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Psych 210 (3)

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Adulthood in general a time of:
o more gradual change
o greater variability between individuals


When does early adulthood generally end? Why?
o common role changes at 40 (ex. kids leaving home)
o end of optimum physical and cognitive function


Physical Development
- physical changes
- physical growth mostly complete, add adult height, have basic shape, puberty finished
- body is at its peak (compared with later development)
- but, by mid to late 20s, some changes in high levels of physical performance


How is the body at its peak in early adulthood?
o most muscle as you will have
o maximum calcium in the bones
o brains are the heaviest they will ever be
o eyesight, hearing, sense of smell are at peak
o immune system is functioning at its best



When do noticeable changes in physical functioning occur? What are they?
o secondary aging
- will show more changes if you are less active
- around 30
What are physical functioning changes in men?
 No reproductive problems at this age
What are physical functioning problems in women?
 reproductive capacity decreases
• miscarriages, birth related problems, fertility levels decrease
• infertility = inability to conceive after 1+ years of unprotected intercourse
• age:
o 20-24  7% infertile
o 30-34  15% infertile
o 35-39  28% infertile





Immune system functioning
o Changes in the thymus gland, used to fight cancerous cells, and external threats like viruses and bacteria
o Thymus gland changes a lot in adulthood
o It gets smaller and smaller
o early 50s it is about 10-15% the size it was at the end of adolescence
o result is a gradually weakening immune system
o due to aging only? Looks as thought it is a normal aging process but there is evidence that what is going on in life may be involved. (interaction between age and life events?) people is high stress levels and depression have much smaller thymus glands




health and death rates
2/1000 early adults per year vs. 27/1000 late adults
highest risk of homicides
- males 15-24 year olds
o Canada is much less likely then U.S.
o Japan and Austria are the least likely
Overall, time of greatest physical form, time of greatest psychological problems. Exceptions:
- 2x more likely to suffer acute, short-term illnesses than 65+
o So, only chronic illness less common in early adulthood
- Drug/alcohol abuse more common is early adulthood
o Addictions peak between 18 and 40
o 6 % of individuals in early adulthood have some sort of addiction to alcohol and drugs
o 4% in middle adulthood
o 1.8% in late adulthood
o One reason for the drop is the death associated with these addictions
- STDs more common
- Mental health
o Almost all form are more likely during early adulthood than middle or late adulthood
o Depression, high levels of stress and anxiety
IQ
IQ: Intelligence Quotient
- intelligence test scores stay relatively stable, thus overall intelligence is quite stable
2 types of intelligence (Cattell & Horn):
o Fluid Intelligence
- starts to decline fairly steadily near the end of early adulthood (35-40)
o Crystallized Intelligence
- maintained across adulthood
Crystallized Intelligence
 Consist of the set of skills and bits of knowledge that we learn as we grow up
 Skills like tying your shoe, sending a text, download itunes are skill that you acquire just from being on the planet
 Depends heavily on education and experience (a kid that never leaves a house will not just randomly obtain these)
Fluid Intelligence
 More “basic” abilities that depend more on efficient function of the CNS
 Education and experience will not influence these
 Response speed, memory skills, abstract reasoning
 Less dependent on experience (not completely independent of experience because experience can help with practice, etc.)
 Eg) what letter should go next after A-C-F-J-O? U
Memory
- part of fluid intelligence, so start to see changes towards the end of early adulthood, steady across early adulthood just until end when starts to decline
- STM declines (short term memory)
- LTM more dramatic declines (long term memory)
Thinking
- belief that cognitive development does continue in adulthood (cf Piaget)
- new stages and cognitive structures can occur in adulthood, it is not finished by the end of adolescence as Piaget proposed
o Don’t give up FO
o Acquire new ability to deal with “fuzzier” problems
o These problems may have a correct answer that changes for you over time or that change between two different people
- Overall, theories of adult cognitive development usually speculative
- Little empirical evidence supporting ANY theory of adult cognitive development
- All agree that FO thinking not sufficient to describe adult thinking






