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Adulthood & Aging: Chances and Risks
Lecture 1: Introduction (hs 1 & 8)
Lecture 2: Social Relations (hs 5 & 6)
Lecture 3: Life Stories
Lecture 4: Life Stories 2
Lecture 5: Mental Health and Disorders (hs 3, 8, 9 en 10)
Lecture 6: Living is a Nursing Home
Lecture 7: What is Cognitive Aging? (hs 2, 3 en 4)
Class 8 : Cardiovascular Disease and Sleep
Class 9: Lifestyle Interventions in Aging (hs 3 & 4)
Class 10: Loss and Loneliness (hs 5 & 6)
Class 11: Loneliness in adulthood
Class 12: Cognitive Reserve
Class 13: The End of Life (hs 11 & 12)
Lecture 1: Introduction (hs 1 & 8)
Continuity theory (Atchly, 1989)
The majority of older adults show relative consistency in
personality traits
attachment and relationships
beliefs, traditions, interests and activities (e.g. the older person continues to run for exercise but in a less strenuous
manner)
despite changing physical, mental and social status → start making adaptive choices, middle-aged and older adults
attempt to preserve and maintain existing internal and external structures
Adulthood & Aging: Chances and Risks 1
, sources of change: influences on adult development
normative age graded influences
related to chronological age
biological: grey hair, wrinkles
environmental: retirement, marriage
normative history related influences
related to history time, cohort effects (a group of people who share a common historical experience at the same stage
of life)
wars, 2008 financial crisis, COVID pandemic
non-normative life influences/life events
unusual occurences that have a major impact on a specific person's life, not shared with many others
loss of a partner in early adulthood, winning the lottery, starting a new job at the age of 65
→ we have to pay attention not only to the event itself, but also to the timing, events that are on time are much easier to
cope with than those who are off-time (e.g. the loss of a partner when you are young instead of old)
well being
emotional → balance between positive and negative feelings, satisfaction with life, interest
psychological → self-acceptance, goal in life, autonomy, competence, relatedness
social → social acceptance, contribution to society
older adults experience more emotional well-being: paradox of aging
the experience of ageing is important for individual development
two important approaches on adult development
life span developmental psychology approach bioecological model of development
development is a lifelong process with a combination of crucial role of the environment
gains and losses
Bronfenbrenners' model of ecological systems
developmental stages (Erikson) p.272 Bronfenbrenner proposed 5 systems: the microsystem, teh
in the theory of Erikson he describes that in order to exosystem, and the macrosystem. with the mesosystem
develop a stable life, you have to go through all the stages being the interaction between the elements in the
and find a balance in the challenges microsystem. in addition there is the chronosystem which
reflects the fact that the other three systems are dynamic-
to develop a complete, stable personality, the person must
consistently changing over time (p. 35)
move through and successfully resolve eight crisis or
dilemmas over the course of a lifetime. each stage or → the major point of this theory is that individuals and
dilemma emerges as the person is challenged by new their development cannot be studied 'out of context', but
relationships, tasks or demands. that you must consider the social environment
Adulthood & Aging: Chances and Risks 2
, SOC model
Baltes' SOC model describes how to age successfully in
terms of Selection, Optimalization and Compensation
(think of the pianist who played with enormous skill into
his 80's)
he picked a smaller set of pieces (S) self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 2008) p.284
took more time to study them (O)
learned techniques to mask that he became less fast
(C)
this theory looks at the inherent, positive human tendency
to move towards growth, and outlines three core needs
that facilitate growth (motivate the self to initiate
behavior). they theorize that individuals cannot drive
without satisfying all three of these needs- and thus an
environment that fosters competence and autonomy, but
not relatedness, for example, will result in a compromised
sense of well-being.
the experience of (own) aging is important for individual development. aging has many different components which
makes it an individual developmental progress.
Adulthood & Aging: Chances and Risks 3
