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Term
|
Definition
Symptoms
Heart attack
Angina pectoris – chest pain
Arrhythmia
Risk Conditions
High blood cholesterol
High blood pressure
Atherosclerosis |
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Term
|
Definition
Severe bone loss, fragile bones
Bone breaks can be life-threatening
Causes:
Normal aging
With age, bones more porous, lose bone mass
Menopause estrogen drop speeds loss
Heredity, size
Lifestyle
Women develop earlier;
men often overlooked |
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Term
Aging in Men Vs. Women
Double Standard of Aging |
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Definition
Men= more class, handsome
Women= Wrinkly OLD EWW!!!
Aging men rated more positively; women more negatively
Evolutionary roots; media, social messages
May be declining |
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Term
| Age-Related Slowing of Information Processing MA |
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Definition
Neural Network View Neurons in brain die, breaking neural connections Brain forms new connections New connections are less efficient
Information-Loss View Information lost at each step through cognitive system Whole system slows down to inspect, interpret information |
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Term
Attention in Middle Adulthood
MA |
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Definition
More difficulties in
Multitasking
Focusing on relevant information
Switching attention
Connecting visual information
Inhibition
-
May be linked to slower processing
Experience, practice, training help adults compensate |
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Term
Memory in Middle Adulthood
MA |
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Definition
Working memory decreases from 20s to 60s
Less use of memory strategies--may be due to slower processing, attention problems
Few changes in:
Factual Knowledge
Procedural Knowledge
Metacognitive Knowledge |
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Term
Erikson’s Theory: Generativity versus Stagnation
MA |
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Definition
Generativity
Reaching out to next generation
Commitment extends beyond self
Other family, work mentoring relationships also generative
Stagnation
Own comfort and security
Self-centered, self-indulgent, self-absorbed
Lack of involvement or concern with young people
Little interest in work productivity, self-improvement |
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Term
Levinson’s Middle Adult Season
MA |
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Definition
Midlife transition (40–45)
Sense of time running out in life
Evaluate early adulthood
Make drastic or small changes
Age 50 transition (50–55)
Culminating life structure (55–60) |
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Term
Vaillant’s View of Midlife
MA |
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Definition
Keepers of meaning
Guardians of culture
Adults in 40s and 50s carry responsibility for functioning of society
“Passing the torch” becomes important
Focus on longer-term goals
Prevents too rapid change |
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Term
|
Definition
Research: Wide individual differences
Gender differences
Men – changes in early 40s
Women – late 40s–50s,
different directions
Sharp disruption uncommon
Differences in handling regrets
Changes or not
Interpretation, acceptance |
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Term
| Midlife: Stage or Life Events? MA |
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Definition
Stage View Midlife changes are developmental transitions or crises
Life Events View Midlife changes simply adaptation to normal life events |
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Term
|
Definition
What one hopes or fears becoming
Become fewer, more modest & concrete with age
May become more
time-oriented with age
Compare to what
you had planned
May help with adjustment
and self-esteem |
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Term
Gender Identity in Middle Adulthood
MA |
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Definition
Women: Increase in “masculine” traits
Men: Increase in “feminine” traits |
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Term
Relationships at Midlife
MA |
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Definition
Many people have more close relationships than any other period of life
Children
“launching”
Parents
Friends |
|
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Term
Marriage in Middle Adulthood
MA |
|
Definition
Economic well-being and time between parenting and retirement allow focus on marriage
Review and adjust marriage
Many strengthen relationship
Some divorce
Strong marriage linked to
psychological well-being |
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Term
|
Definition
More likely among
Remarried
Highly educated
Midlifers adjust more easily than young adults
Practical problem solving
Effective coping strategies
Feminization of poverty |
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Term
Parenting in Middle Adulthood
MA |
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Definition
Launching - culminates “letting go” process
Decline in parental authority
Continued contact, support to children
Adjusting to in-laws
Affected by
Investment in nonparental roles
Children’s characteristics
“Off time” children stress parents
Cultural social clocks |
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Term
|
Definition
Trends in grandparenting
Raising grandchildren
Coping with divorce of grandchildren’s parents |
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Term
Meanings of Grandparenthood
MA |
|
Definition
Valued elder
Immortality through descendents
Reinvolvement with personal past
Indulgence |
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Term
Middle-Age Children and Their Aging Parents
MA |
|
Definition
More likely than in past to have living parents
Reassess relationships with parents
Proximity increases with age
Move closer or move in together
Children provide more help
to parents
Financial, household aid; caregiving
Helping based on earlier relationships |
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Term
Caring for Aging Parents
MA |
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Definition
“Sandwich generation”
Finances, location, gender, culture are factors
Highly stressful
Average 20 hours/week
Often starts suddenly, duration uncertain
Work and costs increase
Hard to witness parent’s decline
Support needed |
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Term
Siblings in Middle Adulthood
MA |
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Definition
Contact and support decline during middle adulthood
Demands of diverse roles
Still, often feel closer
Share similar events
Affected by
Earlier relations
Culture |
|
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Term
Friendships in Middle Adulthood
MA |
|
Definition