2 neo-Piagetian adult cognitive developmental theories:
o Labouvie-Vief
o Besseches

- both discontinuous
Labouvie-Vief
 FO thinking highly adaptive in early adulthood
 Young adult has many options/choices to consider
 Choices include majors, partners, life, etc.
 It is the formal operational thinking that we use to make these choices
 After choice are made, don’t really need FO anymore
 So, use different cognitive skills for all of the other decisions that you have to make
• Ex) problem at your job: not using FO skills
 Trade-off between FO skills and more pragmatic/specialized skills






Besseches
 New type of adult thinking
 “dialectical thought” - DT
 Believes that you add a new structure onto formal operational skills
 FO
• Involves looking at problem logically
• Looking for laws/rules
 DT
• Looks at how things can change
• Looks at dynamic relationships that can lead to change









Erikson’s Stage 6:
- Intimacy and Solidarity vs. Isolation
- for positive outcome: made it through stage 5 in fairly good shape
- stage of developing intimate relationship with opposite sex (assuming heterosexuality)
- also developing friendships with same sex
- intimacy and solidarity are for romance and friendship
- thinking about own feeling and thoughts as well as outward focus
- first 5 stages are all about independence, now this starts expanding
- Successful outcome:
o Relationships enhance identity (from stage 5)
o Intimacy gives an “us” vs. “rest of the world”: feelings of solidarity
- Unsuccessful outcome
o If fear to “lose oneself” in another person, unable to fuse identity with other
o Essentially lose your sense of self
o Won’t be able to form intimate relationships
o Retreat into isolation to protect yourself
o Social relationships are cold and empty (friendship or romantic)
Relationships

- forming intimate relationships key task of early adulthood
- concentrate on relationship with partner/mate
- that relationship becomes the basis for moving into the adult world, an important transition
- essentially establishing a new family
- no assumptions about orientations here



o choosing a partner (most research assumes heterosexuality)
 some theories:
⬢ Murstein (1970, 1976, 1986)
⬢ Sociology
⬢ Exchange Theorist

Murstein (1970, 1976, 1986)
o Choosing partner in series of steps
o Step 1: check out external characteristics
o Step 2: check to see if match in attitude/beliefs
o Step 3: check to see if prospective partner fits your needs/inclinations


Sociology
o has shown us that we put more focus on external qualities than internal qualities
o choosing partners also has to do with similarities (we are more drawn to people like ourselves) - similarities like similar age, education levels, ethnic group, religious affiliation, SES, attitudes, temperaments, interests.
o This is the process of homogamy (not opposites attract!)
Exchange Theorist
o Choosing partner done thru exchange process (you give me this I will give you that)
o Have assets to offer a potential mate
o Try for best bargain we can make
o Research support? Yes some.
 Men less willing than woman to marry someone who isn’t good looking
 Women are less willing to marry someone who has less education or income






Attachment
- Similar to attachment patterns found in children (secure, insecure, avoidant, resistant) by Mary Ainsworth Strange Situation
- Often find same type of attachment patterns throughout development
- Securely attached adults
o more trusting and giving towards partner
o are friends with partner



Components of Love - Sterenberg (1987)
o Love has 3 main components
 Intimacy: includes feelings that promote closeness and connectedness
 Passion: feelings of intense longing for union (includes sexual union) with other person
 Commitment: to person, often over long period of time
Eight types of love -Sterenberg (1987)
 Non love – none of the components
• Eg) casual relationship/acquaintance
 Liking – intimacy without passion or commitment
• Eg) friendship
 Infatuation – passion without the intimacy or commitment
• Eg) cute guy that you walk by
 Empty love – commitment without passion or intimacy
• Eg) stagnant long-term marriage
 Romantic love – passion and intimacy without commitment
• Eg) early stage of a relationship
 Companionate love – intimacy and commitment without passion
• Eg) relationship with parents
 Fatuous love – passion and commitment without intimacy
• Eg) meet someone Friday night at owl and go to Vegas to get married, Dharma and Greg
 Consummate love – all three components
• Eg) the romantic relationship that we mostly desire














