The Social Realities of Aging

1. The Social Realities of Aging

2. Video Activity 1

3. My heart leaps up when I behold A rainbow in the sky: So was it when my life began; So is it now I am a man; So be it when I shall grow old, Or let me die! The Child is father of the Man; I could wish my days to be Bound each to each by natural piety. William Wordsworth, 1802.

4. Video: 42 Up • “Show me the boy at age 7, and I will show you the man.” • Is the child the father of the man? • Agree or disagree? Why? • Influences on development? Types? • Hand in Activity Sheet • Make sure you write your name

5. Milestones and Tasks of Adulthood? • Adolescence and Young Adulthood • 12-20 years • 20-40 years • Middle Adulthood • 40-65 years • Late Adulthood • 65+ yrs

6. Life-Span development • lifelong process • both increases and decreases, and gains and losses, in behaviour • Is modifiable or reversible: plasticity • Multidimensional, multidirectional, multicausal • Multiple cultural, social, historical contexts

7. Domains of Adult Development • Physical, cognitive, personality, social • Physical • Concepts of aging • Structural and functional change over time • Reserve capacity: “over-engineered”

8. Cognitive • Declines in some domains • Memory, timing • Gains in others • Wisdom, expertise, post-formal thinking

9. Personality • Intimacy, generativity, integration • Social • Tasks of development? • Successful Aging • Increased period of health and activity in later years (thriving) • Decreased period of decline and disability

13. Social Realities of Aging • Demography of Aging • World Trends • Modernization • Globalization • increased influence of events, trends happening elsewhere

15. Increased aging population • Number countries with more than 2 million elderly (65+) • 1991: 27 • 2020: 49 (projected) • Projection 1985-2025 • Greatest expansion of elderly in developing countries • Canada: 135 % increase

16. Population Pyramid • Approaching rectangular shape in Canada • Subpopulations differ • E.g. Nunavut

19. Income • Drops (retirement) • Females < Males • Occupation • Significant percentage over 65 years continue working

20. Faster growth in aging population in Canada than U.S. • Immigration (adults) • Increased life expectancy • Declining birthrate • 1960: 31.4 births/1,000 persons • 1994: 13.4 births/1,000 persons

22. Proportion of elderly in Canada • (1992): 12 percent • (2000): 13 percent (15% in Manitoba) • Challenges? • Assisted living • Ageism

24. Ageism • Stereotyped attitudes toward elderly by younger groups • Limits to human opportunity • Interacts with other sources of stereotyping • gender • ethnicity • SES

25. Myths/Misconceptionsabout Aging • poor health • low income • loneliness • limited occupations • poor housing

26. Institutional Challenges • curriculum materials • coursework in professional programs • TV, popular culture, advertising

27. Professional attitudes • Research interest/bias • Clinicians’ preferences • Homogenization • Infantalization

28. Elder Abuse/Neglect • physical • psychological • financial

29. Ideas and Issues • Influences on Development • Lifespan development • Domains of development • Changing demographics • Challenges • Need for more information about development in adulthood

30. Research in Adult Development

31. Goals of Research • Description (age-related change) • Prediction (correlations) • Understanding (causes of change) • Control • Therapy • Guidance

32. Research process 1. Theory/observation generates hypothesis 2. Hypothesis “operationalized” 3. Method designed, results collected 4. Hypothesis confirmed or rejected 5. Confidence in theory is increased or decreased (modified theory)

33. Challenges of Studying Adults • No “captive audience” • Sampling problems (external validity – Generalizability) • Cohort effects • Selective attrition • Tools to assess behaviour • Age-appropriate?

34. Validity • Construct • Measure reflects what is true about the target characteristic • IQ test norms don’t always cover entire life span • Internal (causality) • Necessary conditions: • Correlation between traits • Time-ordering (cause before effect) • No alternative explanations (experimental control)

35. Reliability • Consistency of results • If study repeated on same individuals, expect similar results • Test-retest • Inter-observer (if more than one “judge” of behaviour)

36. Data Collection • Observation • Naturalistic (real world, no control, reactivity) • Laboratory (control, artificial)

37. Self-Reports • Surveys, questionnaires • Easy, quick, but • Social desirability, demand characteristics • Case Study, Archival • Rich information • Retrospective, limited generalizability

38. Research Designs • Correlation • Relationships between traits • prediction • Experimentation • Internal validity: random allocation to treatment/placebo • causality

39. Developmental Designs • Test for effects: • Age • Cohort • History

40. Longitudinal • Developmental change • Age effects • Time, expense • Confounds • Selective attrition • History (events between testing periods)

41. Cross-sectional • Developmental differences (between age groups) • Age effects • Inexpensive, quick • Potential confounds • Cohort effects

42. Sequential Designs • Check on confounds • Selection (cohort) • History (events/changes between test times) • Testing (practice)

43. Time of Testing

44. Age Effects: Longitudinal

45. Age Effects: Cross-Sectional

46. Cohort Effects

47. History Effects

48. Theory

49. Theoretical Approaches • Mechanistic • Organismic • Contextual • Nature-Nurture interactions • Stage/continuous • Many paths/universal

50. World Views • Mechanistic • Nurture: environment, life circumstances • Continuous • Individual – many paths, all experience is unique