Late adulthood: Home sweet Home

   In chapter 25, one of the activities for people in late adulthood is caring for their own homes. It is said that both men and women usually do more housework after they retire. Some examples are yard work, redecorating, building projects (shelves), etc. When reading this section, I found it a bit funny because I now know that it is not just a stereotype for older adults to be focused on homemaking. It was also funny how gardening was the most popular, since every summer it is a common sight to see older adults gardening and doing yard work. I found it interesting however, that home repair and challenging hobbies were in correlation with lower rates of dementia. This made me think back to chapter 24 where I talked about if it was possible to prevent Alzheimer’s Disease. I think that the challenging hobbies and home repair may be correlated with lower rates of dementia by how it keeps the mind busy with coming up with new strategies and ideas. By these actions, just like how our brain makes new connections as we learn, older adults can also make new neuron connections which may keep their brain healthy because of using it constantly. 

Alzheimer Disease

1.       In chapter 24, Alzheimer disease is brought up. Alzheimer disease is the most common and feared type of dementia. If a person has dementia, they would slowly lose memory and personality. The disease is caused by a formation of plaques and tangles in the brain. These abnormalities disable the communications between neurons, by destroying the communication ability. Working in a nursing home as a nurse aide, I often came across senior citizens with Alzheimer’s, Dementia, and Parkinson’s disease. These diseases were something I found to be very common in the elderly and I frquently heard that it was mainly due to genetics. Currently, many people are aware of the disease and are searching for a cure for the unfortunate disease. Although the disease is more commonly found in senior adults, the disease can occur and start in someone at an even earlier age. Many researchers have found that the age in which Alzheimer’s disease occurs is around seventy five years old. However, the disease can start ten to twenty years before the actual diagnosis! While health is definitely correlated to having a healthy brain, I have seen articles where researchers are trying to find if there are precautionary and preventative measures people can take.

Divorce

  In chapter 22, the topic of divorce comes up. I grew up with married parents who are with the only partner they have ever married. However, I have older friends who are currently in the process of divorce, so I felt like this topic was relevant and important to me as of now. Berger states that divorce occurs because of a partner believing that they would be happier unmarried. Divorce also usually occurs when some points of marriage does not work out and becomes difficult. Couples often do not realize the impact of other points until later. I think that couples do not realize the impact of divorcing because they are focused on how their marriage is not working out. Because this is the central focus, couples may see other aspects of their marriage as small compared to being unhappily married. Berger also states that many divorced people think that they have either failed as a spouse, or chose the wrong life partner. To be honest, I believe that too many people today, are getting married too soon. Many of them young! If people took the time to carefully choose their partner and also realize that there are sacrifices that have to be made as well. I personally think that divorce often occurs out of pride, inability to sacrifice or surrender wants, and because the relationship moved too quickly for a couple to process.  Also, if divorce wasn’t so socially accepted, I wonder if the rate would gradually decline.

Family bonds:Adult children and their parents

1.      In chapter 22, the chapter has a topic on family bonds. The type of family bond that I found interesting and comparable to my own life, was the bond between adult children and their parents. Living arrangements seem to vary depending on the situation of the adult children. If they have problems such as financial or marriage problems, their parents are usually supportive. Adults are more likely to live with their parents if they are divorced with children. It was interesting to me how Berger points out that the physical separation does not necessarily weaken the family ties. It is said that the relationship between parents and children are actually more likely to worsen if they live together. I agree with this finding because I have found that distance from my parents, strengthened our relationship. As a freshman in college, I was unable to balance out a job and college. Because of that inability to balance work and school, I had to depend on my parents and live with them. I remember constantly fighting with them to the point where I could not focus and do well in school because of the bickering. Because my grades were slowly slipping, I made the decision to find a job and save enough money to have my own apartment. Being independent was the best choice I had ever made as a college student. Although I still argue with my parents, it is not the same as the fights that we used to have. Just like Berger said, the parent-child relationship is smoothest when both parties are independent and doing well, and troubled when the child has personal problems.

Expertise

1.      To have expertise, means to have expert skills at something. In chapter 21, expertise is placed with age and correlation is studied. Unfortunately, the correlation between expertise and age is not completely straightforward. In the world of careers, expertise is thought to come about as one ages and gains more experience in a specific set of skills or job type. However, it has been found that only sometimes does expertise overcome age effects. In a study where participants aged seventeen to seventy-nine were asked to identify tunes with different speeds, it was found that all experts from each age did better than the inexperienced. The only difference was that the older expert adults were slower than the younger expert adults. So, no matter what the expert’s age was, they succeeded over the inexperienced at all ages.

This was not too surprising to me since expertise specifically means to be an expert in a set of skills. I did however, think that it was possible for the older experts to do better than the young experts, due to their long experience with the skill. 

Three Forms of Intelligence

1.      In Chapter 21, it is said that there are three forms of intelligence. These three forms of intelligence were formed by Robert Sternberg. They are analytic intelligence, creative intelligence, and practical intelligence. Analytic intelligence is the form of intelligence where it involves the mental processes such as abstract planning, strategy selection, focused attention, and information processing. It also includes verbal and logical skills.  Creative intelligence is the form of intelligence that involves the capacity to be flexible and innovative. What was interesting to me was how people with unusual ideas, had high test scores! The third form of intelligence is practical intelligence. This type of intelligence is the intellectual skills that would be used in every day problem solving. Practical intelligence is important because of how it gives a person the ability to adapt their behavior in a certain situation. Unfortunately, there are no abstract tests that can test one’s practical intelligence.

I personally think that people should use the strengths in each type of intelligence and try to overcome the limitations that one may have in a certain type. Although Berger did not talk about how one would overcome the limitations, I would think that there are ways to practice or expand a form of intelligence.

2.      

Cohabitation

1.      In emerging adults, a revolution that has come about is cohabitation. Cohabitation is living with one another in a romantic relationship, without being married. In the U.S, cohabitation was unheard of and it was a concept that should not be practiced. This is so that the sanctity of marriage could be preserved. Cohabitation in my opinion, while I do not agree with it one hundred percent, is something that long term couples should consider. Cohabitation rates are rising everywhere, and it has many reasons why. It provides a living situation where couples can be together and when they are financially and emotionally ready, they can get married if they wish. I think that cohabitation can be beneficial because with two incomes in one household, a couple could save money financially. Another benefit is getting to know a partner before making a big decision to be with a specific person for the rest of their lives. The unfortunate statistics of cohabitation stated by Berger however, is that cohabitants tend to be younger, poorer, and more likely to end their relationship even if it is satisfying. Domestic violence is also more common among cohabitants than married couples. Another sad truth is how even though people want to believe that cohabitating before marriage will make a relationship stronger, it does not actually prevent problems from arising in the future.