Write an essay on Late Adulthood ?
As highlighted in the book written by Laura E. Berk, Exploring Life span development the life of an individual passes through a number of developmental stages. The major 8 stages identified are prenatal, infancy, toddler, early childhood, adolescence, adult, late adulthood and death. At an age of 62 years, an individual in the late adulthood is expected to gather quiet a considerable amount of experience. This assignment reveals the feelings, experiences and mental conceptions developed through the earlier developmental stages in life of a 62 years old individual. By highlighting the major and minor details regarding the physical, social and cognitive developmental effects on the individual the study intends to provide an in-depth and clear idea of the life span development (LSD).
The 62 years old individual reveals a feeling of reaching the end stage of life. On reflecting back to the earlier stages of life various regrets and confessions that a person has experienced comes to the forefront (Berk, 2013). The assessment of previous actions and experiences in earlier stages of life includes issues in one’s occupation, marriage life, family life, illnesses suffered. From the reflection of the 62 years old individual it is clarified that to a person, own income is very important. The person reflected the wish of achieving more accomplishments. There had been an influence of other people in life. Coming at the later stage of life the person wishes that it would have been better not to be influenced by other people. In personal life also there are some regrets. The person stated to have found a good partner. That feeling has stayed on for the rest of the life. This is true for most of the people (Mail Online, 2012). Marriage thus emerges as a positive influence in the individual’s life. However, the individual regrets for not being able to stand for own self thus depicting a sadist attitude towards life.
A remarkable effect of the significant life events is evident in the life of the individual. The revelation of the incident of encountering with a quarrel with the person’s brother the day before he died seems to have a massive effect on the emotional development of the individual. Now the individual regrets for the quarrel. It showed the effect of life events on emotional and social development of the individual. The person identified travelling as a strong area of interest, which was not being experienced due to family bindings and responsibilities. The person shows a regretful attitude towards self for not being able to fulfill own desires or opt for own areas of interest. As per the view of (), giving sufficient time to oneself is very important to enable a productive positive and efficient social and emotional development of an individual. The person here depicts a lack of adequate time given to own self. It may be a major contributing factor for the development of a sadist and depressive attitude evident in the person.
Health takes a very important position in our lives in late adulthood (Lifehack.org, 2015). The person concerned over here has been a smoker from teenage days. The person reveals the inability to quit smoking even after the constant urge from family and surrounding people. The individual is seen to suffer miserably now with a diagnosis of lung cancer at this stage of life. As stated in the book by Laura, the respiratory system of a person at this stage of late adulthood becomes less efficient than earlier. It is evident in case of the concerned person here. The person now depicts a high hope towards the attending doctor to recover and stay healthy. The remarkable effect of the various acts through the developmental life stages on physical aspect of an individual is evident. However, the person reflects a realization of being too late to understand the faults one did in the earlier stages.
A high relevancy to the statements made in the book is evident in the person. Physical effects as thin bones, decayed tooth hindering proper eating ability, lower immunity power exposing the person to infections and lesser physical strength are evident in the person. As per Bouazzaoui et al. (2010) these signs are characteristics of external and internal aging in a person. The presence of intense sadness, depression and loss of hope revealed by the person are in accordance to the identified in the book by Laura. Loss of brother and partner, diseased physical health and mental depression due to inability to fulfill own cherished wishes and exploring the areas of interest are the major reasons for this state (Volkert et al. 2015). The person identifies the position of friends as vital in providing strong mental support at times when family cannot be accessed or relied for help.
In Erikson’s theory about psychological development, integrity versus despair is the final stage. It comprises of the late adulthood. According to this concept, people tend to reflect on their early life. They either come up with a sense of fulfillment or sense of despair and regret. People who are proud of their accomplishments have a sense of integrity and happiness. There are no regrets and there prevails satisfaction in hearts. Those who are unsuccessful have feelings of despair and bitterness. They regret for missed opportunities and feel sad (Www2.webster.edu, 2015). The person concerned here can relate to this as the individual is also suffering from feelings of despair.