Personal characteristics of individuals in more stable (legal) marriages:
- married between ages 20-30
- from high SES families (financially comfortable)
o aka. More money. Takes away the major stressor.
- more education
o aka. More money. Takes away the major stressor.
- Parents with low levels of marriage conflict
- Parents less likely to have divorced
- Greater communication skills
- More likely to be involved in religion or have same religious beliefs as partner
- Higher self-esteem
- Better mental health
o Eg) less depression
- More likely to have had a secure attachment











Qualities of interaction of couples in stable (legal) marriages:
- more positive then negative interactions
- high agreement on roles
o eg) gender roles
- each satisfied that the partner is fulfilling these roles
o eg) who does the laundry? Who walks the dog? Etc.
- similar levels of self-disclosure
o eg) talking about your feelings
- better conflict-resolution strategies
- more similar in readings each others’ signals
o typically husband is not as good at reading signals as wife is
- like each other, consider spouse their best friend
- spend more leisure time together by choice
- bickersons, avoiders are different types of stable marriages













Middle Adulthood
- ages 40 to 60/65
- “age is mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter”
Physical Changes
- Reproduction
o Menopause in women, more politically correct term is climacteric because it is gender neutral
o Climacteric = loss of reproductive capacity throughout middle/late adulthood in women/men
 Male Climacteric
⬢ Extremely gradual
⬢ Lots of individual variability (50-90)
⬢ Quantity of viable sperm gradually decreases
o Why? Possibly drop in testosterone levels.
⬢ Age difference could be accounted for because of difference in initial testosterone levels
⬢ Decline in testosterone has many implications:
o Loss of muscle tone
o Loss of strength
o Can affect sexual function so the rate of impotence increases
Female Climacteric (Menopause)
• Decline in hormones
• Menopause: no menstruation for one year
• Around 50 years (lots of variability 40-60)
• Emergence of “hot flash”
o Sensation of warmth in the upper body and head, researchers have done research and a skin temperature thermometer shows skin going up by 7 degrees (so not psychological). Heart rate goes up, flushing, sweating, up to 3 minutes. Once a day to 3 times an hour.
o Why? Drop in hormone levels is possible but some women never experience them. Stress is a factor in hot flashes. Hormone replacement therapy is extremely controversial. Poorly understood phenomenon.
• Popular view: menopause associated with emotional upheaval (research doesn’t support that physical changes are causing stress)
• Four longitudinal research projects:
o No changes to psychological status during menopause
o Menopausal women reported less stress than premenopausal women








Vision
 Most need reading glasses by age 45-50
 Two changes in eyes (combo of the two = presbyopia)
• Lens of the eye thickens (has been thickening since childhood)
o Lens is not completely transparent, has slight yellow color. Some of the light is absorbed by the yellow material so less light reaches the retina. Color sensitivity changes, becomes worst.
• Due to thickening, harder for muscles around the eye to change shape of lens
o Therefore it is harder to focus
o Feel strain as things get closer to face. Example is when you put finger close to nose you feel strain. Therefore parents will hold papers far from their face when reading
o Harder to adapt to changes in light. Implication: night time driving (example is licence to drive during the day but not at night)
Hearing
 Presbycusis (same type of process as above)
• Auditory nerves and structures of inner ear gradually degenerate since childhood but is at the critical point where we start to notice it
• Harder to hear high and very low frequency sounds
• More common after 50-55
• Unlike presbyopia, presbycusis can be affected by environmental factors
o Eg) factory workers, loud concerts
Mental Health
Midlife crisis = a myth?
o Midlife crisis = a myth?
 Controversial issue
 Many studies = little evidence of crisis
• Tends that crisis’s happen in this time but not caused by this period
 Research on signs of crisis such as:
• Divorce
• Alcoholism
• Depression
• Inner turmoil
• Marital or job dissatisfaction
• Sense of failing power
 Results? Nothing! Doesn’t seem to be age related.










