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Lucila Falballa

Lucila Falballa

Kartei Details

Karten 360
Sprache Deutsch
Kategorie Psychologie
Stufe Grundschule
Erstellt / Aktualisiert 02.01.2013 / 26.07.2022
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2. Health (late adulthood)

2.2 Exercise, nutrition and weight

 

  • higher mortality for persons with low physical fitness (Blair, 1990) 
  • need for aerobic exercises, strength training, and stretching

 

2. Health (late adulthood)

2.2 Exercise, nutrition and weight

  • strong effects of caloric restriction (CR) in animal studies

  • lived up to 40% longer
  • chronic problems appeared later in life
  • central nervous system aged later
  • CR mechanism and its potential effect on humans are still unkown

2. Health (late adulthood)

2.3 Health treatment

 

  • partially inadequate access to health system
supporting systems (nursing home, home health care, day-care centers etc.)
  • often inadequate quality of nursing homes (Altersheim) 
  • feelings of depersonalization and dependency (instead of responsibility)

3. Cognitive Functioning (late adulthood)

3.1 Multidimensionality and multidirectionality

  • increasing cognitive impairments (cross-sectional)

 

less decline in longitudinal data (see Boyd & Bee, 2006, p. 461):
  • sample: N = 102, 62–86 years old, over 7 years
  • results: 62% constant or improved performance; 38% decline in performance

3. Cognitive Functioning (late adulthood)

3.1 Multidimensionality and multidirectionality

  • decline in processing speed

 

  • decline in processing speed (Verarbeitungsgeschwindigkeit; Salthouse, 2004) 
  • – but increase in crossword-puzzles

 

3. Cognitive Functioning (late adulthood)

3.1 Multidimensionality and multidirectionality

 

  • decrease in selective and divided attention (selektive und geteilte Aufmerksamkeit)
  • poorer episodic memory
  • more forgetting in explicit (declarative) than in implicit (procedural) memory
  • decrased working memory capacity (cross-sectional)

 

3. Cognitive Functioning (late adulthood)

3.1 Multidimensionality and multidirectionality

  • wisdom

 

wisdom (Weisheit) = expert knowledge about practical aspects of life (Baltes et al., 2006; cross-sectional) 
  • high levels of wisdom are rare
  • factors other than age are critical to obtain wisdom
  • relation to personality factors (like openness, generativity, and creativity)

3. Cognitive Functioning (late adulthood)

3.2 Training

  • „use it or lose it“ approach (Wer rastet, der rostet.)

 

  • keeping mentally active (reading, crossword puzzles, going to concerts, etc.) prevents or slows cognitive aging
  • positive findings from longitudinal studies

 

3. Cognitive Functioning (late adulthood)

3.2 Training

  • training of already declined cognitive skills

 

1. training can be effective (e.g., Willis & Schaie, 1986) – almost 40% of older persons reached their level as 14 years ago – effects lasted for several years   2. other studies had less optimistic results  – only small effects even after extensive training – only little transfer to other tasks – only short-lived improvements   3. booming market

 

3. Cognitive Functioning (late adulthood)

3.2 Training

  • general

 

  • „testing-the-limits“ approach 
  • some loss in plasticity for over-85-year olds [see 1.2 above]

5. Mental Health (late adulthood)

5.1 Alzheimer´s disease

 

increasing rate with age: – in U.S., 4.5 mill patients in 2005

 

5. Mental Health (late adulthood)

5.1 Alzheimer´s disease

  • types

 

types: a. early-onset = before age 65, earliest with 30 (about 10%) b. late-onset = after age 65 (about 90%)
  • chronic, gradual deterioration (Abbau) of memory, reasoning, language, and physical functions

 

5. Mental Health (late adulthood)

5.1 Alzheimer´s disease

  • causes

 

  • deficiency in neurotransmitter acetylcholine
  • brain shrinks and deteriorates
  • forming of amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles (Neurofibrillen)
  • genetic influence

 

5. Mental Health (late adulthood)

5.1 Alzheimer´s disease

 

problem of early detection
  • overlap with mild cognitive impairment (leichte kognitive Beeinträchtigung, z. B. benigne Altersvergesslichkeit)

