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.

Ethnic Identity

1.      In chapter 19, Berger talks about the topic of ethnic identity. In the reading, Berger points out that people are more likely to be proud or at least accepting of their ethnic background during late adolescence and early adulthood, compared to the younger adolescents. This is something that I think is true. I also believe that if people do not celebrate their ethnic background in any amount, that this could lead them to ignore it. I believe that this is so, due to a few friends who I know have different ethnic backgrounds. But no matter how much I try to get them to say their ethnic identities, they all push back saying that they are “white” or “American”. I am proud of my ethnicity and am glad that I do not ignore a large part of the identity that makes me who I am. I suppose I can understand what Berger means when she says that Ethnic Identity is a concept that is a personal choice and a response to others. Another discussion that I have found to be pleasing, is when Berger talked about emerging adults having friends and acquaintances of many different ethnic backgrounds! With more acceptance of diversity today, more people can be accepting parts of who they are.

Graduates and Dropouts

2.      One section while reading chapter 18 that opened my eyes about the current job market, is the section on Graduates and Dropouts. In this section, Berger speaks about how factors such as frustrating curriculums, social challenges, and financial requirements can prevent some from gaining the benefits that college education offers. The point that Berger made that I found most interesting and revealing, was when she spoke about college education and later income correlations. Like most enrolled college students, I am having a difficult time with finding a job. Just like Berger had pointed out in the chapter, this hardship of unemployment is caused due to fewer unskilled jobs being available, and the creation of knowledge-based jobs. I personally think that while this can be good for college educated people, I do not think it is fair for students who have not finished their degree yet! I know that college is supposed to open new doors for us in the career world, while helping students gain skills that would enable them to use those skills in their jobs. Therefore, it does not make sense to me how there are fewer unskilled jobs. 

The effects of College

1.      In chapter 18, the topic of college and its effects are reviewed. While college does provide higher education and an opportunity for better jobs in the future, it also gives an intellectual perspective and a more open mind for students.

Many students do not pursue college and while some may not know what they are missing, going to college does have its benefits.

Besides gaining intellectual knowledge, college has been found to correlate with better health. It has also been found that college graduates are also more likely to be spouses, homeowners, and parents of healthy children. This may because of how a college education improves verbal and quantitative abilities, teaching skills for professions, and also nurture reasoning and reflection.

I did not understand why college was so important when it came time for me to make college decisions. While I understood that I could have a career, I knew that college was not the only way to having one! Of course, when I spoke about this to my school counselors, they discouraged me from having negative feelings and thoughts about college. And while I was not happy at the time, I am glad that I went to college because of how much I benefit from my college professors, peers, and overall experience.

2.      

Peer Pressure

2.      In chapter 16, the topic of peer pressure came to be interesting to me because of how I could easily relate to it. Peer pressure is something that anyone can experience. Peer pressure is the encouragement to conform to one’s friends or contemporaries in behavior, dress, and attitude. It is usually considered to be a negative force, especially when adolescent’s pressure another peer to go against the authority of an adult. Peer pressure is a concept that I think occurs, when a person cares about what other thinks about them. Adolescents, and in my opinion, adults, organize themselves in groups according to their likes, dislikes, and even one’s ethnic identity! These organization of groups can be made into cliques and crowds. Cliques and crowds are something I am proud that I was never part of. I had a group of friends, but I was known to accept anyone into the group regardless of their preferences. Everyone in my friend circle was so different, that I don’t consider it to be a clique.  In high school, I also remember how certain brand name clothes were trendy. If you didn’t buy and wear the clothes, you were less likely to be socially included in the school. Of course, as a young teen, I wanted to be accepted by my friends. So, I begged my parents to buy me the clothes so that I could better transition into the school and the American culture. Looking back, I laugh at myself because it was a waste of money to wear clothes that I didn’t even find fashionable. Also, I regret caring so much about what my peers thought of me. 

