Physical Development During Adolescence
began a century ago in some countries.
Adolescence - developmental transition between
childhood and adulthood entailing major physical,
cognitive, and psychosocial changes.
Puberty - process by which a person attains sexual
maturity and the ability to reproduce.
Hormonal Changes
hypothalamus > gonadotropin releasing hormone
(GnRH) > lutenizing hormone (LH) and follicle-
stimulating hormone (FSH)
Girls: increased levels of FSH lead to the onset of
menstruation.
Boys: LH initiates the release of two additional
hormones: testosterone and androstendione
Stages of puberty:
Adrenarche – ages 6 to 8
- adrenal glands secrete dehydroepiandrosterone
(DHEA)
Gonadarche
- maturing of the sex organs
- DHEA production
Sexual Maturity
Primary sex characteristics: Organs directly related to
reproduction, which enlarge and mature during
adolescence.
Secondary sex characteristics: Physiological signs of
sexual maturation (such as breast development and
growth of body hair) that do not involve the sex organs.
Spermarche - boy’s first ejaculation
- nocturnal emission - an involuntary ejaculation
of semen
- occurs at an average age of 13
Menarche - Girl’s first menstruation. Normal timing
can vary from age 10 to 16½.
Adolescent growth spurt: Sharp increase in height
and weight that precedes sexual maturity.
- Girls: ages 9½ and 14½ (usually at about 10)
- Boys: between 10½ and 16 (usually at 12 or 13)
- growth hormone and the sex hormones
(androgens and estrogen)
Influences on Pubertal Timing
secular trend: trend that can be seen only by observing
several generations, such as the trend toward earlier
attainment of adult height and sexual maturity, which
- Undernutrition
- Obesity
- Endocrine-disrupting chemicals
- Maternal smoking during pregnancy
- Maternal and paternal influences
- Genetics
Implications of Pubertal Timing
Health-related behaviors in adulthood: polycystic
ovarian syndrome
Adolescent mental health:
- Early-maturing boys: substance use and
delinquent behavior
- Late-maturing boys: higher risk for aggression
problems, insecure
- Early-maturing girls: precocious sexual activity,
early pregnancy
Adolescent Brain
- adolescent brain undergoes a second wave of
overproduction of gray matter,
- myelination of the frontal lobes facilitates the
maturation of cognitive processing.
- frontal lobes mature more slowly, this
predisposes adolescents to impulsivity and risk-
taking.
Exercise:
- improved strength and endurance,
- reduced anxiety and stress
- Decrease risky behavior
Sleep needs & problems:
- 8-10 hours of sleep
- Sleep deprivation is common; timing of
secretion of melatonin
Nutrition and Eating Disorders
Body image: descriptive and evaluative beliefs about
one’s appearance.
Anorexia nervosa: eating disorder characterized by self-
starvation
Bulimia nervosa: a person regularly eats huge quantities
of food and then purges the body by laxatives, induced
vomiting, fasting, or excessive exercise.
Binge eating disorder: a person loses control over eating
and binges huge quantities of food.
Use and Abuse of Drugs
substance abuse: repeated, harmful use of a substance,
usually alcohol or other drugs
substance dependence: addiction (physical, or
psychological, or both) to a harmful substance
binge drinking: consuming 5 or more drinks (for men) or
4 or more drinks (for women) on one occasion.
Depression
1. Depressed mood most of the day, nearly every day.
2. Markedly diminished interest or pleasure in all, or
almost all, activities most of the day, nearly every day.
3. Significant weight loss when not dieting or weight
gain, or decrease or increase in appetite nearly every
day.
4. A slowing down of thought and a reduction of
physical movement (observable by others, not merely
subjective feelings of restlessness or being slowed
down).
5. Fatigue or loss of energy nearly every day.
6. Feelings of worthlessness or excessive or
inappropriate guilt nearly every day.
7. Diminished ability to think or concentrate, or
indecisiveness, nearly every day.
8. Recurrent thoughts of death, recurrent suicidal
ideation without a specific plan, or a suicide attempt or a
specific plan for committing suicide.
