Chapter 15
Social Aspects of Later Life: Psychosocial,
Retirement, Relationship, and Societal Issues
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Theories of Psychosocial Aging
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Define continuity theory and describe the difference between internal and external
continuity.
Define competence and environmental press and explain how they are related.
Define adaptation level, zone of maximum performance potential, and zone of maximum
comfort.
Define proactivity and docility and describe how they are related to competence and
environmental press.
Personality, Social Cognition, and Spirituality
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Describe Erikson's crisis of integrity vs despair, and explain how the life review process
is related to this crisis.
Describe the results of research on the relations between the life review process and
achieving integrity.
Define subjective well-being and the factors related to it.
Describe the 3 processes that are related to control beliefs in later life.
Explain how and why control beliefs vary across different domains.
Define assimilative and accommodative activities and explain how they are related to
age.
Describe how religion is used to cope with stress.
Describe the effects of spiritual support on personal well-being and self-worth.
Explain the 3 steps involved in using spirituality to cope with problems.
Describe the importance of religion and the church in the lives of African Americans.
Describe the importance of religion to Mexican Americans and Native Americans.
I Used to Work at..:Living in Retirement
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Describe how retirement is related to one's occupational identity.
Explain the differences between “crisp” and “blurred” retirement processes.
Define bridge job.
Describe ethnic differences in the retirement process.
Describe how health is related to the decision to retire.
Describe the main factors that influence a woman's decision to retire.
Describe ethnic differences in the decision to retire.
Describe the factors that are related to a successful adjustment to retirement.
Describe the 3 stereotypes about retirement and explain the research results that refute the
stereotypes.
Give examples of the activities that cater to retired adults.
Explain the reasons why retirees volunteer in the community.
Explain the reasons for an increased rate of volunteerism by retirees.
Friends and Family in Late Life
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Define social convoy and describe how the size and amount of support from it are related
to different generations.
Describe the importance of friendships to older women, particularly widows.
Describe the 5 types of sibling relationships that are found among older adults: intimate,
congenial, loyal, apathetic, and hostile.
Explain how sibling relationships with sisters differ from those with brothers.
Describe marital satisfaction in older couples.
Describe the characteristics of older married couples.
Describe long-term gay and lesbian partnerships and the possible effects of aging.
Explain how spousal caregiving is related to marital satisfaction and the caregivers'
emotional state.
Describe how feelings of competence affect spousal caregivers.
Describe who is most likely to be widowed and describe the typical length of
widowhood.
Describe how widowhood affects other social relationships.
Describe the similarities and differences in how men and women react to widowhood.
Describe the typical characteristics of great-grandparents.
Describe the 3 important aspects of great-grandparenthood.
Social Issues and Aging
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Define frail older adults and describe how the proportion of these older adults changes
with increasing age.
Define activities of daily living and instrumental activities of daily living.
Describe the prevalence of frailty.
Describe the percentage of people who live in nursing homes from various age groups.
Explain how the increase in the number of assisted-living facilities has influenced the rate
of nursing home residence.
Define intermediate care and skilled nursing care.
Describe the typical nursing home resident and explain why these people are more likely
to be in nursing homes.
Describe the factors that are important in determining if a nursing home is good or not.
Describe important things one should do when visiting someone in a nursing home.
Describe the problems associated with defining elder abuse and neglect.
Describe the prevalence of elder abuse and neglect.
Describe the victims of elder abuse.
Explain the causes of elder abuse.
Describe political activity in older adults.
Describe how the aging of baby boomers will affect Social Security.
Describe how the aging of baby boomers will affect Medicare.