HDE 100C Exam #1

Adult age groups

• Older adults: 65+ 

• Young old: 65-74 

• Old old: 75-84 

• Oldest old: 85+ 

life expectancy

average number of life (in years) individuals have remaining at particular age

• predicts how long they’ll live

life span

average duration of life for member of species (more general); whole duration of life

maximum life span

longest recorded period of time between birth and death for an individual member of species

• ex. human lived to 122 years old so Maximum life span for humans is 122

rectangularization of mortality curve

• mortality curve = line graph (y-axis = % of people still alive and x-axis = age in years)

• rectangularization over the course of the 1900s the curve wet from dialog to looking like a rectangle → caused by medicine, hygiene, infrastructure, decreased infant mortality, better education about health

growth of 65+ age group

• population of older adults from 1920s-2020

• In 1920 older adults made up about 5 million but in 2020 older adults made up about 55 million

• caused by improvement in healthcare/medicine, larger population, birthing rates

population pyramid by sex and age

helps us understand age and sex distribution at a snap shot in time or how long they’ll live

• baby boom: rise in births after soldieries came back home after world war 2: 1946-1964 → population significantly increased

male and female populations by age

• around 35-39 there is a shift from having more males to more females

• higher mortality rates in older men - risk taking behaviors in younger men, health problems, ect.

  • estrogen has protective effect for females

  • more males when young because they die off sooner (including miscarriages) → keep more equal balances of sexes later in life

diversity index

likelihood that two people chosen at random from given population will be of different racial and ethnic groups

• if value is close to 100 → almost everyone is from different groups

• useful for understanding diversity

older adults with disability

• 43% of women and 40% of men

• increased number in women → menopause (decreased bone density) and women live longer so older overall age group

why has life expectancy risen?

• improved medical care

• improved nutirtion

• decreased infant and child mortality rate

• decreased deaths earlier in life (especially women giving birth)

• better treatments for diseases and better prevention efforts

• population is better educated about health

consequences of people living longer

• personal: find resources to care for loved ones, more time to enjoy with loved ones, more need to plan for retirement, career opportunities

• social: opportunities and benefits and responsibilities

• more careers: geriatric medicine, gerontology, human factors and technology, experimental psychology, skilled nursing homework, economics, policy/politics/law, education

biopsychosocial perspective

perspective of development that is the complex interaction of biological, psychological and social processes

• not simple, straightforward progression through time that can be linked to passing of time

• principles: changes are continuous, only survivors grow old, individuality matters, normal aging differs from diseases

continuity principle of biopsychosocial perspective

the changes the people experience later in adulthood build on the experiences they had in their earlier years of life without considering the year proceeding them

• over time you don’t change instantaneously

• people only see you in the current moment - don’t know what they were like in your earlier years

survivors principle of biopsychosocial perspective

people who live to old age are the ones who managed to avoid the many threats that could have caused their deaths at earlier ages

• survivors managed to avoid random causes → more likely to take care of themselves and avoid risky behaviors

• may have inherited good genes, managed to maintain physical abilities, cognitive and emotional health and have a good support system

Individuality principle of biopsychosocial perspective

as people age they become increasingly different from each other which brings bigger differences in people’s physical functioning, psychological performance, relationships, interest in work, economic security and personality

• does not mean people start out exactly the same when they’re young

interindividual differences

differences between people

• influences the course of their lives

intra-individual differences

differences within people

• different abilities with each individual are compared

“normal aging” of biopsychosocial perspective

growing older doesn’t necessarily mean growing sicker

• important for both practical and scientific reasons to distinguish between normals aging and disease

• ex. healthcare providers who mistaking think the symptom of a disease is part of normal aging process won’t take power course of treatment that could alleviate suffering

developmental psychology

inter-individual and intra-indivudal differences culminate in the areas of behaviors, thoughts and emotions

chronological age

how long have you been alive based on what the calendar says

• convenient and commonly used but does not account for differences with people of same age

biological age

age of individual’s bodily systems

• psychology detects the rate of an individual’s aging including performance of various bodily systems and changes at cellular level

psychological age

individuals performance on measures such as reaction, time, memory, earning ability and intelligence

