Karla Bly Interview

Unlike most people, I did not get to be a carefree child for long. Even though I always said that I could not wait to grow up, now I wish that it all did not happen so fast and early in my life. From eleven to twelve years old—that would be the period I describe as the time I had to put my big-girl pants on and face the real, cruel and unwelcoming adult world. In that time period, I can specifically pinpoint two major events that ended my childhood: my move from Russia to the United States and the birth of my baby sister Toma. To some those might not seem significant enough to change someone’s life to the extent that they changed mine; however those events molded me into the person I am today.

For a personal perspective of life inside Pierce County I consulted with a colleague who works as a lactation consultant. She is a 50-year-old college-educated white female who also works as an instructor in a local vocational college. She reports that her cohort’s attitude toward aging is not altogether positive. She is beginning to feel the gradual decline in her body functions and says that she and others like her find it frustrating that their bodies don’t work as well as they did in their youth. That attitude of reluctance tends to affect how readily her peers seek assistance, especially if it means accepting the realities of aging. Some of the physical health problems common in her cohort involve vision, sleep apnea, joint pain, and decreased stamina.

As the mother of seven grown children, I agree with most of Jeffrey Arnett’s, author of Emerging Adulthood, theories. It is a time of change, with a developmental connection between adolescence and adulthood. During this phase of development, children experience periods of self-discovery transformation. There are favorable outcomes as well as adverse effects during this developmental stage. Furthermore, this successive stage encourages and promotes the change from the dependency of their parents to the independence that is distinctive for adults. This autonomy is beneficial because it prepares the emerging adult for their future independently from their parents. Arnett believes there are five characteristics of emerging adulthood that make it distinguishable from other time periods: the age of identity explorations, the age of instability, the self-focused age, the age of feeling in-between, and the age of possibilities.

The Up Series documents the lives of fourteen children in a longitudinal study. The filmmaker interviews these fourteen individuals every seven years to examine how their lives progress over time and to examine how their socioeconomic status affects their life. In this paper, Suzy will be examined from age 7 to age 56. Over the course of the Up Series, Suzy’s personality and priorities changed dramatically in almost all of the aspects of her life. From the small bits and pieces of her life that were captured and shown on the series, the course her life could have taken could have been much different. Her story shows that one life event can change the course of your whole life. In the end Suzy was the poster child of how one life event can change the rest of your life. She is not necessarily the poster child for wealth, prosperity and privilege that the series paint her to be. Initially, she was because that was the type of person the filmmaker wanted to portray her as. However, in the end, she was successful at portraying herself very differently. It took her many years to do so, but she was able to do it. By the end of the series, Suzy changed the way she portrays herself, and much of this change has to do with the life events she has experienced. She experienced being a resistant child and young adult on the series, losing a parent at a young age, finding a successful marriage and experiencing financial instability. All of these events happened at an age the made her grow

On November 6th, 2015, I had the pleasure of interviewing a delightful woman named, Lilly LaVigne. We discussed how she was born at the Saint Cloud Hospital on March 27th, 1949, making her sixty-seven-years-old and apart of the baby boomer generation. Also, she is a white non-Hispanic woman with a German nationality. She has a strong Christian faith, which she considers to be the most important thing about her. She describes her life as an, “Ongoing adventure” (LaVigne, 2015). Lilly’s life course proves that there are many more facets of aging other than just the chronological aspect, including the psychological aspect, the social aspect, and the biological aspect.

The late adulthood interview took place on March 29, 2017 at approximately 4:30 p.m. The interviewee’s name was Doris Cotton, who is one of my close cousins. The interview took place in her home in Scooba, MS. The atmosphere of her home was very warm and cozy. Hanging from her living room ceiling was a large chandelier, and she had shiny hardwood flooring of a teak color. Her home also had a sweet smelling aroma of lavender scent. Doris is a 68-year-old, African American, female. She is the second oldest child of five girls. Doris regards herself as a Christian woman who attends church regularly, where she sings in the choir. When asked what she most and least enjoyed about getting older, she stated that she most enjoyed the flexibility of doing things at her own will. She also enjoys that she gets to spend more time with her daughter and granddaughter. She has the freedom to enjoy life and do things that she values, especially since she is retired. One of her least things about getting older is that health issues and

In Erik Erikson theory this stage is “Achieving a sense of generativity while avoiding self-absorption and stagnation (middle-age)” (Crisp and Taylor 2010, p.149). This stage is described as the focus of raising children and to sacrifice their own needs for others. (Crisp and Taylor 2010, p.149). Mrs Green may find that her relationship with her children is stronger, and may have a very active social life as she may be getting ready to retire from work (Koutoukidis, Stainton & Hughson 2013, p.224).

