6.9 Developmental Tasks in Late Adulthood

Successful Aging

Aging with good physical health, retention of cognitive abilities, and continuing engagement in social and productive activities

Primary Aging

The gradual, inevitable process of bodily deterioration throughout the life span, a nature process governed by biology

Secondary Aging

Aging processes that result from disease and bodily abuse and disuse and often preventable. It is the result of nurture, the environmental insults that accrue over the course of a lifetime

Functional Age

Measure of a person’s ability to function effectively in his or her physical and social environment in comparison with others of the same chronological age

Gerontology

Study of the aged and process of aging

Geriatrics

Branch of medicine concerned with processes of aging and medical conditions associated with old age

Coping

Adaptive thinking or behavior at reducing or relieving stress that arises from harmful, threatening, or challenging conditions

Cognitive-Appraisal Model

Model that states that people choose appropriate coping strategies to deal with situations that tax their normal resources

Primary & Secondary

Types of Cognitive-Appraisal

Primary Appraisal

Type of appraisal that analyzes a situation and decides, at some level, whether or not the situation is a threat to their wellbeing

Secondary Appraisal

Type of appraisal that evaluates what can be done to prevent harm and choose a coping strategy to handle the situation

Instrumental Activities of Daily Living

Activities that are more intellectually demanding such as financial management

Volunteerism

Performing unpaid work for altruistic reasons

Religious Coping

The tendency to turn to religious beliefs and institutions in times of stress and troubles

Widowhood (Mortality) Effect

Refers to the increased risk of death for a surviving spouse in the months following the death of their partner

Wisdom

Exceptional breadth and depth of knowledge about the conditions of life and human affects and reflective judgment about the application of knowledge