02 Theories of Aging

Theories of Aging

Theories of Aging

• Attempt to explain the phenomenon of aging as it occurs over the lifespan

• aging is viewed as a total process that begins at conception

• a guide for developing a holistic gerontologic nursing theory for practice application

Senescence

a change in the behavior of an organism with age leading to a decreased power of survival and adjustment

Biologic Theories

• Physiological processes that occur in all living organisms as they chronologically age

• Complex biological processes in which changes at molecular, cellular, and organ levels result in a progressive, inevitable and inescapable decrease in the body’s ability to respond appropriately to internal or external stressors

• Deleterious effects leading to decreasing function of the organism

• Gradually occurring age-related changes that are progressive over time

• Intrinsic changes that can affect all member of a species because of chronologic age

Foci of Biologic Theories

• Stochastic

• Nonstochastic

Types of biologic theories

• Error Theory

• Cross-Linkage Theory

• Wear & Tear Theory

• Free Radical Theory

What are the biologic theories in stochastic?

Error Theory

• Originally proposed in 1963

• As a cell ages, various changes occur naturally in its deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and ribonucleic acid(RNA), the building blocks of the cell.

1. errors can occur in the transcription in any step of the protein synthesis of DNA, and this eventually leads to either the aging or the actual death of a cell

2. error causes the reproduction of an enzyme or protein that is not an exact copy

3. as transcription errors to occur, the end product would not even resemble the original cell, thereby compromising its functional ability

What are the basis of error theory?

Cross-Linkage Theory

• Some proteins in the body become cross-linked, thereby not allowing for normal metabolic activities thus waste products accumulate

• Result: tissues do not function at optimal efficiency

Wear & Tear Theory

• Proposed first in 1882

• Cells simply wear out over time because of continued use--rather like a machine

• reflects a belief that organs and tissues have a preprogrammed amount of available energy and wear out when the allotted energy is expended.

• Programmed theory

• Immunity theory

What are the biologic theories in nonstochastic?

Programmed (Hayflick Limit) Theory

• Based on lab experiments on fetal fibroblastic cells and their reproductive capabilities in 1961

• Cells can only reproduce themselves a limited number of times

• Life expectancies are seen as preprogrammed within a species-specific range

• Biological clock for humans was estimated at 110-120 years

Immunity theory

• Immunosenescence: Age-related functional diminution of the immune system

• Lower rate of T-lymphocyte (“killer cells”) proliferation in response to a stimulus

• Change include a decrease in humoral (antibody-mediated) immune response

• These changes leave the individual more vulnerable to diseases

1. decreased resistance to a tumor cell challenge and the development of cancer

2. decreased ability to initiate the immune process and mobilize defenses in aggressively attaching pathogens

3. increased susceptibility to auto-immune diseases

In immunity theory, Older adults oftenly predispose to:

Sociologic Theories

Focused on the roles and relationships within which individuals engage in later life

• Disengagement Theory

• Activity/Developmental Task Theory

• Continuity Theory

• Age Stratification Theory

• Person-Environment Fit Theory

What are the sociologic theories?

Disengagement Theory

of aging states that "aging is an inevitable, mutual withdrawal or disengagement, resulting in decreased interaction between the aging person and others in the social system he belongs to.

Activity Theory (Developmental Task Theory)

Activity is viewed by this theory as necessary to maintain a person’s life satisfaction and a positive self-concept”

• Theory based on assumptions:

  • it’s better to be active than inactive

  • it is better to be happy than unhappy

  • an older individual is the best judge of his or her own success in achieving the first two assumptions

Continuity Theory

• Proposes that how a person has been throughout life is how that person will continue through the remainder of life

• Old age is not a separate phase of life, but rather a continuation and thus an integral component

• As people age, they try to maintain or continue previous habits, preferences, commitments, values, beliefs, and all the factors that contributed to their personalites.