where did this myth (midlife crisis) come from then? One exception (one study that shows evidence of a mid-life crisis:
• Tamir (1982)
o Signs of midlife crisis?
 More drinking problems
 More prescription drug use
 Less “zest” for life
 More feelings of stagnation
o Who?
 Only men
 Between 45-49
 Well-educated, middle-class, white men
Cognitive Changes
- maintain/gain on practiced/learned skills (crystallized intelligence)
- decrease in fluid intelligence (example is speed)
- decrease in underused/unpractised skills
o use it or lose it
- overall, mental processes get gradually slower
Creativity and Productivity
- experiment by Lehman (1953)
o women in the work force and then expected to be back in the home
o concern that as you got old you got less creative and productive
o peak creativity, like peak physical functioning, occurs in early adulthood (Lehman is testing this)
o identified major scientific discoveries of past and looked at what age scientist was
o only looked at male scientists
o found that most were quite young
 example, Einstein’s theory of relativity at age 26
 around late 20s-early 30s when they came up with discoveries








Creativity and Productivity
- experiment by Simonton (1991)
o different approaches:
 look at people over entire lives
o looked at lifetime creativity/productivity of notable scientists from history
o identified age of:
 first significant work
 best work
 last work
o in all scientific disciplines:
 average age of best work was around 40
 best work stable over 40s and into 50s
- for musicians and artists 50-60s are the peak period









Erikson’s Stage 7:
- Generativity vs. stagnation
- generativity = interest in establishing and guiding next generation through childrearing or creative or productive endeavours
- even if you have no children you can still have a positive outcome in this stage by making the world a better place for the next generation
- sense of identity expanded in stage 6 to include a romantic partner, now expanding more to involve other things like perhaps family, environment, wider world, etc. Sense of identity is broader at this point.
- Care for others
- Turning increasingly outward
o Making world better place for next generation
- In order to have a positive outcome need:
o Faith in the future
o Belief in humans
- Successful outcome:
o Become a better person
o More outwardly focused
o Interested in world and in others
- Unsuccessful outcome:
o Feelings of stagnation (nothing moving, changing, developing, sense of identity stays suck)
o Self-interested
o Self-indulgent
o You are more concerned with making the world a better place for yourself and you don’t care about other people
o Boredom
o Lack of psychological growth



















Relationships
- marital satisfaction rises in midlife
- marital satisfaction is often higher than since very early marriage
- why?
o Kids leave home
 More time for partners to spend together, can focus on their relationship with each other versus their relationships with their children
o Number of marital problems decrease in mid life
- Why do these things have an impact on satisfaction?
o Seems like should be the opposite, in general
 fewer positive interactions
 fewer episodes of physical affection
 fewer episodes of self-disclosure
research by Swensen, Eskew, and Kohlhepp (1981) on relationships
o had couples that had been together for varying lengths of time and interviewed them
o came up with “love scale”
 example, expressions of affection, self-disclosure, encouragement, moral support, material support, tolerance for the less pleasant aspects of your partner
 example, holding hands, saying I love you
 goes down over time
o camp up with “marital problem scale”
 where are the problems in relationships, what kinds, how often
 example, child rearing, money management, division of labour at the home, relationships in the in-laws, expression of affections or lack there of, problem solving, personal care, personal appearance
 goes up over time when first child is 12 and then goes down for the rest of life
o therefore, it is the lack of marital problems that will make these people generally more happy then new couples
Children
- look at relationships of middle aged adults:
o with their children
o as children
- affected by life expectancy
- common pattern now is to have at least one parent who is still living in middle adulthood and at least one parent who is aging
- middle adulthood: maximum assistance
o have support from both your parents and from your children
- BUT usually middle adulthood: maximum responsibility
o Have responsibility to aging parents and to children
- Referred to as midlife squeeze or sandwich generation
- Survey of 13000 adults in the U.S. by Bumpass and Aquilino (1995)
o Adults between 40-65 give more than they receive to both their children and their parents