Identity

1.      In chapter 16, the topic of identity was discussed. Identifying one’s self is never easy. I do not think that I had even reached the point where I have truly found myself. However, I think that I can safely say that I am close to finding my true “identity” in the world. In the book, it describes four specific ways young people cope with the identity stage. Role confusion is the situation in which an adolescent does not know or care what his or her identity is. I think that we all go through this stage during our early adolescence. During this time, it’s not usual that adolescents go out of their way to think about chores or thinking about college or careers. Another stage is foreclosure. Identity foreclosure is when an adolescent adopts their parent’s or society’s roles and values without question. Again, this is another stage I believe almost every adult has gone through. I think that it is very common to go through this stage when growing up with parents who were strict. I had gone through this stage as a child. I accepted my parent’s morals and values as my own customs because to me, their word was law. One would not question the law, so it became true. The third stage is moratorium. This stage is the adolescent’s choice of a socially acceptable way to postpone achieving their identity. An example of this would be going to college. This is another stage I felt like many people go through. However, I found it interesting how it is a stage to postpone identity achievement rather than a stage that would help achieve identity.

2.

Dangers of technology

2.      While reading Chapter 15, I realized that I haven’t thought much about the dangers of technology because of my age. While there are many dangers to technology, I feel like in the past, there was constant worry about sexual predators when adolescents were using technology. However, the current concern is more focused on how technology can shorten attention spans and distract adolescents from focusing on daily tasks. Another concern is that technology can limit life experiences. Being part of the generation that grew up with technology, I definitely agree that technology can be a danger because of how it creates a divide between reality and fantasy. In a fantasy world, people are playing video games and using social media to create an outlet from their true world. Being immersed in the video gaming and social media world can be harmful because of how people could be comparing their lives to others. The reality of it is, that in these worlds, nothing is what it seems. For all we know, a person could be hiding behind the video game or pictures that they may post. In reality, people have to deal with real life problems that often comes across as stressful. I understand why people may need an outlet, but sometimes it goes too far, especially when it creates a barrier between one person and another. Although I love how technology has enabled us to contact people easily ad see the faces of loved ones halfway around the world, I dislike how genuine communication has slowly diminished.    

Adolescents and religion

1.      In Chapter 15, I liked reading about the topic of religion. In the book, it talks about how adolescents think and use religion as a personal tool, to be used in difficult times. This makes the adolescent’s beliefs to be egocentric. When surveying 3,360 13-17 year olds and their parents, researchers had found that 71 percent followed the same religion as their parents. Also, they found that 16 percent said that they were not religious, but went to church and prayed. These statistics of adolescents was not too surprising to me, mainly because of their age and how our parents largely affect our beliefs. Personally, my religious beliefs and values are deeply rooted in Christianity, simply because that is how my parents raised my siblings and I.

An example of the religion beliefs of adolescents being intuitive, is when a girl was asked about why she was religious, she replied saying that it was so that she would not be around devil worshippers and negativity. Of course, the researchers highly doubted that socializing with devil worshippers was an actual issue that was occurring in the girl’s life. So because religion is not used for actual issues in daily life, religious beliefs in adolescents were most likely to be intuitive. Growing up, I also did not use my religious beliefs to tackle actual issues in my life. But now that I am older and have a better understanding of my religion, I utilize my beliefs to help me be a better daughter, sister, friend, and overall good person.

2.    

Bullying

2.      Bullying is a topic that I could not stop reading about in chapter 13! I have been a victim of bullying throughout my childhood and have always wondered what had caused the bullies to start attacking other children. Bullying is defined to be repeated, systematic attacks intended to harm those who are unable or unlikely to defend themselves. Bullies are also known to pick certain types of personalities as victims. For boys, bullies target the smaller and weaker children. For girls however, they target the shyer and soft-spoken girls. I don’t believe that I fit the criteria completely to be bullied because as a child, I was very friendly, nice, and slightly shy. It shocks me even today that kids would bully even those who are friendly and kind.

As an adult, I still wonder the motive behind my bullies’ actions. I had always felt like they had no reason to since they were known to come from rich families, wore trendy clothes, and were also very popular. If one has everything, why attack someone who doesn’t have as much? But reading on in the chapter, it was interesting to find that bullying can originate from genetic predispositions, brain abnormalities, insecure attachment in the family, hostile siblings , and even failed discipline! So in my opinion, I suppose that bullying can arise depending on one’s environment, genes, and also social group (siblings who are aggressive).

Culture and Self esteem

1.      In chapter 13, there is a reading on culture and self-esteem. In the book, it talked about how many cultures have the expectation for children to be modest. This type of modesty is displayed in cultures of the Japanese or Australians. In Japan, although children do well in mathematics and international tests, only a small percentage of them had a high opinion of their abilities. This trend in self esteem can be compared to the United States. In the U.S, although students were very confident in their math abilities, they actually scored lower then the Japanese students! These statistics were very interesting to me because of how I was raised. Similarly like Japan, I think that many Korean children are taught to be modest as well. The lower the self esteem, the higher the academic achievements would be. And to Parents, it made sense since the reasoning is that those who are modest and do not brag, are those who are actually smart.