• preformance compared with those of other adults and scaled accordingly

• includes subjective age - age that a person feels

social age

calculated by evaluating people compared to typical ages expected for people at certain options in their life, usually related to family and work roles

• the effects of a person’s exposure to a changing environment

functional age

based on performance rather than chronological age

• better than biological, psychological and social age

• helps provide understanding of person’s true characteristics and abilities

normative age-graded influence

experiences linked to age; experienced by most adults of every generation

• lead people to chose experiences that their culture and historical period attach to certain ages or points in their life span

normative history-graded influences

experiences that result from historical events or experiences that result from historical events or experiences; explain similarities and differences between groups of people

• includes culture and cohorts

• events that occur to everyone with a certain culture or geopolitical unit

non normative life events

experiences that are unique to an individual or small group

• off time events - death of spouse early in life or inheritance of enough money to retire at 40

what influences development

genes and environment

• including Normative age-graded influence, Normative history-graded influences, Nonnormative life events

lifespan development theory

developed by Erik Erickson (one of the first people studying development) and takes entire lifespan into account

• longitudinal studies - lifelong, multidirectional, combination of gains and losses, plastic, historically embedded, contextual and multidisciplinary to determine how participants change over time

• the longer you live the more gains/losses you have

emerging adulthood

process that encapsulates the transition prior to assuming the full responsibilities associated with adulthood, normally the years 18-29

key social indicators in adult development and aging

• age

• sex and gender

• race and ethnicity

• socioeconomic status and income

• government support

• religion

Demography of aging

• in the US: growing population of 65+ - trend will continue to growth of 85+

Why do we age?

• telomeres: repetitive DNA sequences that serve to protect the genome from becoming degraded as DNA replicated with each cell division

• we have to grow (necessary part of development)

• method of adapting, age to support social groups

• reproduction

• grandmother hypothesis (as people get older they help the younger generations survive)

• selection pressure decreases as we get older

• genetic disposition to aging that is passed on

models of development

• organismic model: views hereditary as the driving force of development throughout the life; changes over time occur because the individual is programmed to exhibit certain behaviors at certain ages

• mechanistic model: people’s behaviors misshaped by the outside forces represented by the environment; growth throughout life occurs gradually through exposure to experiences that present constantly changing challenges

• interactionist model: views the interaction of genetics and the environment to shape development; people shape their own development

• plasticity in development: the course of development may be altered depending on the individual’s specific interactions with the environment; by choosing to engage in certain activities, individuals can shape the course of their own aging process

reciprocity in development

people both influence and are influenced by the events in their lives

ecological perspective of development

multiple levels of the environment that affect individuals over time (person’s immediate environment, system with most direct impact on people’s lives and large social institutions)

life course perspective of development

norms, roles and attitudes about age have an impact on the shape of each person’s life

• social clock - expectations for the ages at which society associates with major life events which set the pace for how people think they should progress through their family and work timelines

• activity theory: view that older adults are most satisfied if they can remain involved in their social roles

• disengagement theory: the normal and natural evolution of life causes older adults to purposefully lose their social ties

• continuity theory: decisions about staying active or disengaging are based on an individual’s personality

ageism as a social factor in the aging process

• ageism: set of beliefs, attitudes, social institutions and acts that discriminate individuals or groups based on chronological age

  • aging can have a positive spin but is still the harmful overgeneralization of an entire group of people who share the same characteristics

  • makes adults feel lonely

  • terror management theory - though of dying fill people with panic and dread so they engage in defense mechanism

  • modernization hypothesis: increasing urbanization and industrialization of western society, the lack of contribution to economic growth

Ericson’s psychosocial theory of development

key points in life, biological, psychological and social changes influences the individual’s personality

• change in individual is a progression of phrases driven by the individual’s developing body

  • based on epigenetic principle that states each phased unfolds according to a set order

Piaget’s cognitive-developmental theory

explains the process underlying the growth of cognitive abilities and hypothesized the existence of a set of underlying processes that allowed children eventually to achieve understanding and mastery of physical world

