After reading this chapter, students should understand that:
- People are living longer and thus the period of adulthood is lengthening; demographers have divided the age period into young old (ages 65-74), the old old (75-84), and the oldest old (85 and older); the fastest growing segment of the population is the oldest old
- Ageism is manifested in widespread negative attitudes toward the elderly that are based on conceptions of older people as being in less than a full command of their mental faculties, less attractive and less competent; the actions of older people are often interpreted differently based on assumptions that their sometimes less than ideal actions and behaviors are due to their growing incompetence; older people are confronted by the high value so many societies place on youthfulness and attractiveness—the older generations are therefore often pushed to the sidelines; ageism affects the ability of older people to get and hold down jobs, to be treated fairly and appropriately in situations such as in nursing homes
- There is a distinction between primary aging, which characterizes the universal and irreversible changes that, due to genetic preprogramming, occur as people get older, and secondary aging, which is characterized by changes in physical and cognitive functioning due to illness, health habits and other individual differences
- Outward signs of aging include changes in hair color and density, loss of skin elasticity and collagen, thinning of bone cartilage causing a decrease in height; the double standard for appearance means that women are judged more harshly for their visible signs of aging than are men
- Internal signs of aging occur in internal changes in the functioning of the organs; the brain becomes smaller and lighter with age and there is a reduction in the flow of the blood within the brain; the number of neurons declines; the heart’s capacity to pump blood throughout the circulatory system is reduced; due to hardening and shrinking of blood vessels, the heart has to pump harder; the efficiency of the respiratory and digestive systems decline, some hormone production decreases and muscle fibers decrease in size and amount
- During late adulthood, reaction time increases significantly causing significantly more accidents for elderly people; one explanation for slower reaction time, the peripheral slowing hypothesis, suggests that overall processing speed declines in the peripheral nervous system causing information from the environment to take longer to reach the brain and longer for commands from the brain to reach the body’s muscles; an alternative explanation, the generalized slowing hypothesis, suggests that processing in all parts of the body becomes less efficient, causing all parts of the body to slow down
- During late adulthood, changes in the physical apparatus of the eye cause a decrease in visual abilities—vision is distant objects is less acute, more light is needed to see clearly, and it takes longer to adjust from dark to light places; diseases of the eye such as cataracts and glaucoma are common during late adulthood; the disorder of age-related macular degeneration is the most common cause of blindness in people over the age of 60
- During late adulthood, hearing loss is common, particularly the ability to hear higher frequencies; some find very loud noises to be painful; although hearing aids would be helpful, few elderly people choose to wear them
- During late adulthood, the senses of both taste and smell becomes less discriminating due to fewer taste buds and, for smell, the shriveling of olfactory bulbs in the brain
- The incidence of diseases and illnesses that are common throughout the life span, such as cancer, rise with age; as older people are less able to rebound from illnesses, they are less likely to recover than if they got the illness/disease as a younger person; heart disease, cancer, and stroke are the leading causes of death in the elderly population; most older people have at least one chronic condition such as arthritis or hypertension; depression, drug-induced psychological disorders such as anxiety, and dementia (Alzheimer’s disease being its most common form) are common psychological disorders in late adulthood
- Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive brain disorder that produces loss of memory and confusion and leads to death; the disease has a gradual progression from small signs of unusual forgetfulness to being totally confused and unable to recognize their loved ones; some suffer from anxiety and fear as a result of knowing what to expect of the progression of the disease; it is not known what causes the production of beta amyloid precursor proteins to go awry; it does appear to be an inherited disorder although studies do show that blood pressure and diet can play a role; there is no cure for the disease, just ways to treat the symptoms
- Some factors that play a role in one’s health status during late adulthood are: susceptibility to disease as a result of genetic inheritance, susceptibility to disease as a result of unhealthy lifestyle, economic well-being (poverty limits and/or restricts adequate medical care), susceptibility to illness due to psychological factors, and unhealthy nutrition, exercise, and behaviors; well-being can be promoted by eating a proper diet, exercising and avoiding unhealthy activities such as smoking
- Some people are still sexually active in late adulthood; good mental and physical health and previous regular sexual activity impact whether or not one is sexually active in late adulthood; having sex has been associated with a lower risk of death
- The major theories to explaining why we experience physical deterioration and eventually death are genetic preprogramming theories and wear-and-tear theories
- Genetic preprogramming theories suggest that our DNA code contains a time limit for the reproduction of human cells, once the cells no longer divide, the body begins to deteriorate; one variation of this theory explains that there is a "death gene" that directs the body to deteriorate and die; another variation of this theory suggests that the cells of the body can only duplicate a certain number of times--eventually, genetic instructions become incomprehensible and cells stop reproducing causing deterioration and death
- Wear-and-tear theories argue that the mechanical functions of the body start to wear away and the by-products (e.g., free radicals) and toxins produced throughout life reach such high levels that they impair normal functioning causing deterioration and death
- Average life expectancy has been increasing and predictions are that it will continue to go up; developments in health, sanitation, lifestyle, and safety have improved life expectancy; race, gender, and ethnicity impact life expectancy
- Although cross-sectional and longitudinal studies have shown drawbacks to studying intelligence, by combining cross-sectional and longitudinal methods, the cross-sequential methods has enabled Schaie’s research work to overcome these drawbacks; findings show that there is no uniform pattern to declines in intellectual abilities; fluid intelligence does seem to decline while crystallized remains the same or improves; for some people, there was evidence of some cognitive abilities declining around age 67 but these declines were minimal until age 81; while some experience declines beginning in their 30s, others experience no decline until their 70s; environmental and cultural factors relate to cognitive decline (e.g., people who showed less decline were less likely to have a chronic disease); cognitive training that includes stimulation, practice, and motivation, can maintain and improve cognitive capabilities
- In late adulthood, memory loss is not inevitable; societal regard for the elderly has been shown to influence memory loss; episodic memory and short-term memory tend to be affected more than semantic and implicit memory; autobiographical memory is similar to that of younger people—older people tend to remember pleasant memories that coincide with the way they see themselves and tend to make memories fit into their current self-image; recall of earlier decades is more accurate than recall of more recent decades
- Memory loss in late adulthood is caused by a combination of factors: environmental factors (e.g., prescription drugs and decreased experience with intellectually challenging activity); information processing deficits (e.g., ability to limit irrelevant thoughts decreases, speed of processing decreases, and ability to organize and pay attention declines); and, biological factors (e.g., brain deterioration)
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