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Adulthood and Old Age
Chapter 10
Objectives
Describe the physical, sexual, and intellectual changes that occur during adulthood
Identify recent research related to older adults
Identify, describe, and critique the stages of dying
Key Terms
Ageism
Closed awareness
Decremental model of aging
Generativity
Menopause
Mutual pretense
awareness
Open awareness
Stagnation
Suspected awareness
Thanatology
Introduction
What is over the hill?
What does middle age bring?
Does everyone want to look young?
Introduction
Is middle age a time of physical and mental deterioration?
Are there stereotypes about getting older?
Adulthood
What is adulthood like?
Change
Sameness
Success
Failure
Crisis
Stability
Joy
Sadness
Adulthood
Adulthood can be a time when a person matures fully into what he or she is
OR
It can be a time when life closes in and what was once possibility is now limitation
AdulthoodStudy of adulthood was not always a strength in society. Psychologists focused on childhood and adolescence
Today, a growing number of psychologists are studying adult psychology.
Focus on a period of changes and transformations
Identifying & performing well in occupation
Social & civic responsibilities
Relating to significant other
Satisfying leisure activities
Helping kids become responsible
Relating to one’s aging parents
Physical Changes
Humans peak between 18-25
Period where they are strongest, healthiest, & quickest reflexes
Look at pro athletes
Read page 244, last paragraph
Physical ChangesHealth problems
Natural process of aging
Diseases
Disuse and abuse
Someone who is 30 pounds overweight, the chance of dying during middle age increases by 40%
Smoking: Cancer of mouth, throat, and lungs, respiratory and heart problems
Cardiovascular disease leading cause of death during middle ages
Physical Changes
A person who eats sensibly, exercises, avoids cigarettes, drugs, and alcohol, and is not subjected to severe emotional stress will look and feel younger than someone who neglects his or her health
MenopauseBetween ages 45-50 in a woman’s life is a stage called climacteric, which represents all of the psychological and biological changes occurring at that time
Menopause: When a woman’s production of sex hormones drops sharply
Woman stops ovulating (producing eggs) and menstruating
Cannot conceive children
Men do not go through menopause or a biological change equivalent to women
Social & Personality Development
For a long time, psychologists commonly applied theories of childhood and adolescent development to the middle years
Now only are we beginning to find out how age affects personality
An individual’s basic character-his or her style of adapting to situations- is relatively stable over the years. Researchers are also convinced, however, that personality is flexible and capable of changing as an individual confronts new tasks
Levinson’s Theory of Male Development
Daniel Levinson & Yale colleagues 1976
Mentioned in book Passages: Predictable Crises of Adult Life
Levinson interviewed 4 groups of men between ages 35-45
10 executives
10 Hourly workers in industry
10 novelists
10 University biologists
A life structure was developed for each man based on the interviews
Major periods of man’s life based on activities, associations, relationships
Levinson’s Theory of Male Development
See handout
Model shows the development sequence of a man’s life that Levinson proposed. The scheme emphasizes the development is an ongoing process that requires continual adjustment
Similarities between Levinson theory and last 3 stages of Erikson’s psychosocial theory
Levinson’s Theory of Male Development
Stage 1: Early Adulthood (17 to 40)
Age 22-28
Young man is considered (by himself & society) to be a novice in the adult world.
Not fully established as a man, but no longer an adolescent
During this time, must attempt to resolve the conflict between
The need to explore the options of the adult world and need to establish a stable life
Needs to sample different kinds of relationships
Keeps choices about career and employment open
Needs to begin a career, but may not be fully committed
Establish a home and family of his own
Lacks a full sense of stability or permanence
Levinson’s Theory of Male Development
Stage 1: Early Adulthood (17 to 40) continued
Age-thirty crisis
Some years ago, the motto of the rebellious, politically oriented young people who sought to change American society was “NEVER TRUST ANYONE OVER 30”
Man feels that any parts of his life that are unsatisfying or incomplete must be attended to now, because it will soon be too late to make major changes
Levinson’s Theory of Male Development
Stage 1: Early Adulthood (17 to 40) continued
Settling down
Questioning and searching part of age-thirty crisis
Firm choices about (Making it in the adult world!!)
Career
Family
Relationships
Boom phase
36-40
Becoming one’s own man
Fully independent
Levinson’s Theory of Male Development
Stage 2: Middle Adulthood (40 to 60)
Mid-life transition (40-45)
Man begins to ask questions
What have I done in my life?
What have I accomplished?
What do I still have to accomplish?
Resurgence in sex interests
Husband and wife more time alone
Stagnation can occur
Stagnation: A discontinuation of development and a desire to recapture the past, characteristic of some middle-aged people
Play same sports?
Levinson’s Theory of Male Development
Stage 2: Middle Adulthood (40 to 60)
Late 40’s
True adulthood achieved
Understands and tolerates others
Displays a sensitivity and concern for other people
Balance between friends and privacy
Others are as fortunate
Extreme frustration
Unhappiness
Isolation
Levinson’s Theory of Male Development
Stage 3: Late Adulthood (beginning at about age 60)
Golden agers
Senior citizens
Decremental model of aging: Holds that progressive physical and mental decline is inevitable with age
Decremental view from society
Drivers…
Most of use know people or are 80 but act 50
Levinson’s Theory of Male Development
Stage 3: Late Adulthood
65 and older are in reasonable good health
80% can carry out normal activities
Senses do decline
40% have a chronic disease
Female Development
Men experience a mid-life crisis, married women at mid-life are facing fewer demands in their traditional task as mother.
Career and family
Women now start a family after a career
Regardless of change, women still are the ones who typically are responsible for both housework and child care
Female DevelopmentPhysical attractiveness in mid-life
Tend to be more conscious of the aging process than men
Tend to be considered less attractive with age
Different image of one’s self
Empty-nest syndrome
A significant event in many women’s lives is the departure from home of the last child
Need not be traumatic, many women express happiness
New interests and activities
Not all psychologists agree
Stable marriage plays a role
Widow or divorced can make it more difficult
Female Development
Depression in mid-life
Women 2-6 times more likely than men to suffer depression
Some experience a loss of personal worth
Death and DyingClosed awareness: The situation in which the medical staff and the family are aware of the patient’s terminal condition but the patient is not
Suspected awareness: The situation in which some patients begin to sense that their illness is terminal and endeavor to find out from a medial staff or from their families whether suspicions are true
Mutual pretense awareness: The situation in which both the medical staff and the patient pretend they do not know that the patient’s disease is terminal
Open awareness: The situation in which the medical staff and the patient publically admit to the knowledge of the patient’s terminal disease
Death and DyingThanatology: Study of death and dying
Stage 1: Denial
People’s most common reaction to learning that they have a terminal illness is shock and numbness, followed by denial
Stage 2: Anger
Why me?
They feel anger-at fate, at the powers that be , at every person who comes into their life
Stage 3: Bargaining
People change their attitude and attempt to bargain with fate
Death and DyingStage 4: Depression
Aware of the losses they are incurring
Loss of everyone and everything
Stage 5: Acceptance
The struggle is over
Experience a sense of calm
Peaceful
Read Hospices page 261
Handout
Handout
