Ideal Environment for an Individual in Late Adulthood

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a. Describe the changes that are occurring for women and men during the developmental stages of late adulthood and death.

The developmental changes in adulthood occur at the physical, cognitive and social levels. Primary aging is the biological aging that occurs even in the context of good health. Most elderly experience declines in hearing, vision, taste, and smell. They also experience some declines in their ability to detect pain and notice temperature changes. These declines are typically gradual and become more pronounced over the age of 70 (Late Adulthood). However, secondary aging also occurs, which is declines in function due to hereditary defects and negative environmental influences, including poor diet, lack of exercise, disease, substance abuse, environmental pollution, and stress. Certain diseases are common in the older adult, such as arthritis (osteoarthritis or rheumatoid arthritis), heart disease and diabetes. Cognitive impairment and mental disabilities only present when there is severe cell death and structural or chemical abnormalities in the brain e.g., Alzheimer's disease and dementia, which have both heredity and negative environmental determinants (Physical and Cognitive Development in Late Adulthood, n.d.).

For older adults, social relationships with friend and family become extremely important, especially with friends in the same age cohort. According to Erikson, older adults prepare for death through successfully meeting the challenges in this stage of life, as described below. The older adult often strives to be independent and enjoy life with members of their own cohort. Within a marriage, for example, couples may have trouble adjusting to retirement, especially in the more traditional marriages. However, research suggests that married persons tend to be happier in late adulthood than single persons, even though the people who have never married often cope the best with feelings of loneliness in later life (Late Adulthood). At the center of Levinson's theory is the life structure, the underlying pattern of an individual's life at any particular time, including late adulthood. Levinson argues that a person's life structure is shaped by the social and physical environment, with many individuals' life structures primarily involving family and friends in late adulthood, although other variables such as religion, race, and economic status are often important (Levinson's ...