Death in Adolescence: From Vehicle accidents &
firearms, Suicide
Cognitive Development During Adolescence
Piaget’s Staged of Formal Operations
Formal operations (Age 11) - Piaget’s final stage of
cognitive development, characterized by the ability to
think abstractly. Emotional implications of adolescents’
ability to think abstractly
Hypothetical-deductive reasoning: Ability to accompany
the stage of formal operations, to develop, consider, and
test hypotheses.
Immature Aspects of Adolescent Thought (David
Elkind, 1967)
- adolescents tend to be idealistic and critical of
others
- self-consciousness
- imaginary audience: a conceptualized “observer”
who is as concerned with a young person’s
thoughts and behavior as he or she is.
- personal fable: a belief by adolescents that they
are special, their experience is unique, and they
are not subject to the rules that govern the rest of
the world.
Language Development
- ages 16 to 18 - knows approximately 80,000
words
- abstract concepts: love, justice, and freedom
- words with multiple meanings: irony, puns, and
metaphors
- social perspective-taking: ability to tailor their
speech to another person’s point of view
Prosocial Behavior
- Parents play a vital role.
- Girls tend to show more prosocial behavior and
empathic concern than boys.
- Peers may reinforce positive prosocial
development in each other.
- Volunteering
Influences of School Achievement
- Student motivation and self-efficacy
- Gender, Family, ethnicity, and peer influences
- Home influences & School influences
- Neighborhood influences & Cultural influences
- Women’s and men’s roles
- The School
- Technology
Preparing for higher Education or Vocation
Influences on Students’ Aspirations
- self-efficacy
- parents’ values
- gender differences
- educational system
Guiding Students Not Bound for College
- low-income families
- low academic achievement
Adolescents in the Workplace
- helps them develop real-world skills and a work
ethic
- distracts them from long-term educational and
occupational goals
Psychosocial Development During Adolescence
Erikson’s Crisis of Identity vs. Confusion
Adolescents attempt to resolve three issues:
 1. Choice of occupation
2. Adoption of values
3. Development of sexual identity
Successful resolution leads to ‘fidelity’
- Feeling of belongingness to friends or family
- Identification with a set of values
James Marcia: Identity Status
- Identity Achievement: Crisis leading to
commitment
- Foreclosure: Commitment without crisis
- Moratorium: Crisis with no commitment yet
- Identity Confusion: No commitment, no crisis
Sexual Orientation: Focus of consistent sexual, romantic,
and affectionate interest
- Homosexual – persons of same sex
- Heterosexual – persons of opposite sex
- Bisexual – persons of both sexes
Transgender - individuals whose biological sex at birth
and gender identity are not the same.
Sexual Behavior
Average age at first intercourse
- Females: 17 years & Males: 16 years
Top reasons for NOT having sex:
- Religion or morals
- Not wanting to get (or get a girl) pregnant
Factors Associated with Early Sex:
- Early puberty
- Poverty, Neglect, Cultural or family patterns
- Poor school performance
- History of sexual abuse
- Perception of peer norms
Use of Contraceptives
Who uses contraception during first intercourse?
- 83% of girls and 91% of boys
- The older a girl is at her first intercourse, the
greater the likelihood she will use protection
Best safeguard is condoms: Protection against STDs and
pregnancy
Sex Education
Where do teens get information about sex?: Friends,
parents, sex education at school, abstinence only
debates, and media
What Type of Sex Education Works?
- Works: Programs that encourage abstinence
AND discuss STD prevention and safe-sex
practices. Delay initiation & increases
contraception use
- Does Not Work: Abstinence Only/Virginity
Pledges. Do not delay initiation.
STDs and Pregnancy: Risks of Adolescent Sex
Teens at highest risk: Younger, multiple partners, not
regularly using contraception, misinform about
contraception.
Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STD) Prevalence: occurs
among 15–19-yearolds
- Prevalence in teens due to: Early sexual activity.
Failure to use condoms or use them correctly.
Tendency for girls to have older partners
Most prevalent STDs: HPV, trichomoniasis, genital
herpes simplex, chlamydia and gonorrhea (curable).