• individuals gain mastery of their environment by enriching their knowledge (schemas), assimilation (use existing schemas), accommodation (change schemas in response to new schemas)

• you know differently rather than more as you get older

identity process theory

proposed framework for understanding how individuals adapt as they navigate the many new experiences that accompany their movement through life

• identity: set of schemas that the person holds about the self

• identity assimilation: tendency to interpret new experiences in terms of existing views of self

• identity accommodation: the process through which people make changes in their identities in response to experiences that challenge current view of themselves

• multiple threshold model of change: individuals realizes that they are getting older through a stepwise process as aging related changes occur

selective optimization with compensation model

adults attempt to preserve and maximize the abilities that are of central importance and put less effort into maintaining those that are not

• implies that people narrow does their range of activities, chose one and then put their efforts into becoming as good at that actively as possible

• make deliberate choices about how to spend their time and energy

genes and DNA as biological theory of aging

• inherited mutations (alternations in genes) can be responsible for predisposition to diseases, psychiatric illnesses and cancers

programmed aging theories

propose that aging and death are built into the hard-wiring of all organisms and are therefore part of the genetic code

• ex. species have different lifespans

• unrealistic that there is a single gene or small combination of multiple genes that control aging process

random error theories

assumes that aging reflects unplanned changes in an organism over time - aging is accidental by-product of other biological processes that can be slowed or halted

• error theories of aging: proposed that it is the accumulation of mutations acquired over the organism’s lifetime that leads to malfunctioning of body’s cells

• wear and tear theory: aging occurs as the body breaks down due to accumulation of damage over time

• cross linking theory: focuses on effects of aging on the cells of the body (collagen)

• free radical theory: cause of aging is due to formation of highly reactive unstable oxygen molecules; antioxidants prevent the formation of free radicals

• autoimmune theory:aging is due to faulty immune system functioning in which immune system attacks body’s own cells

• error catastrophe theory: errors that accumulate with aging develop as result of mutations in the mitochondrial DNA, passed down from mother

primary aging

normal changes over time that occur due to universal, intrinsic and progressive alterations in the body’s system

• gradual, inevitable, happens to most people

secondary aging

changes over time leading to impairment due to disease rather than normal aging

• sudden, caused by: disease, poor health habits and environmental influences, happens to only some people

Maximum lifespan theory of primary aging

• most amount of time a member of a specifies can live under ideal conditions

  • Different species have different maximum lifespan 

Random or stochastic theory of primary aging

• Senescence (aging) is caused by random or unplanned damage to our DNA 

• Based on evidence of random damage that occurs at cellular level

Programmed or genetic theory of primary aging

• Senescence is caused by information stored in DNA 

• Based on observation that every species has characteristic maximum life span

oxidative change - random or stochastic theory

• Free radical: molecule with an unpaired electron → takes electrons from other molecules causing damage 

• Molecules enter into many damaging chemicals reactions like this one → when body is healthy it can resist or repair most of the reactions but as we get older its ability to resist or repair declines and primary aging results

• Result of regular body metabolism, diet, x-rays and air pollutants 

waste produce - random or stochastic theory

• aging happens because waste products accumulate in cells over time eventually interfering in cell function

  • Lysosomes: organelles that envelop waste and digest it to get rid of it 

    • when lipofusion accumulates lysosomes can’t do their job → accumulation of more waste in cell → when enough waste accumulates cell can’t do its job

  • Lipofusion: pigment left over from the breakdown and absorption of damaged blood cells 

    • Pigment also called aging pigment

time-clock theory (Hayflick limit) - programmed or genetic theory of aging

• Hayflick took human embryo cells and studied their in vitro → doubled in population about 50 times (entered replicative senescence where cells stop copying) 

• Correlation between hayflick limit and species longevity  

• Because every member of species if genetically similar to members of that species than members of other species  → similarities due to genetics → number of time cell divides correlated with maximum lifespan →  implies there is something in DNA that causes this

telomere theory of programmed or genetic aging

• Telmeres cap the end of chromosomes and they wear away during DNA replication

  • Have repeating base pairs (meaningless strand of DNA so that when the end of DNA wears away we don’t lose meaningful sequences of DNA)