Empty nest
 No research support for this
 Most of the research is focused on the mothers experience
 Ask woman about positive and negative transitions in life
 Only about 1/3 of women list departure of children as a significant transition in their life
 If listed this was usually (90%) of time was a positive transition
 A few women experience distress
• Generally a group of women with very distinct characteristics such as women whose sense of self is “I am a mother”
• More likely, but not inevitable stressed about children leaving home
 Women who work outside their home are likely not stressed about children leaving home
 Could be men that experience the stress
• Less likely to have prepared themselves for the children living where as women do prepare because of this myth









Kids who just won’t leave / “cluttered nest”
 Two groups
• Kids who never left home
• kids who left home and came back
 can be stressful for parents and for kids
 increasingly common
• 1970: 8% of children between ages 25-34 lived with parents
• 1994: 12%
• 2010: probably around 15%
 Little research on effects
 Research support on what may cause the stress:
• parents expecting children to leave/stay away
• When children return, leads to unexpected role change
• Family roles need to be renegotiated
o Aka. Parents not wanting to pick up after there 30 year old and children not like being asked where they were when they are 30
o Parents complain about late hours, unpredictable schedules, lack of help around the house
o Kids complain about being treated like kids, lack of privacy
• More than 50% of cluttered nests work it out

















Older adulthood subcatergories
- “young old” (60-75)
- “old old” (75-85)
- “oldest old” (85+)
Physical Changes in late adulthood
brain
vision
hearing
smell
taste
sleep
Changes in the Brain in late adulthood
- changes in brain across adulthood
- Brain weighs less as you age
o grey matter is lost from the brain (this is used for thinking)
o loss of density in the dendrites (information passed through dentrites)
 this is an important part
 leads to less connections between neurons
 leads to slower reaction times
o loss of neurons
 constantly losing neurons
 redundancies built into system so losses not significant at start
 these back up systems are gone once you are very old so then you can see a significant change









Change in Vision in late adulthood
o Blood flow to the eye decreases
 Serious modifications
 Retina attached the eyeball to the optic nerve, so there is a blind spot at this point
 Leads to reduced field of vision
 Trouble with muscles around eye continues
 Cataracts (2% of adults under 65 vs. 20% of adults over 75)
- Eye color is more opaque so not as much info is coming through
 Glaucoma
• More fluid in the eyeball so more pressure on the optic disk and eventually can become blind
• More common in late adulthood but not unique to late adulthood
Changes in Hearing in late adulthood
o Gradual decrease over middle adulthood
 14% middle adults have hearing impairments vs. 30% in late adulthood
 People with hearing impairments use other cues to help them out
o Various problems
 Trouble hearing high frequency sounds
 Harder to discriminate words from each other
 Harder to hear when it is noisy, cannot distinguish what you are saying from background noise
 Tinnitus – a ringing in the ears
o Perception of hearing impaired?
 Often think that someone is going senile on you or are getting dementia if they cannot hear you
 Mild/moderate hearing loss is not associated with social/emotional/psychological health
 Severe hearing loss can lead to problems, example is depression
Changing in taste in smell in late adulthood
o Taste depends on taste receptor cells in tongue
 These cells are not affected by age
 Also depends on saliva and less saliva is being produced in late adulthood, many elderly people report a loss of taste because of this
 May also depend on loss of sense of smell
o Smell deteriorates after 60
 May depend on environmental factors as well as age
o Effects of smell/taste losses?
 Less pleasure with food, its not as enjoyable
 Not much motivation to prepare food if it doesn’t taste good
 Buy food that they can taste, chips, etc.








