Developmental Psych Final

Spirituality in adulthood

Religion and spirituality are powerful influences for some adults but hold little or no significance for others.

* In many cases the influence changes as people develop.
* More than 70 percent of U.S. middle-aged adults describe themselves as religious and say spirituality is a major part of their lives.
* Women have consistently shown a stronger interest in religion and spirituality than men have.
* In a longitudinal study, the spirituality of individuals in four different adult age periods—early (thirties), middle (forties), late middle (mid-fifties/early sixties), and late (late sixties/early seventies) adulthood—was assessed (Wink & Dillon, 2002). Based on responses to open-ended questions in interviews, the spirituality of the individuals was coded on a 5-point scale with 5 being the highest level of spirituality and 1 the lowest.

Personality variables in adulthood

Conscientiousness is associated with a number of positive outcomes, including less cognitive decline with aging.
-It is also a strong predictor of living longer.

High neuroticism is linked to negative emotions, while low neuroticism predicts a longer life.

Individuals who are extraverted live longer.

Openness to experience declines in advance of death.

Older adults characterized by negative affect don't live as long; and optimistic older adults with a positive outlook on life live longer.

Falls

a. Become more common the older you get
b. More physical activity \= less likely to fall
c. Leading cause of death of individual 65 and older

Personality and cognitive functioning

Personality-related factors are better predictors of wisdom than cognitive factors.
- Especially, openness to experience, generativity, and creativity

Maintaining functioning

Older adults give five main reasons for having sex: one being to maintain their functioning.

Exercise is an excellent way to maintain health and live longer

Reasons for memory decline

Memory decline is more likely when individuals don't use effective memory strategies.
-Organization and imagery, for example.

Age-related decline in episodic memory impairs access to autobiographical events and the details involved

Erickson stages adulthood

Middle adulthood and late adulthood

Middle Adulthood

* Erikson's stage of generativity versus stagnation:


* Generativity encompasses adults' desire to leave legacies of themselves to the next generation.
* Stagnation develops when individuals sense they have done little or nothing for the next generation.

Late Adulthood

* Integrity versus despair involves reflecting on the past and either piecing together a positive review or concluding that one's life has not been well spent.
* Life review: a looking back at one's life experiences, evaluating them, and interpreting/reinterpreting them.
* Reminiscence therapy: a therapy in which someone discusses past activities and experiences with another individual or group.

Vaillant on marriage

Vaillant categorized 75- to 80-year-olds as "happy-well," "sad-sick," or "dead."

having a stable marriage is a factor at age 50 linked with being in the "happy-well" category at 75 to 80 years of age

Intelligence changes in adulthood

Crystallized intelligence: the accumulation of information and verbal skills.
•Continues to increase in middle adulthood.
Fluid intelligence: the ability to reason abstractly.
•May begin to decline in middle adulthood.

Speed of information processing: begins declining in early adulthood and continues to do so in middle adulthood (not dramatic decline)

Midlife crisis - causes

Levinson (1978) views midlife as a crisis, believing that the middle-aged adult is suspended between the past and the future, trying to cope with this gap that threatens life's continuity.

* Vaillant concludes that just as adolescence is a time for detecting parental flaws and discovering the truth about childhood, the forties are a decade of reassessing and recording the truth about adolescence and adulthood.
* Levinson sees midlife as a crisis, Vaillant maintains that only a minority of adults experience a midlife crisis

Levinson stages transition from dependence

At the end of one's teens, according to Levinson, a transition from dependence to independence should occur.
- This transition is marked by the formation of a dream—an image of the kind of life the youth wants to have, especially in terms of a career and marriage.

Levinson transition middle adulthood

a. Lasts about 5 years (40-45) and requires that adult male come to grips with 4 major conflicts that have existed in his life since adolescence
i. Being young versus being old
ii. Being destructive versus being constructive
iii. Being masculine versus being feminine
iv. Being attached to others versus being separated from them

Brain changes in adulthood

The shrinking, slowing brain: The brain loses 5 to 10 percent of its weight between ages of 20 and 90.
- Shrinkage of neurons, lower numbers of synapses, reduced length and complexity of axons, and reduced tree-like branching in dendrites.

Big 5 factors-brain functioning (personality)

OCEAN
Openness to experience
Conscientiousness
Extraversion
Agreeableness
Neuroticism (emotional stability)

Close relationships adulthood

- significant other (marriage/cohabitation)
- children/grandchildren
- Sibling relationships may be extremely close
- Friendships that have endured over the adult years tend to be deeper

Parent child similarities in adulthood

"Helicopter parents" hover too closely to ensure their children succeed.
- This can also slow the process of becoming responsible.

