Methods for Studying Aging
Ch. 1 pgs. 25-32
Reviewing Research Methods
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Cross-Sectional Studies
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Longitudinal Studies
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Sequential Research Designs
◆ Cohort-sequential
◆ Time-sequential
◆ Cross-sequential
C
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Cross-Sectional Diagram
Longitudinal Diagram
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Time of Testing
Time of Testing
1920
B
B
1990
70
1930
B
B
60
B
1940
B
B
50
B
1950
B
B
B
B
1970
1980
2000
C
O
H
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T
B
Cohort-Sequential Diagram
1970
50
1980
1990
2000
1920
60
70
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1930
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1940
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1950
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Time-Sequential Diagram
(longitudinal)
(cross-sectional)
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Time of Testing
C
O
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1970
1920
50
1980
60
Time of Testing
1990
70
2000
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2010
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1930
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50
60
70
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1940
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50
60
70
1950
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1960
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C
O
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1970
1920
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1980
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1990
70
2000
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2010
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1930
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60
70
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1940
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50
60
70
1950
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50
60
1960
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Cross-Sequential Diagram
Methods for Collecting Data
(both)
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Time of Testing
C
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T
1970
1920
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1980
60
1990
70
2000
80
2010
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Observation
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Interviews
◆ Face-to-face
1930
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50
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1940
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40
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60
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1950
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1960
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◆ Telephone
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Questionnaire
◆ Mail-out
or completed in presence of
researcher
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Other Standardized Tests
Develop Objectives
Methods for Collecting Data
(cont.)
Collect Secondary Data
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Case Study
◆ Intense
◆
individual study
Design Quantitative Research:
•Method
•Sample Design
•Data Collection Instrument
Clinical Method
◆ Uses
sophisticated observation and
interview skills
◆
Design Qualitative Research:
•Method
•Screener Questionnaire
•Discussion Guide
Conduct Research
◆ With
Exploratory
Study
Analyze Data
(subjective)
Physiological research
humans and animals
Collect Primary Data
Prepare Report
Analyze Data
(objective)
Prepare Report
Life-span Approach
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Theories of Adult
Development and Aging
◆
Relatively new approach to
understanding development
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Suggests positive developmental
change occurs throughout all epochs of
the life-span
◆
Terminology
Development vs. Change
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Life Span
◆
◆
Total number of years for a species to live –
Change
◆
approx. 110 years for the human species
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◆
◆
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Longevity
Average expected length of life
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Form of change that is organized and adaptive (positive)
– children ideal learning machines, adaptive
◆
Cannot be solely equated with steady incremental
change
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Development is a life long process
Average number of years an individual has
remaining to live
◆
Development
Life Expectancy
◆
Measurable alterations in particular skill, ability, or
function
Types of Theories
Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory
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Individual Developmental Theories
◆
Stage Theories
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Non-Stage Theories
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and adolescence
Theories of Change Across Adulthood
◆
Stage Theories
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Non-Stage Theories
◆
Physiological/Biological Theories of Aging
◆
Social Theories of Aging
Freud’s Contributions
______________________________________
Focuses on individuals through childhood
◆
Based on the theory that drives come from
within the person, not from the environment
Developmental Stage
Theories
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5 Psychosexual Stages
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Oral (birth to 18 months)
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Anal (18 months – 3 years)
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Phallic (3 – 6 years)
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Latency (6 years – puberty/approx. 12 years)
◆
Genital (puberty – adolescence)
No adult stages but foundation of all
◆ Erikson’s
◆ Gould’s
Theory of Identity Development
Theory of Individual
Transformation
◆ Loevinger’s
Theory of Ego Development
understanding of adulthood and aging
Erikson’s Theory of Identity
Development
Erikson’s 8 Stages
______________________________
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Trust vs. Mistrust
◆
Most influential view of adult
Autonomy vs. Shame & Doubt
◆
Initiative vs. Guilt
development
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Industry vs. Inferiority
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Identity vs. Role confusion
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Encompasses the entire life span
◆
A gradual, stepwise development
◆
◆
Adult Stages
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Intimacy vs. Isolation
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Generativity vs. self-absorption &
stagnation
◆
Ego Integrity vs. Despair
Contains 8 dilemmas
Erikson’s Stages Associated
With Adulthood
Gould’s Theory of Personal
Transformation
Stages 6, 7, & 8
_________________________________
◆
Intimacy vs. Isolation – ages 19 – 25
◆
◆
_____________________________
◆
Deals with identity and relationships
definition” (Gould, 1980, p. 213; In Smelser & Erikson)
Generativity vs. Self-Absorption and Stagnation –
ages 25 – 65
◆
◆
◆
Deals with concern of developing the next generation
Adult development process of working
through myths
Ego Integrity vs. Despair – ages 65+
◆
A time of reflection
Gould Theory Diagram
Major False Assumptions
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Transformation is “an expansion of self
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The Mid-Life Decade
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Opening up what’s inside
“I’m nobody’s baby now”
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Leaving our parents’ world
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ages 22-28
“I’ll always belong to my parents and believe in their
world.” ages 16-22
“Doing things my parents’ way, with willpower and
perseverance, will bring results. But if I become too
frustrated, confused or tired or am simply unable to
cope, they will step in and show me the right way.”
