Exam 17: Old Age: Social, Emotional and Personality Development

________________ theory holds that healthy old age consists of a deliberate divorcing of oneself from other people, from social roles and from the active concern with others and their lives that preoccupies much of mature adulthood.

In practical research terms, it is difficult to separate involuntary disengagement from the deliberate shedding of social roles by an older person who wants and needs to disengage.

Cumming (1964) argued that the third postulate of disengagement theory is that the elderly personality changes to a more ________________ and dependent mode of relating as a result of the disengagement process. Interests in social activity diminish, possible topics of conversation are lost through disuse and, with little access to, or interest in, others, social interaction becomes even more limited and awkward.

In Australia, 72 percent of individuals age 95 or older live in institutions.

Disengagement theory postulates not only that disengagement occurs in old age but also that it is a _____________ _____________ .

Savage et al. (1977) defined the perturbed participants (about 10 percent) in their study as shrewd, analytic and deliberate in their actions. These participants tended to be rather intolerant of change and suspicious of outsiders, resenting any interference with their private lives.

Carstensen (1992) has argued that as older adults reduce their social involvement with casual friends and acquaintances, they become more selective in their decision to spend positive, quality time with family members.

Palmore, Fillenbaum and George (1984) found that the best predictor of surviving to the age of 75 in good health and high spirits was:

Jung (1969) argues that that old people need to cut their links with other people in order to gain sufficient time and energy for inner contemplation, and for putting their psychic affairs in order in readiness for death.

Savage et al. (1977) defined the _______________ participants in their study as resourceful, self- sufficient, tough- minded elderly men and women. These participants stood out for their intelligent decision- making skills, their even tempers and their personal strength and courage.

The ________________ provides a huge potential for old people needing to overcome enforced isolation, arising from restricted mobility, living alone in a high- rise apartment or on a secluded farm, or after moving into a nursing home or other care facility away from home.

Langer and Rodin (1976) investigated the link between personal control and longevity. They found that the survival of the old people who were given responsibility for their pot plant was ________________ percent after 18 months, compared with 70 percent in the group whose arena of control had not been boosted.

According to socioemotional selectivity theory, elderly adults are helped to achieve integrity by their successful experiences in resolving the earlier crises of personality development that punctuate the lifespan.

_____________ theory postulates that different people use different strategies for confronting old age, just as there are individual differences in effective solutions to the developmental challenges arising earlier in life.

According to Westbrook and Legge (1990), tensions experienced by nursing staff were greater when caring for patients from non- English speaking backgrounds than for Anglo- Australian residents.

According to ABS (2008e) data, a smaller proportion of elderly adults (45 percent) than younger adults (20 percent) live alone

According to disengagement theory, which of the following is incorrect about old age?

When older peoples' choices are limited to the point where they feel they no longer have an impact on events, decisions or people that matter, they risk developing a problem known as _____________ .

Feather (1989) studied a sample of Adelaide men and women in their 50s and 60s who were victims of an economic recession. Rather than voluntarily disengaging from work, they were forced into premature retirement from their long- term careers by becoming unemployed. Which of the following social roles became more frequent for these individuals after they became unemployed?

According to the findings of Ryff (1989), what do people aged between 50 and 80 consider to be the best measure of being well adjusted in old age?