 

  • treatment with medication (slows progression, no cure yet)
emotional and physical stress for caring relatives
  •  high incidence of depression for relatives

5. Mental Health (late adulthood)

5.2 Parkinson Disease (Parkinson Demenz)

 

  • chronic, progressive disease with muscle tremors (Muskelzucken), slowing of movement, and partial facial paralysis (partielle Gesichtslähmung)
  • cause: degenerated neurons that no longer produce neurotransmitter dopamine
  • treatment with medication

 

1. Theories of socioemotional development      (late adulthood)
  • Erikson’s (last) Stage 8: integrity vs. despair (Integrität vs. Verzweiflung)

 

  • retrospectively reflecting on one‘s past
  • reinterpretation of life experiences
  • life review (Lebensrückschau; Butler, 1996); often initiated by near death or serious disease

 

1. Theories of socioemotional development      (late adulthood)
  • activity theory

  • more active, energetic, productive people are happier

 

1. Theories of socioemotional development      (late adulthood)
  • socioemotional selectivity theory (Carstensen)

 

  • becoming more selective in social networks, thus maximizing positive relationships
  • different trajectories for knowledge-related and emotion-related goals
  • older (compared to younger) adults report better emotional control and fewer negative emotions

 

1. Theories of socioemotional development      (late adulthood)
  • selective optimization with compensation theory (Selektive Optimierung mit Kompensation; Baltes)

 

 

  • allocation of remaining (or new) resources to different goals
  • successful aging is linked to …
1. selection 2. optimization 3. compensation

 

2. Personality and society (late adulthood)   2.1 Personality and mortality (Sterblichkeit)
  • personality factors linked to earlier death

 

  • low conscientiousness (Gewissenhaftigkeit) and high neuroticism
  • negative affect and pessimism

 

2. Personality and society (late adulthood)   2.1 Personality and mortality (Sterblichkeit)
  • depression and suicide

 

  • 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

 

3. Families and social relationships (late adulthood)   3.1 Lifestyle diversity    

 

  • 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

3. Families and social relationships (late adulthood)

3.2 Friends and networks

  • importance of close friendships

 

  • 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)

 

3. Families and social relationships (late adulthood)

3.2 Friends and networks

  • importance of social support and social integration

 

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

 

3. Families and social relationships (late adulthood)

3.2 Friends and networks

  • importance of altruism and volunteerism for older adults

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

5. Successful aging

  • important factors

 

  • emphasis (Betonung) on the positive aspects of aging
important factors for successful aging (erfolgreiches Altern): – proper diet – active lifestyle – mental stimulation and flexibility – coping skills – social relationships and support – absence of disease – intact self-efficacy (Selbstwirksamkeit) – positive life review

 

1. Defining death and life/death issues
  • classical definition of death:

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

1. Defining death and life/death issues

  • brain death

 

brain death = no electrical activity in brain for a specified     period
  • lower brain regions die later (thus heartbeat and respiration still possible)

1. Defining death and life/death issues

  • decisions about death

 

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

1. Defining death and life/death issues

  • euthanasia (Sterbehilfe)

 

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

1. Defining death and life/death issues

  • need for better care for dying persons

  • hospice and palliative care (Hospiz, Palliativpflege)

 

2. Death and sociohistorical contexts
  • historically changed features

 

  • 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.)

2. Death and sociohistorical contexts

  • large culture variations

 

  • 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)

 

3. Facing one’s own death

  • Kübler-Ross’ (1969) stages of dying

 

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)

 

3. Facing one’s own death

  • general

 

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

 

4. Coping with the death of someone else 4.1 Communicating with a dying person
  • consequences of open awareness of dying for oneself and others

 

  • 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

4. Coping with the death of someone else

 

4.2 Grieving
  • grief as a complex emotional reaction to the loss of someone close

 

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

 

4. Coping with the death of someone else

4.2 Grieving

 

 

 

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

 

4. Coping with the death of someone else

4.2 Grieving

  • remaining 10-20% develop „complicated grief“

 

  • 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)!

 

4. Coping with the death of someone else

4.2 Grieving

  • Finding a new sense

 

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