Also in the reading, it pointed out that currently in the U.S, there are changes being made with grading children. Children’s successes are now praised and instead of letter grades, they receive “Excellent” or “Needs Some Improvement”. This made me wonder if this type of grading system would not only bring up self esteem, but also create modesty overtime due to lack of competition.

2.   

Culture Clash: question and response

1.      In chapter 12, another topic that I felt was interesting was the topic of culture clash and question and response. This topic was interesting to me because of how different my teachers were with question and response in Korea, compared to my high school teachers and college professors in the U.S. In the book, it talked about how in Canada, the Inuit teacher did not verbally evaluate the child when asking questions. However, the non-Inuit teacher did verbally evaluate. These teaching methods would differ according to cultural beliefs. These cultural beliefs are seen to be a social system that changes over time.

In Korea, I remember my teachers having teaching methods, similar to those in the U.S. However, not only did the teachers verbally evaluate, I found that my classmates also evaluated each other as well. Just like in the chapter, most of my friends and I were able to feel either positive or negative effects, which would determine us being talkative or quiet students. In the U.S, some of my high school teachers verbally evaluated and some did not. Those who did not were my teachers of science and math. I think that they did not have this teaching method because they wanted the students to be able to solve problems and work hard without judgement or negativity that would stop us from trying.

International contexts

1.      In chapter 12, I found it most interesting when reading about International contexts. International contexts can be defined as the international example of the influence of context on learning. This chapter was interesting to me because of how it talked about young brazillian street peddlers and how they make change and price their products. These young street peddlers usually do not have any education so most also cannot read. When trying to see how much a bill is worth, they look at pictures and the colors of the bill to determine how much it is. Another interesting matter is when comparing the young street peddlers to those who are enrolled in school. When tested, the brazillian street peddlers did not do well. However, this was the similar outcome for the school children. When the school children were given real bills to solve math problems, they were unable to do so.

Vygotsky would not be surprised by these differences in school children and young street peddlers, because he believed that peers are good mentors. To me, Vygotsky’s belief made sense because I think that people can learn more by watching and interacting with peers. By being actively involved when solving a problem or learning a new concept, I believe that people learn more and faster because it would be a part of our system.

A Global Perspective

I grew up in a home where we all visited my grandparents. They took care of us as much as they could and we took care of them. As things got harder for my grandparents to do we all took charge and stepped up to the plate to help them as much as we could. Not all families are like this, whether they can help it or not. Taking care of our elders can be different from culture to culture. In Berger 2011, it states that looking into many cultures families can be destructive as well as helpful to emerging adults. In some cultures like British emerging adults that they were less happy if their parents were too intrusive. There family is there to remind them of the things that are becoming tougher for them to do. In my family we always make jokes about emerging adults in our family. After reading about all of these things I realize that maybe this shouldn't be done. An example would be always making old man jokes to my dad. This probably always reminds in about his emerging adulthood. Each culture cares for their emerging adults in different ways

Compulsive Hoarding

I really was able to relate to the section in chapter 25 that talked about compulsive hoarding in the elderly. When my grandfather was alive, he use to collect anything he could get his hands on. He would collect antiques, books, magazines, and even food. Even though his house was full of love, it was very crowded. There was hardly anywhere to sit down and you couldn't even see out the window. His collection of stuff made him happy though so we didn't really question him on it too much. The problem, however, was that things kept piling up on top of all the stuff he already had too much of. As the book said, the problem becomes worse, partly because there are more things to save, but the hoarding impulse is a lifelong expression of self (Ayers, et al., 2010). One time we even helped him clean out his whole house. Not even two weeks later it looked exactly like it had before. We then realized that being a hoarder was probably going to be part of his personality until he died. We did everything we could and as long as it didn't put him in direct harm, we had to learn to live with his lifestyle. My grandfather never did stop hoarding.

Berger, Kathleen. (2011). The Developing Person Through the Life Span. New York, NY : Worth Publishers. 

