Chapter TwentyFive

1
Chapter Twenty-Five

• Late Adulthood
• Psychosocial Development

PowerPoints prepared by Cathie Robertson,
Grossmont College
2
Theories of Late Adulthood

• Three Types of Theories
• self theories
• stratification theories
• dynamic theories

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Self Theories

• Based on premise that adults make choices,
  confront problems, and interpret reality to be
  themselves as fully as possible
• people begin to self-actualize, as Maslow
  described it
• each person ultimately depends on himself or
  herself

4
Integrity Versus Despair

• Eriksons eighth and final stage Integrity vs.
  Despair
• older adults seek to integrate their unique
  experience with their vision of community
• Ideally, reality of death brings life-affirming
  involvement in present
• The more positively a person feels about him- or
  herself, the less depression or despair is felt

5
Identity Theory

• Identity Challenged in Late Adulthood
• as health, appearance, employment, crumble
• Two Extremes of Coping
• identity assimilationnew experiences
  incorporated into stable sense of identity
• distortion of reality and denial anything major
  changed
• identity accommodationaltering self-concept to
  adapt to new experiences
• viewed as an over-adjustment

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Selective Optimization

• Older person chooses to cope with physical and
  cognitive losses
• Older person makes selective changes to cope with
  losses
• This readiness to make changes is a measure of
  strength of the self

7
Support From Behavioral Genetics

• Behavioral genetics support self theories
• twin studies some inherited traits more apparent
  in later adulthood
• Power of genetics extends beyond the environments
  we seek
• even self-concept, including assessment of
  abilities, partly genetic
• but environment always plays major role

8
Stratification Theories

• Social forces limit individual choice and direct
  life at every stage, especially late adulthood

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Stratification By Age

• Disengagement Theory vs. Activity Theory
• Disengagement theoryaging increasingly narrows
  ones social sphere, resulting in role
  relinquishment, withdrawal, passivity
• Activity theoryelderly people need to remain
  active in a variety of social sphereswith
  relatives, friends, and community groups. If
  elderly withdraw, they do so unwillingly due to
  ageism
• dominant view now supports activity theory

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Stratification by Gender and Ethnicity

• Sexual Discrimination
• Feminist theory draws attention to gender
  divisions
• demographics make aging womens issue
• because most social structures and economic
  policies have been established by men, womens
  perspectives and needs not always given a high
  priority, or even recognized

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Stratification By Gender and Ethnicity, cont.

• Many older women impoverished because of
  male-centered economic policies
• pension plans based on continuous employment
  more unlikely to be situation for women with
  children
• medical insurance pays more for acute illness
  (more common in men) and less for chronic disease
  (more common in women)
• women more likely to be caregivers for frail
  relatives, often sacrificing their independence
  and well-being

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Stratification By Gender and Ethnicity, cont.

• Critical race theory views ethnicity and race as
  social constructs whose usefulness is determined
  by ones society or social system
• Ethnic discrimination and racism cause
  stratification, shaping experiences of both
  minorities and majorities
• minority elderly more likely to be poor and
  frail
• less access to senior-citizen centers, clinics,
  etc.

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Better Female, Non-European, and Old?

• Positive Effects of Non-European Americans
  Strong Familism
• fewer elderly in nursing homes
• elderly feel more respected
• elderly feel more appreciated by families
• in one study, minority women outlived majority
  women who were economically better off but had
  less family support

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Better Female, Non-European, and Old?, cont.

• Current stratification effects may not apply to
  cohort shift happening now
• more women are working
• younger African-Americans less strongly tied to
  church and family and have fewer children
• To better understand stratification theory, we
  need to take a multicultural perspective

15
Dynamic Theories

• Dynamic theoriesemphasize change and
  readjustment rather than either the ongoing self
  or legacy of stratification
• Continuity theoryeach person experiences changes
  of late adulthood and behaves towards others in
  much the same way as he or she did earlier in
  life
• adaptive change
• dynamic response

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Keeping Active

• Reality of older peoples lives does not
  correspond exactly with either disengagement or
  activity theories

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Chosen Activities

• Employment has many advantages, but it is not
  typically something person has a choice about
  doing
• One positive aspect of retirement allows freedom
  to be ones own personto choose ones main
  activities
• e.g., in areas of education, helping others,
  religion, politics

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Continuing Education

• Elderhostelprogram in which people aged 55 and
  older live on college campuses and take special
  classes
• usually during college vacation periods
• Around the world, thousands of learning programs
  filled with retirees
• Many elderly hesitate to take classes with mostly
  younger students
• if they overcome this fear, typically find they
  earn excellent grades

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Volunteer Work

• Higher percent of elderly adults have strong
  commitment to their community and believe they
  should be of service
• older adults especially likely to volunteer to
  assist the young, very old, or sick
• 40 percent of the elderly are involved in
  structured volunteering
• many of the other 60 percent volunteer informally
• elderly benefit, but not if forced to volunteer

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Religious Involvement

• Religious faith increases with age
• increase in prayer and religious practice
• Research shows religious institutions are
  particularly important to older Americans who may
  feel alienated from overall society

21
Political Activism

• Elderly more so than any other age group
• Know more about national and local issues
• Political participation translates into power
• ARRPmajor organization representing elderly, is
  largest U.S. special interest group
• Most elderly are interested in wider social
  concernse.g., war, peace, the environment

22
Home, Sweet Home

• Many busy maintaining home and yard
• Some move, but most want to age in place, even if
  adult children have moved far away
• naturally occurring retirement community (NORC)
  created when they stay in neighborhood they moved
  into with young children
• One result of aging in place is that many elderly
  live alone

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The Social Convoy

• Social Convoycollectively, the family members,
  friends, acquaintances, and even strangers who
  move through life with an individual
• We travel our life in the company of others
• Special bonds formed over lifetime help in good
  times and bad
• People who were part of a persons past help him
  or her to maintain sense of identity

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Long-Term Marriages

• Spouse buffers many problems of old age
• Married elders generally are
• healthier
• wealthier
• happier

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Long-Term Marriages, cont.