The "lawn mower parent" goes to great lengths to prevent their child from experiencing adversity, stress, or failure.
- Children do hot learn how to cope with such experiences themselves.

Big 5 and aging (several questions)

Some personality traits are associated with the mortality of older adults (Roberts & Nickel, 2020):
- Conscientiousness. A recent study of the Big Five factors found that conscientiousness was the strongest predictor of living longer (Chapman & others, 2020).
- Extraversion. Individuals who are extraverted live longer (Graham & others, 2017). In a recent study, the activity dimension of extraversion was better than other dimensions in predicting longevity (Chapman & others, 2020).
- Neuroticism. Individuals who are low on neuroticism live longer (Graham & others, 2017).
- Openness to Experience. In a recent study, openness to experience declined in advance of older adults' death (Sharp & others, 2019).

Coping with stress in adulthood gender (Men)

* More likely than women to attend support group meeting, have sex or use pornography, try to fix problems themselves, and not admit to having problems.
* Fight-or-flight (withdraw from social contact, or drink alcohol)

Coping with stress in adulthood (Women)

* More likely than men to seek psychotherapy, talk to friends about the stress, read a self-help book, take prescription, medication, and engage in comfort eating.
* Tend-and-befriend (seeking social alliances with others, especially friends)
* Produce elevated levels of the hormone oxytocin (linked to nurturing in animals)

Emotional trajectory

The emotion-related trajectory is high during infancy and early childhood, declines from middle childhood through early adulthood, and increases in middle and late adulthood.
- when older adults focus on emotionally meaningful goals, they are more satisfied with their lives, feel better, and experience fewer negative emotions.

Sexual interest adulthood

Sexuality can be lifelong, but aging does induce some changes in human sexual performance.

Orgasm becomes less frequent in males.

Older adults give five main reasons for having sex:
•To maintain their functioning.
•To feel young again.
•To feel attractive and desirable.
•To go from lust to love.
•To change from "getting sex" to "giving sex."

Young adult vs middle age adult stressors

* Both have many stressors daily, but middle-aged adults experienced more "overload" stressors that involved juggling too many activities at once

Middle age adult stressors

* Less attention is given to self-pursuits and more to responsibility for others, including family members who are younger and older than they are.

Young age adult stressors

* Are likely to have a sense of invulnerability, and unrealistic view of their personal control, and a lack of awareness regarding the aging process.
* Focus primarily on self-pursuits and don't need to worry much about taking responsibility for others.

Seattle longitudinal study- declines

a. Only two of the six abilities—numeric ability and perceptual speed showed a decline in middle age
b. Perceptual speed showed the earliest decline, actually beginning in early adulthood

Cellular clock theory

a. Leonard Hayflick's theory that cells can divide a maximum of about 75 to 80 times and that as we age our cells become less capable of diving

Friends and aging

Friendships that have endured over the adult years tend to be deeper

Longevity

Life span: the maximum number of years an individual can live (Approximately 120 to 125 years)

Life expectancy: the number of years the average person born in a particular year will probably live
- varies for gender, ethnicity, and per country

Centenarians: Individuals 100 years and older.
Supercentenarian: those who live to be 110+

Gains and losses

gains and losses may balance each other in early midlife, losses may begin to outweigh gains for many individuals in late midlife
- relates to loss of loved ones, children leaving the home, becoming a grandparent, preparing for retirement, health problems (some are gains, some are losses)

Crystallized intelligence

Accumulated information and verbal skills, which increase in middle age

Fluid intelligence

* The ability to reason abstractly, which steadily declines form middle adulthood on.
* Declined in individuals 65 yrs and older but not in those who were 45 to 60 yrs

Vision problems adulthood

a. Declines sharply between 40 and 59 yrs
b. Begin to have difficulty viewing close objects
c. There is some evidence that the retina becomes less sensitive to low levels of illumination
d. Linked to decreased life satisfaction, decreased self-esteem, increased depressive symptoms, and increased social isolation

Leading causes of death

* Men are more likely than women to die from most of the leading causes of death, including cancer of the respiratory system, motor vehicle accidents, cirrhosis of the liver emphysema, and coronary heart disease

Hearing problems

* Can start to decline by the age of 40
* Sensitivity to high pitches usually decline first
* Men usually lose their sensitivity to high-pitched sounds sooner than women do. Due to working environment
* Hearing impairments become a serious impediment. Hearing aids and cochlear implants minimize problems linked to hearing loss

Explicit memory

* The facts and experiences that individuals consciously know and can state.
* Declines as a person ages.

Implicit memory

* Memory without conscious recollections; skills and routine procedures.
* Less likely to be adversely affected by aging.

