Chapter 18: Late Adulthood

Discovering the Lifespan - Robert S. Feldman

Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.

Chapter 18: Late Adulthood

Module 8

Social and Personality Development in Late Adulthood



PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT AND SUCCESSFUL AGING



Personality Development and Successful Aging

• Personality change depends on specific personality characteristics

• What do you think these are?

447



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

448



Discontinuities of Development: What Do Theorists Say?

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

• Erik Erikson

• Robert Peck

• Daniel Levinson

• Bernice Neugarten

448



Erik Erikson

EGO-INTEGRITY-VERSUS-DESPAIRProcess 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

448



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

448



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

449



Bernice Neugarten

Four different personality types in

people in their 70s• Disintegrated and disorganized • Passive-dependent personalities• Defended personalities• Integrated personalities

450



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

451



Age Stratification Approaches to Late Adulthood

Suggest that economic resources, power, and privilege are distributed unequally at

different stages of the life course

451



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



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

452



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

452



Does age bring wisdom?



Things to Consider

• Wisdom reflects accumulation of knowledge, experience, and contemplation

• Wisdom is not the same as intelligence

453



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

453



Successful Aging Secrets

Three major approaches• Disengagement theory• Activity theory• Continuity theory

454



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

454



Activity Theory: Continued Involvement

• Happiness and satisfaction from high level of involvement

• Adaptation to inevitable changes

• Continuing/replacing previous activities

454



And so…

Neither disengagement theory nor activity theory provides a complete picture of

successful aging



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

455



Review and ApplyREVIEW• 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.

456



Review and ApplyREVIEW• 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.

456



Review and Apply

APPLY• How might personality traits account for success

or failure in achieving satisfaction through the life review process?

456



THE DAILY LIFE OF LATE ADULTHOOD



Places and Spaces

• Living at Home • Specialized Living Environments

– Continuing-care community • Assisted living

– Nursing institutions• Adult day care• Skilled nursing

457



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

457



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



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

Institutionalism and Learned Helplessness

• Institutionalism

• Learned helplessness

458



Consequences of Loss of Control in Nursing Home Care

• Profound effect on their well-being

458



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

458



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

458



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

460



Work and Retirement

• Retirement is major decision

• Social Security

• Part-time employment

• Mandatory retirement

460



What does this research tell us about retirement?



Other Questions to Consider

• Besides finances, what do you think are some important factors in deciding on the right time to retire?

• What factors might contribute to the specific retirement path a given person takes?

460



Combating Age Discrimination

There was an old lady who lived in a shoe…and

we were not sure just what she could do!



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

460



Retirement

Retirement decision based on

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

family

460



Atchley & Barusch

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

461



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

461



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.

462



Review and ApplyAPPLY

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

462



RELATIONSHIPS: OLD AND NEW



Marriage in Later Years: Together, Then Alone

463



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

463



Refashioned Relationships

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

463



Caring for an Aging Spouse

• Wide variety of reactions– Positive– Negative

464



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

465



Social Networks of Late Adulthood

466



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

466



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

466



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

466



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

467



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



Grandparents

• Not all grandparents are equally involved with their grandchildren

• Gender differences in behaviors and reactions of grandparents and grandchildren

• Ethnic differences in grandparenting

468



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

468



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

468



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.

469



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.

469



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?

469

Documents

Chapter 18: Late Adulthood