Beginnings: An Introduction to Development Across the Lifespan

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Transcript Beginnings: An Introduction to Development Across the Lifespan

Chapter 18: Late Adulthood

Module 8 Social and Personality Development in Late Adulthood

Discovering the Lifespan - Robert S. Feldman

PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT AND SUCCESSFUL AGING

Discovering the Lifespan - Robert S. Feldman

Personality Development and Successful Aging

• Personality change depends on specific personality characteristics • What do you think these are?

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Continuity and Change in Personality

• Fundamental continuity to personality • Profound social environmental changes throughout adulthood may produce fluctuations and changes in personality • Some discontinuities in development

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Discontinuities of Development: What Do Theorists Say?

•

Erik Erikson • Robert Peck • Daniel Levinson • Bernice Neugarten

Changes in personality occur as a result of new challenges in later adulthood.

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Erik Erikson

EGO-INTEGRITY-VERSUS-DESPAIR

Process of looking back over one's life, evaluating it, and coming to terms with it

–

Integrity

• Comes when people feel they have realized and fulfilled the possibilities that have come their way –

Despair

• Occurs when people feel dissatisfied with their life, and experience gloom, unhappiness, depression, anger, or the feeling that they have failed

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Robert Peck

Personality development in elderly people is occupied by three major developmental tasks or challenges

• Redefinition of self-versus-preoccupation-with work-role • Body-transcendence-versus-body-preoccupation • Ego-transcendence-versus-ego-preoccupation

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Daniel Levinson

People enter late adulthood by passing through transition stage

• View themselves as being “old” • Recognize stereotypes and loss of power and respect • Serve as resources to younger individuals • Discover new freedom to do things for simple sake of enjoyment and pleasure

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Bernice Neugarten

• • • •

Four different personality types in people in their 70s Disintegrated and disorganized Passive-dependent personalities Defended personalities Integrated personalities

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Life Review and Reminiscence

Common Theme of Personality Development

• Triggered by increasingly obvious prospect of one’s death • Provides better understanding of past • Resolves lingering problems and conflicts • Leads to sense of sharing, mutuality, and feeling of interconnectedness with others

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Age Stratification Approaches to Late Adulthood

Suggest that economic resources, power, and privilege are distributed unequally at different stages of the life course

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What else?

• Power and prestige for elderly have eroded in industrialized societies • Rapidly changing technology causes older adults to be seen as lacking important skills • Older adults are seen as non-productive members of society and in some cases simply irrelevant

Discovering the Lifespan - Robert S. Feldman

Developmental Diversity

• Cultural differences in the way the elderly are treated are often exaggerated – Eskimos do not leave their elderly to die on ice floes – Chinese revere old age but there is great individual variation

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Cultures that revere old age have several things in common

• Homogeneous in socioeconomic terms • Control of finances by older adults • Continued engagement in socially valued activities • Organized around extended families

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Does age bring wisdom?

Discovering the Lifespan - Robert S. Feldman

Things to Consider

• Wisdom reflects accumulation of knowledge, experience, and contemplation • Wisdom is not the same as intelligence

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Staudinger and Baltes Study

• Older participants benefited more from experimental condition designed to promote wise thinking • Older adults appear to be able to draw on a more sophisticated theory of mind

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Successful Aging Secrets

Three major approaches

• Disengagement theory • Activity theory • Continuity theory

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Disengagement Theory: Gradual Retreat

• Late adulthood involves gradual withdrawal from world on physical, psychological, and social levels • Withdrawal is a mutual process and not necessarily negative

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Activity Theory: Continued Involvement

• Happiness and satisfaction from high level of involvement • Adaptation to inevitable changes • Continuing/replacing previous activities

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And so…

Neither disengagement theory nor activity theory provides a complete picture of successful aging

Discovering the Lifespan - Robert S. Feldman

Continuity Theory: A Compromise Position

• People need to maintain their desired level of involvement in society to maximize their sense of well-being and self-esteem • Regardless of activity level, most older adults experience positive emotions as frequently as younger individuals • Good physical and mental health is important in determining overall sense of well-being

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Review and Apply

REVIEW

• Erikson calls older adulthood the ego integrity-versus-despair stage, Peck focuses on three tasks that define the period, Levinson suggests that older people can experience liberation and self-regard, and Neugarten focuses on the ways people cope with aging.