Changes in sleep in late adulthood
- wake up more often at night
- less REM sleep (dreaming sleep)
o important for integrating info into the brain
- more likely to wake up early/go to bed early
- more likely to take naps to compensate for the disruptive and short sleep





Disabilities

- disability = limitation in performing certain socially defined roles and tasks
o this is very broad: can have learning disabilities, psychological disabilities, etc.
Kunkel and Applebaum (1992) research on disabilities
o Percentages of older adults with disabilities
 Disability Level: none/little
• Age Group, Men, Women
o 65-74, 90.9, 89.0
o 75-84, 82.7, 77.1
o 85+, 58.3, 47.2
 Disability Level: Moderate
• Age Group, Men, Women
o 65-74, 5.1, 6.3
o 75-84, 9.1, 12.1
o 85+, 19.9, 21.8
 Disability Level: Severe
• Age group, men, women
o 65-74, 4.0, 4.6
o 75-84, 8.2, 10.8
o 85+, 21.7, 31.7
o Types of disabilities:
 Arthritis (65-74: 40% have, 75+ 52% have)
 Cardiovascular (30% of people in late adulthood have)
 Women are more likely to have arthritis
 Men are not having as many cardiovascular issues compared to women
Dementia
o Dementia = any global deterioration of intellectual functions
 Not just old people have dementia, young people can to
 There are some dementias that are more common in old people
o In Late adulthood – Senile Dementia
 Dementia is a set of symptom not a disease
 Dementia is caused by something else






o Causes of symptom (senile dementia)?
 Alzheimer’s
 Multiple strokes
o Less common causes?
 Parkinson’s disease
 Hypothyroidism
 Tumours (brain tumours)
 Vitamin B12 deficiency
 AIDS
 Anemia
 Alcohol abuse
 Depression
Alzeihmer’s Diseases
o Change in brain structure
 Atrophying/shrinkage of parts of brain
 Tangling of dentritic fibers
o Beginning stages:
 Subtle memory difficulties
• This happens during normal aging and stress as well so hard to diagnose
 Repetitions in conversations
 Disorientation in unfamiliar settings
o Then:
 Memories for recent events affected
o Eventually:
 Failure to recognize family members
 Failure to remember names of common objects
 Failure to perform routine activities
 Possibility of emotional changes
o 2-8% 65+ have dementia
o 2-5% 65+ have Alzheimer’s
o Rate rises rapidly during 70s and 80s
o Rockwood and Stadnyck (1994) Canadian study
 11.1% adults 85+ and 25.0% adults 85+
o National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Stroke (2010) Alzheimer;s
 10% 65-74
 20% 75-84
 40% 85+
Causes of Alzheimer’s
 We are not sure what causes Alzheimer’s
 Less likely if you maintain higher mental activity thus could be an environmental aspects
 Can run in families thus there is a genetic component
 Genetic research:
• 3 separate genes involved
• 1 gene on chromosome 19 – controls apolipoprotein (ApoE)
• When the protein degenerates, dentritic tangling increases
• 4 variants, if have ApoE 4 from a parent then have three times as likely to get Alzheimer’s
Schizophrenia, alcohol abuse, drug abuse
o Rates lowest in late adulthood
Depression
o Early studies: much higher risk in late adulthood, stereotypes as “the depressed elderly”
o Newer studies: muss LESS risk in late adulthood
o Newest studies: high rates in early adulthood plus in “old old” and “oldest old”, low rates in “young old”
Cognitive Changes in late adulthood
memory
problem solving
positive aspects
Memory changes in late adulthood
o Encoding info into LTM
o Retrieving info from LTM
 Encoding
• Older adults have similar encoding problems as preschoolers
• Have bad meta-memory
• Fail to use effective strategies to help themselves remember (example is list making)
 Retrieving
• Retrieval is slower
• Do as well as young adults on “recognition”
• Do much less well on “recall”
• Memories become less accessible in late adulthood