Gender trends continue
Men less expressive than women
Fewer friends; more selective
More complex ideas of friendship
Rely on for pleasure
more than support
Invest more time,
effort in friends |
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Term
Career Development in Middle Adulthood
MA |
|
Definition
Limits to advancement
Training
Glass ceiling
Midlife career changes
Few, not usually drastic
Often for more relaxing career
Unemployment
Middle age & older most affected by downsizing
More stressful than for young adults
Retirement planning |
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Term
|
Definition
Actual competence and performance
May not match chronological age |
|
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Term
|
Definition
Activities of Daily Living (ADLs)
Basic self-care tasks
Bathing, dressing, eating
After 70-10% |
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Term
|
Definition
Heredity
Environment/Lifestyle
Healthy diet, normal weight
Exercise
Low substance use
Optimism
Low stress
Social support
Community involvement
Learning |
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Term
| Aging and the Nervous System |
|
Definition
Loss of brain weight accelerates after 60
Neurons lost in frontal lobes, corpus callosum, cerebellum (balance)
Autonomic nervous system less efficient
Neuroplasticity |
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Term
|
Definition
Need less sleep
Earlier bedtime and wake-up
More difficulties
Insomnia
Nighttime waking
Sleep apnea
Restless legs |
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Term
| Physical Appearance and Mobility |
|
Definition
Skin thinner, rougher wrinkled, spotted
Ears, nose, teeth, and hair change
Lose height and weight after 60
Muscle strength declines
10–20% by 60–70
30–50% by 70–80
Bone strength drops
Less flexibility |
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Term
|
Definition
Many assume deterioration is inevitable
Elders experience prejudice, discrimination
Assumptions affected by culture
Stereotype threat
Fear of confirming stereotype
reduces functioning
May be changing
Positive media portrayals |
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Term
| Mental Disabilities in Late Adulthood |
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Definition
Parkinson’s disease
Alzheimer’s disease
Cerebrovascular dementia
Strokes
Misdiagnosis, reversible dementia
Depression
Medication side effects |
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Term
Alzheimer’s Disease
Incidence
Symptoms
Brain Changes
Risk Factors/Protective Factors |
|
Definition
Higher with age - Nearly 50% over 80%
Forgetting, disorientation, personality change, depression, motor problems, delusions, speech problems, infections
Neurofibrillary tangles, amyloid plaques in cerebral cortex
Genetic predispositions
High-fat diet - Mediterranean diet may help
Education, active lifestyle may help
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Term
|
Definition
Cannot always distinguish real from imagined events
Less stimulus and context
Recognition stronger than recall
Associative memory
Problems creating links
Need more cues
Recent memory better than remote memory
Prospective memory-planned actions
Event based better than time based |
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Term
| Language Processing in Late Adulthood |
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Definition
Comprehension changes very little
Problems retrieving specific words
Tip-of-the-tongue
Use more pronouns, pauses in speech
Problems planning what to say
Hesitations, false starts, repetition, sentence fragments
Statements less organized
Compensation
Simpler grammar, more sentences, gist |
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Term
| Erikson’s Theory: Ego Integrity versus Despair |
|
Definition
Ego Integrity
Satisfied
Serenity
Associated with psychosocial maturity
Despair
Decisions were wrong
Time is too short
Bitter and unaccepting of coming death
Anger and contempt |
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Term
| Reminiscence and Life Review |
|
Definition
Reminiscence
Self-focused: can deepen despair
Other-focused: solidifies relationships
Knowledge-based: helps solve problems
Life Review
Considering the meaning
A form of reminiscence
For greater self-understanding
Can help adjustment |
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Term
| Spirituality and Religion in Late Adulthood |
|
Definition
Over 3/4 in U.S. say religion “very important”
Over half attend services weekly
Many become more religious or spiritual with age
Not all - about 1/4 get less religious
Cultural, SES, gender differences
Physical, psychological benefits
Social engagement
Spiritual beliefs themselves |
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Term
| Factors in Psychological Well-Being |
|
Definition
Control versus dependency
Health
Poor health, depression linked
Suicide risk
Negative life changes
Better for elders?
Social support, interaction
Still positive, but…
Extroverted vs. introverted |
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|
Term
Social Theories of Aging
Disengagement
Activity
Continuity
Socioemotionals Selectivity |
|
Definition
Mutual withdrawal of elders and society
Social barriers cause declining interaction
Strive to maintain consistency between past and future
Social networks become more selective with age;extends lifelong process
-Emphasizes emotion-regulating functions of social contact |
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Term
| Marriage in Late Adulthood |
|
Definition
Satisfaction peaks in late adulthood
Fewer stressful responsibilities
Fairness in household tasks
Joint leisure
Emotional understanding,
regulation
If dissatisfied,
harder for women |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
Most stressful event of life for many
Few remarry; most live alone
Must cope with loneliness
Reorganizing life harder for men
More likely to remarry |
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Term
| Never-Married, Childless Elders |
|
Definition
About five percent in
North America
Develop alternative meaningful relationships
Youths
Friends
Relatives
Men more likely to be lonely |
|
|
Term
| Friendships in Late Adulthood |
|
Definition
Friends provide:
Intimacy
Companionship
Acceptance
Link to community
Help with loss
Feels closest to a few nearby friends
Chooses friends similar to self
Sex differences continue |
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Term
| Relationships with Adult Children |
|
Definition
Quality of relationship affects elders’ physical, mental health
Assist each other
Direction changes toward children helping as parents age
Closeness affects willingness to help
Emotional support most often
Parents try to avoid dependency
Sex differences
Daughters |
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Term
|
Definition
Optimism
Strong Self-Concept
Minimize losses and maximize gains
Accept change
Understanding Dependency vs. Independence
Social Support |
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