood
Dynamic Theories: emphasize the diversity of development, as each person shapes his or her life within specific social contexts, which are constantly changing.
Continuity theory: focused on how selfhood is maintained throughout social events and biological changes.
Epigenetic: incorporate all the genetic, childhood, and cultural forces into an ever-changing but always productive system.
The Big Five personality traits are maintained throughout old age.

8. Keeping Active Retirement Two main problems for retirees: Health Money
Mandatory requirement is now illegal in the US, adults are retiring at younger age than ever though. However, early retirement is often the result of health problems.
Financial woes plague some elderly persons. Minorities and widows continue to have higher poverty rates, although their situation continues to improve.

9. Keeping Active Alternative Sources for Achievement
Continuing Education
Volunteer Work
Political Involvement
Home, Sweet Home
Many older adults enroll in programs of continuing education, where they pursue every branch of knowledge. The eagerness of the elderly to learn is best exemplified by the growth of Elderhostel, a program in which older people live on college campuses and take special classes.
Compared to younger adults, older adults are more likely to feel a strong obligation to serve their community and become involved volunteer work. This takes the form of informal networks, such as mutual sharing among neighbors, as well as the more structured environment through churches, hospitals, or schools.
By many measures, the elderly are more politically active than any other age group. The major US organization affecting the elderly is the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP).
Many older adults stay busy by maintaining their homes and yards, reflecting their desire to age in place.

10. Keeping Active
Ironically, while the financial circumstances of the American elderly have improved in recent years, other age groups, notably children, have grown poorer.
More than one American child in five now lives below the poverty line.
Generational equity: equal contributions from, and fair benefits for, each generation.

11. The Social Convoy
Collectively, the family members, friends, acquaintances, and even strangers who move through life with an individual.
An important affirmation of who they are and what they have been.

12. Long-Term Marriages
Most elders are married, and they tend to be happier, healthier, and wealthier
The best predictor of the nature of a marriage in its latter stages is its nature early on.
Most older married couples believe their marriage has improved over the years: children are grown and because the accumulation of shared life experiences makes husbands and wives become more compatible.

13. The Social Convoy Death of a Spouse Loss of a friend or lover
Lower income
Reduced status
A broken social circle and daily routine
Loss of identity
Death of a spouse is one of life’s most disruptive experiences!
Because the average adult woman lives longer than the average man, and the average husband is older than his wife, the average American wife will eventually spend 9 years as a widow.

14. The Social Convoy Physical and Emotional Attachment
Women generally have an easier time coping with the loss of a spouse than do men.
Women expect to outlive their husbands and make arrangements for some of the adjustments widowhood will require.
Men, however, depend on their wives for the basic tasks of daily living and to provide emotional support and social interaction.

15. The Social Convoy Divorce
Very rare in late life, except with recent marriages.
For divorced older women, life is likely to improve with age, esp. if they have successfully raised children as single mothers or succeeded in a career.

16. The Social Convoy Divorce
As a group, older divorced men are more likely to feel isolated from children, grandchildren, and old friends.
Men also have a higher rate of physical and psychological problems.

17. The Social Convoy
Older people’s satisfaction with life correlates significantly with the quantity and quality of their contact with friends.
More older people are part of multigenerational families.
Beanpole families: there are more generations than in the past, but with only a few members in each generation.
Satisfaction bears relatively little relationship to their contact with younger members of their own family.
Having at least one close friend in whom to confide acts as a buffer against the loss of status and roles.

18. The Social Convoy Intensification of friendly bonds between siblings.
Relationships with younger generations are clearly positive; it also include tension and conflict, particularly between mothers and daughters.

19. The Frail Elderly
The frail elderly—the physical infirm, the very ill, or the cognitively impaired—are differentiated by their inability to perform adequately
Activities of daily life (ADLs)
Instrumental activities of daily life (IADLs)
ADLs: eating, bathing, toileting, dressing and transferring between a bed and a chair.
IADLs: actions that require some intellectual competence and forethought: paying bills, shopping, etc.

20. The Frail Elderly In every nation the number is increasing:
More people are reaching old age
Modern medical technology prolongs life
Health care has largely been designed to rescue individuals from acute illnesses, such as cancer, while ignoring the longstanding, chronic complaints of the elderly.
Measures that could prevent or reduce impairment—from adequate nutrition to safe housing—do not necessarily reach the frailest elderly.

21. The Frail Elderly Four protective factors: Attitude Social network
Physical setting
Financial resources
Although being female, a minority member, or poor puts a person at increased risk of frailty, this is not inevitable. Much depends on various personal, family, community, and cultural conditions. An active drive for autonomy, control and independence is one of the best defenses against becoming dependent.