FEM3102

Adult Development and Aging

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Lecture topics
1. Why do we study adult development and aging?
2. Developmental psychology
3. Domains of development
4. The concept of age
5. Developmental influences
6. Developmental issues
7. The scenario of aging

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1. Why do we study
adult development and aging?
When do you consider yourself as an adult?
When do you consider yourself as an older person?
What does it mean to be old?
How long would you like to live and why?
Aging is lifelong
Lifespan perspective of human development
Reasons for studying:
Scientific
Factual
Altruistic
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Lifespan Perspective on Human Development
Development is:

1. Life-long
No age period dominates development

2. Multi-dimensional
Development consists of biological, cognitive,
socioemotional and spiritual dimensions.

3. Plastic
Depending on the individuals life conditions,
development may take many paths.

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Lifespan Perspective on Human Development
Development is:

4. Historically-embedded
Development is influenced by historical conditions.

5. Multidisciplinary
Psychologists, sociologists, anthropologists, neuroscientists
and medical researchers all study human development and
share a concern for unlocking the mysteries of development

6. Contextual
The individual continually responds to and acts on contexts,
which include a persons biological make up, physical
environment, and social, historical, and cultural contexts.
(Santrock, 1999)
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What makes us an adult?
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Biological dimensions
Biological or physical maturation
e.g. pregnancy for women

Social dimensions
Responsible, mature & rational person

Emotional dimensions
High emotional stability including good impulse control, a high
frustration tolerance and freedom from violent mood swings

Legal dimensions
Give rights and responsibilities for certain people
e.g. In US when youre 18, you can vote
Other e.g. age of consent a person can marry without parental
consent, legal age to drink alcohol or drive a car.
Defining adulthood
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2. Developmental psychology
Developmental psychology studies:
Age-related intraindividual change
Age-related interindividual change
The focus is on behavior
everything that people do
Development
changes in behavior
orderly, predictable
relatively durable
includes increases and decreases
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3. Domains of development
Biological and physical
Age-related changes inside and outside of our body
Cognitive
Age-related changes in mental activity
Thought, memory, perception, attention
Personality
Changes in personal characters at different ages
Social
Interactions of a person with others in his/her environment
How these interactions changes as people grow older

All these domains are inter-related

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4. The concept of age
Chronological age
Biological age
Functional age
Psychological age
Social age

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Chronological age
Refers to the number of years
that have elapsed since a
persons birth.
Chronological age per se is
often not an accurate index of
psychological development.
Age is merely a rough marker
for the processes that influence
behavior over time
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Biological age
Defined as an estimate of the
individuals position with respect to
his or her potential life span (Birren
& Schroots, 2001)

Involves measuring the capacities of
individuals vital organ system.

Age is an index of biological health

An individuals biological
functioning and physical appearance
may differ from other persons of the
same chronological age
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Functional age
Is an index of ones level of
competence in carrying out
specific tasks.
Competencies can range from
performance on a particular job
to the condition of various
organ systems in the body
Examples:
cardiovascular system age 40s
similar to 30s (= biological age)
Worker who is 60yrs of age to
perform adequately on the job as
person who is 20 yrs of age
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Psychological age
Refers to an individuals adaptive
capacities his/her ability to adapt to
changing environmental demands.

Individuals adapt to their
environments by drawing on various
psychological characteristics:
learning, memory, intelligence,
emotional control, motivational
strengths, coping styles etc.

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Social age
Refers to the social roles and
expectations people hold for themselves
as well as those others impose on them.

Each society has its own expectations
about roles to play and goals to attain in
young, middle, and older adulthood.

Being on time or off-time
(Neugarten, 1977).

Age is no longer relevant in predicting
needs, lifestyle and accomplishments.
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Havighurst (1972) divided the life span into
6 age periods, each with its own
developmental tasks
Birth to 6 yrs of age : Infancy and early
childhood
6 to 12 yrs of age: Middle childhood
12 to 18 yrs of age : Adolescent
18 to 30 yrs of age: Early adulthood
30 to 60 yrs of age: Middle age
Over 60 yrs of age : Late adulthood
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5. Developmental influences
Why do individuals change and develop?
Three general categories of developmental
influences:
a. Normative age-graded influences
b. Normative history-graded influences
c. Nonnormative life events
All three influences are related

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Normative age-graded influences
Affect all or most people of similar age
Biological or environmental events related to
chronological age
e.g.: puberty and menopause occur at a certain age-
range
Influences can also be specific to a society/culture
reflect socialization practices
e.g.: schooling age (5-18), first-time marriage (20s or
30s), retirement (60s)

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Normative history-graded influences
Affect all or most people who are born at a particular time
(cohort)
Developmental influences related to specific era or events
in history, rather than age.
These events effect the individuals dramatically (lifetime
impact).
e.g.: war, economic depression, epidemics, computer revolution,
internet age
Can be seen through comparing different cohorts of
individuals

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Different cohorts
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Nonnormative life events
Unique to a person
Not necessarily associated with age or historical time
e.g.: being diagnosed with a rare illness, being involved in an
accident, winning a lottery, divorce, work promotion or
retrenchment.
Nonnormative life events have different effects on
development depending on the age they happen.
Normative age-graded influences can become
nonnormative life events
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6. Developmental issues
Nature vs. Nurture
Gains vs. Losses
Quantitative vs. Qualitative Change
Stagelike vs.Continuous Change
Plasticity vs. Nonplasticity of Change
Multidirectional vs. Unidirectional Change
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Nature vs. Nurture
Is development a product of nature
(i.e. hereditary, genetic and
biological factors) or nurture (i.e.
environmental factors and
experience?
Current views emphasize the
interaction between nature and
nurture. e.g.:
Primary aging nature
Secondary aging nurture
Twin studies
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Both gains and losses in behavior take
place throughout life.
Birth to 20s: Growth, Maturation
After 20s: Senescence

All developmental periods are
important.