Health and Well-Being in Late Adulthood

I work in a retirement home so chapters 24 and 25 related to my personal life heavily. I found the section of chapter 24 about health and well being very interesting. What caught my attention was the study that showed that elders that had mental decline were more likely to die soon. The two strongest predictors of whether new residents in a nursing home would die in the next years were intellectual decline and depression-not morbidity (Kane et al., 2010).  For the past couple years working in a nursing home, I've realized it wasn't always the residents that had physical problems that died first. Most times it was the ones that started to become forgetful and became anti-social that died soon after. I believe that we should take more time to do activities with elders that involve them to be social and to stretch their minds. I believe that in order to live longer, it helps to be socially engaging. On top of this, I believe that we shouldn’t act like the elderly can’t learn new tricks. Some still have the ability to learn and do great things in life if they are given the chance to. I'm glad I stumbled upon this section of the chapter because I was able to connect the dots to my own situations at work. 

Berger, Kathleen. (2011). The Developing Person Through the Life Span. New York, NY : Worth Publishers. 

Dementia and the progression of the disease

When I think of Dementia, I think of my great grandmother. Watching the disease progress, in her case, was awful. It began with family dinners and listening to her ask over and over where her father was or when she could get the bus home. She was constantly being corrected by her daughter, who did everything in her power to take care of her mother and keep her alive. My great Aunt, needless to say, was a saint. She ended up retiring early to care for her mother completely. But, as the disease progressed, my great grandmother lost the ability to swallow, get out of bed, and became incontinent. She had a previous heart condition that resulted in my great Aunt making the decision to have a pacemaker placed. This was because she valued her mom's life and thought this was what she should do. So, while this woman was slowing declining, her heart was not. It just kept ticking. My sister and I would sit in the back room with her and watch T.V. with her in a hospital bed, unaware of her surroundings, and basically (for lack of a better word), a vegetable. She was bathed, changed, and fed through a straw liquified food that my aunt would make in a blender. This lasted for years.

I think this makes me think of the progression of this horrible disease and what technology allows us to do to extend life. However, in some cases like the above, what is more important? Quality of one's life or quantity? Our society seems to believe in sustaining life. We want to save and cure people. However, we know there is no cure for dementia. It will eventually result in death. I believe, if we have adequate advance directives and advanced care planning with our loved ones, we can avoid simply hanging on with no quality of life. I know I don't want to be that way.

Grandparent Relationships

I’ve been raised to be around family quite often and to be there when we need each other. When I was reading the section about relationships with younger generations, I could relate. Before I get into my thoughts, I found a few interesting facts. I was surprised that families are seeing more generations today than in past years. I thought previous generations would have seen more generations than the families in today’s generations. Since people are getting married later and having kids later, I thought less families would have a multiple generations family tree. Our textbook stated that more people now are living longer, which allows for more generations to be around. Some families can range from youngest to great-great-grandparent. I’ve never had any tension between myself and my grandparents, as I view my grandparents to be a huge support system. I trust them as much as my parents and I go to them whenever I have a situation that I need guidance on. In the church I was raised in, we have many generations that include families with grandparents. My family is one of those generational families and I really enjoy it. In the community I was raised in, it’s always important to be involved with our families and show the importance of being together. My grandparents are classified as “involved grandparents” where they have active in our lives and they live close to us. As I read about close families and involved grandparents I couldn’t help but think about the Amish and how close their families are. I remember coming out to Lancaster as a child and hearing about the Amish houses where they keep adding on for the grandparents and cousins to live in the same farm. I know if my family had a farm, my mom’s parents would love to have a big farm house with a little house attached for my grandparents. I love how my family is close and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

Aging Brain

As people age, their brains slow down along with the rest of their body. Older people may need more time to process new thoughts or ideas as well as comprehend anything they may be observing. As long as they have decent health, their reaction time may not be as slow. When Neuroscientist decided to do a study the results were amazing. I thought it was interesting as we age so does our brain. Not only does age play a huge role in our brains, but it shrinks over time. Thinking about how our brains shrink would make sense as to why we slow down, lack memory space, or the ability to process and make decisions. As I was reading the section about multi-tasking, I was constantly thinking to myself what if people who struggle to multitask have smaller brains to start? As we were finding out earlier in this unit, there are ways to help dementia such as brain games, crossword puzzles or word searches. I ended up finding an article about how much the brain games can help. I was shocked at the research that supported brain games and showed they can help up to 48% of the brain function. I wonder what the studies will be years from now when they have more than 10 years of information on it. I also wonder what modern medicine will be like years from now, and see not only how far it’s come but how much help it can give people who may need it. I wonder if there will be any modern medicine that could help brain function in the future.