Age- stratification Theory

• Society consists of groups of cohorts that age collectively

• the people & roles in these cohorts change & influence each other, as does society at large

• the interaction between individual aging people and the entire society is not stagnant but remains dynamic

Person-Environment Fit Theory

• Individuals have personal competencies that assist in dealing with the environment:

  • ego strength

  • level of motor skills

  • individual biologic health

  • cognitive & sensoryperceptual capacities

Psychologic Theories

• This theories of aging are influenced by both biology and sociology.

• According to Cunningham, as people age, adaptive changes help them cope with or accept some of the biologic changes.

• It includes not only behavior changes but also developmental aspects related to the lives of older adults

• Maslow’s Hierarchy of Human Needs

• Jung’s Theory of Individualism

• Erikson’s Eight Stages of Life

• Selective Optimization with Compensation

What are the psychologic theories of aging?

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Human Needs

• each individual has an innate internal hierarchy of needs that motivates all human behaviors

• These human needs have different orders of priority

• When people achieve fulfillment of their elemental needs, they strive to meet those needs on the next level, continuing on until the highest order of needs was reached.

• asserted that failure to grow leads to feelings of failure, depression, and the perception that life is meaningless.

Jung’s Theory of Individualism

• According to Carl Jung (1960), this theory means a person’s personality is visualized as oriented either toward the external world(extroversion) or toward subjective, inner experiences (introversion).

• There is an occurrence of midlife crisis in which this is a period of emotional, and sometimes behavioral, turmoil that happens the onset of middle age

Erikson’s Eight Stages of Life

• According to Erickson, the developmental task at this time is ego integrity versus despair.

• He proposed this theory of psychological development that reflects cultural and societal influences.

• People who attain ego integrity view life with a sense of wholeness and derive satisfaction from past accomplishments.

Selective Optimization with Compensation

Proposed by Baltes in 1987 wherein he has conducted a series of studies on the psychological processes of development and aging from life span perspective and formulated a psychological model of successful aging

• Selection

• Optimization

• Compensation

In Selective Optimization with Compensation, Process of adaptation consists of three (3) interacting elements:

Selection

refers to an increasing restrictions on one’s life to fewer domains of functioning because of an age-related loss

Optimization

reflects the view that people engage in behaviors to enrich their lives

Compensation

results from restrictions caused by aging, requiring older adults to compensate for any losses by developing suitable , alternative adaptations

Kohlberg’s Universal Ethical Principle

• moral theory

• has formulated a theory of moral development based on his interviews with young persons. Though he did not study older adults, parallels could be drawn between his highest stage of moral development, Universal Ethical Principles, and Maslow’s highest level of Selftranscendent needs.

Preconventional morality

• stage of morality

• before age 9, children show morality to avoid punishment or gain reward

Conventional morality

• stage of morality

• By early adolescence, social rules and laws are upheld for their own sake

Postconventional morality

• stage of morality

• affirms people’s agreed-upon rights or follows personally perceived ethical principles

Moral / Spirituality

• Human beings seek to explain and validate their existence in the world and occurs through their development as moral and spiritual thinkers.

• Acknowledge the spiritual dimension of a person and support spiritual expression and growth

• Human beings seek to explain and validate their existence in the world and occurs through their development as moral and spiritual thinkers.

• Acknowledge the spiritual dimension of a person and support spiritual expression and growth

• Spirituality synthesizes a person’s contemplative experience. Illness, a life crisis or even the recognition that days on earth are limited may cause a person to contemplate spirituality

Senescence

a change in the behavior of an organism with age leading to a decreased power of survival and adjustment

chronologically age

Physiological processes that occur in all living organisms as they

internal or external stressors

Complex biological processes in which changes at molecular, cellular, and organ levels result in a progressive, inevitable and inescapable decrease in the body’s ability to respond appropriately to

Stochastic

explain aging as events that occur randomly and accumulate over time

Nonstochastic

view aging as certain predetermined, timed phenomena

Immunosenescence

Age-related functional diminution of the immune system