hde 100c chapter 14

successful aging

based on a view of later life as a time of positive growth and development

Rowe and Kahn definition of successful aging

identifies the criteria of avoiding disease and disability, maintaining high cognitive and physical functioning, and remaining productively engaged with life

active aging

process of optimizing opportunities for health, participation, and security

WHO model of active aging

• economic determinants

• behavioral factors

• personal factors

• social environment

• physical environment

• health/social service systems

sucessful cognitive aging

cognitive performance that is above the average for an individual’s age group as objective measured

superagers

individuals 80 years and older with episodic memory that is comparable or superior to that of middle-aged adults

positive psychology

an area of theory and research that seeks to provide a greater understanding of the strengths and virtues that enables individuals and communities to thrive

life satisfaction

overall assessment of an individual’s perceptions and attitudes about one’s life at a particular point in time

• focuses on cognitive process in which people judge their level of contentment

subjective well-being

individual’s overall sense of happiness

• taps into emotions or affect, such as asking people to rate their levels of happiness

awareness of age-related change (AARC)

asks people to rate their gains and losses in the domains of relationships, physical functioning, health, and engagement

paradox of well-being

refers to the findings from research on successful aging that older adults maintain high subjective well-being despite facing challenges from their objective circumstances

social indicators

objective measures of social and economic well-being

social indicator model of well-being

demographic and social structural variables account for individual differences in levels of well-being

set point perspective

proposes that people’s personalities influence their level of well-being throughout life

age-friendly environment

defined by WHO, promotes active and health aging by making it possible for individuals to build and maintain their intrinsic capacities throughout life, maximizing their functional ability

• free of physical and social barriers

communicative ecology model of successful aging (CEMSA)

proposes that their own ways of seeing and talking about themselves can influence the way older adults feel about aging and, ultimately, their actual ability to age successfully

Planck hypothesis

tendency of peak scientific productivity to occur in early adulthood

creative potential

total number of works that a person could hypothetically product in a life span with no upper limits

elaboration

requires that an individual receive training in the techniques of a particular creative field

career age

age at which an individual began to produce creative works

equal odds rule

creative individuals who produce more works are more than likely to produce one or more of high quality than those who produce fewer works

blind variation and selective retention (BVSR) theory

proposes that true creativity requires producing many ideas in a trial-and-error fashion

Types of dementia

• Dementia is an umbrella term for loss of memory and other thinking abilities severe enough to interfere with daily life 

  • Alzheimer’s 

  • vascular

  • Lewy body

    • Caused by presence of certain types of structures in the brain called lewy body

  • Frontotemporal 

    • Affected the temporal and frontal lobes (don’t need to remember) 

  • Other, including Huntington’s 

  • Mixed dementia

Cause of dementia

• High blood pressure through multiple small strokes, parts of the brain lack essential nutrients, brain diseases can cause dementia

Mix dementia

caused by more than one thing; brain changes of more than one type of dementia occurs simultaneous 

Who have alzheimer’s disease (65+)

represent the percentage of all people in an age group who have alzheimer’s disease and who don’t have the disease

dying from AD

AD notes on death certificate as the underlying cause of death 

• The disease started the chain of events that led directly to the body shutting down

dying with AD

• AD → condition → death 

The disease was present in the body but did not cause the fatal event