Teens and HIV: young people 15-24 years old. Early
detection important
Teenage parents:
- Teen mothers at risk for: Dropping out of school
or being poorly educated. Financial hardship.
Additional pregnancies
- Teenage fathers: Limited financial resources,
poor academic performance and high dropout
rates.
Children of teenage mothers - At increased risk for:
- Prematurity and low birthweight
- Fetal, neonatal or infant death
- Health and academic problems
- Abuse and neglect
- Developmental disabilities
Is Adolescent Rebellion a Myth?
Teenage rebellion:
- abusive, indifferent, or neglectful parenting
- Family conflict can have a significant impact on
emotional distress
Family conflict
Individuation—adolescent’s struggle for autonomy and
personal identity
Most arguments over day-to-day matters: Chores, School
work, Dress, Money, Curfew, Dating, friends.
Factors that affect Adolescent family conflict:
 - Parenting style
- Family structure
- Mother’s employment
- Economic stress
Adolescents and Siblings: Teens are less close to
siblings than to parents or peers. Less influenced by their
siblings than when younger. Become more distant from
siblings throughout adolescence
Sibling relations tend to reflect parents’ marital
relationship and parent-child relations
Adolescents Crowd: Help establish teen identity,
Reinforce alliances, Makes it easier to make friendships
within the same group.
Adolescent Clique: A structured group of friends.
Become more common in adolescence. Cliques can be
harsh to outsiders.
Romantic relationships: Mixed groups or group dates.
One-on-one relationships involving intimacy.
Youth Violence:
Possible influences: Biological influences
Environmental influences
Preventing Delinquency
- Offer family assistance and support
- Help with interactions between home & school
- Create supportive parent networks
- Offer follow-up services & after-school
activities
- Prevent gang recruitment
- Offer adult-guided support groups
Physical and Cognitive Development in Emerging and
Young Adulthood
Emerging Adulthood
Criteria (Arnett, 2006):
(1) accepting responsibility for oneself
(2) making independent decisions, and
(3) becoming financially independent
Emerging adulthood: Proposed transitional period
between adolescence and adulthood commonly found in
industrialized countries.
Physical Development: Health Issues
- Health may be influenced by genes, but
behavioral factors contribute greatly to health
and well-being.
- Obesity, certain cancers, asthma are products of
an interaction between genes and environment.
Behavioral influences on health & fitness
Diet and Nutrition: poor diets and a lack of physical
activity are among the leading causes of preventable
diseases, overweight, and obesity.
Obesity/Overweight: availability of nutrient-poor, high-
calorie processed foods and urbanization of the
environment.
Eating Disorders: The most common of the eating
disorders are anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa.
Physical Activity: physical activity builds muscles;
strengthens heart and lungs; lowers blood pressure;
protects against heart disease, stroke, diabetes, several
cancers, and osteoporosis (a thinning of the bones that is
most prevalent in middle-age and older women); relieves
anxiety and depression; and lengthens life
Stress: high levels of chronic stress are related to a host
of physical and immunological impairments
& Sleep: Sleep deprivation affects not only physical health
but cognitive, emotional, and social functioning as well.
Smoking: the leading preventable cause of death, illness,
and impoverishment worldwide, linked not only to lung
cancer but also to increased risks of heart disease, stroke,
and chronic lung disease
Alcohol Use: Alcohol use is associated with other risks
characteristic of emerging adulthood, such as traffic
accidents, crime, HIV infection, illicit drug and tobacco
use, and the likelihood of committing sexual assault.
Indirect influences on health
Socioeconomic Status: Socioeconomic circumstances in
both childhood and adulthood are important
determinants of risk for cardiovascular disease, and,
even more so, of stroke.
Social relationships:
- Social integration is active engagement in a
broad range of social relationships, activities,
and roles.
- Social support refers to material, informational,
and psychological resources derived from the
social network on which a person can rely for
help in coping with stress.
Mental health problems
Alcoholism: a long-term physical condition
characterized by compulsive drinking that a person is
unable to control.
