Chapter 6: Early Adulthood

Module 6.1

Physical Developmentin Early Adulthood

Physical Development and the Senses

• Physical development and maturation complete

• Peak of physical capabilities• Brain wave patterns show more mature

patterns• Senses are at peak • Most professional athletes at peak during

early adulthood

Physical FitnessSuperior physical capabilities require exercise and healthy diet

• The conspicuousness of exercise in the U.S. is misleading!

• No more than 10% Americans exercise enough to keep themselves in good physical shape

• Less than 20% participate in moderate exercise on regular basis

• Exercise is largely an upper- and middle-class phenomenon

• People of low socioeconomic status (SES) often lack the time or money to participate

Benefits of Exercise

• Cardiovascular fitness increase• Lung capacity increases, raising endurance• Stronger muscles and greater flexibility• Greater range of movement• More elasticity in muscles, tendons, and ligaments• Reduction in osteoporosis• Optimization of immune response • Decreased stress level • Increased sense of control over their bodies and

feeling of accomplishment

Longevity

Greater fitness level = lower the death rate

Health

• Leading causes of death among young adults (ages 25-34) are:

– Accidents – AIDS – Cancer – Heart disease – Suicide– Murder

• At age 35, this reverses and illness and disease become more likely causes (for the first time since infancy).

Accidents and Gender/Ethnicity/SES

• At age 35, this reverses and illness and disease become more likely causes (for the 1st time since infancy).

• Men are more apt to die from accidents than women.• African-Americans have twice the death rate of Caucasians. • Murder rate in the U.S. is significantly higher than in any other

developed country. —U.S rate = 21.9 per 100,000 me; Japanese rate = 0.5 murders per 100,000 men <4000% difference!>

• Murder is the fifth most frequent cause of death for young White Americans (1 in 131 chance in lifetime)

• Murder is the most frequent cause of death for African-Americans (1 in 21 chance in lifetime)

• In some areas of the country, a young black male has a higher probability of being murdered than a soldier in the Vietnam War had of being killed!

Secondary Aging

• Secondary Aging - physical declines brought about by environmental factors or an individual’s behavioral choices.

• Lifestyle decisions, including the use—or abuse—of alcohol, tobacco, or drugs or engaging in unprotected sex, can hasten secondary aging

• This can also increase a young adult’s risk of dying

Violence and Death

•Another major cause of death for men in this age group is violence, particularly in the United States. The murder rate is significantly higher in the United States than in any other developed country.

•Murder rates also depend significantly on racial factors. Although murder is the fifth most frequent cause of death for young adult white Americans, it is the most likely cause of death for African Americans, and it is a significant factor for Hispanic Americans.

Eating, Nutrition, and Obesity • Most young adults know which foods are healthy,

but ignore good nutrition– Physical growth begins to decline – Calorie reduction necessary

• Young adults will put on weight if they do not eat sensibly.

• 31% of the adult population is classified as overweight.

• 7% of men and 10% of women between the ages of 20 and 25 are obese.

• The rate of obesity in the U.S. is increasing.• Genetic factors may lead people to become obese. • Environmental and social factors also produce obesity. • Obese people may have a higher WEIGHT SET POINT,

the particular level the body strives to maintain. • Most people who diet eventually gain back the weight

Age and Obesity•Weight control is a difficult, and often losing, battle for many young adults. •Most people who diet ultimately regain the weight they have lost, and they become involved in a see-saw cycle of weight gain and loss. •Some obesity experts now argue that the rate of dieting failure is so great that people may want to avoid dieting altogether. •If people eat the foods they really want in moderation, they may be able to avoid the binge eating that often occurs when diets fail.•Even though obese people may never reach their desired weight, they may, according to this reasoning, ultimately control their weight more effectively.

Physical Challenges in Young Adulthood

• Some 50+ million Americans are physically challenged

– Fewer than 10% of people with major handicaps have finished high school

• Fewer than 25% of disabled men and 15% of disabled women work full time

– Adults with handicaps are often unemployed, or stuck in routine, low-paying jobs

Discrimination and Prejudice

• Despite Americans with Disabilities Act (1990), many older buildings are inaccessible to wheelchairs

• Prejudice and discrimination affect way disabled people think of themselves

– Pity, avoidance – Treating adults as children– Seeing disabled person as a category

rather than individual

Stress and Coping in Early Adulthood

• Stress: Response to events that threaten or challenge an individual

• Pleasant events and unpleasant events; weddings, winning awards, exams, arguments

• Long-term, continuous exposure may result in a reduction of body's ability to deal with stress

– People become more susceptible to diseases as their ability to fight off germs declines.

Stress Research - Lazarus and Folkman

• People move through series of stages that determine whether or not they will experience stress:

– PRIMARY APPRAISAL - is assessment of an

event to determine whether its implications are positive, negative, or neutral.

– SECONDARY APPRAISAL - is assessment of whether one's coping abilities and resources are adequate to overcome the harm, threat, or challenge posed by potential stressor.

