| Question | Answer |
| How do older adults handle living arrangements? | Age in place and with spouse as long as possible, can live alone/move in with adult children/into institutions, based on independence and care giving needs |
| How do older adults handle financial resources? | Least likely to be in poverty, use Social Security, assets, earnings, pensions |
| What is the relationship between age and choice of coping strategies? | Older adults-more emotion focused coping, it younger adults-more problem focused coping |
| What are the differences between never married and previously married singles in late life? | Never married are better adjusted than previously married singles |
| According to the cognitive appraisal model, what are the 2 types of coping strategies? | Problem-focused coping, a motion-focused coping |
| What is the importance of productivity in late adulthood? | Any type of regular activity that expresses or enhances some aspect of the self can contribute to successful aging |
| theory of aging, described by Atchley, which holds that in order to age successfully people must maintain a balance of continuity and change in both the internal and external structures of their lives | continuity theory |
| enhancing overall cognitive functioning by using stronger abilities to compensate for those that have weakened | selective optimization with compensation (SOC) |
| leisure activity requiring skill, intention and commitment | serious leisure |
| What impact do widowhood, divorce and remarriage have in late life? | Widowhood-depressing; divorce-rare, upsetting; remarriage-men more satisfied than women, societal benefits |
| What are theoretical explanations of the changes in social contact? | Social convoy theory-keeping contact with supportive people, socioemotional selectivity theory-spend time with people that meet emotional needs |
| as remaining time become shorter, older adults choose to spend time with people and in activities that meet immediate emotional needs | socioemotional selectivity theory |
| What can effect retirement more out? | Personal, economic, social resources |
| What is happening to cohabitation rates of older adults? | Increasing |
| Describe marriages in late life. | More potential longevity of marriage, more men married than women, relatively satisfying |
| Who is most likely to live alone in late adulthood? | Older women more likely than older men |
| model of coping where people consciously choose coping strategies on the basis of the way they perceive and analyze a situation, includes anything an individual thinks or does to try to adapt to stress | cognitive-appraisal model |
| What are findings on the relationship between aging and work attitudes and skills? | Older adults who continue working typically like their work and do not find it stressful, older workers tend to do better than younger, more capable port, can use more mature judgment and experience |
| Describe sibling relationships in late adulthood. | Offer each other emotional support, sometimes more tangible support, sisters maintain sibling ties |
| How can childlessness affect older people? | Influenced by gender and person's feelings about being childless, wanted to have children but didn't-depressed/lonely, didn't want to have children-not affected |
| What happens to older parent and adult child relationships? | Frequently see or contact each other, concerned about each other, offer each other assistance |
| What are current trends in late-life work and retirement? | Most people who can retire due, some older adults are working even when they can retire because they really enjoy their job, tend to be better educated and in better health |
| model of coping, proposed by Lazarus and Folkman, which holds that, on the basis of continuous appraisal of their relationship with the environment, people choose appropriate coping strategies to deal with situations that tax their normal resources | cognitive-appraisal model |
| remaining in one's own home, with or without assistance, in later life | aging in place |
| How can retirement affect well-being? | People who did not enjoy work tend to get depressive symptoms after retirement, people who are invested in serious leisure tend to be most satisfied, family focused lifestyle/balanced investment tend to have high satisfaction |
| theory of aging, proposed by Neugarten and others, which holds that in order to age successfully a person must remain as active as possible | Activity theory |
| Why is divorce in late life rare? | Learn to better resolve conflicts, higher marital satisfaction |
| According to Erikson, what is the virtue that solves ego integrity versus despair? | Wisdom |
| What are the strengths of gay and lesbian relationships in late life? | Strong, supportive, diverse, children (from previous marriage or adopted), substitute for traditional family, close relationship |
| What are fast-growing alternatives to institutionalization? | Assisted-living facilities, other types of group housing |
| Who is the least likely to be lonely in late adulthood? | Never married adults |
| How do religiosity and spirituality relate to mortality risk, health and well-being in late life? | People that are more religious and go to church regularly tend to die later and have better health and well-being |
