Module 51: Adulthood: Physical, Cognitive, and Social Development

Physical changes in middle adulthood

Moreover, during early and middle adulthood, physical vigor has less to do with age than with a person’s health and exercise habits

fertility decline

For a 35-to-39 year old woman, the chance of getting pregnant after a single act of intercourse is only half that of a woman 19 to 26. Men experience a gradual decline in sperm count, testosterone level, and speed of erection and ejaculation

menopause

the time of natural cessation of menstruation; also refers to the biological changes a woman experiences as her ability to reproduce declines

Sexual decline

with age, sexual activity declines

Life expectancy

From 1950 to 2015, life expectancy at birth increased worldwide from 46.5 years to 71 years

telomeres

tips of chromosomes wear down. This wear is accelerated by smoking, obesity, or stress

death-deferral phenomenon

chronic anger and depression increase our risk of premature death

Health

Visual sharpness diminishes, as does distance perception and adaptation to light-level changes. Muscle strength, reaction time, and stamina also diminish, as do smell, hearing, and touch. The body’s disease-fighting immune system weakens

Aging brain

Brain regions important to memory begin to atrophy during aging. The blood-brain barrier alo break down beginning in the hippocampus, which furthers cognitive decline. In early adulthood, a small, gradual net loss of brain cells begins, contributing by age 80 to a brain-weight reeducation of 5% or so

Exercise and aging

Exercise slows aging. Physical exercise not only enhances muscles, bones, and energy and helps prevent obesity and heart disease, it maintains the telomeres that protect the chromosome ends and eve appears to slow the progression of Alzheimer’s disease

Neurocognitive disorders (NCDs)

acquired (not lifelong) disorders marked by cognitive deficits; often related to Alzheimer’s disease, brain injury or disease, or substance abuse. In older adults, neurocognitive disorders were formerly called dementia

Alzheimer’s disease

a neurocognitive disorder marked by neural plaques, often with onset after age 80, and entailing a progressive decline in memory and other cognitive abilities

midlife transition

a time of great struggle, regret or even feeling struck down by life

social clock

the culturally preferred timing of social events such as marriage, parenthood, and retirement

Chance events

occurrences that are considered to be random or unpredictable, with no clear cause,and can have significant impacts on a person’s life

Love

intimacy, attachment, commitment

relationships

relationships that last are not always devoid of conflict

Children

When children begin to absorb time, money, and emotional energy, satisfaction with the relationship itself may decline

Work

work can provide us with a sense of identity and competence

How does our well-being change across the lifespan? (sense of identity, happiness, social network, amygdala, resilience)

our self-confidence and sense of identity tends to strengthen across the lifespan. Surveys show that life satisfaction is unrelated to age. Positive emotions increase after midlife and negative ones decrease. As we age, we experience fewer extremes of emotion and mood

A loved one’s death triggers what range of reactions? (grief, denial, acceptance, integrity)

People do not grieve in predictable stages, as we once supposed. Strong expressions of emotion may not purge grief, and bereavement therapy is not significantly more effective than grieving without such aid. Erikson viewed the late adulthood psychosocial task as developing a sense of integrity (versus despair)