As I ask Vanessa about her understanding of her status as a middle-aged adult she states the following: “The bible tells us that the older women are to teach the younger women and because of that I am to seek for the advice of an older women than me.” As a middle-age adult, Vanessa has experience advice from older women than her and she has tried to help younger women by giving them her own advice. Vanessa believes that at her age she has experienced many things and if she shares her experience with younger women, they will be able to learn from her. Some benchmarks that she shares with other individuals like her is that she has lived a really active life and during this time of life they begin to get grandchildren. Something that she has experienced at this age, but that is non-normative is that she had 6 to 8 major moves within the last 14 years. However, she states that this is because “the Lord wanted me in different places.”

Late adulthood in Erikson’s life stage theory is the difference between in integrity versus despair. (Ashford & Lecroy, 2013, p. 99) Doris has found her life to be very satisfying. The only thing she wishes could have been changed is the passing of her husband so early. She is content and proud of the way her children have turned out and where her life is currently. We have talked much about how things were as she raised her children and even that of when she was a child. Cappeliez calls this the reminiscence bump, the ability to recall memories from adolescence through young adulthood. (2008, p. 1) She appreciates the life she has been fortunate to have and enjoys sharing the memories she has. I observed the way her face lit up as we talked about her as a child and her children.

“Though the age boundaries are not set in stone, we will consider middle adulthood as the developmental period that begins at approximately 40 to 45 years of age and extends to about 60 to 65 years of age” (Santrock, 2013, p. 485). I interviewed two individuals for this paper. Each person was asked the same fifteen questions (Appendix). I interviewed a male and a female who fell in the midrange of middle adulthood.

Life has its way of turning an individual’s attention to better understanding the overall course of life. One may experience different transitions, and turning points as well as particular life events and family experiences that may influence the developmental trajectories of life. The Moore Family- Ed, Jessica, Derrick, Terrance, Debbie and Barbara- all have stories that have unfolded over a period of time. One of the useful ways I will attempt to explain the Moore’s family stories, and the relationship between time and human behavior, is the life course perspective. The life course perspective maintains that chronological age, relationships, common life transitions, and social change shape people’s lives from birth to death (Hutchinson, 2013). Timing is very important.

Knowing and having an understanding of what ageing stands for, remains an important step, growing-up or growing older and ageism are theories about older individuals. Ageism includes preconceptions that elderly are categorized for their age and perceived as weak, and incapable of performing tasks and needy of others (Quadagno, 2014). Another view about elderly individuals is the way they are looked down on by the younger society, i.e. elderly are not as intelligent as their younger competitive working force. People fear what they do not know and do not understand. Age transpires as something that must be lived through in order to understand what ageing means; looking back on one’s life and seeing accomplishments made,

The final stage is the “family in later life”. During this stage, individuals must accept the shifting of generational roles, as they become the grandparents. They must be able to let go of some power to their offspring as they find their new place in the family system. Dealing with this change while facing potential decline in health, financial security, and loss of spouse can be stressful. Grandparenthood can be a reward substitute (Carter & McGoldrick, 1988, p. 20).

Another supporter of changing the way aging is conveyed is author, Margaret Cruiksbank, of the book, Learning to be Old. In her book she is a proponent of changing the way the aging process is described. Her position is that the underlying meaning of popular terms to describe aging weakens its value. She denotes that the term “successful aging” is a false phrase for the elderly as it “masks both the wish to continue mid-life indefinitely and the white, Middle-class, Western values of researchers, causing them to emphasize productivity, effectiveness and independence” (Cruiksbank, 2009, p. 2). She also concludes that the term “productive” aging symbolizes “economic usefulness and social conformity” (Cruiksbank, 2009, p. 2), especially for the female gender. More importantly, these terms can be used to measure. This ability to measure is subjective to the questioner and an individual’s self-worth. She suggests the term “aging comfortably” as it signifies easiness, and a “faint hint” of pleasurable self-indulgence which may not have been possible in younger years (Cruiksbank, 2009, p. 3).

Throughout the Human Behavior and the Social Environment course, we have encompassed the many stages of the life cycle process. Now that I am twenty two years old, I found the early adulthood stage to be the most influential, and the most sensible one to relate to given the point that I am at in my life. More importantly, I decided to research and apply this life cycle stage to a variety of milestones, experienced by my interviewee, Chelsie. Living just houses apart, being raised by single fathers, Chelsie and I found that we had many things in common. We have remained friends since we were children, and have only grown to be closer into our early adulthood years.