Episodic memory

* Retention of information about the where and when of life's happenings.
* Age-related decline in episodic memory impairs access to autobiographical events and the details involved.
* Reminiscence bump: older adults remember more events from the second and third decades of their lives.

Semantic memory

* A person's knowledge about the world.
* Declines less than episodic memory.
* Two important cognitive resource mechanisms are working memory and perceptual speed.

Discovering truths...

* Levinson concludes that just as adolescence is a time for detecting parental flaws and discovering the truth about childhood, the forties are a decade of reassessing and recording the truth about adolescence and adulthood

Siblings adulthood

* Sibling relationships may be extremely close, apathetic, or highly rivalrous.


* The majority in adulthood are close

Marital satisfaction

* Most married middle-aged individuals are satisfied with their marriages.


* Especially if they engage in mutual activities and enjoy good health

Life expectancy countries

* Compared with other countries around the world, life expectancy in the United States is higher than some, lower than others.
* The lowest estimated in 2018 were in South Africa (50.6 years), Chad (51), and Namibia (51).
* The highest is currently Monaco (89.4 years).
* Factors such as health conditions and medical care throughout the life span are important.
* In the U.S., child and maternal mortality rates, the homicide rate, and body-mass indexes contribute to a slower increase in life expectancy than what is projected in many other countries.

Nursing home adjustment

* Older adults age, their probability of being in a nursing home or other extended-care facility increases
* Important factors related to health in a nursing home are the patient's feelings of control and self-determination


* perceived control over the environment positively affected nursing home residents' health and longevity.

Reasons for divorce (Men)

* No obvious problem, just fell out of love
* Cheating
* Different values, lifestyles

Reasons for divorce (Women)

* Verbal, physical, or emotional abuse
* Alcohol or drug use
* Cheating
* Divorce has less stigma for women and they are more likely to leave an unhappy marriage
* More women are employed and therefore are less dependent on their husband's income.
* One explanation is the changing view of women, who initiate approximately 60 percent of the divorces after 40 years of age

Depression aging factors

* A recent study of older adults indicated that depression was linked to lower executive attention, memory, and language performance.
* Study of older adults indicated that depression was linked to lower executive attention, memory, and language performance.
* Activity-based lifestyles was linked to lower levels of depression in older adults

Compensation

* Becomes relevant when life tasks require a level of capacity beyond the current level of the older adult's performance potential.
* Older adult cant tie shoes = getting shoes that don't require to be tied

Economic security

* Older women are more likely to not have economic security.
* Poverty among older adults who belong to ethnic minorities are much higher than the rate for non-Latino whites.
* High cost of health care
* Technology use

Exercise and respiratory functioning

* Lung tissue becomes less elastic around age 55, decreasing lung capacity.
* Increased cardiorespiratory fitness during early adulthood is linked to better lung health over time

Intergenerational relationships gender

Women's relationships across generations are typically closer than other family bonds

Working cognitive functioning

* Education, work, and health are three important influences on the cognitive functioning of older adults
* Researchers have found that when older adults engage in complex working tasks and challenging daily work activities their cognitive functioning show slower degrees of age-related decline

Factors affecting - "Happy well"

factors at age 50 were linked with being in the "happy-well" category at 75 to 80 years of age:
- getting regular exercise
- avoiding being overweight
- being well-educated
- having a stable marriage
- being future-oriented
- being thankful and forgiving
- empathizing with others
- being active with other people
- having good coping skills

Cultures attitudes aging

Older adults are more likely to be accorded a position of high status in a culture when:

* Older persons have valuable knowledge.
* Older persons control key family/community resources.
* Older persons are permitted to engage in useful/valued functions as long as possible.
* There is role continuity throughout the life span.
* Age-related role changes give greater responsibility, authority, and advisory capacity.
* The extended family is common. Respect for older adults is often greater in collectivistic cultures

Health problems most likely aging

Arthritis is the most common chronic disorder in late adulthood, followed by hypertension.

Aging and types of intelligence

The Seattle Longitudinal Study :

Initiated by K. Warner Schaie, the study involves an extensive evaluation of intellectual abilities during adulthood, assessing participants at seven-year intervals beginning in 1956.
- Verbal comprehension.
- Verbal memory.
- Spatial orientation.
- Inductive reasoning.
- Perceptual speed.

Participants are classified as "decliners," "stable," and "gainers" for number ability, delayed recall, and word fluency.

Adults living with adult children

* Approximately 80 percent of older adults have living children, many of whom are middle-aged.
* Adult daughters are more likely to be involved in the lives of aging parents.
* Adult children often coordinate and monitor services for aging, disabled parents.
* Some researchers have found that relationships between aging parents and their children are usually characterized by ambivalence.