Drug Use and Abuse: There is a strong association
between substance use disorders and drug and alcohol
dependence and mood (depression) or anxiety disorders.
Depression: adolescents may have difficulty negotiating
the transition to emerging adulthood.
Sexual behavior & attitudes
- premarital sex and cohabitation for adults over
the age of 18
- homosexual unions is growing, especially in
younger cohorts and in women
- People who become sexually active during
emerging adulthood tend to engage in fewer
risky behaviors.
- Casual sex is also common.
- Sexually transmitted infections (STIs)
Menstrual disorders
- premenstrual syndrome (PMS): is a disorder
producing symptoms of physical discomfort and
emotional tension for up to 2 weeks before a
menstrual period.
- Dysmenorrhea: is a painful menstruation, or
cramps.
Infertility: Inability to conceive a child after 12 months
of sexual intercourse without the use of birth control.
- Men: production of too few sperm.
- Women: failure to produce ova or to produce
normal ova; mucus in the cervix, or a disease of
the uterine lining.
Cognitive Development
Reflective thinking: type of logical thinking that
becomes more prominent in adulthood, involving
continuous, active evaluation of information and beliefs
in the light of evidence and implications (John Dewey
(1910/1991)
Postformal thought: mature type of thinking that relies
on subjective experience and intuition as well as logic
and allows room for ambiguity, uncertainty,
inconsistency, contradiction, imperfection, and
compromise.
K. Warner Schaie’s life-span model of cognitive
development
Seven stages:
- Acquisitive stage (childhood and adolescence)
- Achieving stage (late teens or early twenties to
early thirties)
- Responsible stage (late thirties to early sixties)
- Executive stage (thirties or forties through
middle age)
- Reorganizational stage (end of middle age,
beginning of late adulthood)
- Reintegrative stage (late adulthood)
- Legacy-creating stage (advanced old age)
Sternberg’s triarchic theory of intelligence
tacit knowledge
- Sternberg’s term for information that is not
formally taught but is necessary to get ahead.
- self-management, management of tasks, and
management of others
Emotional Intelligence (Salovey & Mayer, 1990): ability
to understand and regulate emotions; an important
component of effective, intelligent behavior.
- Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence
Test (MSCEIT) – test to measure EI
- Emotional intelligence affects the quality of
personal relationships.
- Emotional intelligence also affects effectiveness
at work.
Moral Reasoning: Experiences (Bloodgood, Turnley, &
Mudrack, 2008), culture (Dien, 1982), and gender
(Gilligan, 1993) affect the understanding of morality.
Education & Work
Gender and Socioeconomic Status: gender differences
are evident within some fields at the highest educational
levels and socioeconomic status affects access to
postsecondary education.
Adjusting to College: many freshmen feel overwhelmed
by the demands of college.
Cognitive Growth in College: students change in
response to the school curriculum, other students, the
student culture, and faculty members.
Completing College: whether a person completes college
may depend not only on motivation, academic aptitude
and preparation, and ability to work independently, but
also on social integration and social support:
Combining Work and Schooling: part-time work has
been found to have either few or positive effects on
academic performance if a student does not work more
than 15 hours a week, working more than 20 hours a
week tends to have a negative impact.
Cognitive Growth at Work: people to grow in
challenging jobs
 - substantive complexity: Degree to which a
person’s work requires thought and independent
judgment.
- spillover hypothesis: Hypothesis that there is a
carryover of cognitive gains from work to
leisure that explains the positive relationship
between activities in the quality of intellectual
functioning
Psychosocial Development in Emerging and Young
Adulthood
Paths to Adulthood
- young adults who begin families early and
generally do not go to college
- young adults who delay children until young
adulthood but who, rather than investing in
college, move into full-time work
- emerging adults of both sexes who delay
parenthood and other traditional markers of
adulthood in pursuit of educational or career
goals.
Identity Development in emerging adulthood
Recentering: process that underlies the shift to an adult
identity.
- Stage 1: emerging adult is still embedded in the
family of origin
- Stage 2: emerging adult remains connected to
but no longer embedded within the family of
origin.