Stress Research Predicting Stressful Events - Taylor

• Negative emotions are more likely to produce stress

• Uncontrollable or unpredictable situations are more likely to produce stress

• Ambiguous and confusing situations produce more stress

• Simultaneously tasks demands are more likely to experience stress

Consequences of Stress

• PSYCHOSOMATIC DISORDERS - medical problems caused by interaction of psychological, emotional, and physical difficulties.

• COPING - the effort to reduce, or tolerate threats that lead to stress.

– Some young adults are better than others at coping

Styles of Coping• Problem-focused coping is attempt to manage

a stressful problem or situation by directly changing situation to make it less stressful.

• Emotion-focused coping involves conscious regulation of emotion.

• Coping is also aided by presence of social support, assistance and comfort supplied by others.

• Defense coping involves unconscious strategies that distort or deny true nature of the situation.

Coping with Stress: General Guidelines• Seek control over the situation producing the stress. Putting yourself

in charge of a situation that is producing stress can take you a long way toward coping with it. For example, if you are feeling stress about an upcoming test, do something about it—such as starting to study.

• Redefine “threat” as “challenge.” Changing the definition of a situation can make it seem less threatening. “Look for the silver lining” is not bad advice. For example, if you’re fired, look at it as an opportunity to get a new, and potentially better, job.

• Find social support. Almost any difficulty can be faced more easily with the help of others. Friends, family members, and even telephone hot lines staffed by trained counselors can provide significant support.

• Use relaxation techniques. Reducing the physiological arousal brought about by stress can be a particularly effective way of coping with stress. A variety of techniques that produce relaxation, such as transcendental meditation, Zen and yoga, progressive muscle relaxation, and even hypnosis, have been shown to be effective in reducing stress.

Chapter 7: Middle Adulthood

Module 7.1Physical Development

in Middle Adulthood

Physical Transitions in Middle Adulthood

• Gradual psychological and emotional changes in body’s capabilities

• Depends in part on self-concept and lifestyle:– Time when most people first become aware of

gradual changes in body that mark aging process. (gray hair, wrinkles)

– Signs of aging they see in the mirror signal not just a reduction in their physical attractiveness, but also aging and mortality.

Height, Weight, and Strength• Height

• Reach their maximum height during their 20s and remain relatively close to that height until around age 55.

• Begin a “settling” process in which the bones attached to the spinal column become less dense. Although the loss of height is very slow, ultimately women average a 2-inch decline and men a 1-inch decline.

• Women are more prone to a decline in height because they are at greater risk of osteoporosis. Osteoporosis, a condition in which the bones become brittle, fragile, and thin, is often brought about by a lack of calcium in diet.

• Weight• Amount of body fat tends to grow in average person.• People who maintain exercise program tend to avoid obesity, as do

individuals living in cultures where the typical life is more active and less sedentary.

• Strength• Strength gradually decreases, particularly in the back and leg muscles. • By 60, people have lost, on average, about 10 percent of their maximum

strength.

Society applies a double standard to men and women in

terms of appearance:

– Older women tend to be viewed in unflattering terms

– Aging men more frequently perceived as displaying a maturity that enhances status

Vision Changes• Starting at age 40, visual acuity - the ability to discern fine spatial

detail in both close and distant objects - begins to decline.– The eye's lenses change shape and elasticity.– The lenses become less transparent, which reduces the amount of light

entering.

• A nearly universal change in eyesight during middle adulthood is the loss of near vision, called PRESBYOPIA.– Declines also occur in depth perception, distance perception, the ability to

view the world in three dimensions, and night vision.

• Sometimes changes in vision are brought on by a disease called GLAUCOMA, a condition where pressure in the fluid of the eye increases, either because the fluid cannot drain properly or because too much fluid is produced.– About 1 percent to 2 percent of those over 40 are affected.– African Americans are particularly susceptible.– It can be treated if caught early enough.– If left untreated it can cause blindness.

Hearing Changes

• The primary sort of loss is for sounds of high frequency, a problem called PRESBYCUSIS.– About 12 percent of people between 45 and 65 suffer from

presbycusis.– Men are more prone to hearing loss than women.– Because the two ears are not always equally affected by

hearing loss, sound localization, the ability to detect the origin of a sound, is diminished.

– Some hearing loss results from environmental factors, such as loud noises (loud concerts, work environment).

– The rest are caused by aging, which brings a loss of hair cells in the inner ear.

– Also, the eardrum becomes less elastic with age.

Reaction time

• Decreases only slightly in middle adulthood

• Improves or compensated for by being more careful and practicing the skill

• Exercise can slow this loss

Involvement in an active exercise program retards effects of aging, producing several important outcomes:

Sexuality During Middle Age

• Frequency of sexual intercourse decreases with age– Sexual activities remain a vital part of most

middle-aged adults’ lives– Adults have more freedom– Women no longer need to practice birth

control

Sexual Intercourse

• Men typically need more time to get an erection – Volume of fluid in ejaculation declines– Production of testosterone also declines

• In women, walls of the vagina become less elastic and thinner – Vagina shrinks, potentially making intercourse

painful

Female Climateric• Starting about age 45, transition from being able to bear children to

being unable to do so

• Lasting about 15 to 20 years

• MENOPAUSE - the cessation of menstruation.