Throughout the life span there are
increases or decreases in attitudes,
motivation and capabilities.

Gains vs. Losses
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Qualitative changes are differences in kinds of
behavior or aspect
Drastic and stage-like
Examples: Piagets cognitive development, Eriksons
psychosocial stages, personality development.

Quantitative changes are differences in amount,
degree or complexity.
Gradual and continuous
Examples: The ability to sort objects into categories
increases with age, the ability to retrieve information
from memory gradually slows down as people age.
Quantitative vs. Qualitative Change
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Some researchers identify stages in
adult development and aging.
Stage theory assumed that we go
through a series of qualitative
change (sudden change in quality)
that happen in specific periods of
development.
Others see development as
continuous where changes can be
indicated through a steady increase
or decrease (measurable
=quantitative) in behavior.
Stagelike (Discontinuous) vs.
Continuous Change
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Plasticity vs. Nonplasticity of Change
Can we reverse the effects of
aging?
Some deficits associated with age
can be corrected with proper
intervention and health care.

Reserve capacity decreases with
age (=plasticity levels decline)
Individuals have a limited amount
of resources to deal with stress
and challenges.

Each individual has potentials and
limits in what they can do.

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Multidirectional view of development:
Intraindividual differences in aging
patterns.
A persons behavior can change in many
ways: decline, increase or become stable
e.g: increase in creativity, decrease in
some memory functions
Unidirectional view of development
child focused view, e.g. Piaget, Freud.
all abilities increase in the same way of
maturation
Multidirectional vs. Unidirectional Change
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7. The scenario of aging
Aging is a worldwide
phenomenon
Population aging happened
earlier in developed countries
Developed countries got rich
before they got old
Developing countries will get
old before they get rich
problems
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Older people in Malaysia
The demographic and social trends of population
aging in Malaysia is moving at a quicker pace than
observed 10 years ago.

Overall trends show an increasingly aging
population (both in numbers and proportion).

Because of this we need to plan, prepare for the
well-being, as well as optimizing the potential of
future senior citizens in the country.
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Older people in Malaysia
Older people in Malaysia is growing at a
faster rate than the rest of the population.

Their size will increase from 1.4 million
persons in 2000 to 3.4 million in 2020.

Females are the majority among the elderly, as
in most countries of the world.
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Older people in Malaysia
Education levels of the Malaysian population are
increasing. This will implicate the possible economic
involvement of future elderly.

Previously a majority of older people are involved in
agriculture (traditional pattern of occupational trend).

However, the occupation trends are changing with
older people participating in more varied occupations.
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Percentage distribution of employed senior
citizens by occupation, Malaysia, 1991-2000
Occupation 1991 2000 Total population
(15-59 years)
2000
Legislators, Senior Officials &
Managers
4.9 8.9 6.8
Professionals 1.0 1.6 5.8
Technicians & Associate
Professionals
10.6 3.1 12.2
Clerical Workers 1.0 1.3 9.9
Service Workers and Shop &
Market Sales Workers
5.6 11.6 13.1
Skilled Agricultural & Fishery
Workers
60.0 51.0 13.5
Craft & Related Trades
Worker
4.5 5.5 9.3
Plant & Machine-operators &
Assemblers
3.8 5.5 16.3
Elementary Occupations 8.4 11.4 13.0
Total 100.0 100.0 100.0
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Older people in Malaysia
Nuclearization of
households, greater
participation of
women in the labor
force (lesser role as a
caregiver) are
changing social
characteristics that
contribute to the
future scene of aging
in Malaysia.

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Population aging:
More Developed vs. Less Developed Countries
Demographic transition reshaping the age structure of
the worlds population.

mortality and then fertility decline from higher to lower levels.
Fertility decline has been the primary factor of population aging.

increasing life expectancy (people are living longer)

international migration is less important as a factor in the
changing age distributions.
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Population aging: Developed countries
Fertility is well below the replacement level in more
developed regions, which include almost all industrialized
countries.
By 2025, life expectancy will increase, on average, to 80
years.
Average life expectancy at age 80 is projected to increase by
27% over the next 50 years as compared with 19% at age 60
and 9% at birth more people survive to old age and tend
to live longer.
Women outlive men by 7.4 years.

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Population aging: Developed countries
The proportion of older people above 80 years old now live in more
developed regions (but this will soon change to less developed
regions).

The great majority of centenarians (78% in 2000) live in the more
developed regions.


Sex ratios at older ages are significantly lower.

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More developed countries
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Population aging: Developing countries
Fertility rate is higher than developed countries (average total
fertility rate=5.2/woman). Fertility reduction only happened later
than developed countries.

By 2025, life expectancy will increase, on average, to 71 years.

Average life expectancy at age 80 is projected to increase by 28%
over the next 50 years as compared with 22% at age 60 and 17%
at birth more people have a good rate at survival at birth due to
improvements in mortality levels.

Women outlive men by 3.2 years (trend is rising).
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Less developed countries
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Questions