“Life is simple and controllable. There are no
significant coexisting contradictory forces within
me.” ages 28-34
“There is no evil or death in the world. The sinister
has been destroyed.” ages 35-45
Defense Mechanisms
Development Without Stages
Proposed by Valliant
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Valliant’s view of Adaptation in Adult Life
◆ Stresses
◆
◆
the importance of career on
Mechanisms
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projection, schizoid fantasy, hypochondriasis, passiveaggression, acting out
“Neurotic” mechanisms
◆
◆
delusional projection, denial, distortion
Immature mechanisms
◆
development
◆ Defense
“Psychotic” mechanisms
repression, displacement, reaction formation,
dissociation
Mature mechanisms
◆
Altruism, humor, suppression, anticipation, sublimation
Erikson – Valliant Diagram
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Theories of Adult Change
A
G
E
S
Ego Integrity vs. Despair
_______________________________________
Generativity vs. Stagnation
Keeping the
meaning vs.
rigidity
Intimacy vs. Isolation
Career
Consolidation
Identity vs. Role Confusion
Stage Theories of
Adult Change
Levinson’s Theory
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Levinson’s Theory: Seasons of Adulthood
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Life-Course Transitions:
A Sociological Perspective
A study of 40 men using an intensive
biographical interview
◆
Life Structure is the central concept
◆ Relationships
◆
are the key component
Based on a combination of phases and
transitions
Levinson Diagram
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Life-course Transitions
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◆
Role Theory
◆ Role
conflict – occurs when an individual
attempts to hold two or more roles that are
incompatible
◆ Role
strain – occurs when an individual is not
a good fit for a role.
Stages of Family Life Cycle
3. The family with
young children
4. The family with
adolescents
Accepting new
members into
system
Increase flexibility
of family
boundaries for
children’s
independence
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6
Late Adulthood
Late Adulthood Transition
Culmination of Middle Adulthood
Age 50 Transition
Entering Middle Adulthood
Mid-Life Transition
Settling Down
Age 30 Transition
Entering the Adult World
Early Adult Transition
Stages of Family Life Cycle
Stage
1. Between
families: The
unattached
young adult
Transition Process
Accepting parent offspring separation
2. The joining of
families by
marriage: newly
married couple
Committing to new
system
Stages of Family Life Cycle
5. The family with
young adults
Accepting multitude
of exits from and
entries into family
system
6. The family in
later life
Accepting shifting
of generational
roles
Requirements that Biological
Theories Must Meet to be Viable
Family Life Cycle – Duvall
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Newly married, no children
◆ New parents
◆ Family with preschool children
◆ Family with school-age children
◆ Family with adolescent children
◆ Family with oldest child gone from home
◆ Family with all children gone
◆ Aging families
◆
1. Process must be universal
2. Process must be deleterious or result in
physiological decline
3. Process must be progressive & gradual
4. Loss must be intrinsic, organism cannot
correct
Physiological/Biological
Theories of Aging
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Wear & Tear
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Immune system becomes defective and attacks
itself
Cross-Linkage
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◆
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Organism wears out
Auto-Immune
Protein collagen – important connective tissue
Free Radical – Highly reactive molecules
Cellular Aging
◆
Cells slow in number of replications
Social Theories of Aging
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Role Theory
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Roles identify and describe a person as
Role Theory
Activity Theory
Disengagement Theory
Continuity Theory
Age Stratification Theory
Social Exchange Theory
Symbolic Interactionism
Labeling Theory
Subculture of Aging Theory
Activity Theory
◆
Based on analyses by Robert
Havinghurst
a social being
◆
Roles are the basis of self-concept
◆
Examples: mother, father, student, etc.