Decreased estrogen

* In menopause, production of estrogen by the ovaries declines dramatically, and this decline produces uncomfortable symptoms in some women—"hot flashes" nausea, fatigue, and rapid heartbeat.

Middle aged adults and family stress

* "Sandwich generation" taking care of the older and younger family members

Interpersonal relationships adults

Older adults become more selective about their social networks.
- Spend more time with individuals with whom they have had rewarding relationships

Sense of control in middle adult

a. Lachman and her colleagues

* Middle age is a time when a person's sense of control is frequently challenged by many demands and responsibilities, as well as physical and cognitive aging.
* Less attention is given to self-pursuits and more to responsibility for others, including family members who are younger and older than they are
* How middle adulthood plays out is largely in one's own hands, which can be stressful as individuals are faced with taking on ad juggling responsibilities in different areas of their lives

Muscle loss

* Sarcopenia: age-related loss of muscle mass and strength
* With age occurs at a rate of approximately 1 to 2 percent per year past the age of 50
* Loss of strength especially occurs in the back and legs Smoking and diabetes were risk factors for accelerated loss of muscle mass in middle-aged women

Personality change and aging

Several of the Big Five factors of personality continue to change in late adulthood (Roberts & Nickel, 2020).
- For example, in one study, older adults were more conscientious and agreeable than middle-aged and younger adults

Emotion and aging

One study revealed that an important factor in the outlook of older adults who showed a higher level of emotion regulation and successful aging was reduced responsiveness to regrets

Ageism

Prejudice against other because of their age, especially prejudice against older adults

* Perceived as incapable of thinking clearly, learning new things, enjoying sex, contributing to the community, or holding responsible jobs.
* Men are more likely to negatively stereotype

Activity theory

The more active and involved older adults are, the more likely they are to be satisfied with their lives

Socioemotional theory

Motivates changes as a function of time horizons. When time horizons are limited, as they are in late adulthood, there is a shift toward priorities that favor emotional meaning and satisfaction. Older adults become selective about their social networks

Selective optimization with compensation theory

The theory that successful aging involves three main factors: selection, optimization, and compensation

Therapy for dementia

Reminiscence therapy, which involves discussing past activities and experiences with another individual or group

* Can improve the mood and quality of life of older adults, including those with dementia

Aging weight and height

Individual lose height in middle age, and many gain weight

Vision middle adulthood

Individuals begin to have difficulty viewing close objects, which means that many individuals have to wear glasses with bifocal lenses-lenses with two sections that enable to wearer to see items at different distances

Parkinson's disease

Another type of dementia is Parkinson disease, a chronic, progressive disease characterized by muscle tremors, slowing of movement, and partial facial paralysis.

* Triggered by degeneration of dopamine-producing neurons in the brain.
* The main treatment involves enhancing the effect of dopamine and later administering the drug L-dopa, which is converted by the brain into dopamine.
* Another treatment is deep brain stimulation (D B S). iv. Stem cell transplantation and gene therapy also offer hope.

Use it or lose it

Changes in cognitive activity patterns might result in disuse and consequent atrophy of cognitive skills.

Mental activities that likely benefit the maintenance of cognitive skills include:
•Reading books.
•Doing crossword puzzles.
•Going to lectures and concerts.

Testosterone middle age

* Testosterone production begins to decline about 1 percent per year during middle adulthood, and sperm count usually shows a slow decline, but men do not lose their fertility in middle age.
* Testosterone replacement therapy (T R T) can improve sexual functioning, muscle strength, and bone health; but some research indicates a link to increased risk of stroke.

Vaillant predictors

Alcohol abuse and smoking at age 50 were the best predictors of which individuals would be dead at 75 to 80 years of age.

Levinson on women

Reported that his stages, transitions, and the crisis of middle age apply to females as well as males.

Women infections degenerative diseases

a. Women have stronger resistance to infections and degenerative diseases.
i. Estrogen helps to protect her from arteriosclerosis

Hayflick limit theory

The maximum number of times human cells can divide is about 75 to 80. As we age, our cells become increasingly less capable of dividing

Evolutionary theory (Aging Theory)

The view that natural selection has not eliminated many harmful conditions and nonadaptive characteristics in older adults

Free-radical theory

Theory of aging proposing that people age because normal cell metabolism produces unstable oxygen molecules known as free radicals. These molecules ricochet around inside cells, damaging DNA and other cellular structures

Hormonal stress theory

Theory that aging in the body's hormonal system can lower resilience under stress and increase the likelihood of disease

Status and aging

Older adults are more likely to be accorded a position of high status in a culture when:
•Older persons have valuable knowledge.
•Older persons control key family/community resources.
•Older persons are permitted to engage in useful/valued functions as long as possible.
•There is role continuity throughout the life span.
•Age-related role changes give greater responsibility, authority, and advisory capacity.
•The extended family is common.