| What is the most important source of emotion-focused coping for older adults? | Religion |
| What are 3 ways to measure stability or change in personality traits in late adulthood? | Average levels within a population, within individuals, rank-order comparisons |
| What has happened rigidness in late adulthood compared to previous cohorts? | Older adults in recent cohorts seem to be less rigid in personality than previous cohorts |
| What is a psychosocial definition of wisdom? | Accepting the life one whose lives, without major regrets, without dwelling on should-have-dones or might-have-beens, accepting imperfection in the self, parents, children, life |
| What is the benefit of an older adult having close friends? | Healthier and happier |
| in the cognitive-appraisal model, coping strategy directed toward eliminating, managing or improving a stressful situation (used when a person sees a realistic chance of changing the situation) | problem-focused coping |
| What are the problems of gay and lesbian relationships in late life? | Strained relationship with family, discrimination in nursing home and elsewhere, lack of medical or social service and support, partner dies-dealing with healthcare providers, bereavement/inheritance issue, lack of partners social security benefit |
| What role does the great grandparent play in a child's life? | Less involved than great grandparent, most find role fulfilling |
| How do unmarried older adults and those in cohabitating and gay and lesbian relationships fare? | Unmarried do better than widows, cohabitating at large disadvantage, gay/lesbian have strong relationship but face societal issues |
| How can contact and mutual aid between parents and grown children change during late adulthood? | Parent and child get along well, especially mother-daughter relationships, children provide care giving, sometimes older adults provide financial support |
| What is the cognitive-appraisal model of coping? | People consciously choose coping strategies on the basis of the way they perceive and analyze a situation, anything a person does to adapt to stress |
| How do older adults get along with, or without, grown children? | With-get along well, child becomes caregiver, parent can still provide financial support; without-no effect unless they were wanting a child and didn't have it, can feel lonely/depressed |
| How do older adults handle work and retirement decisions? | Most to can retire due, some will work because they like it |
| What is the dispute over the concept of successful or optimal aging? | How to define it, how to measure it, validity of the concept |
| What do Baltes and his colleagues suggest that successful aging in the psychosocial and cognitive realm depend on? | Selective optimization with compensation |
| What are values that great-grandparents find in their role? | Personal and family renewal, source of diversion, mark of longevity |
| What are older adults working abilities? | Satisfied, more productive than younger, positive and negative effect on job performance, individual differences more significant than age difference |
| What is the affect of personal relationships on well-being in old age? | Important for mental/physical health, maintain life satisfaction |
| How does friendship change in old age? | Healthier and happier, immediate enjoyment, based on pleasure, fictive kin |
| a loss that is not clearly defined or does not bring closure | ambiguous loss |
| Why is remarriage beneficial in late adulthood? | Societal benefits-older remarried people are less likely to need help from the community |
| What are the advantages and disadvantages of living with adult children? | Can burden family, more support close, proximity to caregivers |
| What is the disagreement of the disengagement theory? | How little support, findings on activity theory are mixed |
| What are the 2 types of emotion focused coping? Describe each. | Proactive-confronting or expressing one's emotions or seeking social support; passive-avoidance, denial, suppression of emotions or acceptance of the situation as it is |
| Compare marital satisfaction in middle and late adulthood. | More satisfying in late adulthood than middle adulthood |
| Summarize research about stability of personality. | Some studies find increase in positive and decrease in negative emotions, some studies found no change |
| What are the 2 contrasting early models of successful or optimal aging? | Disengagement theory and activity theory |
| What did Erikson mean by wisdom? | Can't live with major regrets, have to accept imperfection in the self and everyone else |
| according to Erikson, 8th and final stage of psychosocial development, people in late adulthood achieve a sense of integrity of self by accepting the lives they have lived and accept death or yield to despair that their lives cannot be relived | ego integrity versus despair |
| What are 3 of the adaptive mechanisms identified by Valliant? How do they work? | Problem-focused coping-action strategies, person changes situation; proactive emotion-focused coping-change emotions strategy, person confronts own emotions; passive emotion-focused coping- change emotions strategy, person avoids or denies emotions |