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Review and Apply

REVIEW

• Societies in which elderly people are respected are generally characterized by social homogeneity, extended families, responsible roles for older people, and control of significant resources by older people.

• Disengagement theory suggests that older people gradually withdraw from the world, while activity theory suggests that the happiest people continue to be engaged with the world. A compromise position — continuity theory —may be the most useful approach to successful aging, and the most successful model for aging may be selective optimization with compensation.

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Review and Apply

APPLY

• How might personality traits account for success or failure in achieving satisfaction through the life review process?

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THE DAILY LIFE OF LATE ADULTHOOD

Discovering the Lifespan - Robert S. Feldman

Places and Spaces

• Living at Home • Specialized Living Environments – Continuing-care community • Assisted living – Nursing institutions • Adult day care • Skilled nursing

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Living in Nursing Homes

• Greater the extent of nursing home care = greater adjustment required of residents • Loss of independence brought about by institutional life may lead to difficulties • Elderly people are as susceptible to society’s stereotypes about nursing homes

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Where do you hope to spend the last days of your life?

Discovering the Lifespan - Robert S. Feldman

I think I can, I think I can…or can I?

Institutionalism and Learned Helplessness

• Institutionalism • Learned helplessness

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Consequences of Loss of Control in Nursing Home Care

• Profound effect on their well-being

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Economics of Late Adulthood

• People who were well-off in young adulthood remain so in late adulthood • Those who were poor remain poor in late adulthood

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Financial Vulnerability in Older Adulthood

• Reliance on a fixed income for support – Social Security benefits – Pensions, and savings, rarely keeps up with inflation • Rising cost of health care

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The Cost of Staying Well

• Elderly face rising health costs • Average older person spends 20 percent of his or her income on health care costs • Nursing homes can cost $30,000 to $40,000 a year

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Work and Retirement

• Retirement is major decision • Social Security • Part-time employment • Mandatory retirement

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What does this research tell us about retirement?

Discovering the Lifespan - Robert S. Feldman

Combating Age Discrimination

There was an old lady who lived in a shoe…and we were not sure just what she could do!

Discovering the Lifespan - Robert S. Feldman

Some employers..

• Encourage older workers to leave their jobs in order to replace them with younger employees whose salaries will be considerably lower • Believe older workers are not up to demands of the job or are less willing to adapt to a changing workplace

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Retirement

Retirement decision based on variety of factors

• Burnout • Health concerns • Employer incentives • Desire to travel, study, or spend more time with family

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Atchley & Barusch

• Stages – Honeymoon period – Disenchantment – Reorientation – Retirement routines – Termination

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Becoming an Informed Consumer of Development

Planning For —and Living—a Good Retirement

• Plan ahead financially • Consider tapering off from work gradually • Explore interests before retirement • If you are married or in a long-term partnership, spend some time discussing views of ideal retirement with partner • Consider where you want to live • Determine advantages and disadvantages of downsizing your current home.

• Plan to volunteer your time

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Review and Apply

REVIEW

• Elderly people live in a variety of settings, although most live at home with a family member.

• Financial issues can trouble older people, largely because their incomes are fixed, health-care costs are increasing, and the lifespan is lengthening.

• After retirement, many people pass through stages, including a honeymoon period, disenchantment, reorientation, retirement routine, and termination.

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Review and Apply

APPLY

• Based on research on successful aging, what advice would you give someone who is nearing retirement?

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RELATIONSHIPS: OLD AND NEW

Discovering the Lifespan - Robert S. Feldman

Marriage in Later Years: Together, Then Alone

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Stress of Retirement

• Stress of retirement or old age may change relationship – 2 percent of divorces in the U. S. involve women over 60 – Husband may be abusive or alcoholic – Husband may find a younger woman • Divorce is harder on women than men – 5 percent of the elderly never married and late adulthood brings fewer changes to their lives

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Refashioned Relationships

• More time together • More sharing in household chores • Role reversals • Health changes

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Caring for an Aging Spouse

• Wide variety of reactions – Positive – Negative

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Death of Spouse

• Few events are more painful than death of spouse – No longer part of a couple – Must deal with profound grief – No one to share life with and social life often changes – Economic changes often occur

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Social Networks of Late Adulthood

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Why do friends matter?

