Continuity Theory
A theory based on idea that people tend to cope with daily life in later adulthood by applying familiar strategies based on past experience to maintain and preserve both internal and external structures
Continuity Theory: External
concerns remembered physical and social environments, role relationships, and activities.
proves a framework for understanding how social participation and volunteer activity in recently widowed older adults helps them maintain connections with people, so
Continuity Theory: Internal
Internal continuity refers to a remembered inner past, such as temperament, experiences, emotions, and skills
Personal identity
Enables you to see that how you are now Is connected with your past, even if your current behavior looks different.
One of the
Competence
defined as the upper limit of a person's ability to function in five domains: physical health, sensory-perceptual skills, motor skills, cognitive skills, and ego strength
Environmental Press
refers to the physical, interpersonal, or social demands that environments put on people
Physical demands might be climbing up three flights of stairs
Interpersonal demands include having to adjust your behavior patterns to different types of people.
Soci
Adaption Level
When the press level is average for a particular level of competence
Zone of maximum performance potential
When the press level is slightly tighter than average, sending to improve performance
Slight increases in press tend to improve performance
Zone of maximum comfort
When the press level is slightly lower than average, facilitating a high quality of life.
Slight decrease in press, in which people are able to live happily without worrying about environmental demands
As a person moves away from these areas,
behavior becomes increasingly maladaptive and affect becomes negative
Integrity Versus Despair
According to Erickson, the process in late life by which people try to make sense of their lives
Life review
The process by which people reflect or the events and experiences of their lifetime
In general, older adults who are more involved with and committed to their faith
have better physical and mental health than older adults who are not religious.
Older Mexican Americans who pray to the saints and the Virgin Mary regularly
tend to have greater optimism and better health
Spiritual Support
A type of coping strategy that includes seeking pastoral care, participating in organized and unorganized religious activities, and expressing faith in a God who cares for people.
Krause reports that feelings of self-worth are lowest in
older adults who have little religious commitment, a finding supported by cross-cultural research with Muslims, Hindus, and Sikhs.
Turning problems over to God was a three step process
1. Differentiating between things that can and those that cannot be changed
2. Focusing personal efforts on the things that can be changed
3. Emotionally disconnecting from those aspects of the problem that cannot be changed by focusing on the belief that
What Does Being Retired Mean?
Decision to retire involves the loss of occupational identity, not what people may add to their lives
This view makes retirement a complex process by which people withdraw from full-time participation s to this wend. in an occupation, recognizing that the
Why Do People Retire?
Provided people have good health, more workers retire by choice than for any other reason.
Individuals usually retire when they feel financially secure after considering projected income from Social Security, pensions and other structured retirement progr
Gender and Ethnic Differences
Women may enter the works force after they stayed at home and in general have more discontinuous work histories; also, having fewer financial resources may affect women's decisions to retire.
For women who never employed outside of the home, the process o
Adjustment to Retirement
As long as people have financial security, health, a supportive network of relatives and friends, and an internally driven sense of motivation, they report feeling good about being retired.
Forced retirement leads to significant declines in physical and m
Keeping Busy In Retirement
Some people continue working after retiring.
Healthy, active retired adults also maintain community ties by volunteering.
Develop new aspect of self
Find a personal sense of purpose
Desire to share skills and expertise
Redefine the nature and merits of vo
Social Convoy
A group of people that journey with us throughout our lives, providing support in good and bad times
Friendships
Having at least one close friend or confidant provides a buffer against the losses of roles and status that accompany old age, such as retirement or death of a loved one, and can increase people's happiness and self-esteem.
Patterns mirror young adulthood
Socioemotional selectivity
The process by which social contact is motivated by many goals, including information seeking, self concept, and emotional regulation
Siblings
Constitute the longest lasting relationships in most people's lives.
Provide a way for older adults to have close, emotionally based relationships because siblings have a long shared past
Older adult siblings whose lives took very different paths are the
Marriage and Same Sex Partnership
Many older couples exhibit selective memory regarding the occurrence of negative events and perceptions of their partner.
Older couples typically have a reduced potential for marital conflict and greater potential for pleasure, are more likely to be simil
Caring for a Partner
Spousal caregivers report a loss of companionship and intimacy over the course of caregiving but also more rewards than do adult child caregivers.
Marital satisfaction is also an important predictor of spousal caregivers' reports of depressive symptoms: t
Widowhood
Women are more likely to be widowed than are men.
More than half of all women over age 65 are widows, but only 15% of men the same age are widowers.
The average married woman can expect to live at least 10 years as a widow
Family and friends might now kno
Frail Older Adults
Adults who have physical disabilities, are very ill, and may have cognitive or psychological disorders
Activities of Daily Living (ALDs)
Basic self-care tasks such as eating, bathing, toileting, walking, and dressing
Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADLs)
Actions that require some intellectual competence and planning
Vary from culture to culture
Western cultures, IADLs would include shopping for personal items, paying bills, making telephone calls, taking medication, etc.
In other cultures might include ca
Living Arrangements
Household
*An individual who lives alone or a group of individuals who live together
About one in every five households in the US is headed by someone at least 65 years old.
Most older adults do whatever they can to adapt their homes and activities and th
Sense of place
The cognitive and emotional attachments that a person puts on their place of residence, by which a house is made into a home
Assisted Living
A supportive living arrangement for people who need assistance with ADLs or IADLS but who are not so impaired physically or cognitively that they need 24 hour care
Nearly 2/3rds of residents of assisted living facilities over age 65 have an ADL or IADL li
Long Term Care Facilities
Provide medical care 24/7 by a team of health care professionals that includes physicians (who must be on call), nurses, therapists, and others.
Only about 5% of older adults in the US live in a long-term care facility such as a nursing home.
The Eden Alternative seeks to
eliminate loneliness, helplessness, and boredom from the lives of those living in long-term care facilities and to create a community in which life is worth living.
The Green House Project
creates small neighborhood integrated homes for 6 to 10 residents in which older adults receive a high level of personal and profession care.
Cohousing is a
planned community that is modest in size and built around an open, walkable space designed to foster social interaction among neighbors. Personal autonomy is a core value for the people who create cohousing developments
Defining Elder Abuse and Neglect
Physical
Sexual
Emotional or psychological abuse
Financial or material exploitation
Abandonment
Neglect
Self-neglect
Physical
The use of physical force that may result in bodily injury, physical pain, or impairment
Sexual
Nonconsensual sexual contact of any kind
Emotional or psychological abuse
Infliction of anguish, pain, or distress
Financial or material exploitation
Illegal or improper use of an older adults funds, property, or assets
Abandonment
Desertion of an older adult by an individual who had physical custody or otherwise had assumed responsibility for providing care for the older adult
Neglect
Refusal or failure to fulfill any part of a person's obligation or duties to an older adult
Self-neglect
Behaviors of an older person that threaten his or her own health or safety, excluding those conscious and voluntary decisions by a mentally competent and healthy adult
Prevalence
As many as 5 million older adults in the US may be victims of older abuse, but only about one in every six cases comes to the attention of authorities.
Most common forms are
neglect (60%),
physical (16%), and
financial or material exploitation (12%).
Risk Factors
2/3rds of elder abuse and neglect incidents, the abuser is a family member.
Caregivers or care providers/ people who are in a position of trust are also in a position to take advantage of an older adult.
Telemarketing and Internet fraud against older adul