Kathleen Stassen Berger

Part VIII

Chapter Twenty-Three

Late Adulthood: Biosocial Development

Prejudice and Predictions Senescence

Theories of Aging
The Centenarians
Prepared by Madeleine Lacefield Tattoon, M.A.
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Late Adulthood: Biosocial Development

the last phase of life

65 until death there are biosocial changes in the
senses, vital organs, morbidity, mortality

Prejudice and Predications

prejudice about late adulthood is common among people of all ages

Prejudice and Predications

Ageism
a prejudice in which people are categorized and judged solely on the basis of their chronological age

Ageism is a social disease, much like racism and sexism in that it relies on stereotypes, creating needless fear, waste, illness, and misery (Palmore, 2005).
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Prejudice and Predications

Ageism Against Young and Old
the calculation of quality-adjusted life years (QALYs, Chapter 20), often discounts the years of late adulthood--that is ageist Ageism is pigeon-holding people and not allowing them to be individuals with unique ways of living their lives (Butler,1998)

Prejudice and Predications

Elderspeak
a condescending way of speaking to older adults that resembles baby talk, with simple and short sentences, exaggerated emphasis, repetition, and a slower rate and a higher pitch than normal speech

Prejudice and Predications

Gerontology
the multidisciplinary study of old age geriatrics
the medical specialty devoted to aging

Prejudice and Predications

The Demographic Shift
millions of people worldwide are reaching old age, and it is harder to be ageist when many of ones neighbors and relative are old demography
the study of the characteristics of human populations, including size, birth and death rates, density, and destruction
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Prejudice and Predications

The Worlds Aging Population
U.S. estimates that nearly 8% of the worlds population today is over age 65 most nations still have more children than older adults the second oldest age group is centenarians
a person who has lived 100 years or more
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Prejudice and Predications

Graphing the Change
demographers depict a given population as series of stacked bars one bar for each age historically the shape is called a demographic pyramid

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Prejudice and Predications

Graphing the Change

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Prejudice and Predications

Dependents and Independence
every society has independent, selfsufficient adults and dependents who need care dependency ratio
is the ratio of self-sufficient, productive adults to dependents (children and the elderly) in a given population

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Prejudice and Predications

Not So Bleak a Future
modern technology means that fewer and fewer workers are needed to provide food, shelter, and other goods that society needs as the aged population increases we find fewer births among long-lived social groups

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Prejudice and Predications

Young, Old and Oldest
young-old
healthy, vigorous, financially secure older adults (generally, those aged 60 to 75) who are well integrated into the lives of their families and communities

old-old
older adults (generally, those over age 85) who are dependent on others for almost everything, requiring supportive services such as nursing homes and hospital stays

oldest-old

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Senescence
a gradual physical decline related to aging occurs to everyone in every body part but the rate of decline is highly variable the aging process, which is evident from adolescence on

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Senescence
Aging and Disease
primary aging
the universal and irreversible physical changes that occur to all living creatures as they grow older

secondary aging
the specific physical illnesses or conditions that become more common with aging but are caused by health habits, genes, and other influences that vary from person to person
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Senescence
High Blood Pressure and Cardiovascular Disease the leading cause of death for both men and women is cardiovascular disease
a disease that involves the heart (cardio) and the circulatory system (vascular)

high blood pressure (hypertension)

is a risk factor for heart disease, stroke, cognitive impairment, and many other aliments of late adulthood

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Senescence
Diseases of the Elderly
most elderly people, even the oldest-old, do not have any particular disease
disease defined as any condition that requires ongoing medical attention and/or interferes with daily life for at least a year

heart attacks, strokes, lower-respiratory diseases, and cancer are more common in late adulthood
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Senescence
Health Habits
depend on individual choice and social context

nutrition
with age the body becomes less efficient at digesting food and using its nutrients drugs also effect nutrition (e.g., aspirin, taken daily by many who have arthritis)
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Senescence
Selective Optimization with Compensation Both depend on how well people respond
primary aging is increasingly stressful as aging continues secondary aging undermines well-being

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Senescence
Individual Compensation: Sleep
older adults spend more time in bed take longer to fall asleep wake up often (10 times per night) take naps feel drowsy in the daytime

optimization would mean making good use of sleep time

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Senescence
Social Compensation: Driving
family members question their oldest relatives driving but hesitate to do something about it doctors dont advise their elderly patients about driving if older drivers crash, people blame the driver, not the social context that allowed the driving
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Senescence
Exercise
exercise in later life is important becomes difficult for older people weather can keep older people inside team sports are rarely organized for the elderly muscles stiffen and atrophy causes less range of motions less flexibility leads to aching backs