Friendships in late adulthood: • Allow older adults more control about whom to include in a friendship • May be more flexible • Relate to increasing likelihood, over time, that one will be without marital partner

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Social Support

• Social support is

assistance and comfort supplied by another person or a network of caring, interested people

– Important for successful aging – Sympathy and empathy – Can help furnish material support such as solve problems, give a ride, or fix broken things – Dogs can be especially good at providing social support

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Social Support: Significance of Others

Benefits for recipient

• Sympathetic ear and sounding board for one’s concerns • Unmatched degree of understanding and a pool of helpful suggestions from like other • Material support

Benefits for Provider

• Experience feelings of usefulness and heightened self esteem

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Family Relationships

• Connections important • Siblings, children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren provide an important source of comfort to adults in last years of their lives – Siblings are important because of shared life – Children often most important

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Developmental Stake

• Parents see their children as perpetuating their beliefs, values, and standards – Most parents and children remain close •

75 percent of children live within a 30-mile drive to their parents

• •

Daughters tend to be in more frequent contact than sons Mothers tend to be the recipient of communication more than fathers

•

Children may turn to their elderly parents for advice, information, and monetary help 467 Discovering the Lifespan - Robert S. Feldman

Grandparents

• Not all grandparents are equally involved with their grandchildren • Gender differences in behaviors and reactions of grandparents and grandchildren • Ethnic differences in grandparenting

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When Grandparents Are Great!

• Great-grandparents – Play less of a role in the lives of both white and African American grandchildren – Close relationships tend to occur only when the great-grandparents and great grandchildren live relatively near one another

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Elder Abuse

Physical or psychological mistreatment or neglect of elderly individuals

• May affect as many as 2 million people above the age of 60 each year • Is most frequently committed by family member

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Review and Apply

REVIEW

• Friendships are very important in later life, providing social support and companionship from peers who are likely to understand the older adult’s feelings and problems.

• Family relationships are a continuing part of most older people’s lives, especially relationships with siblings and children.

• Elder abuse typically involves a socially isolated elderly parent in poor health and a caregiver who feels burdened by the parent.

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Review and Apply

REVIEW

• While marriages in older adulthood are generally happy, the many changes of the period cause stresses that can bring divorce.

• The death of a spouse has major psychological, social, and material effects on the survivor and makes the formation and continuation of friendships highly important.

• Family relationships are a continuing part of most older people’s lives, especially relationships with siblings and children.

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Review and Apply

APPLY

• What are some ways the retirement of a spouse can bring stress to a marriage? Is retirement likely to be less stressful in households where both spouses work, or twice as stressful?

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Beginnings: An Introduction to Development Across the Lifespan

Transcript Beginnings: An Introduction to Development Across the Lifespan

Chapter 18: Late Adulthood

PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT AND SUCCESSFUL AGING

Personality Development and Successful Aging

Continuity and Change in Personality

Discontinuities of Development: What Do Theorists Say?

•

Erik Erikson

Robert Peck

Daniel Levinson

Bernice Neugarten

Life Review and Reminiscence

Age Stratification Approaches to Late Adulthood

What else?

Developmental Diversity

Cultures that revere old age have several things in common

Does age bring wisdom?

Things to Consider

Staudinger and Baltes Study

Successful Aging Secrets

Disengagement Theory: Gradual Retreat

Activity Theory: Continued Involvement

And so…

Continuity Theory: A Compromise Position

Review and Apply

REVIEW

Review and Apply

Review and Apply

THE DAILY LIFE OF LATE ADULTHOOD

Places and Spaces

Living in Nursing Homes

Where do you hope to spend the last days of your life?

I think I can, I think I can…or can I?

Consequences of Loss of Control in Nursing Home Care

Economics of Late Adulthood

Financial Vulnerability in Older Adulthood

The Cost of Staying Well

Work and Retirement

What does this research tell us about retirement?

Other Questions to Consider

Combating Age Discrimination

Some employers..

Retirement

Atchley & Barusch

Becoming an Informed Consumer of Development

Review and Apply

REVIEW

Review and Apply

• Based on research on successful aging, what advice would you give someone who is nearing retirement?

RELATIONSHIPS: OLD AND NEW

Marriage in Later Years: Together, Then Alone

Stress of Retirement

Refashioned Relationships

Caring for an Aging Spouse

Death of Spouse

Social Networks of Late Adulthood

Why do friends matter?

Social Support

Social Support: Significance of Others

Family Relationships

Developmental Stake

Grandparents

When Grandparents Are Great!

Elder Abuse

Review and Apply

Review and Apply

Review and Apply

APPLY

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