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Chapter 1Basic Concepts of Adult Development and Ageing
Summary by Mirtenéz Ernst & Sandi Vreugdenhil
INTRODUCTION
Demands of a growing and ageing population lead to the scientific discipline gerontology
Gerontology: Multidisciplinary study of old age and the ageing process
Gerontologist: People that study aged people and the ageing process
Geropsychology: Specific branch of psychology dealing with multiple aspects of normal and abnormal
psychological changes that occur in later years of life
Geriatrics: Branch of medicine dealing problems and diseases of old age
SUBSTAGES OF ADULTHOOD
Adulthood could easily stretch over 50 years and is characterised by continuing changes in all areas of
functioning.
Adulthood is divided into:
• Early adulthood: ± 20 – 39
• Middle adulthood: ± 40 – 59
• Late adulthood: ± 60 – death
Psychologists agree these should not be used too rigidly – Age is a relative concept
Defining Old Age in Africa
• 50 – 59 traditionally defined (in African culture) as being elderly and preparing for transition to old
age
• Beginning period of reduced productive activity & completion of reproductive activity
• Title ‘older person’ is dictated by one’s role in society i.e. becoming a grandparent
• Such titles conferred regardless of chronological age
• WHO determined age 50 is the cut off point to define people as old in Africa and 60 in western
societies
• Poor economic status and burden of survival = greater disadvantage than richer countries, thus
leading to premature ageing
PERSPECTIVES ON AGE
• Chronological age – number of years passed since a person’s birth. Time does not cause
developmental changes. The extent to which developmental changes has taken place during the
chronological lifespan is important.
• Psychological age – ability of a person to adjust to the environment and cope with associated
challenges, in comparison with individuals of the same age.
• Social age – determine by degree in which a person’s role in a society meets expectations and
perceptions of that society. Expectations are strongly influenced by norms and expectancies of the
specific society, as dictated by factors such as culture, gender, race and ethnicity. Social age could
also be regarded as cultural age.
• Biological age – physical condition of a person in comparison with peer group. Relativity applies to
this factor i.e. health consciousness
• Functional age – total ability of an individual to function effectively in environment. Psychological,
social and biological ages are used to determine an individual’s functional age
1
© 2012 Mirtenéz Ernst
,Gerontologists also distinguish between:
Primary ageing – typical ageing, gradual physical deterioration. It’s universal, inevitable and caused by
inborn factors.
Secondary ageing – physical deterioration accelerated by disease or external factors i.e. stress or
unhealthy lifestyle
Tertiary ageing – process of terminal decline occurring in time before death. Characterised by
significant increase of physical and cognitive deterioration in relative short period after which the
individual dies. Not primarily related to age - signifies approach of death.
Relativity and subjectivity of age have led to the coining of two concepts:
Personal age – how old a person perceives and experiences own age. Most adults feel younger than
their actual age.
Ageless self – adults experience that the self (‘core’ of the personality) remains the same, regardless of
biological or chronological ageing.
• Women tend to be more anxious about growing old than men do
• Most societies place much higher value on women’s physical appearance and reproductive abilities
than they do with men
• Women feel more competent and confident in their 40s than in their 30s
All definitions regarding adulthood are subjected to legislation of a country
Legal definition will always be the determining criterion
Legal maturity – age considered to legally be old enough to make own decisions
Up until 2007 the legal age in South Africa was considered to be 21 and not 18
Demographic context provides an important informative background on the study of adult
development
A LIFE-SPAN DEVELOPMENTAL PERSPECTIVE
Paul Baltes identified key principals to study adult development:
• Development is a life-long process
- takes place over entire life-span
- at every age various developmental processes are at work
- not all developmental processes are present at birth
• Development is multidimensional and multidirectional
- development occurs in various dimensions & affects multiple aspects simultaneously
- may also occur in different directions i.e. improve in some areas, remain stable in others, etc.
• Development is a combination of gains and losses
- developmental processes increase/decrease throughout life-span
- people may lose in some area and gain in another
- people tend to maximise gains
- minimise losses by means of management or compensation
• Development shows plasticity
- aspects of development can be modified/altered: person’s experience could change their course
of development
- abilities (memory, strength, endurance) can be improve with training and practice
- development is not cast in stone, but potential for change is limited
• Development is embedded in history and context
- development occurs in a given cultural-historical context
- individuals respond to social-cultural environments and actively interact with and influence them
- people in Western-orientated societies have different views than people in traditional African
communal societies, or societies where both views are incorporated
2
© 2012 Mirtenéz Ernst
, • Development occurs in context
- development is influenced by biological, social or environmental influences
- some influences are similarly experienced by others (age-related, historical, social)
- how we develop is shaped by a variety of influences
• Development is multidisciplinary
- influenced by multiple factors
- no single perspective can adequately explain complexity of development
- many disciplines play a role in conceptualising & influencing development
- biological (medical) fields ageing process at the organismic, molecular, cellular and neurological
levels
- psychology addresses adult development and ageing from socio-economic factors, social
changes and political and social policies
Purpose of adopting a life-span developmental perspective is to describe development and behaviour,
guiding us to formulate strategies to optimise development.
THE FORCES AND INFLUENCES OF DEVELOPMENT
Different interactive forces shape development:
Biological forces – all physical and physiological related factors i.e. changes in physical appearance,
organ & perceptual systems, body mass, health-related factors, etc.
Psychological forces – cognitive, emotional and personality factors that affect development. Some
characteristics changes, other may remain stable
Sociocultural forces – interpersonal, societal and cultural forces providing overall contexts in which we
develop
Life-cycle forces – forces affecting course of development, may be combination of biological,
psychological and sociocultural forces affecting people at different points of their lives. These forces
may have positive or negative effects on individual development
Paul Baltes & colleagues identified sets of influences that could affect development:
• Normative age-graded influences
- experiences caused by biological, psychological and sociocultural forces, associated with
chronological age
- biological: menopause, age related impairments in vision, hearing and reaction speed
- psychological: adjustments in family life, socialising next generation, ‘empty nest’, retirement, loss
of spouse
- sociocultural: first marriage, birth of first child, establishing career, ending career (retiring)
- when events occur at appropriate age (considered by culture), development considered to be
‘on time’ in terms of social clock
- chronological-social clock have become broader in recent decades
• Normative history-graded influences
- result from events experienced at the same time by most people in a specific culture
- events may be biological, psychological, sociocultural
- history-graded influences may have a world-wide influence, not only impacting a specific culture
(i.e. World War I and II, Great Depression, globalisation)
• Non-normative influences
- result from random or rare events that may affect a particular individual and note experienced by
most people
- winning a contest, lottery or election; an accident, contracting life threating illness, losing one’s job
- the unpredictability of these events make them unique and could change the course of one’s life in
an instant
3
© 2012 Mirtenéz Ernst
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