Respect for older adults is often greater in collectivistic cultures.

Age identity

a. As adults become older their age identity is younger than their chronological age

Midlife crisis theories

Erikson's theory

* Generativity vs stagnation

Levinson's theory

* Middle-aged adult is suspended between the past and the future, trying to cope with this gap that threatens life's continuity

Vaillant's theory

* The forties are a decade of reassessing and recording the truth about adolescence and adulthood

Changes in appearance aging

* Since a youthful appearance is valued in many cultures, individuals in this period may strive to make themselves look younger.
* Individuals lose height and gain weight.
* Obesity increases from early to middle adulthood. Being overweight is a critical health problem, associated with shorter longevity and increased risk of death due to cardiovascular disease

Visible signs of aging

* Skin wrinkles and sags.
* Age spots appear.
* Hair thins and grays.
* Nails thicken and become more brittle.
* Teeth yellow.

Osteoporosis prevention

* Young and middle-aged women should eat foods rich in calcium, exercise regularly, and avoid smoking
* Fosamax

Causes of sexual problems (Men)

* Premature ejaculation
* Erectile difficulties

Causes of sexual problems (Women)

* Lack of sexual interest
* Lubrication difficulties

Nun study

Snowdon

* Intriguing ongoing investigation of aging in 678 nuns, many of whom are from the convent of the sister of Notre dame in Mankato, Minnesota
* Examination of the nuns' donated brains, as well as others', has led neuroscientists to believe that the brain has a remarkable capacity to change and grow, even in old age
* Led neuroscientists to believe that the brain has a remarkable capacity to change and grow, even in old age iv. When the nuns were 18-32 years of age found that those whose essays reflected a higher level of self-reflection and parents' giving them more independence to make their own decisions tended to live longer

Characteristics Integrity vs despair

* A person reflects on the past. If the person's life review reveals a life well spent, integrity will be achieved; if not the retrospective glances likely will yield doubt or gloom-the despair Erickson described
* Erikson’s 8th stage

Personality and stability

* With age, personality traits become more stable, as reflected in the correlation of trait scores with follow-up scores seven years later
* Considerable stability exists across the adult years for the five personality factors.

Cross sectional vs longitudinal research intelligence

a. Cross sectional
i. Assess the intelligence of different groups of, 40, 50, and 60yrs in a single evaluation
1. Born in different eras that offered different economic and educational opportunities
2. 60yrs had fewer educational opportunities
a. Big differnes in intelligence between 40 and 60 yrs
b. The Seattle Longitudinal Study :
i. Initiated by K. Warner Schaie, the study involves an extensive evaluation of intellectual abilities during adulthood, assessing participants at seven-year intervals beginning in 1956.
1. Verbal comprehension.
2. Verbal memory.
3. Spatial orientation.
4. Inductive reasoning.
5. Perceptual speed.
ii. Participants are classified as "decliners," "stable," and "gainers" for number ability, delayed recall, and word fluency.

Neurogenesis aging brain

* New neurons
* Occurs in two brain regions (hippocampus, olfactory bulb)
* A increasing attention is being given to the possible role neurogenesis might play in slowing the deterioration cause by neurodegenerative disease, such as Alzheimer disease, Parkinson disease, and Huntington disease More likely to use both hemispheres

Altruisim volunteering

* A common perception is that older adults need to be given help rather than give help to those around them. Volunteering is associated with a number of positive outcomes for aging adults
* Better health, better cognitive functioning, less lonely, low mortality risk

Touch and pain

* For most older adults, a decline in touch sensitivity is not problematic
* The presence of pain increase with age in older adults, and women are more likely to report having pain than men
* Back pain, peripheral neuropathic pain, and chronic joints pain

Older adults internet

Using social media/technology more today than in the past

Watch extensive amounts of television (51+ hours)

* Interferes with physical exercise and social activities

Mortality rates

* In middle age, many deaths are caused by a single, readily identifiable condition, whereas in old age, death is more likely to result form the combined effects of several chronic conditions
* Death due to cancer in middle age have been declining recently, but cancer continues t be the number one cause of death in middle age, followed by cardiovascular disease.
* Men have higher mortality rates than women for all of the leading causes of death

Empty nest

Term used to indicate a decrease in marital satisfaction after children leave home