- Stage 3: individual moves into young adulthood
Moratorium status: a self-conscious crisis that ideally
leads to a resolution and identity achievement status
Developing adult relationship with parents
- emerging adults still need parental acceptance,
empathy, and support, and attachment to the
parents
- quality of the parent-adult child relationship may
be affected by the relationship between the
mother and father
- Economic and social changes have made it more
difficult for young adults to establish an
economically viable independent household
Normative-Stage models; theoretical models that
describe psychosocial development in terms of a definite
sequence of age-related changes (Erikson’s Intimacy vs.
Isolation)
Timing-of-events model: theoretical model of
personality development that describes adult
psychosocial development as a response to the expected
or unexpected occurrence and timing of important life
events.
- Normative life events: in the timing-of-events
model, commonly expected life experiences that
occur at customary times.
- Social clock: set of cultural norms or
expectations for the times of life when certain
important events, such as marriage, parenthood,
entry into work, and retirement, should occur
Costa & McCrae’s five-factor model:
trait models: theoretical models of personality
development that focus on mental, emotional,
temperamental, and behavioral traits, or attributes.
Typological Approach (Block, 1971): Theoretical
approach that identifies broad personality types, or styles
Three personality types:
- ego-resilient
- overcontrolled
- undercontrolled
ego resiliency: dynamic capacity to modify one’s level
of ego-control in response to environmental and
contextual influences.
ego control: self-control and the self-regulation of
impulses.
Friendship
- Young single adults tend to rely on friendships
to fulfill their social needs more than young
married adults or young parents do.
- Women typically have more intimate friendships
than men do
- fictive kin: friends who are considered and
behave like family members.
Love
triangular theory of love: Sternberg’s theory that patterns
of love hinge on the balance among three elements:
intimacy, passion, and commitment.
Marital & non-marital lifestyles
- Single life: young adults stay single because
they have not found the right mate; others are
single by choice.
- Gay and lesbian relationships: greater social
acceptance of homosexuality has led to more
gay and lesbian adults coming out of the closet
and living openly.
- Cohabitation: an increasingly common lifestyle
in which an unmarried couple involved in a
sexual relationship live together.
Marriage
- the primary purpose of marriage as “the mutual
happiness and fulfillment of adults”
- Married people tend to be happier than
unmarried people.
- For most couples, sex impacts relationship
quality.
- Empathy, validation, and caring are related to
feelings of intimacy and better relationship.
Parenthood
- Today women in industrialized societies are
having fewer children and having them later in
life, and an increasing number choose to remain
childless.
- Fathers are usually less involved in child raising
than mothers, but more so than in previous
generations.
- Marital satisfaction typically declines during the
childbearing years.
- In most cases, the burdens of a dualearner
lifestyle fall most heavily on the woman.
When Marriage Ends
- Adjusting to divorce can be painful. Emotional
distance from the ex-spouse is a key to
adjustment.
- Many divorced people remarry within a few
years, but remarriages tend to be less stable than
first marriages.
- Stepfamilies may go through several stages of
adjustment
Physical Development in Middle Adulthood
Year bet. 40 and 65. There is no consensus on when
midlife begins and ends
Sensory and psychomotor functioning
Five areas of visual problems:
- near vision
- dynamic vision (reading moving signs)
- sensitivity to light
- visual search (locating a car in a parking lot)
- speed of processing visual information
- Presbyopia: age-related, progressive loss of the
eyes’ ability to focus on nearby objects due to
loss of elasticity in the lens
- Myopia: near-sightedness
- Presbycusis: age-related, gradual loss of hearing,
which accelerates after age 55, especially about
sounds at higher frequencies
o Factors: Gender, Environmental noise
- Sensitivity to taste and smell generally begins to
decline in midlife
- taste buds become less sensitive, and the number
of olfactory cells diminishes
- Some loss of muscle strength is usually
noticeable by age 45
- Basal metabolism is the minimum amount of
energy, typically measured in calories, that your
body needs to maintain vital functions while
resting
Changes in appearance may become noticeable during
the middle years
- skin may become less taut and smooth
- Hair may become thinner
- Weight gain
- Bone loss (osteoporosis)
- heart may begin to pump more slowly and
irregularly
Sexuality and Reproductive Functioning
- Menopause: cessation of menstruation and of
ability to bear children.