– Process may begin as early as age 40 or as late as age 60.– Production of estrogen and progesterone drop.

– Symptoms such as "hot flashes," headaches, feeling dizzy, heart palpitations, and aching joints are common during menopause.

– Half of women report no symptoms at all.

– Perimenopause is period beginning around 10 years prior to menopause when hormone production begins to change.

– After year without a menstrual period, menopause is said to have occurred.

Menopause• Using estrogen replacement therapy (ERT), symptoms are alleviated and variety of

problems are reduced, such as:• Osteoporosis• Heart disease• Colon cancer• Stroke• Skin elasticity

• There may be risks associated with ERT:• Breast cancer• Abnormal blood clots• Cancer of the uterine lining

• About 10 percent of women had psychological problems associated with menopause.• Depression• Anxiety• Crying spells• Lack of concentration• Irritability

• It is now believed that women's expectations about menopause relate to their experience of menopause.

• Indian women have few symptoms and look forward to the social advantages of being past the childbearing age.

• Mayan women also have few symptoms and look forward to the freedom of being past childbearing age.

The Psychological Consequences of Menopause

• Early research:– Menopause was linked directly to depression, anxiety, crying

spells, lack of concentration, and irritability• Current research:

– Normal part of aging that does not, by itself, produce psychological symptoms

• Effects influenced by personal and cultural expectations of menopause :

– Women who expect to have difficulties during menopause are more likely to attribute every physical symptom and emotional swing to it.

– Women with more positive attitudes may be less apt to attribute physical sensations to menopausal physiological changes.

– Attribution of physical symptoms may affect perception of rigors of menopause—and ultimately actual experience of period.

• Women in non-Western cultures often have vastly different menopausal experiences from those in Western cultures.

Male Climacteric

• Male changes during middle age:– Period of physical and psychological change relating

to male reproductive system that occurs during late middle age.

– Enlargement of the prostate gland - By age 40, 10% of men have enlarged prostates.

• Problems with urination, including difficulty starting to urinate and frequent need to urinate during night

– Men still produce sperm and can father children through middle age

Health and Wellness• American College of Sports Medicine and the

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention– At least 30 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity

daily:• Reduces risk of heart disease, osteoporosis, weight gain, and

hypertension

• Provides psychological benefits of sense of control and well-being

• Vast majority of people in middle age face no chronic health difficulties and have fewer accidents and infections because they are more careful and built up immunities over their life.

– People between the ages of 45 and 65 are less likely than younger adults to experience infections, allergies, respiratory diseases, and digestive problems.

Chronic Diseases in Middle Adulthood

• Arthritis typically begins after age 40

• Diabetes is most likely to occur in people between the ages of 50 and 60

• Hypertension (high blood pressure) is one of the most frequent chronic disorders found in middle age

Individual Variation in Health

• Ethnic/SES differences:– African Americans death rate is twice rate for

Caucasians • When whites and African Americans of the same

SES level are compared, the death rate for African Americans actually falls below that of whites.

– Lower family’s incomehigher likelihood of disabling illness, more dangerous occupations, inferior health coverage

Gender Differences

• During middle age, women experience more non-life threatening illnesses than men but men experience more serious illnesses– Women smoke less; drink less alcohol; have less

dangerous jobs

• Medical research has typically studied diseases of men with all male samples; the medical community is only now beginning to study women's health issues

What are the consequences of stress in middle adulthood?

Stress in Middle Adulthood• Stress continues to have a significant impact on

health in middle age

• According to psychoneuroimmunologists, who study the relationship between the brain, the immune system, and psychological factors, stress produces three main consequences

• Leads to unhealthy behaviors such as smoking, cutting back on sleep, drinking, or taking other drugs.– People under a lot of stress are more likely to give

into these unhealthy behaviors.

Coronary Heart Disease

• Heart and circulatory disease in middle age are responsible for more loss of work and disability days due to hospitalization than any other cause.

• Each year heart and circulatory diseases kill around 200,000 people under the age of 65.

Coronary Heart Disease• More men die in middle age of diseases of the

heart and circulatory system than any other cause.– Both genetic and experiential characteristics are involved

– Heart disease runs in families

– Men are more likely to suffer than women, and risks increase with age

– There are several environmental and behavioral factors.

• Cigarette smoking

• High fat and cholesterol in diet

• Lack of physical exercise– Evidence suggests that some psychological factors are also

related to heart disease.

Cancer• Cancer is associated with genetic and

environmental risks:– Poor nutrition, smoking, alcohol use, exposure to sunlight,

exposure to radiation, and particular occupational hazards

• Early treatment is related to higher survival rate:– Many forms of cancer respond quite well to medical treatment,

and 40 percent of people diagnosed with the disease are still alive 5 years later; but second leading cause of death in US.

– Therapy: radiation, chemotherapy, surgery.– Detection: breast examination, mammogram, testicle exam

Cancer Treatment

• Takes a variety of forms– Radiation therapy involves the use of radiation to

destroy a tumor– Chemotherapy involves the controlled ingestion of

toxic substances meant to poison the tumor

• Surgery may be used to remove the tumor

• Early diagnosis is crucial