Problem Solving in late adulthood
o Ability to problem solve decreases
o Slower
o Harder time coming up with solutions
o Poorer abilities to keep track of possibilities
Positive Aspects in late adulthood
o Huge individual differences
o Training can improve IQ scores, memory skills, problem solving
o Wisdom
 Accumulation of knowledge
 Learning from our mistakes
 Not much research evidence for this




Erikson’s Stage 8:
- Integrity vs. Despair (late adulthood)
o Need to come to terms with:
 Own life
 Own identity
 Choice that were made
 Death
o This all leads to the need of self-acceptance
o Successful outcome:
 Acceptance of the limitations of life
 Sense of being part of a larger history that includes previous generations
 A final integration of identity from previous 7 stages
 Will have a higher life satisfaction
 Acceptance of death
 Have a generally happy look back on their life
 Happiness about the past and no fear about the future
o Unsuccessful outcome
 Despair
 Regret for what one has done/not done with one’s life
 Fear of approaching death
 Disgust with oneself


















Relationships in late adulthood
o Reasons for marital satisfaction in late adulthood may be different
o Based less on:
 Passion
 Mutual disclosure
o Based more on:
 Loyalty
 Familiarity
 Mutual investment in relationship
o Are late adulthood marriages devitalized?
 50%+ older couples sexually active
 Higher levels of pleasure compared to middle adult marriage
 Fewer conflicts compared to middle adult marriage
 Older couples spend more time with each other rather than with family/friends
 Romantic partners are generally the primary care givers if something is wrong with the other
o Loss of partner
 20% of single men 65+ remarry (widowed or divorce)
 2% of single women 65+ remarry
o married vs. single older adults
 Many advantages for being married
• Better physical health
• Lower rates of institutionalized care
• Advantages are greater for men
• Women tend to choose not to remarry because they have stronger social support networks to replace having a husband





















Children in late adulthood
o Popular view: family core social life for older adults
o Research: intergenerational bonds strong and important to older adults
o Crimmins and Ingegneri (1990)
o Mullins and Mushel (1992)
o Larson et al. (1996)
o Crimmins and Ingegneri (1990)
 11000 adults over the age of 65
 63% saw at least 1 child at least once a week
 16% saw a child 1-3 times per month
 20% saw a child 1 time per month or less
 But does increased contact mean increased life satisfaction?
• NO!!
o Mullins and Mushel (1992)
 1000 adults over age of 65
 Amount of loneliness reported NOT related to:
• How often participants saw their children
• How emotionally close they were to their children
o Larson et al. (1996)
 92 adults over age of 65
 Participants had a pager and the researchers would buzz them and they had to say what they were doing, how they felt and how they were with
 Participants described fewer positive emotions with children than with friends

second stage of death
 Anger
• Reaction is that it’s not fair, angry at god, doctor, your body, etc.
• Anger to a loss of control (you can’t choose)
third stage of death
 Bargaining
• Start trying to make deals (if you let me live, then I will do this)
• Make a deal with the doctor, with god, with family members, etc.
• Ex) patient with terminal cancer and her son was going to be married and she wouldn’t live to wedding. Was taught self-hypnosis to deal with pain by the staff. She went to the wedding. Then she came back and was like I have another son, I just want to live until he gets married
fourth stage of death
 Depression
• When decline in physical status becomes obvious
• Sets in when you can no longer ignore the physical signs of death
• Many terminally ill despair
• Important preparation for final step
fifth stage of death
 Acceptance
• When grieving done, individual ready to die
• “a dying man needs to die as a sleepy man who needs to sleep, and there comes a time when it is wrong, as well as useless, to resist” (Alsop)
impacts of stages of death
o Impact on the medical field because it gives the process of dying a much more compassionate approach to what the individuals are going through psychologically
Timing of Retirement
- 1970: average retirement age: ~65
- 2000: average retirement age: ~62
Reasons/predictors for retirement
- age
- health
- family
- pension programs (buy outs)
- work
o commitment to your job: later
o wanting to do other things: early
- gender
o financial issues bigger for women
- age, health , family, pension programs, work (men)
- partners retirement (women)