- Perimenopause / climacteric : period of several
years during which a woman experiences
physiological changes of menopause; includes
first year after end of menstruation; also called
- Erectile dysfunction: inability of a man to
achieve or maintain an erect penis sufficient for
satisfactory sexual performance.
- Hormone therapy (HT): Treatment with artificial
estrogen, sometimes in combination with the
hormone progesterone, to relieve or prevent
symptoms caused by decline in estrogen levels
after menopause.
Physical and Mental Health
- Hypertension: chronically high blood pressure
- Diabetes: disease in which the body does not
produce or properly use insulin, a hormone that
converts sugar, starches, and other foods into
energy needed for daily life.
- Breast cancer: hereditary, environmentally
influenced
o Mammography: diagnostic X-ray
examination of the breasts.
- Stress: response to physical or psychological
demands
o Stressors: perceived environmental
demands that may produce stress.
o Common sources of stress include
health, work and money, personal debt,
housing instability, and hunger.
Measuring Cognitive Abilities in Middle Age
Seattle Longitudinal Study found that several of the
primary mental abilities remain strong during middle
age, but there is great individual variability.
Fluid intelligence declines earlier than crystallized
intelligence.
- Expertise: a form of crystallized intelligence that
is related to the process of encapsulation
o Encapsulation: the process that allows
expertise to compensate for declines in
information-processing ability by
bundling relevant knowledge together.
- Integrative thought: An important feature of post
formal thought
- an age-related decline in creative output by
occupation, but more recent data suggest
findings may be more complex than originally
thought.
Work and Education
- phased retirement: reduce work hours or days,
gradually moving into retirement over a few
years.
- Bridge employment: switch to another company
or a new line of work
- Complex work may improve cognitive
flexibility
- Many adults participate in educational activities,
often to improve work-related skills and
knowledge.
- Literacy training is an urgent need in the United
States and globally
Trait Models
- Conscientiousness—being deliberate, organized,
and disciplined—tends to be highest in middle
age
- Increase in agreeableness—being
straightforward, altruistic, and modest—and
decrease in activity
- Increases in extraversion and agreeableness,
along with decreases in neuroticism, are
associated with high perceived social support
Normative- stage Models
Generativity versus stagnation: Erikson’s seventh stage
of psychosocial development, in which the middle-aged
adult develops a concern with establishing, guiding, and
influencing the next generation or else experiences
stagnation (a sense of inactivity or lifelessness).
Generativity: Erikson’s term for concern of mature
adults for finding meaning through contributing to
society and leaving a legacy for future generations.
Timing of Events: The Social Clock
- retirement at age 65 was almost universal
- end of the reproductive years
- raising children
Midlife Crisis
Midlife crisis: in some normative-crisis models, stressful
life period precipitated by the review and re-evaluation
of one’s past, typically occurring in the early to middle
forties.
Turning point: psychological transitions that involve
significant change or transformation in the perceived
meaning, purpose, or direction of a person’s life
- midlife review: introspective examination that
often occurs in middle age, leading to
reappraisal and revision of values and priorities.
ego-resiliency: the ability to adapt flexibly and
resourcefully to potential sources of stress
Susan Krauss Whitbourne: Identity Processes
Identity process theory (IPT): Whitbourne’s theory of
identity development based on processes of assimilation
and accommodation.
- identity schemas: accumulated perceptions of
the self shaped by incoming information from
intimate relationships, work-related situations,
and community and other experiences.
- identity assimilation: effort to fit new experience
into an existing selfconcept.