| How do older adults get along with siblings? | Very important, support network, generally get along well, sibling rivalry goes away with time |
| How do older adults adjust to great-grandparenthood? | Most enjoy the role |
| Why did Erikson say about involvement in late adulthood? | Must maintain a vital involvement in society |
| What happens to emotionality in old age? What can modify this pattern? | Emotionality becomes more positive, less negative; personality traits modify pattern |
| What are the refinements of the disengagement theory? | Activity theory which includes continuity theory, emphasis on productive activity |
| What are the advantages and disadvantages of living in institutions? | Adjusted to persons individual needs, independent or dependent, constantly near care |
| What are the advantages and disadvantages of living alone? | Lonely, independent |
| in cognitive-appraisal model, coping strategy directed toward managing emotional response to stressful situation so as to lessen physical or psychological impact (used when person concludes there is little or nothing that can be done about situation) | emotion-focused coping |
| pattern of retirement activity that revolves around family, home and companions | family-focused lifestyle |
| According to research on the cognitive-appraisal model, what type of coping is preferred in younger adults versus older adults? | All adults prefer problem-focused coping, older adults do more in motion-focused coping than younger adults when the situation calls for it |
| What are 3 common lifestyle patterns after retirement? | Family-focused lifestyle, balanced investment, serious leisure |
| What happens to personality traits in late adulthood? | Remain fairly stable depending on how they are measured |
| Chapter 18 | Psychosocial Development in Late Adulthood |
| Compare the disengagement theory, activity theory and continuity theory. | Disengagement-older person that withdrawals from society is happiest; activity-older person that remains as active as possible is happiest; continuity-activity is important for continuation of lifestyle, the balance is disengagement and activity theories |
| What is the evidence for the relationship between social interaction and health? | Close social contact improves overall health |
| What special tasks and issues do older people face? | Coping with being at the end of their life span, evaluating and accepting their lives, accepting death, yielding to despair that their lives cannot be relived |
| How do personal relationships change in old age? | Spend less time with others and have fewer friends but are extremely close in the few remaining relationships |
| What are the 2 theoretical approaches to the study of coping? | Adaptive defenses, cognitive-appraisal model |
| What is meant by successful or optimal aging? | 1) avoidance of disease or disease-related disability, 2) maintenance of high physical and cognitive functioning, 3) sustained, active engagement in social and productive activities which aids in mental health |
| Discuss Erikson’s stage of ego integrity versus despair. | Older adults need to evaluate and accept their lives so they can accept death |
| pattern of retirement activity allocated among family, work and leisure | balanced investment |
| According to Erikson, what is the virtue that solves ego integrity versus despair? | Wisdom |
| What roles do older parents play for children? | Caregivers for adult children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren |
| What are gender differences in the prevalence of widowhood? | Where men are far more likely to be widows then men |
| Who is most likely to be institutionalized? | Older women, older adults who live alone, do not take part in social activity, have poor health, have disabilities, those whose informal caregivers are overburdened |
| What are the characteristics of long-term marriages in late life? | Higher marital satisfaction, work out problems better |
| What are common lifestyle patterns after retirement? | Family-focused lifestyle, balanced investment, serious leisure |
| Describe relationships for older people. | Important, frequency of social contact declines in old age |
| What is the importance of positive social contact and social support? | Help maintain life satisfaction with the stress and trauma |
| What is an important new area of study for her late adulthood? | Effects of religion/spirituality on health/longevity/well-being |
| What are issues concerning the new multigenerational family? | See more chronic illness, physically and emotionally draining, cultural issues (individuality/autonomy), different types of living sharpshooters |
| Contrast the social convoy theory and the socioemotional selectivity theory. | Social convoy theory-reduction and social contact do not impair well-being, stable inner circle of social support is maintained; socioemotional selectivity theory-older people choose to spend time with people who enhance their emotional well-being |
| Describe how retirement is often a phased process. | Older adults continue to work for pay, most retire, many retired people start new careers, do part-time paid work or volunteer work |
| What is social interaction associated with? | Good health, life satisfaction |
