SO1100: Week 5 Assignment
How do biological changes influence a person’s sense of identity, and why is it
important to treat clients with dignity and integrity throughout the lifespan?
This assignment helps you apply your knowledge from this week’s modules
and readings.
As a healthcare professional, it is important to understand human behavior
and its influences within the social environment as you interact with patients
with different ethnicities, cultures, and “walks of life.” This assignment
focuses on middle, late, and very late adulthood.
Middle Adulthood
Using your textbook, answer the questions below.
1. In midlife ____________ intelligence increases but ___________ intelligence decreases.
☐ Philosophical/cognitive
☐ Stable/decision making
☒ Crystallized/fluid
☐ Fluid/crystallized
2. The process of communication at midlife:
☐ Is usually at a business level and dominated by peers and work associates.
☒ Is usually at a deeper level, dominated by family and friends, and includes engaging in
forgiveness.
☐ Is usually at a more shallow level because the majority of people live a very fast paced lifestyle
during this time.
☐ Is more focused on hypothetical relationships.
3. When couples “launch” their children into adulthood there is a period of:
☐ Decreasing marital satisfaction
☒ Increasing marital satisfaction
☐ Stability with neither an increase of decrease in marital satisfaction
☐ An increase in marital satisfaction for men, but a decrease in marital satisfaction for women.
4. Carl has been married for 28 years but recently has been unable to stop himself from having an
affair with his tennis partner. Research indicates that the affair appeals to him for all the reasons
below EXCEPT:
☒ He achieves greater fulfillment in personal relationships
☐ It boosts his confidence in his sexual attractiveness
☐ He has a great desire for excitement
☐ He is no longer attracted to his wife
1
5. Carole has been feeling overwhelmed because along with her career, being a mom, and being a
wife, she also is in charge of hosting all the big family get-togethers at her house and generally
keeping the family together. Carole is suffering from/as the ________.
☐ Sandwich generation
☒ Kinkeeper
☐ Verbal abuse
☐ Men’s movement
Late Adulthood, and Very Late Adulthood
Using your textbook, answer the questions below.
6. Life expectancy:
☐ Refers to the upper limit human beings can live.
☐ Refers to the number of years the average person may live who was born in a particular year.
☐ Has not increased significantly in the last several decades.
☐ All of these.
7. Which of the following is NOT a symptom of Alzheimer's disease?
☐ Forgetting how to add and subtract
☐ Substituting strange words for forgotten words
☐ Misplacing things in unusual places and having no memory of putting them there
☐ Not feeling like doing a chore
8. The largest percentage of elder abuse is abuse by
☐ a long-term care facility worker
☐ a spouse or an adult child
☐ a neighbor
☐ a paid in-home caregiver
9. Sexually, people in their 70’s, 80’s, and beyond:
☐ Are unattractive to each other, and desire younger partners.
☐ Have absolutely no decrease in sexual desire.
☐ Are too fragile for sexual intercourse.
☐ Remain able to engage in sexual activity, though there are several physiological changes they
must cope with.
2
10. A Living Will:
☐ States that a person has the right to be resuscitated or kept alive by artificial means.
☐ Allows a person the right to an assisted suicide or euthanasia in the case of terminal illness.
☐ Allows a person to document that he/she does not want to be kept alive by artificial means but
desires care only for comfort.
☐ None of these.
Scenario
Analyze the following scenario and then answer the questions below based on the readings and
resources from this week.
Luis, 41, and Maria, 40 have immigrated to the US from Paraguay with their seven children and
parents. Luis and Maria have started a new business. Luis’ father has died, leaving a grieving elderly
mother. Maria, who thought she was experiencing menopause, is actually pregnant and Luis has just
found out that he has a progressive, debilitating disease.
11. Reflect on the key concepts from the developmental themes of middle adulthood. What strengths
could contribute to a positive experience with having a baby at this age?
Type answer here
12. Reflect on the key concepts from the developmental themes of middle adulthood. What hazards or
risks could contribute to a difficult experience with having a baby at this age?
Type answer here
13. Reflecting on the common concerns for older adults in late and very late adulthood, what are the
typical factors you should consider when working with older adults?
Type answer here
14. How might these factors be different for a couple like Luis and Maria, who are engaging in
childrearing later in life?
Type answer here
Reflection
Reflect on what you have learned this week to help you respond to the question below. You may
choose to respond in writing or by recording a video!
15. Why is it important to treat all clients with dignity and integrity regardless of where they fall in the
lifespan? What things can you do to personally ensure that you are treating clients in this way?
Type answer here
3