Have you ever wondered why there are those who age til 100 and are perfectly healthy, mobile, social and happy; and then there are those who are much younger who seem to age at a faster rate. Their cognition, mobility, vision, hearing and rate of living drop rapidly. …
Human development consists of changes that occur beginning with conception until death. Although changes are most apparent during infancy, development occurs during every stage of life, including old age. Most of what society knows about old age revolves around negative views of this age group. For example, the majority of people over 65 are senile, isolated, lonely and feel miserable most of the time (lingren). However, most of these ideas are based off of myths and stigmas that have been created to try to understand the process of aging.
Recent knowledge and research on the aging process has boomed within the past few decades due to an increase of the average human life span, the maximum life span, and percentage of the elderly population (Weinert). This increase in the elderly population has lead to a large amount of elderly people within our population. According to the United states Census Bureau, about 13% of the United State’s population, one out of every 8 Americans are 65 years or older. It is expected that 1 out of every 5 Americans will be 65 or older by the year 2035 (census). This increase and expected continued growth of the elderly population, makes it important to study this stage in development in order to possibly create a better understanding of the true process of aging and the changes that occur. This can be beneficial to many who have fearful perceptions of aging due to the myths surrounding the aging process.
The process of aging ...
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...f the changes that occur as we get older are obvious, for example, hair loss, weight gain, wrinkles, and a decline in hearing and vision; however, many are more gradual and less noticable.
The best theories of aging include a biopsychosocial model, where all aspects of genes, biological, psycholigical and social influences are taken into account.
Although there is great variability between individual differences of performance, the changes that occur during development and aging transpire within three categories: physical, cognitive, and psychosocial (cite). These changes are interconnected such that changes in one category will most likely affect other areas of a person’s life.
Physical changes that occur as a result of development into older adulthood consist of changes in bodily functions, physical and motor functioning, sensory systems, and in the brain.
An individual’s personality and character structure portrays a major reflection of how they age. Personality style and character structure both incorporate the conscious and unconscious motivational, cognitive and affective mental states, as well as defense mechanisms (Silver 1992). Biopsychosocial factors-broken down into biological, psychological, and sociocultural-also play a huge role in personality and aging (Notes 10/08). Some examples of biological factors are health, genetics, and physiological function. Thoughts, feelings, and emotions would be considered psychological factors. Sociocultural factors include family, religion and community. Additionally, people endure unique experiences and circumstances throughout their life course,
Prominent musician, Celine Dion, once said, “There’s no such thing is aging, but maturing and knowledge. It’s beautiful, I call that beauty.” To many, growing old is just a natural, beautiful part of life. It is inevitable. It is inescapable. The functionalist perspective of sociology states that the elderly perform a function in order to keep society running with ease. Functionalists focus on the disengagement theory and how people tend to disengage from society as they approach death. Symbolic interactionists focus on how environmental factors and relationships with others affect the aging experience, focusing on the activity theory and the continuity theory (Carl, 2011, p. 220). Conflict theorists focus on the discrepancies that arise between different age groups. They also focus on the economical side of aging and the issues that may arise due to an active elderly population (Carl, 2011, p. 221).
Aging affects every individual and is inevitable, despite our valiant attempts to prevent it. The aging process beings the moment of conception however some can argue it begins at birth. The process of aging is heavily impacted by health, genetics and environmental factors. As people age we have to become accustom to the changes associated with life. The question becomes what changes happen and how? Although we cannot predict what will happen to us we can work to prevent specific things from happening by living healthier lives.
An interview was arranged with an older adult to discuss issues related to aging. The interview was designed to gain appreciation and understanding of an older adult. One theory of aging came into mind when I thought about this topic. Erik Erikson Life-Course and Personality Development theory, “Erikson described the task of old age as balancing the search for integrity and wholeness with a sense of despair.” NS is the older adult that I conducted the interview with. I’ve decided to pick NS to interview because she is very positive about life and her age. Everything that I have come across about aging is negative such as depression, isolation, and illness.
Aging occurs at the biological, psychological and social levels. With numerous theories of aging spanning over many disciplines, no one is truly certain why we age or how we cope with it. Fortunately, our knowledge of how the body regulates or governs the rate of aging is slowly being demystifyied and we now know more about this process. Activity and disengagement are two major psychosocial theories which describe how people develop in old age.