  • When telomeres degrade sufficiently → cell stops dividing and dies

  • As people get older it shortens 

  • Researches think think this indicates there is programmed set of instructions that tells cells to stop dividing

• Telomerase: enzyme that lengthens telomeres 

  • Chemical catalyst 

Experimental designs

• strict, has a lot of environment → helps infer causation between variables

• contains IV and DV

• randomly assigns participants to groups so there is even spread of characteristics, reduces the risk of biases, better reflects the population, reduced systematic differences between groups

  • allows us to be sure that any differences observed on DV are due to receipt or non-receipt or treatment rather than systemic treatment

Quasi-experimental designs

• almost meets criteria to be experimental design but not quite because not randomly assigned → compare groups based on pre-determined characteristics

  • systematic differences exist so it cannot apply to general population and say IV caused differences in DV

Indepdent variable

manipulated by researchers

dependent variable

not manipulated by researchers

cohort

period of birth

• typically categorized at 5-year intervals

• cohort effects: social, historical and cultural influences that affect people relevant to their age group

time of testing

measurement occasion 1, measurement occasion 2 and measurement occasion 3

descriptive research design (single factor)

just looking, not manipulating

• catalogs inför about how people preform based on their age but does not rule out social or historical factors

selective attrition

the possibility develops that people who drop out of a study are not necessarily representative of the sample that was originally tested

• nonrandom loss of participants can occur because of illness, death

confounding variable

variable whose effect on DV cannot be separated from the indepdent variable

• may not even know it exists - ot able to measure it

single development study designs

• cross-sectional study designs

• longitudinal design

• cohort sequential design

cross-sectional study design

people from different age groups measured on same occasion

• wanted to understand age differences - growth and change with age

• X-axis: year 

• Y-axis: age at the time of observation

• Pros: Takes less time to complete study, less expensive and can see results for different ages at the same time in history - holding measurement occasion constant

• Measurement occasion stays constant; age and cohort vary together and cannot separate the effect of one of them from the other (confounded with each other)

longitudinal study design

some participants measured on different ages at different measurement occasion

• same participants - no groups

• Pros: help with cohort effects (help constant), find differences across ages, allow us to measure true developmental change - see how they change as they age, see age as different from cohort 

• Cohort stays constant; measurement occasion and age vary together

cohort sequential study design

design in which at least two cohorts are compared at 2 different ages, representing the variable of cohort and age

• Combine aspects of cross-sectional and longitudinal designs 

  • Makes the most of the info we can get from both studies

• Includes info from more than one cohort, age and measurement occasion

• Lets us use statistical techniques to learn about all of these from the same study → our conclusions are still estimates because we cannot let them vary together in real life 

• Attempt to learn about age, cohort and measurement occasion at the same time 

  • Can only look at two of these variables at the same time

sequential design

data collection strategies consisting of different combinations of the variables of age, cohort and time of measurement

time-sequential design

compares the factors of age and time of testing

Most efficient design

set of three designs manipulating the variables of age, cohort and time of testing

• enables the most amount of info to be condensed into an inclusive data framework

• conduct three sets of comparisons each involving a different combination of age, cohort and time of testing

cross sequential designs

compares the factors of time of testing and cohort

• teases apart the two separate effects of socio-historical time on scores of participants

• researchers put together all possible effects of age, cohort and time of testing

reliability

extent to which the same result is found every time a measure is used

• Inter-rater reliability: if two people observe the same behavior - reliability is the extent to which they say that they observed the same thing 

• Test re-test reliability: if you give someone a test 3 different times - extent to which they got the same score

replicability

extent to which researchers can read published article, read methods described and com up with the same results

validity

extent to which the results we get described the actual truth/reality

• Truth with capital “T” 

• Trying to find actual truth 

• All observations and descriptions probably have some amount of error because we account for biases and differences in perception

correlation

strength of relationship between two variables indicated by magnitude (distance from 0)