- identity accommodation: adjusting the
selfconcept to fit new experience
- identity balance: a tendency to balance
assimilation and accommodation
Psychological Well-being and Positive Mental Health
- gradual decline in negative emotions and an
increase in positive emotions through early
adulthood to old age
- marital discord and strain experienced by the
remarried adults had lasting effects on their
health
- Subjective well-being (how happy a person
feels) is also related to personality traits,
especially neuroticism
Theories of Social Contract
Social convoy theory: proposed by Kahn and Antonucci,
that people move through life surrounded by concentric
circles of intimate relationships on which they rely for
assistance, wellbeing, and social support.
Socioemotional selectivity theory: proposed by
Carstensen, that people select social contacts on the basis
of the changing relative importance of social interaction
as a source of information, as an aid in developing and
maintaining a selfconcept, and as a source of emotional
well-being
Consensual Relationships
- Rapid decline on marriage satisfaction
- Cohabitation is increasing in midlife.
- Divorce at midlife can be stressful and life
changing
- Married people tend to be healthier at middle
age than people with any other marital status.
- Because some gays and lesbians delayed coming
out, at midlife they may be just establishing
intimate relationships.
- Middle-aged people tend to invest less time in
friendships than younger adults do but depend
on friends for emotional support and practical
guidance.
Relationships with Maturing Children: Parents of
adolescents have to come to terms with a loss of control
over their children’s lives.
- Empty nest: transitional phase of parenting
following the last child’s leaving the parents’
home.
- Revolving door syndrome: tendency for young
adults who have left home to return to their
parents’ household in times of financial, marital,
or other trouble.
Other Kinship Ties
- Filial crisis: normative development of middle
age, in which adults learn to balance love and
duty to their parents with autonomy within a
two-way relationship
- Sandwich generation: iddle-aged adults
squeezed by competing needs to raise or launch
children and to care for elderly parents
- Caregiver burnout: condition of physical,
mental, and emotional exhaustion affecting
adults who provide continuous care for sick or
aged persons.
- Kinship care: care of children living without
parents in the home of grandparents or other
relatives, with or without a change of legal
custody.
Late Adulthood
- Ageism: Prejudice or discrimination based on
age
- Primary Aging: Gradual, inevitable process of
aging
- Secondary Aging: Results from disease, abuse,
and disuse
o activities of daily living (ADLs):
Essential activities that support survival,
such as eating, dressing, bathing, and
getting around the house
- Functional Age: How well a person functions
physically and socially
- Gerontology: study of the aged and the process
of aging.
- Geriatrics: branch of medicine concerned with
processes of aging and medical conditions
associated with old age.
- Life expectancy: Statistical likelihood of length
of life, based on age and health status
- Longevity: Actual length of life
- Life span: Longest period that members of
species can live
Physical Changes
- Lungs become less effective
- declines in immune system functioning
- Arrhythmia (irregular heartbeat)
- Problems with swallowing food, gastric reflux,
indigestion, irritable bowel syndrome,
constipation, and reduced absorption of nutrients
- Brain loses weight over time
Visual Impairment
- Cataracts: cloudy or opaque areas of eyes
- Age-related macular degeneration: retina loses
ability to distinguish details
- Glaucoma: irreversible damage to optic nerve
caused by increased pressure
Hearing loss: about 17 percent of adults age 45 to 64
have trouble hearing.
Declines in muscle strength, aerobic capacity, flexibility,
and agility
- functional fitness: the ability to perform the
physical activities of daily living.
Sexual Functioning
Men:
- Take longer to become erect and ejaculate
- Need more manual stimulation
- Experience longer intervals between erections
Female
- Have less breast engorgement
 - Vagina may be less flexible
Physical Health
- Leading causes of death: heart disease, cancer,
chronic lower respiratory disease, stroke,
Alzheimer’s disease, and diabetes.
- Physical activity and exercise. Healthy diet
- Regular health and dental exams
Mental Health
- Depression: influence of multiple genes
interacting with environmental factors.