◆
The more active the older person, the
greater his or her satisfaction, positive
self-concept, and adjustment in later
life will be
Disengagement Theory
◆
Viewed as an adaptive behavior
◆
Allows older people to maintain a
Continuity Theory
◆
Individuals maintain a consistent
pattern of behavior as they age
◆
The aging individuals substitute similar
types of roles for lost ones
◆
Life satisfaction is determined by how
consistent activities or lifestyles are
with lifetime experiences
sense of self-worth while adjusting to
the loss of prior roles
Age Stratification Theory
◆
Directs attention away from
Social Exchange Theory
◆
activity decrease with age
individual adjustment
◆
◆
Adds a structured time component
◆
Recognizes that members of one
strata differ from each other
Attempts to answer why social interaction and
Withdrawal and social isolation results from an
unequal exchange between the elderly and
society
◆
Exchange may be driven by emotional needs
and resources
Symbolic Interactionism
◆
Proposes that, in certain contexts,
disengagement can be the norm
◆
The context and the environment must
be considered before an evaluation can
be made about whether a behavior is
positive or negative
Labeling Theory
◆
Derived from Symbolic Interaction Theory
◆
Proposes that we react to the way others
treat us by adapting our behavior to fit the
definition others have set for us
Summary of Micro
Theories of Aging
Subculture of Aging Theory
◆
◆
◆
◆
Suggests that individuals interact with
others who have similar interests and
backgrounds.
This may leave older individuals feeling
isolated from other segments of society.
This may also allow for positive interaction
to occur.
2 consequences for older people:
1.
2.
◆
involves a natural & inevitable
withdrawal from society
◆
nor inevitable to withdraw
Summary of Micro
Theories of Aging
Continuity theory - Normal aging involves
a continuity in personality structure & in
patterns of social interaction
◆
Exchange theory - Interaction between
young & old declines because elderly
have few resources to bring to an
exchange relationship
◆
◆
◆
Age stratification theory - All societies
group people into age categories, & age
represents a powerful source of social
stratification
◆
Modernization theory - Although aged
were revered in past, modernization
caused status of aged to decline
Loevinger’s Stages
of Ego Development
______________________________
_____________________________________
sequential, cumulative stages
Different from Erikson’s
◆ Stages
◆ The
Summary of Macro
Theories of Aging
Loevinger’s Theory of
Ego Development
Similar to Erikson’s
◆ 10
Activity theory - Elderly are no different
from middle-aged, it is neither natural
A classification of being old
An affiliation with a growing group that may be
influential socially and politically
◆
Disengagement theory - Normal aging
◆
Pre-social Stage
◆
Self-aware Level
◆
Symbiotic Stage
◆
Conscientious Stage
◆
Impulsive Stage
◆
Individualistic Level
◆
Self-protective Stage
◆
Autonomous Stage
◆
Conformist Stage
◆
Integrated Stage
are not inevitable
individual must move through a stage
successfully before moving on
Theories of Change
Without Stages
Theoretical Syntheses
______________________________
______________________________
◆
Baltes’s Life-Span Perspective
◆a
◆
◆
◆
perspective - not a theory
Perun & Bielby’s Timing Model of Adult
Development
◆ synchrony
◆ temporal
vs. asynchrony
progressions
Pearlin’s Model of Psychological Distress in Adults
◆
Focuses primarily on the sources of and methods of
dealing with stress in the adult years
Three sources of distress:
◆
Daily life strains
◆
Scheduled life strains
◆
Unscheduled life strains