• Further correlation value is from 0, the stronger the relationship between the two variables of interest 

• +: as scores increase for one variable, it will increase for the others and vice versa

• -: as scores for one variable increase, it will decrease for the other

• 0: no pattern between variables 

• Cannot conclude whether one causes the other but you know they vary together 

• Compare pre-existing groups - no random assignment

  • Cannot be experimental study 

multivariate correlational designs

Analyze relationships between more than two variables (looks for correlations between 3+ variables) 

• examines the effects of other variables that could influence that relationship

mediation vs moderation

• Two ways of seeing relationships between variables 

• Statistical methods to evaluate relationships between variables

mediation

compares correlation between variables with and without the correlation of an intervening variable

example of mediation

years of education correlated later life satisfaction → positive strong, significant correlation (good reason to believe that this is a real association not due to chance) 

• Add in factor of health status → find there is significant correlation between health status and years of education and life satisfaction → find the correlation between years of education and life satisfaction is no longer statistically significant → relationship between education and life satisfaction is mediated by health status → years of education and life satisfaction are correlated with each other because of the pathway from years of education to health status and health status to life satisfaction → happens through variables of health status 

moderation

tests whether a 3rd variable influences the relationship between the other two variables

• takes into account a variable not predicted by another variable in the model

example of moderation

test interaction between years of education and life satisfaction → test interaction with marital satisfaction → marital satisfaction may influence life satisfaction 

• Tests the interaction between years of education and marital satisfaction   

• Marital satisfaction and years of education provide a better predictor of life satisfaction than either one of the variables alone → marital satisfaction moderates years of education and life satisfaction

• Years of education x marital satisfaction predicts life satisfaction together better than separate then you can claim there is significant interaction and relationship moderated by marital satisfaction

multiple regression analysis

a number of variables become designated as predictors of performance on another variable designated as the outcome

latent variable

statistical composite of several variables

factor analysis

method that generates a set of related items, called “factors” that form a consistent pattern within the data

structural equation modeling (SEM)

technique where researchers test models involving predictive relationships that include latent variables

hierarchical linear modeling (HLM)

technique where researchers compare growth curves in the main variables of interest over time and difference between groups whose curves can be expected to differ in rates

qualitative study

approach to data collection that seeks to identity the main themes in responses that participants provide to open-ended questions

• can be coded into categories

archival research

investigators derive material from existing data sources in a way that can be systematically analyzed

survey method

researchers gain responses to questionnaires from a sample that can be generalized to larger population

• highly flexible and can be used to gather info from a wide range of age-related topics

• may be subject to bias

epidemiology

the study of the distribution and determinants of health-related states or events (including disease) and the application of this study to the control of diseases and other health problems

• can provide people with prevalence statistics (estimates of the percentage of people who have ever has symptoms in a particular period) and incidence statistics (estimates of the percentage of people who first develop symptoms in a given period

case reports

summarizes findings from multiple sources for those individuals to provide in depth analysis of particular individuals

• focuses on characteristics of individual and what has influences his or her development and life experiences

focus group

group of respondents meet to discuss a particular topic

• goal to develop research topics to pursue in subsequent studies

daily diary method

participants enter data at least once per day to examine day-to-day variations in measure of interests

• includes variables such as happiness, perceived stress, inspirations with people, ect.

observational method

researchers draw conclusions about behaviors through careful and systematic examination in particular setting

• participant observation - researcher enters into activities with respondents

meta-analysis

statistical procedure that allows researchers to combine and compare findings from independently conducted studies

time of testing

the year or period in which a person is tested

• in development research it refers to social, historical and cultural influences

informed consent

participant understands the risks and benefits involved in the study after having been provided info about the study

tertiary aging

rapid loss of function across multiple areas of what a person can do

• represent the impact of a disease on areas of functioning that may already be possible compromised

• happens at the end of life (not necessarily at old age)

immune senescence

age-related decline in immune system functioning

• decreases ability to fight disease

• reflects deficiencies in cytokine (proteins that help control inflation in bodies)