Aging Andychopathology

We know that this is an issue in every time period and is addressed by many writers. Growing old does not change, but each age has its own way of dealing with the old. This paper

This perspective uses different aspects of biology, psychology, and social processes to explain and understand aging. The biological aspects of aging would obviously highlight that healthy, active individuals with good genetics would age more successfully. The cultures of the Blue Zones encourage healthy habits which help increase the life span. Healthy habits can also help slow down, or even stop, some of the processes of primary and secondary aging – these factors include natural and illness related changes. Cultures that promote cleaner eating habits and active lifestyles will naturally have a better chance of having healthy and happy elderly.

Analyzing late adulthood and the death of an individual as a culmination of the life span development process one must understand late adulthood consists of. This paper will give a brief overview of ageism and stereotypes associate with late adulthood. This will explain how health and wellness techniques in the late adulthood stages can mitigate the negative effects of aging. As people age the social views and experiences changes in relationships and interactions with individuals, as he or she nears end of life. When closely approaching the end of life, a person has cultural and personal attitudes about death and dignity in late adulthood.

Aging is a universal phenomenon and humans are no exception. Gerontology deals with the psychological, social and biological aspects of aging process. A recent study shows that people aged 85 years and older are expected to augment from 5.3 million people to 21 million as the world reach 2050. In today’s world Gerontology has an enormous role to play so that the senior citizens could be analyzed and their needs may be addressed with compassion and empathy.

The main discussion of the article focuses on the topic of whether aging is a

There is one myth about growing older that has been permeating American culture for decades, and that is that mental decline, also known as having “senior moments,” is an inevitable result of aging. But this is simply not the case.

As aging is a stage of development that cannot prevented, the question of “can one’s aging be more successful than another?” is posed my many. Researchers continually consider the differences between aging successfully, and aging unsuccessfully. As researchers work to complete their studies, many find a reoccurring basis of successful aging. A basis of successful aging can be set including: physical health disease free, chronic illness free, mental health disease free, among many others. The only problem with this basis is the difference from person to person in terms of what makes aging successful. As individuals age, their mental state is a large predictor of how the person will age. A positive mental state about aging, will have a more positive effect on a person’s aging process. Many factors may influence the positivity of aging, such as negative aging stereotypes and discrimination because of older age. These negative aging stereotypes include but are not limited to: older adults are not as smart, older adults are angry all the time, older adults are bad drivers, older adults are isolated and never socialize. In adult aging and development, having a positive outlook on aging will lead to better mental and physical aging.

1. Tessie is a 78-year-old woman who was born in Greece and moved to Australia when she was 28 years old. Tessie lives at home alone and has 3 children and 2 grandchildren. Tessie’s grandchildren are her biggest passion and are what motivates her in life, as well as sponsoring a child overseas. Throughout the interview, she was cognitively able to attend and respond, concentrate and multitask while occasionally checking on her cooking and answering questions. Tessie displayed a positive outlook on life and discussed how she feels younger than her chronological age, which is aligned with the psych-social theory of ageing. Tessie continues to be very active on a daily basis, although she is experiencing some fatigue due to her busy lifestyle, minimal pain when she finally sits down at the end of the day and her legs hurting occasionally. Furthermore, she has low vision due to years of strain placed on her eyes while working as a machinist.

It is not easy to come up with a working definition of aging; different academics around the world defined ‘aging’ from different perspectives. Based on the collected information I have, I define aging –a multidimensional process of physiological, mental and social changes that occurred over the course of life. Though it is beyond human control, aging experiences may vary between individuals. “In the developed world, chronological time plays a paramount role. The age of 60 or 65, roughly equivalent to retirement ages in most developed countries is said to be the beginning of old age. In many parts of the developing world, chronological time has little or no importance in the meaning of old age. Other socially constructed meanings of age are more significant such as the roles assigned to older people; in some cases it is the loss of roles accompanying physical decline which is significant in defining old age. Thus, in contrast to the chronological milestones which mark life stages in the developed world, old age in many developing countries is seen to begin at the point when active contribution is no longer possible." (Gorman, 2000)

There are many theories of aging; the purpose of my paper is to illustrate the application of theories of aging. I will discuss the psychosocial theory of aging. The psychosocial theory explains aging in terms of mental processes emotions, intelligence, memory, learning and personality (Dittrich, 2014). The theories discussed are disengagement theories and activity theory.