| adaptive thinking or behavior aimed at reducing or relieving stress that arises from harmful, threatening or challenging conditions | coping |
| Why might older women who are cohabitating be at a disadvantage? | more likely to have no health insurance, lower incomes, less likely to own home, less religious, less friends and relatives living nearby |
| theory of aging, proposed by Cumming and Henry, which holds that successful aging is characterized by mutual withdrawal of the older person in society | disengagement theory |
| Where do most older adults in industrialized nations prefer to age? Why can affect this? | Age in place, can remain if they can depend on spouse for support or someone else for help |
| Describe divorce and remarriage in late adulthood. | Divorce on common among older people, most older adults who have been divorced or remarried, remarriages more relaxed in late life |
| What are the various kinds of living arrangements for older adults? What is their relative prevalence? | Aging in place-people that are married, living alone-women more likely, living with adult children-can be hard on family, living in institutions-becoming more common |
| What is the poverty situation of older Americans? | Financial situation improved, fewer live in poverty, women/Hispanic Americans/African-Americans are most likely to be poor |
| What did George Valliant signed predict psychosocial adjustment in late life? | Use of mature adaptive defenses |
| What does the concept of successful or optimal aging reflect? | Growing number of healthy, vital older adults |
| What is the importance of sibling relationships in late life? | Very important, social network, provide help is needed, take care of each other, grieve at loss of sibling |
| What is Erikson's 8th stage of psychosocial development? | Ego integrity versus despair, acceptance of one's life and impending death |
| What amount of people lives in institutions? | Developed countries-dairies, developing countries-rare, United States-4.5% are institutionalized, proportion increases with age |
| Where do older adults in developed countries typically NOT want to live? | Do not expect to live with adult children, do not wish to live with adult children |
| Why are gays and lesbians adapting with relative ease? | Influenced by coming-out status |
| What are the advantages and disadvantages of aging in place? | Independence, home can be adapted |
| Describe the winnowing and remarrying in late adulthood. | Women tend to outlive husbands, less likely to marry again; growing proportion of men are widowed |
| What is a risk factor for mortality? | Isolation |
| How does stability of personality effect emotionality and well being in old age? | Personality is strong predictor of emotionality, negative emotions decrease with age, positive emotions increase with age, people with neurotic personalities report more negative emotions |
| Where do most elderly adults live in developed countries? In developing countries? | Developed-with spouse or live alone, developing-with children or grandchildren |
| aging adults maintain their level of social support by identifying the members of their social network who can help them and avoiding those who are not supported | social convoy theory |
| What strategies and resources contribute to older adults’ well being and mental health? | Adaptive defenses, problem focused coping, and motion focused coping, disengagement theory, activity theory, continuity theory, selective optimization with compensation |
| What is the economic status of older adults? | Lowest poverty rates of any age group, rely on income, earnings, pension, Social Security |
| Contrast the support of friends and family. | Spend more time with friends, family is main source of emotional and practical support |
| How does social contact change in late life? | As they age they spend less time with others, have fewer friends but are extremely close in the relationships |
| What are special characteristics of friendships in old age? | Healthier and happier, live longer, element of choice that may be slipping away, intimacy, revolve around pleasure and leisure, immediate enjoyment, fictive kin |
| Does personality change in old age? | Some studies say yes, some studies say no, some studies say positive emotions increase in negative emotions decrease |
| What are issues concerning social security and pension plans? | With more people retiring and proportionally fewer workers to contribute to Social Security, benefits will decline but timing and severity are unknown |
| How does selective optimization with compensation help older adults deal with losses? | They can use what abilities they have left to perfect what they want and not focus on their weaker abilities, focus their efforts on meaningful activities |
| Why is the concept of successful or optimal aging controversial? | Can burden older adults to meet standards they cannot or do not want to meet, does not pay attention to constraints that may limit lifestyle choices, turns older adults and 2 victims, demeans old age, denying importance of accepting what cannot be changed |
| How does childlessness effect late adulthood? | Does not seem to be an important disadvantage |