- Dementia: Physiologically-caused cognitive and
behavioral decline
- Alzheimer’s disease: Progressive, irreversible,
degenerative brain disorder characterized by
cognitive deterioration and loss of control of
bodily functions, leading to death.
o Neurofibrillary tangles: twisted masses
of dead neurons
o Amyloid plaque: build up of
nonfunctioning tissue
o Neurocognitive screening tests
o Prospective memory tests
o Cholinesterase inhibitors,
Immunotherapy, Behavioral therapies,
Proper nourishment and fluid intake,
Exercise & physical therapy
- Parkinson’s disease: Progressive, irreversible
degenerative neurological disorder,
characterized by tremor, stiffness, slowed
movement, and unstable posture
Cognitive Development
- WAIS
- Seattle Longitudinal Study: Indicates
tremendous variation, Cognitive performance
can be improved, Cognitive deterioration may be
related to disuse
- Everyday problem solving: remains stable until
late adulthood, then declines.
Memory
Encoding new information
- Older adults are less efficient
- Requires creating new associations
Storage: Increase in ‘storage failure’ with age
Retrieval
- Older adults have trouble
- Do better on recognition than recall
Erikson’s Ego Integrity
- Final stage of life span
- Ego integrity versus despair
- Successful crisis resolution brings virtue of
wisdom: having lived a life without regrets
Personality Traits
- increases in agreeableness, self-confidence,
warmth, emotional stability, and
conscientiousness
- declines in neuroticism, social vitality
(gregariousness), and openness to experience
- Negative emotions tend to decrease with age.
(Neurotics have higher negative emotion)
- Positive emotions tend to remain stable
(Extraverts have higher positive emotion)
Coping
Cognitive -appraisal model : proposed by Lazarus and
Folkman, that holds that, based on continuous appraisal
of their relationship with the environment, people choose
appropriate coping strategies to deal with situations that
tax their normal resources
- problem -focused coping : coping strategy
directed toward eliminating, managing, or
improving a stressful situation .
- emotion -focused coping : coping strategy
directed toward managing the emotional
response to a stressful situation so as to lessen its
physical or psychological impact .
Components of Successful Aging
(1) Avoidance of disease or disability
(2) Maintenance of physical and cognitive function
(3) Active engagement in social activities
- disengagement theory: successful aging is
characterized by mutual withdrawal of the older
person and society
- activity theory: to age successfully a person
must remain as active as possible
- continuity theory: in order to age successfully
people must maintain a balance of continuity
and change in both the internal and external
structures of their lives
Productivity
- Higher self-rated happiness
- Better physical functioning
- Selecting a few meaningful activities
- Optimizing abilities in those activities
- Compensating for losses
Work and Retirement
Biggest factors in deciding to retire: Health & Financial Relationships with Siblings: Siblings provide more
considerations companionship than other family members and more
emotional support than friends
Life after retirement: Family-focused life, Balanced
investment, Serious leisure Great-Grandparenthood: Great-grandparents tend to be
less involved than grandparents in child’s life, due to
Living Arrangement declining health and scattering of families
- Living in place or alone: for those who can
manage with minimal help
- Living with adult children: extended family
- Living in institutions: for care of frail elderly;
likelihood increases with age
- Alternative housing options: co-op or mobile
home, assisted living
Personal Relationships
Social convoy theory: Identify helpful social-network
members. Avoid unhelpful network members
Socio-emotional selectivity theory: Older adults spend
time with people who meet their emotional needs
Social support helps older people: Maintain life
satisfaction in the face of stress. Maintain health and
well-being
Marital Relationships
- Long-term marriage: spousal caregiving
- Widowhood: older women are more likely to be
widowed and tend to outlive husbands
- Divorce late in life is rare
- Remarriages tend to be more trusting and
accepting, and men tend to report more marital
satisfaction
Non-Marital Lifestyles and Relationships
Single Life and Cohabitation:
- Older, never-married people are more likely than
older, divorced or widowed people to prefer
single life and to report feeling less lonely.
- Older cohabitors, particularly women, tend to
have lower incomes and no health insurance.
- Gay and Lesbian Relationships: homosexual
relationships in late life tend to be strong,
supportive, diverse
- Friendships: Intimacy is an important benefit of
older friendships.
Non-marital Kinship Ties
Relationships with Adult Children
- Mother-daughter relationship tends to be
especially close
- Children provide greatest share of support and
mutual aid