Adulthood and Aging Module 6

Facts and Falsehood? The timing of social events—such as getting a driver’s license, marriage, and having children– remains relatively consistent across different cultures. Menopause creates significant psychological problems for women. People who live to age 80 have brains that weight 5 percent less than their brains did when they were teenagers. Elderly people can do just as god on a multiple-choice test as people in their 40s. The ability to remember facts increases with age. The “empty nest” phenomenon brings about more happiness than sadness. Men are 5 times more likely to suffer through the death of a spouse than a women.

Periods of Adulthood Early Adulthood Middle Adulthood Late Adulthood Approximate Age Brackets Early Adulthood Middle Adulthood Late Adulthood 20-35 36-64 65 and over

Early Adulthood

Early Adulthood Social Clock: the culturally preferred timing of social events such as marriage, parenthood, and retirement. Emerging Adulthood

Physical Changes

Early Adulthood Performance Peaks Reaction time Sensory awareness Cardiac output Most of they physical abilities will top out sometime during your twenties

Middle Adulthood How do different cultures welcome the outward signs of getting older? Menopause: the time of natural cessation of menstruation, also refers to the biological changes a woman experiences as her ability to reproduce declines. 45-55 years of age Does not make most women depressed or irrational Women are no more or no less depressed than women who are not experiencing this change.

Latter Adulthood Our sight, smell, and hearing usually begin a steep decline once we hit age 65 The corneas and lenses become less transparent, letting in only about 30 percent of the light that enters our eyes. Muscles strength and stamina also diminish Bodies take longer to heal after injury Slows down travel on the neural path Portions of the brain start to atrophy, or waste away If you live to be 80, your brain will weigh 5 percent less than it does now Remaining physically and mentally active will compensate for lost brain cells and neural connections Exercise appears to foster brain cell development while helping prevent heart disease and obesity.

Diseases Related to Aging Alzheimer’s disease: A progressive and irreversible brain disorder characterized by gradual deterioration or memory, reasoning, language, and finally, physical functioning. 3% of the worlds population develops by age 75 Senile Dementia: the mental disintegration that accompanies alcoholism, tumor, stroke, aging, and most often, Alzheimer’s disease.

“Can’t teach an old dog new tricks” or “Never too late to learn” Cognitive Changes “Can’t teach an old dog new tricks” or “Never too late to learn”

Memory Younger adults have better recall Recognition remains stable from 20 to 60 Older people maintain the ability to remember meaningful materials, while losing the skills necessary to remember meaningless information Habitual tasks and time-oriented tasks are also more challenging for older adults

Memory

Intelligence Fluid Intelligence: one’s ability to reason speedily and abstractly tends to decrease during late adulthood. Crystallized Intelligence: one’s accumulated knowledge and verbal skills tend to increase with age. Novelists, historians, and philosophers tend to produce there best work in their forties, fifties, and sixties and later, whereas mathematicians and scientists often do their most creative work in their twenties and thirties.

Intelligence

Social Changes

Life’s Commitments Sigmund Freud said it best, when he wrote that the healthy adult is one who can work and love.

Work Most first- or second-year college students Change their initial major field of study Cannot accurately predict the careers they will have later in life Change careers after entering the work force Post-college employment is often unrelated to college major Work that is challenging, provides a sense of accomplishment, and fits your interests is most like to hit the happiness target

Love Commitment, devotion, intimacy, attachment Vital to a happy adulthood Love last longer and is most satisfying when marked by Intimate self-disclosure Shared emotional and material support Similar interests and values

Love Ninety percent of our population gets married at least once Critical ingredient to marriage is mutual respect Respect: View others as important people , paying attention to them and seeing their ideas, abilities, needs, and wants as meaningful and worthwhile. Marriage most likely to last if Both members are over 20 Have a stable income from good employment Dated a long time before getting married Are well educated Divorce rate in the U.S. is around 50 % Three out of four who divorce will marry a second time The divorce rate for hose who lived together prior to marriage is higher than for coupes who did not live together. Marriages last when each partner compliments, hugs, and smiles five times more than he or she insults or criticizes.

Love Raising a child requires a serious investment of time, money, and emotion, which can exact a heavy toll on a couple’s satisfaction with each other. Parents who make the effort to spread the work load more evenly can anticipate a double reward: A more satisfying and successful marriage Better parent-child relationships with both parents

“empty nest” The empty-nest phenomenon brings more happiness than sadness.

Late Adulthood Gerontology: the branch of psychology that studies the aging process and the problems of older people.

Dying and Death Thanatology: the study of death and the methods of coping with it. One spouse out lives the other, a grief suffered 5 times more often by women than by men. Reactions to death vary from culture to culture There is no evidence to support the idea that we progress through predictable stages. Anger, denial, acceptance Some grieve briefly while others grieve for months or years