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Senescence
Drug Use
cigarettes contribute to adulthood lung health problems alcohol use is either not at all or over used the elderly tend to use legal drugs and not usually at great risk of becoming addicted to the drugs

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Senescence
The Brain
primary aging causes one cognitive change in everyonethe elderly think more slowly second crucial aspect of the physical aging of the brainit gets smaller. Some areas shrink more than others older people use more parts of the brain, while young adults use more targeted areas of the brain
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Senescence
Physical Appearance
changes continue among the elderly, often with emotionally destructive results they are treated and glimpsed at in stereotypical ways

Skin and Hair

the skin reveals the first signs of aging
becomes drier, thinner, and less elastic hair becomes grayer, turns white, and thins
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Senescence
Body Shape and Muscles
visible physical changes occur become shorterlosing a centimeter every decade
the vertebrae of the spine begin settling closer together in middle age

older adults weigh less than in middle age; they have less muscle tissuemay indicate weakness, thinner bones, fracture risk and disease onset
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Senescence
Dulling of the Senses
most troubling part of senescence is the loss of sensory ability senses become slower and less sharp with each decade
touch, taste, smell, sight, hearing

technology can modify many of these losses

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Senescence
Compression of Morbidity
a limiting of the time a person spends ill or infirm, accomplished by postponing illness and, once morbidity (illness) occurs, reducing the amount of time that remains before death

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Theories of Aging
Can aging and even death itself be postponed, allowing the average person to live 100 healthy years or more instead of 75 or 85?

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Theories of Aging
Wear and Tear
a view of aging as a process by which the human body wears out because of the passage of time and exposure to environmental stressors

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Theories of Aging
Genetic Adaptation
genetic clock
a purported mechanism in the DNA of cells that regulates the aging process by triggering hormonal changes and controlling cellular reproduction and repair

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Theories of Aging
How Long is a Normal Life?
maximum life span
the oldest possible age that members of a species can live under ideal circumstances for humans, the age is approximately 122 years

average life expectancy

the number of years the average newborn in a particular population group is likely to live
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Theories of Aging
Selective Adaptation
the process by which humans and other organisms gradually adjust to their environment genes for the traits that are most useful will become more frequent, thus making survival of species more likely

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Theories of Aging
Cellular Aging
people grow old because of the cells of their body becoming old, damaged, or exhaustednew cells continually created, each designed as the exact copy of an old cell

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Theories of Aging
Errors in Duplication
this cell duplication may produce aging, because each cell is so complex that minor errors inevitably accumulate oxygen free radicals
atoms of oxygen that as a result of metabolic processes, have an unpaired electionthese atoms scramble DNA molecules or mitochondria producing errors in cell maintenance and repair that, over time, may cause cancer, diabetes, and arteriosclerosis

antioxidants
chemical compounds that nullify the effects of oxygen free radicals by forming a bond with their unattached oxygen electron
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Theories of Aging
The Immune System
cells become less numerous as people age B cells
immune cells manufactured in the bone marrow that create antibodies for isolating and destroying bacteria and viruses that invade the body

T cells
immune cell manufactured in the thymus gland that produce substances that attack infected cells in the body
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Theories of Aging
Replication No More
cellular aging limits the life span Hayflick limit
the number of times a human cell is capable of dividing into two new cellsthe limit for most human cells is approximately 50 divisions, an indication that the life span is limited by our genetic program

telomeres
the ends of chromosomes in the cells, whose length decrease with each cell duplication and seems to correlate with longevity
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The Centenarians
According to some scientist, most babies born today in developed countries will live to become centenarians (Kinsella, 2005)
How might your life be at 100?

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The Centenarians
Other Places, Other Stories
1970three remote places
Republic of Georgia, Pakistan, Ecuador a women over 130, drank a little vodka before breakfast and smoked a pack of cigarettes a day a man 100, fathered a child a village storyteller 148, with an excellent memory
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The Centenarians
Other Places, Other Stories
a comprehensive study found that the lifestyles in all three regions were similar in four ways
diet was moderate work continued throughout life family and community were important exercise and relaxation were part of daily routine
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The Centenarians
The Truth About Life After 100
moderate diet, hard work, an optimistic attitude, intellectual curiosity, social involvement few calories, more respect, lots of vegetables, strong religious faith no one is disease-free, many have achieved a compression of morbidity, tend to minimize whatever problems they have, are upbeat about their health, attitude may be one reason they lived so long
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