McLeod (2009) puts forward the Cognitive Development Theory of Piaget. According to that theory, the childhood of a person influences the development in him. The person in this study depicts a wonderful childhood. With a constant parental support the person was seen to achieve several successes in the professional field. According to Vygotsky’s Theory of social development, social interaction has a fundamental effect in the development of cognition (Veer, 2007). The person’s perceptions, thinking, reasoning ability has been influenced by the society. The person reveals a high influence of the friends and relatives on self. They have taught the person to be strong and think rationally. Interactions with many people coming from different backgrounds of the society have helped the individual to shape up the personality.
McLeod (2015) points out that the process of learning is cognitive process in discussing the Social Learning theory. It states that learning can occur through rewards and punishments. The person depicts the personal experience of learning from own mistakes and receiving encouragements from the praises of the people at work. According to Jarvis (2012), Behaviourism Theory states that development results from increased learned behaviour. Nurturing plays an important role in one’s behaviour. For instance, the person had picked up the habit of smoking at a very early stage and was unable to quit the habit leading to the development of lung cancer at the age of 62 years. Now the state of mind is highly affected in adverse way due to inability of leading a healthy life. The individual also depicts difficulty in coping with the fact of aging. The fear of dying is highly visible in the person. This results in disappointment. Although the children of the person suggest for counseling to cope with the late adulthood stage and death the person yet does not seem to be comfortable with the suggestion. According to Punnadhammo Bhikkhu (2015), the realization and acceptance of the fact that at this stage death is inevitable sooner or later makes it easier for a person to cope with it.
Our beloved Name: ____ died last Monday after fighting a long battle with lung cancer at the hospital. He was an employee of G.S.K Company and a respectable person. He is survived by his children. A private memorial will be held in his home on Friday, 6 p.m. All friends, relatives and well wishers are invited and expected to attend. He will be greatly missed.
References
Bouazzaoui, B., Isingrini, M., Fay, S., Angel, L., Vanneste, S., Clarys, D., & Taconnat, L. (2010). Aging and self-reported internal and external memory strategy uses: The role of executive functioning. Acta psychologica, 135(1), 59-66.Jarvis, P. (2012). Towards a comprehensive theory of human learning (Vol. 1). Routledge.
Lifehack.org,. (2015). What Do People Regret The Most Before They Die?. Retrieved 2 July 2015, from https://www.lifehack.org/articles/communication/20-things-people-regret-the-most-before-they-die.html
Mail Online,. (2012). No regrets! Old people who learn not to linger on ‘what might have been’ are happier – and cope better with stress. Retrieved 2 July 2015, from https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2132203/No-regrets-Old-people-learn-regret-past-happier-present–cope-better-stress.html
McLeod, S. (2009). Jean Piaget. [online] Simply Psychology. Available at: https://www.simplypsychology.org/piaget.html [Accessed 9 Jul. 2015].
McLeod, S. (2015). Albert Bandura | Social Learning Theory | Simply Psychology. [online] Simplypsychology.org. Available at: https://www.simplypsychology.org/bandura.html [Accessed 9 Jul. 2015].
Punnadhammo Bhikkhu, a. (2015). Old Age and Death. Arrowriver.ca. Retrieved 2 July 2015, from https://www.arrowriver.ca/torStar/oldage.html
Slideshare.net,. (2015). Chapters 17, 18 and 19 life span development. Retrieved 2 July 2015, from https://www.slideshare.net/windleh/chapters-17-18-and-19-life-span-development
Veer, R. (2007). Lev Vygotsky. London: Continuum.Volkert, A., Pierre, M., Shrestha, B. and Haes, A. (2015). Implications of sample aging on the formation of internally etched silica coated gold nanoparticles. RSC Adv., 5(5), pp.3774-3780.Www2.webster.edu,. (2015). Retrieved 2 July 2015, from https://www2.webster.edu/~woolflm/lrerikson.html
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