ADULTHOOD

Objectives 25-33

Daniel Lee Lucas Chung Ricky Mejia Bryant Rodriguez Magaly Mendez Ruktawan Yuttawongs Christopher Marroquin

Physical Activities and Aging Viewpoints

Physical activities in early and middle adulthood is not constrained by age but perception. Societys views on aging determine the reaction to aging. Ex. Eastern cultures respect and power come with age in Western culture we try to preserve youth as best we can.

Menopause
The ending of a womans menstrual cycle around the age of 50. Usually doesnt cause psychological damage like portrayed in media When asked if women feel better than they have in years one-fourth of premenopausal said yes but twothirds of those who experiences menopause said yes. Perception is reality

Men and Menopause?

Men do not experience a direct form of male menopause but with age experience decline in sperm count, testosterone levels, and speed of erection and ejaculation If testosterone drops too fast or far possible side effects are depression, irritability, insomnia, impotence, or weakness. Treatment with testosterone is available.

Physical Changes in Later Life

Life expectancy is the age a person is expected to live. It can range from just 33 in Swaziland to 84 years in Andorra. Sensory abilities can decline rapidly in late adulthood. Muscle strength, reaction time, stamina and vision and hearing all decline in strength. For example, a 20 year old can see 3 times better than a 65 year old.

Health and Old Age

There is both good news and bad news about growing old, in terms of health. Older people tend to be more prone to illnesses such as cancer and pneumonia, but they also tend to suffer from colds and flus, less often than younger people due to their lifelong accumulation of antibodies.

Dementia and Alzheimers

Many old-age adults suffer from dementia, which is mental erosion, or the loss of brain cells. Alzheimers disease is a brain disorder that is characterized by the gradual deterioration of memory, reasoning, and language. This disorder is caused by the decline in the productivity of acetylcholine, the lack of which, can impair memory and thinking.

Aging & Memory

Memory tends to decrease with age, but studies have found that we remember events in our teens and twenties more than any other events. Forgetting also tends to depend on the type of information you are trying to remember. Young people tend to be better at recall tests, while there is no difference between younger and older people in recognition tests. It has also been found that prospective memory (remember to..) stays strong in old age, while time-based memory (remember the meeting at 3PM) is somewhat challenging for older people.

Aging and Intelligence

Cross-Sectional Studies is a study in which people of different ages are compared with one another. Researchers consistently find that older adults give fewer correct answers than do younger adults. This shows that intelligence slowly declines after young adulthood. (You cant teach an old dog new tricks) Longitudinal study is the research in which the same people are restudied and retested over a long period. After retesting the same people over a period of years, they found that until late in life, intelligence remained stable. Compared with the cross-sectional studies, we found that cross-sectional studies compares two different eras where learning situations might have been different. Researchers came up with two views. Crystallized intelligence, one's accumulated knowledge and verbal skill, tends to grow with age, such as earning more Ph.D's and public speaking (congressmen, president, etc.). Fluid intelligence, one's ability to reason speedily and abstractly, tends to decrease during late adulthood (losing recall memory and processing speed).

Adulthood Ages and Stages

The Midlife Transition is the crisis; a struggle time period where most people experience at the age of forties. The crisis does not have to follow tightly to ones chronological age. Unpleasentful events can occur at any random age in ones life time. Examples of the midlife crisis includes: -Losing jobs -Financial problems -Divorce The social clock is the idea of events that can occur at the right time. Examples of the social clock includes: -The right time to find job -The right time to get marry and have kids -The right tiem to retire.

Adulthoods Commitments
According to Erikson, the two basic tasks of adulthood are achieving intimacy and generativity Freud believed the healthy adult is one who can love and work. Evolutionary psychologists believe that because commitment had survival value for our ancestors, parents who stay together, cooperate, and raise children to a child bearing age have a better chance of passing along these genes of posterity Settling into a career path is time consuming but satisfying work also correlates with life satisfaction. Human societies have nearly always included a relatively monogamous bond. Marriage couples usually last longer when the couples marry after the age of 20 and are well educated. Couples who live together before marrying have a higher divorce rate than those who do not.

Adulthoods Commitments cont.

Of those who divorce, 75% eventually remarry. Marriage is a predictor of happiness, sexual satisfaction, health, and income. Lesbian couples report greater well being than singles. As chidren get older and demand more time and energy, satisfaction with the marriage itself decreases, particularly among employed women For most couples, the childrens leaving home produces an increase satisfactions. Reasearch studies of women who are not employed have found that a womens satisfaction in life depends on the quality of her experiene in her lifes role.

Well-Being Across the Life Span

People at all ages shows stability in feelings of happiness and satisfication. Teenagers typically come dow from elation or up from gloomy in less than an hour.
For most people, old age offers less intense joy but greater contentment and increased spirituality. Through life spand, the feelings of happiness stay stable at the average level of satisfications.

Death and Dying

Usually, the separation from a spouse is the hardest to recover from. This is especially true when death comes too soon and unexpectedly, but grieving is shorter lived when death occurs late as is expected. The range of reactions to a loved ones death is wider and varies by culture. Some cultures encourage public weeping and wailing Many others prefer to hide grief.

Death and Dying cont.

Those who express the strongest grief immediately do not purge their grief more quickly For most, therapy and self-help groups do not enhance the healing power of time and friends. Grieving spouses who talk to others often or receive counseling adjust no better than those who grieve privately Terminally ill and bereaved people do not go through predictable stages, such as denial, anger, and so forth. Given similar loses, some people greive hard and long, other more lightly and briefly.

Do we go through gradual, cumulative growth? Or do we differ as a butterfly differs from a caterpillar-a difference of distinct stages?
Those who emphasize learning and experience believe in a slow, continuous shaping process

Those who emphasize biological maturation believe in a sequence of genetically predisposed stages or steps.
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Although research casts doubt on the idea that life proceeds through neatly defined, age-linked stages, the concept of stage remains useful. The human brain does experience growth spurts during childhood and puberty that correspond roughly to Piaget's stages.