• Nature of long-lasting relationships
• tends to get better over time
• sharing of accumulated experiences
• affectionate acceptance of each others frailties
  with feelings of affection
• passionate love still exists

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Losing a Spouse

• Divorce is rare in late adulthood
• Widowhood is common
• Death of a spouse eventually occurs for half of
  all older married people
• Adjustment to loss varies depending on sex of
  surviving partner
• Many older widows come to enjoy their independence

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Widows

• 4 x as many widows as widowers
• Because women take better care of their health,
  they live longer than men
• Husbands death is never easy
• Death can mean loss of close friend, social
  circle, income, and status
• Widows do not usually seek another husband

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Widowers

• Living without a spouse is more difficult for men
• Widowers often lack social support
• Historical gender differences make adjustment
  more difficult
• have restrictive notions of masculine behavior

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Widowers, cont.

• Over course of marriage, tend to become
  increasingly dependent on wives for social
  support of all kinds
• After death of spouse, more likely to be
  physically ill than widows or married people of
  their age
• Many widowers prefer not to remarry, but with
  favorable gender ratio and loneliness, often find
  themselves more likely to remarry than widows

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Differences in Loneliness

• Men are lonelier than women
• Those without partners are lonelier than those
  with partners
• Divorced or widowed are lonelier
• Recent losses heighten loneliness
• The more partners lost, the lonelier one is

31
Friendship

• 4 percent of people over 65 have never married
• most married cohort in U.S. history
• Never marrieds quite content
• contentment is linked more to friends than family
• Older women do more befriending
• Even oldest adjust to changes in social convoy
• Many elderly keep themselves from being socially
  isolated

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Younger Generations

• Typical older adult has many family members of
  many ages
• As more families have only one child, that child
  grows up with no aunts, uncles, siblings, etc.
• relationship across generations may become more
  important

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Younger Generations, cont.

• Relationships with younger generations generally
  positive, but can include tension or conflict
• Few older adults stop parenting
• Mother-daughter relationship is close but also
  vulnerable
• Assistance arises from both need and ability to
  provide it
• Personal contact depends mostly on geographic
  proximity

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Younger Generations, cont.

• Affection is influenced by a familys past
  history of mutual love and respect
• Sons feel strong obligation, while daughters feel
  stronger affection
• Cultures and families vary markedlythere is no
  right way for generations to interact
• Assistance typically flows from older generation
  to their children

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The Frail Elderly

• Defined asover 65, physically infirm, very ill,
  or cognitively impaired
• Activities of daily life (ADLs)
• bathing, walking, toileting, dressing, and eating
• inability to perform these tasks sign of frailty

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The Frail Elderly, cont.

• Instrumental activities of daily life (IADLs)
• vary from culture to culture
• require some intellectual competence
• in developed countries phone calls, paying
  bills, taking medication, shopping for groceries
• in rural areas of other nations feeding
  chickens, cultivating the garden, getting water
  from the well

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Increasing Prevalence of Frail Elderly

• At any moment, no more than 2 percent of world
  population are frail elders
• Increasing number for 4 reasons
• more people reach old age
• medical establishment geared toward death
  prevention rather than life enhancement
• medical care now prolongs life
• measures that could prevent or reduce impairment
  often unavailable to people with low incomes

38
Age and Self-Efficacy

• Active drive for autonomy, control, and
  independence best defense against becoming
  dependent
• Loss of control invites further weakness
• Both ones attitudes and social structures
  influence outcomes
• Cultural forces become more important
• Protective buffers help

39
Caring for the Frail Elderly

• Most are cared for by relatives
• In North America, 60 percent, by family and
  friends
• Other 40 percent, combination of family, friends,
  and professional care
• Current U.S. trend husbands and wives care for
  each other until this becomes impossible

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The Demands of Family Care

• Toll of home caregiving is heavy
• caregivers physical health suffers and
  depression increases
• caregiver often has to give up other activities
• when caregiver is appreciated by others for
  efforts, he or she may feel fulfilled by the
  experience

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Demands of Family Care, cont.

• Caregivers may feel resentful
• if only one person is giving care while others do
  little or nothing
• when caregiver and receiver often disagree
• if dealing with public agencies, which rarely
  provide services until the need is so great that
  it may be too late

42
Elder Abuse

• When caregiver has feelings of resentment and
  social isolation, he or she
• typically experiences stress, depression, and
  poor health
• may be more likely to be abusive if he or she
  suffers from emotional problems or substance
  abuse that predate the caregiving
• other risk factors victims social isolation,
  household members lack of education and/or
  poverty

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Elder Abuse, cont.

• Maltreatment usually begins benignly but can
  range from direct physical attack to ongoing
  emotional neglect
• Frail elderly particularly vulnerable to abuse
• Most abuse is perpetrated by family member(s)
• Simplest form is financiala relative or stranger
  gets elderly to sign over life savings, deed to
  house, or other assets

44
Nursing Homes

• Most elderly want to avoid them at all costs
• believe they are horrible places
• In U.S., the worst tend to be those run
  for-profit, where patients are mostly on Medicare
  and Medicaid
• But, overall, abuse has been reduced
• In the United States and Europe, good
  nursing-home care available for those who can
  afford it