Effect of retirement on attitudes/psychological health
- little negative impact of retirement on:
o life satisfaction
o well-being
- few increases in depression in recently retired
- few retirees cite retiring as a stressful life event






Negative effects most likely if:
- retired due to ill health
- “forced” into retirement
- so, control over retirement imp.
Meaning of death to cihldren and grade ones
- Preschoolers
o Generally don’t understand any aspects of death
o Believe that people can come back exactly how they were and that some people are exempt from death
o Believe that dead people breath, have blood circulating, that family members, lucky people and themselves will not die
- Start of school (grade 1)
o Start to understand:
 Permanence of death
 Universality of death
Lansdown and Benjamin (1985)
- read story to children about two kids that would go to a candy store owned by a little old lady and buy candy from her. They go away and when they come back there is no more candy store because the little old lady died. Then they are asked questions about the little old lady
- five year old: someone came into her shop to kill her. She’ll see them again and will die again. She can try to get up.
- Seven year old: they never come alive again. You can’t move because your heart has stopped. People wish you can come alive but you can’t. Children can’t die because they start at one and go to 100.
- Nine year old: their heart can’t take it any longer and they die. Babies can die of cancer and kidney problems. Heaven is much nicer than down here.





Is understanding of aspects of death associated with cognitive development?
- experience with death key criteria
meaning of death to adults
- concept/meaning of death more than about inevitability/universality/permanence
- death has social meaning


Kalish (1985)
- death as an organizer of time
o Neugarten (1970)
 again, death as an organizer of time
 “awareness of finitude”
 Not everyone has this perspective of things
- death as punishment
o for kids, not uncommon to think that people die because they are bad or that something/someone else died because they did something bad
 Kalish & Reynolds (1976)
• 36% of adults agreed with the statement: “most people who live to be 90 years old or older must have been morally good people”
- death as a transition
o US: ~70% of adults believe in life after death
- death as loss
o most pervasive meaning of death: death = loss
o loss of body functions
o loss of relationships
o loss of taste/smell/pleasure
 potential losses that person fears change across time
• Kalish & Reynolds (1976)
o Said imagine that you just found out that you have 6 months to live but you will be happy and healthy throughout the 6 months. What would you do in those months? (assume it’s the things that are most important to you)
 Make a marked change in lifestyle: 20-39 (24%), 40-59 (15%), 60+ (9%)
• Examples, having lots of sex, go travel, etc.
 Center on inner life: 20-39 (14%), 40-59 (14%), 60+ (37%)
• Meditative, reflecting, praying, reading, etc.
 Focus concern on others; be with loved ones: 20-39 (29%), 40-59 (25%), 60+ (12%)
 Attempt to complete projects, tie up loose ends: 20-29 (11%), 40-59 (10%), 60+ (3%)
 No change in lifestyle: 20-39 (17%), 40-59 (29%), 60+ (31%)
o Young people (early adulthood)
 Loss of opportunity to experience things
 Loss of family relationships
o Older adults:
 Loss of time to complete “inner” work
Fear of dying
- if death is seen as punishment/loss, death may be feared
- middle adulthood: most fear
o more are dying and more reminders of death (parents dying)
o own death may be a major psychological task for middle adulthood
o most to loose because sandwich generation (kids and parents lost)
- late adulthood: least fear
o no less preoccupied with death, they just are not as afraid of it
- religious beliefs
o if you have strong religious beliefs and/or attend church often you are more likely to have less fear of death
- Kubler-Ross stages of dying
o Worked with people who are dying from terminal cancer, thus they have time to go through the stages of dying because they have known for a while and had a dying period to reflect on these
first stage of death
 Denial
• Coping mechanism that helps deal with shock of knowing near death
• Extreme denial is short lived
• Repress the idea but is still in the back of your head for you to deal with slowly
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