Transcript Adulthood and Aging Module 6, Chapter 2 Before we start…  Brief review of development and adolescence.  Fill out the “Thinking about death” handout.  Answer the essential.

Adulthood and Aging
Module 6, Chapter 2
Before we start…

Brief review of development and
adolescence.

Fill out the “Thinking about
death” handout.

Answer the essential question:

Would you like to live to be 100?
Why or why not?
So… what are you doing after
you graduate?

College…


Work force…
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
What will your major be?
What type of job will you do?
Leaving adolescence = making
decisions



Where will you live?
Will you marry?
Will you have kids?
Social Clock

Societies
shared
judgment about
the “best” timing
of certain life
events.

Differs for
cultures.

Examples:




Stressful
transitions, so
many!
Drivers’ license
Marriage
Others?
Emerging Adulthood

Easing slowly into adulthood.
Married, but live at home.
Go home to do laundry.
Get financial help into their 30’s.

Any others?

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Physical Changes:


Peak – mid
twenties
36-64 years –
noticeable
changes





Menstrual cycle
ends


More cautious
with physical
behavior.


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Plastic surgery
Dying hair

B/t 45-55
Hot flashes?

Aging
gracefully?

Menopause
Decreased
levels of
estrogen
Depression?
Relief or regret?
No male
equivalent
Midlife crisis?
Later Adulthood Physical Changes

Sensory losses



Muscle strength and stamina
decrease.
Bodies require longer recovery time.



Sight, smell, hearing slowly decline.
Immune systems weaken.
At 65 you have developed antibodies to
viruses you have had… so less
susceptible to common colds!
Longer reaction time, remembering
names, and puzzles.

Brain atrophy, especially in memory
areas.

Must exercise the brain just like your body!
Disease Related to Aging:
Alzheimer’s Disease



Ronald Reagan
3% of the world
population has this
by 75 years of age.
Progressive and
irreversible brain
disorder
characterized by
gradual
deterioration of
memory,
reasoning,
language, and
physical
functioning.

Deteriorating cells
have the chemical
acetylcholine…



Deals with thinking
and memory.
Drugs can slow it
down, but there is
no cure.
Blood tests…

Would you do it?
Disease Related to Aging:
Senile Dementia


Another mental disintegration.
Caused by:


Alcohol, tumors, strokes, or
anything else related to loss of
brain cells.
Likelihood of developing this
increases with age.
Can you teach an old dog
new tricks?

Remember, we are generalizing!

Memory:
Adolescents have the best recall
memory.
 Recognition – stable from 20-60.
 Habitual tasks harder for elderly to
remember.

Can you teach an old dog
new tricks? (Continued)

Fluid intelligence:

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Ability to reason
speedily and
abstractly.
Used to solve novel
logic problems.
Decreases during
late adulthood.
Nonverbal
intelligence (playing
games, puzzle,
quilting, etc.)

Mathematicians/s
cientists do best
work in 20’s or
30’s.

Crystallized
intelligence:



Accumulated
knowledge and
verbal skills.
Increases with age.
Verbal intelligence
(crossword, convos).

Novelists/philosop
hers do best work
in 40’s, 50’s, 60’s
and so on.
Social Changes & Transitions


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Life events & commitment are
behind the biggest transitions.
Erik Erikson (psychosocial
development) believes we are
healthy if we are generative,
meaning focus on supporting
future generations, and capable of
intimacy.
Sigmund Freud (psychoanalysis)
said healthy adults can work and
love.
Freud: Work

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1st career =
big decision!
Post college
employment is
often unrelated to college major.
What matters?

Pay, title, or quality of experience?
Freud: Love

Love lasts when:

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Intimate self-disclosure
Shared emotional and material support
Similar interests and values.
90% population – married at least
once.
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Married people report happiness more
than single.
Divorce rate – just above 50%
10 studies say living together isn’t the
answer.
Kids can bring happiness, but also
commitment.
Empty-nest syndrome
Ageism: like racism?


What stereotypes do we have
about older people?
Is this prejudice unfounded?
A lifetime of well-being

Just as happy with themselves in older
age, as in younger; just as satisfied.


According to studies.
Tend to mellow with age.

Less extreme emotions, more enduring
ones.

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Translation… less drama!
Most regrets focus on what the person
did not do, as opposed to mistakes
made while perusing a goal.

Message here?
Dying and Death

Death is a part of
life, whether it is
your own or a
loved one.

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Grief differs for
everyone.
Oregon physician
assisted suicide
law.
Hospice care:
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Different cultures:
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New status with
death.
No crying!
Must cry outward
to grieve properly.



Receive comforting
medical attention,
sometimes in own
home, but avoid
death-defying
interventions.
Comfort
Dying with dignity
Mourning:

What lessons can
we learn?
The Dash:
I read of a man who stood to
speak
He referred to the dates on her
tombstone
from the beginning to the end.
He noted that first came the date
of birth
and spoke the following date with
tears,
but he said what mattered most of
all
was the dash between those
years.
For that dash represents all the
time
that she spent alive on earth
And now only those who loved
her
know what that little line is worth.
For it matters not, how much we
own;
the cars...the house...the cash,
What matters is how we live and
love
and how we spend our dash.
So when your eulogy's being read
with your life's actions to rehash
Would you be proud of the things
they say
about how you spent your dash?