Aging occurs in every species. Over time a change occurs on a cellular level in a person’s body, which causes degenerative effects on the brain, muscles, organs, bones, hormones, and DNA. In 1991, the book Evolutionary Biology of Aging, offered the following definition of aging: a persistent decline in the age-specific fitness components of an organism due to internal physiological deterioration.1 Aging affects the body physically and mentally. Many people dread getting older due to the numerous changes the body goes through. The geriatric population experiences many pains and is inflicted with various diseases. There are a few who are lucky enough to not get diagnosed with a life altering disease, such as Alzheimer’s, type II diabetes, high blood pressure, macular degeneration, or some form of cancer. Studies have shown that genetics play a vital role in the aging process.
In today’s society, what was once said to be true and taken as fact regarding older people is no longer the whole story. As Laslett states, “At all times before the middle of the twentieth century and all over the globe the greater part of human life potential has been wasted, by people dying before their allotted time was up.” (1989a), and to a great extent a lot
The concept of successful aging is also termed as super aging or optimal health, coined by Rowe & Kahn in 1987. Fundamentally, successful aging in the elderly illustrates neither usual aging (a gradual decrease in biological and psychological functioning) nor pathological aging. Instead, it illustrates a form of aging connected to a reduced possibility of disability or disease, increased physical and cognitive functioning, including autonomy maintained. Aging and old age for a long time presented as dominated by negative traits and states such as sickness, depression and isolation. The aging process is not simply senescence; most people over the age of 65 are not senile, bedridden, isolated, or suicidal (Aldwin & Levenson, 1994).
During late adulthood, which begins around 65, many changes will take place. Death, sickness, and aging are some of the things you go through. Everyone is affected at some point. Individuals deal with these changes differently. Gerontology is the science that deals with the aging process. Vision can show impairment as people age. One of the changes in vision is the loss of accommodation of the lens. Most people 65 and older have hardened eye lens and have lost elasticity if the lens. Cataracts can form and vision becomes cloudy and is significantly impaired. Glaucoma is a serious condition that causes pressure to increase within the eye and it can result in blindness. Often hearing decreases with age. The hair cells in the Corti (inner ear) can cause a decrease in hearing frequencies. The ossicles and eardrum have a decrease in the transmittance of mechanical sound waves. Due to aging many elderly people have hearing impairment. Loss of appetite from connective tissue cells replacing taste buds. Skin can become thin, dry, and inelastic as it ages and the skin can fold and wrinkle from sagging.
In an attempt to define ageing one must take in consideration the biophysiological together with the psychosocial aspects; these two aspects are intertwined.
Late adulthood should be a time in a person's life where they feel fulfilled. They can look back on their memories and be happy with the way they have lived their life. Now, too many elderly people are not satisfied and look at this stage as depressing. Most fear death of either a loved one or for themselves. This topic is interesting to me because elderly people should make the best of their last stage of life. This topic discusses about getting older, the life changes that they go through physically, emotionally, and mentally. We should know more about it so that we can help our family and friends get through one of the best, yet toughest part of our mortal life.
play a large part in our health and our developmental status. The role of age
In the body-transcendence versus body-preoccupation stage, one must be able to learn and accept physical changes that happen as we get older, we refer to this as transcendence. If someone is unable to do so, they become preoccupied with the physical deterioration, to the detriment of their personality development. Although the physical capabilities are not the same in the elderly as when they were young, many older people stay regularly fit considering their age. The changes that began in middle adulthood are becoming more unmistakable by the time one finds themselves in late adulthood. The two distinct types of aging are primary aging and secondary aging. Primary aging involves the irreversible changes that occur as people get older due to genetic programming. Secondary aging refers to the changes that are bought on by illnesses and diseases, not increased by age itself. Late adulthood is a very interesting period of life. Since people are now living longer than ever before, late adulthood is increasing in length. Whether we say it starts at 65 or 70 years, the amount of people included in this stage is larger than ever before, due to medicine and technological advances. One of the most obvious signs someone is in late adulthood would be a person’s hair. Most people’s hair become distinctly gray and eventually white, which may thin
Some health concerns come with aging into middle adulthood. Physical changes that one might see is that of gray and thinning hair, wrinkles,
As a person grows old, it is inevitable to have both physical and cognitive changes happen throughout their lifetime. In an average life span, a person’s physical and cognitive changes will normally vary depending on what age group they are in. For example, it is said that from birth to age five, a child will absorb more information including how to talk, language, form relationships, and fine motor skills than any other age. It is also said that that most rapid decline in physical ability is in older adults ranging from a loss in eyesight to severe dementia.