According to Crawford and Walker(2010), the life course is defined in literature as, “The progression and path an individual takes from conception to death.” (Crawford and walker, 2012, p.3). The study of the life course and human development is extremely complex and could be described as interdisciplinary as it encompasses many fields of study. When examining the life course of individuals it is necessary to consider all of the various factors that affect human behaviour. These may include; psychological, biological, social, behavioural, cognitive or culture factors. Age can also be considered as a factor that influences lifespan development. In the early 19th century, the term “age related change” was regarded as only applicable to the early childhood stage but in recent years, psychologists have come to accept that age related changes occur throughout the entire life span. According to Boyd and Bee (2014), other earlier theories included Charles Darwin’s suggestion that, “the wide variety of life forms that exist on earth evolved gradually as a result of the interplay between environmental factors and genetic process.” (Boyd and Bee, 2014, p.3) Therefore Darwin proposed that it was either solely, “nature” or “nurture” that influenced the human development, but instead, a combination of both. In this assignment, I am going to focus on the specific psychological factors that influence human behaviour during the life course. I will compare two different psychological

To learn more about the process of aging, I have decided to conduct an interview with a man who is approaching his sixty fifth birthday in the upcoming December. The main goal of this interview was to gain as many knowledges as possible on aging from an older adult. For the sake of this assignment I will address the interviewee as Mr. P. P is the oldest sibling of three sisters and two brothers, who all grew up in Jakarta, Indonesia and his father passed away when he was only ten years old. As the oldest child in the family, P had the responsibility to be the backbone of the family and support his siblings at a very young age. P had the privilege to attend elementary school from the first grade until sixth grade before deciding not to pursue

The authors Richard Robins and Kali Trzesniewski wrote an article about how self-esteem changes across a persons’ life time. They speculated that in early childhood self-esteem is relatively high then begins to decline. In adolescents’ self-esteem continues to decline, until adulthood when self-esteem gradually begins to increase until around the age of sixty. When an individual hits old age self-esteem begins to decline again. The authors speculate that decline in old age is similar to the decline of self-esteem for adolescents-the rapid changes happening in their lives. For both adolescents and old people their lives begin to change in ways that weren’t apparent to them before. For adolescents and people in

There are numerous ways to define successful aging. The word “aging” usually has a negative connotation. However, when putting the word success behind it introduces positive aspects that can essentially promote a long-term developmental outcome for an individual. Happening around midlife and late adulthood, successful aging is simply when an individual has complete development and maintenance of control throughout life, has achieved in the selection of goals and purposes, as well as maximization of gains and compensations of failure. This is the complete and ultimate goal for those in their late adulthood and is quite fascinating to developmental scientist. Those who engross themselves with attempting to achieve a successful aging will most likely have characteristics which in turn encourage and advocate for things such as health, growth, and vitality, maintaining social encounters and productive activities, and lastly maintaining high physical and cognitive functioning. Two developmental scientist, Vaillant & Mukamal, have discovered the factors that predict satisfaction of life are those an individual is able to control. These factors include are health habits, marital stability, years of education, and coping strategies. On the other hand those factors that are out of an individual 's control can not predict the level of happiness or satisfaction with life. These include the length of life of a family member, early health status, parental SES, and family warmth in

The importance of studying the process of growing old from a life course perspective is that it allows you to see all the variables and factors that affect how a person will age. This framework entail the mental, physical and socioeconomic well being of aging individuals, including their entire lifetime. This means that your past affects your future health. This perspective views aging as the last stage of a lifespan. “We cannot understand what old age means unless we understand it as a part of the entire course of human life,[...], the last stage of life shaped by a lifetime of experience.”(Moody, Harry. and Sasser, Jennifer. Aging: Concepts and Controversies. Sage Publishers, London, 2018.) The advantages of studying aging this way prevents