FAD3220 Chapter 18 19 Psychosocial Development in Late Adulthood Dealing with death and bereavement Chapter 18 Class Notes Normative Issues and tasks Ego integrity vs despair Achieve ego integrity Personality Study of Aging o Erikson s 8th and final psychosocial developmental stage People in late adulthood either achieve a sense of integrity of the self by accepting the lives that they have lived and thus accept death or yield to the despair that their lives cannot be relived Personality is a strong predictor of emotionality health and well being Positive emotionality tended to remain stable until late life and then declined Self reported negative emotions decreased w age only slightly and gradually Well being Adults in late adulthood have fewer mental health disorders and are happier and more satisfied with life than younger adults despite o Losing friends and family o Not earning as much money as they did before o Not being able to do as many things as they used to Coping w Adaptive Defenses Problem focused coping coping strategy directed toward eliminating managing or improving a stressful situation Younger adults do this Emotion focused coping coping strategy directed toward managing the emotional response to a stressful situation so as to lessen its physical or psychological impact older adults Age Differences in Coping Older adults tend to do more emotion focused coping than younger people o May be better able to control their emotions o With age people develop more flexible repertoire of coping strategies Religion and Well being Religion comes increasingly important to people as they age o Social support o Encouragement of healthy lifestyles o Sense of control over life through prayer or meditation o Fostering of positive emotional states o Reduction of stress o Faith in God to interpret misfortune Avoidance of disease or disease related disability Maintenance of high physical and cognitive functioning Sustained active engagement in social and productive areas Optimal Aging Aging Theories Disengagement theory successful aging is characterized by mutual withdrawal of older person and society Activity Theory in order to age successfully a person must remain as active as possible Continuity theory in order to age successfully people must maintain a balance of continuity and change in both the internal and external structures of their lives keeping up w technology Work and Retirement Retirement has taken hold since like expectancy has increased Compulsory retirement outlawed can t force someone to retire Retirement is only a concept in developed countries People who work past 65 usually like their work and do not find it stressful Older workers tend to be more productive than younger workers Life After Retirement Family focused life style pattern of retirement activity that revolves around family home and companions Balanced investment pattern of retirement activity allocated among family work and leisure Usually done w more educated people Serious leisure leisure activity requiring skill attention and commitment extreme devotion to hobbies Volunteer work Living Arrangements Aging in place remaining in one s own home w or w o assistance in later life Living alone women are more likely to because they outlive their husbands Living w adult children Living in institutions nursing homes older adult communities or assisted living Personal Relationships About 1 in 5 elder adults report loneliness partly due to decreased mobility to visit friends or get out of the house Older adults tend to see friends less often but family as frequently as before Older adults may give less support but receive more support from family Marriage Many more men than women are married late in life because o Women marry older men and outlive them o Men are more likely to remarry after a divorce or widowhood Long term marrieds report marriage as satisfying Quality of marriage is important to each spouse s well being Spousal caregiving and illness is common shift in role you play as a spouse Widowhood after Older women are more likely to be widowed b c they outlive their husbands Older women are less likely to marry again Men tend to fair worse after death of spouse than women may die soon Chapter 18 Book Notes Reflect all bolded important information not presented in lecture Coping Adaptive thinking or behavior aimed at reducing or relieving stress that arises from harmful threatening or challenging conditions Cognitive appraisal model model of coping where people choose coping strategies consciously on the basis of the way the perceive and analyze a situation o Includes anything a person does in trying to adapt to stress regardless of how well it works o Choosing the most appropriate strategy requires continuous reappraisal of the relationship between the person and the environment Ambiguous loss losses that are not clearly defined or does not bring closure loss of someone who is still living due to Alzheimer s o Emotion focused coping can be especially useful when dealing w this type of loss Selective optimization w compensation SOC Model of successful aging that involves enhancing overall cognitive functioning by using stronger abilities to compensate for those that have weakened o Enable people to adapt to changing balance of growth and decline throughout life Theories of Social Contact and Social Support Social convoy theory aging adults maintain their level of social support by identifying members of their social network that can help them and avoiding those that aren t supportive Socioemotional Selectivity Theory As remaining time becomes short older adults choose to spend time w people and in activities that meet immediate emotional needs o Would be more likely to spend time with people they know well instead of trying to make new friends Relationships in later life Older adults are more likely to cohabitate after a previous marriage Gay and lesbian relationships in late life tend to be strong supportive and diverse Many homosexuals have children from past marriages or adopted children Those w a close circle of friends tend to be happier and healthier Friendships tend to revolve around every day needs and tasks instead of leisure and are preferred to spending time w family usually Chapter 19 Class Notes Grieving Bereavement process of adjusting to loss of someone close Grief emotional response experienced in the early phases or bereavement o Shock and disbelief o Preoccupation w memory of the dead
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