Entwicklungspsychologie

• mood disorder (feeling deeply unhappy, demoralized, self-derogatory [selbstabwertend], and unmotivated)
• ca. 10-15% of older adults suffer from depression, up to 30% in nursing homes
• increasing suicide rates (esp. for men) in old age
• medication/psychotherapy lead to improvements in ca. 80% of cases

• married people are happier, less distressed, live longer (than singles)
• older married adults are happier with marriage than younger adults
• divorces in old age linked to more financial, physical, and social consequences
• increasing number of cohabiting older adults
• children’s support more from daughters than from sons

• friendships more important than family relations to predict mental health
• friends provide emotionaly intimacy, companionship, and community integration
• older adults with close friends live longer (larger effect for women than men)

• better physical and mental health, lower institutionalization rate and mortality
• loneliness and social isolation as risk factors (cf. „men as social animal“)

• linked to mental and physical health, life satisfaction, mortality

• emphasis (Betonung) on the positive aspects of aging

• no breathing,
• no blood pressure,
• rigidity of the body

• lower brain regions die later (thus heartbeat and respiration still possible)

• signing of living will (Patientenverfügung)
• legal questions of when to stop life-sustaining procedures (lebenserhaltende Maßnahmen) 
• medical diagnosis of „terminally ill“

• passive (withholding available treatment)
• active (deliberate introduction of death, e.g. by delivering drugs)

• hospice and palliative care (Hospiz, Palliativpflege)

• relatively fewer deaths of children and younger parents, and less often at home
• most die in older age and at institutions (hospitals, nursing homes, hospice etc.)

• specific beliefs about death (e.g., life after death, reincarnation)
• specific rituals associated with death 
• Western cultures mostly death avoiders and deniers (Vermeider und Leugner)

1. denial and isolation („No, it can’t be.“) 2. anger („Why me?“) 3. bargaining („What can I do?“) 4. depression („Let me alone.“)

• necessary stage to disconnect oneself from loved ones
• need to contemplate abouth one’s death (and life)

5. acceptance („Let it be.“)

• finding a sense of peace (end of the dying struggle)

evaluation: no empirical evidence available (Kastenbaum, 2007)

• with age decreasing fear of death 
• perceived control as coping strategy (and prolonging life)
• denial can be both adaptive and maladaptive

• chance to close life according to own ideas
• chance to complete plans and projects (open matters)
• make decisions about funeral and burying
• chance for life review, alone and with others
• better understanding of dying process

1. effective communication strategies

• pining or yearning (sehnsüchtig sein)
• separation anxiety (Trennungsangst)
• despair and sadness (Verzweiflung und Traurigkeit), hopelessness, apathy

• no clear stages, more ups-and-downs 
• about 80-90% of survivors return to normal grief after about six months

• difficulty to return to normal life
• strong depressive symptoms
• negative consequences for physical and mental    health
• therapeutic interventions helpful

  coping depends on type of death (sudden vs. forseeable)!

• need for adjusting to personal, social, financial consequences
• importance of social support

• development is lifelong, multidimensional, multidirectional, plastic, multidisciplinary, and contextual
• development involves growth, maintenance, and regulation
• development is co-constructed through biological, sociocultural, and individual factors

• Ein Mensch kann maximal 122 Jahre alt werden
• Die Lebenserwartung ist im Laufe der Jahre gestiegen, heute liegt sie in den USA bei 78 Jahren.

•  normative age-graded influences
• normative history-graded influences
•  non-normative life events

= time frame that is characterized by a certain feature

1. prenatal period (conception [Empfängnis] to birth, 9    months) 2. infancy (birth to 18-24 months; Babys, Kleinkinder) 3. early childhood (2 to 5-6 years; Vorschulkinder) 4. middle and late childhood (6 to 11 years; Schulkinder) 5. adolescence (10-12 to 18-22 years; Jugendliche) 6. early adulthood (ca. 20 to 40 years) 7. middle adulthood (ca. 40 to 60 years)

• chronological vs. biological (health), psychological (adaptive capacities) and social age

• possibly shifting in the course of the lifespan

• gradual changes vs. stepwise development

main assumptions:

•  origin of problems in early experiences
•  primary role of sexuality
•  importance of unconscious processes [1.13]
•  types of conflict resolution

+ 5 psychosexual stages of development

1) Psychoanalytic Theories

• Freud
• Erik Eriksons psychosocial theory

2) Cognitive Theories

• Jean Piagets cognitive developmental theory
• Vygotskis sociocultural cognitive theory
•  the information processing theory

3) Behavioral and social cognitive theories

• Burrhus Skinner’s (1904-1990) operant conditioning (behaviorism)
• Albert Bandura’s (1925- ) social cognitive theory

4) Ethological theories

• Konrad Lorenz (1903-1989)
• John Bowlby (1907-1990)
• Evolutionary psychology

5) Ecological theory

• Urie Bronfenbrenner (1917-2005)

• lifespan perspective of development
• 8 stages with unique developmental tasks (crisis) to be solved

• Orale Phase
• Anale Phase
• Ödipale Phase
• Latenzphase
• Genitale Phase

• role of cognitive schemata to understand the world
• assimilation and accomodation
• 4 qualitative stages of children’s cognitive development

•  impact of social interactions and culture
• learning to use inventions of a society (like language, mathematics etc.)
• gradual cognitive development

• gradually increasing capacity for imformation processing

• role of rewards and punishments to shape behavior