Lecture 11: physical and cognitive development in late adulthood Flashcards
(38 cards)
Ageing and Ageism
Ageism
• Treatment, stereotyping, discrimination because of someones age
• More stereotypes about old people than any other age group
- Older people also have ageist views
- See themselves more positively than their peers
• May impact on treatment recommendations and expected outcomes
Life Expectancy
- Maximum lifespan is about 120 years
- Increased life expectancy means that more people are approaching that limit
- Centenarians = .02% of population
• Super centenarians
- People 110 years+
- Average lifespan not expected to exceed 85
• Biological limitations
Theories of Ageing
Senescence
Programming theories
Senescence (deterioration with age) explained by:
Cellular theories:
- Wear and tear
- Genetic errors
Programming theories:
- Hayflick limit – 50 replications
- Death built-in
- Nothing can extend the lifespan
Physical Functioning
Primary ageing
Secondary ageing
Primary ageing – universal changes
Secondary ageing – effects of illness and disease
• Motor, sensory, intellectual slowing
- Primary ageing of CNS and PNS
- Can improve with training
- Skin, bone, and muscle changes
- Cardiovascular, respiratory and sensory systems change
Sensory Change
men lose their hearing more than women because they are exposed to more environmental hazards

Improving Health Behaviours in Late Adulthood
- sleeping an average of 7-8 hours nightly
- eating breakfast almost every day
- seldom, if ever, eating snacks
- controlling weight
- exercising regularly
- limiting alcohol consumption
- being a nonsmoker for life
Current Research: Australian Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ALSA)
- Australian Longitudinal Study of Ageing (Flinders University)
- Began 1992 with 2087 participants aged 70+ years in South Australia
- Aim: gain an understanding of how social, biomedical, and environmental factors are associated with age-related changes in health and wellbeing of elderly individuals
Chronic Illnesses: Cardiovascular Disease
Risk factors
Coronary heart disease, heart failure, stroke and peripheral vascular disease
Risk factors:
• Family history
• Smoking, poor diet, lack of exercise
- Personality type
- Stress
- Gender
Chronic Illnesses: Hypertension
Risk factors
• High blood pressure
- Systolic BP > 140
- Diastolic BP > 90
- Deterioration of arterial walls (continued high blood pressure)
- Arteriosclerosis
- Risks of heart attack, kidney damage, stroke
Risk factors
• Gender, genetics, obesity, poor diet, stress, personality characteristics
Chronic Illnesses: Cancer
Risk factors
• Uncontrolled cellular growth, dysfunction of DNA
- Malignant tumours
- Spread through metastasis
Risk factors:
- SES, genetics, gender, lifestyle, diet
- Life events, negative affect, personality, social support, isolation, stress
Chronic Illnesses: Arthritis
- Inflammation of joints and connective tissue
- Pain, stiffness, sometimes swelling
- Osteoarthritis
- Degenerative joint disease
- Rheumatoid arthritis
- Autoimmune reaction
- Affects whole body
- Stress makes condition worse
Mental Health Issues: Depression
Associates of depression
• Mental disorders underestimated and undertreated in older adults
- Stoicism limits reporting
- Most common disorder is depression
- May be mistaken for normal ageing
- Symptoms may mimic dementia
- Associates of depression
- Chronic health issues, functional impairment, social deprivation, medication
The Ageing Brain
Pseudodementia
Acute and Chronic brain syndromes
- Neuronal loss and growth
- Axon sprouting, dendrite branching, synaptogenesis (growth)
- neurofibrillary tangles, granulovacuolar degeneration (loss)
- Pseudodementia: mimic symptoms of dementia (depression etc)
- Brain syndromes:
- Acute: caused by e.g., diabetes, liver failure
- Chronic: e.g., multi-infarct dementia and Alzheimer’s disease
Multi-infarct Dementia
- Caused by vascular disease
- Risk factors include hypertension, diabetes mellitus, advanced age, being male and smoking
- Blockage of oxygen to brain causes tiny strokes
- Sudden rather than gradual onset
• May have periods of lucidity
Alzheimer’s Disease (AD)
- 50-60% of organic brain syndrome patients over 65 have AD
- Degeneration of brain cells affecting memory, learning, and judgement
- Symptoms worsen with disease progression
- Care in controlled environment
- Causes and cures not understood
Symptoms of Alzheimers Disease
- Memory impairment
- Deterioration of language
- Deficits in visual and spatial processing
- Repeating of questions
- Everyday tasks unfinished or forgotten
- Personality change (rigidity, egocentricity)
- Irritability or anxiety
- Lack of concentration
Risk Factors for Alzheimers Disease
- Chronological age
- Gender
- Vascular conditions
- Low education
- Head injury
- Biological susceptibility
Memory Changes
- Anticipatory dementia
- Gradient of vulnerability
• Some memory processes change more than others
Memory changes:
- Working memory – age deficits
- Episodic memory – steady decline
- Semantic memory – largely intact
- Procedural memory – least change
Erikson: Ego-integrity vs. Despair
- 8th and final critical stage of psychosocial development
- People in late adulthood either achieve a sense of integrity of the self by accepting the life they have lived, and thus accept death, or yield to despair that their life cannot be re- lived
Erikson: Ego-integrity vs. Despair
Life Review
Life Review: Reminiscence about one’s life in order to see its significance
- Writing or taping autobiography
- Constructing a family tree
- Looking over scrapbooks and old letters
- Trips to childhood locations
- Reunions with friends and family
Attitudes Towards Death
Death awareness movement
- Death most likely to be in institutions
- Often removed from everyday life
- The dying may experience social death
• Language about death often full of euphemisms
Death awareness movement (70s)
- New meanings for death and dying
- Cultural analysis of attitudes
- Promoted the notion of the good death
Defining Death
- Previously absence of respiration and heartbeat
- Now criteria focus on brain death
- Irreversible coma
- Definition critical for issues of organ transplant
- Conflicting views in Japan and North America
- Reflection of cultural views on death
Accepting One’s Own Death
• Death becomes more salient with age
Earlier death experiences
- Death of sibling in childhood
- Death of friends or peers in adolescence
• Death of cultural icons
Death acceptance (Wong, Reker, & Gresser, 1994):
- Neutral acceptance
- Approach-avoidance acceptance
• Escape-avoidance acceptance
Death Anxiety
Terror Management Theory
Terror Management Theory
• Defensive reactions are a key human motive
• Adherence to own cultural worldview increases as death becomes more salient


