Adolescents and the Elderly - Essay Example

Lifespan Research: Adolescents and the Elderly Your School This literature review compares lifespan research on two distinct age groups: adolescents and the elderly. The research looks at various factors of physical, cognitive, and social development and concludes that, although teens and senior adults both find themselves in developmental stages where physical changes are prevalent and cognitive ability is important, social factors have the greatest impact on the individual's well-being and state of mind. In the field of lifespan research, adolescents and the elderly occupy the two extremes of adulthood. Adolescents, straddling the boundaries between childhood and adulthood, struggle with the developmental task of autonomy (Oetzel and Scherer, 2003): the question of whether or not they can take care of themselves in a mature and integrated fashion. Meanwhile, the elderly, having moved through all the challenges of adulthood and survived to an advanced age, deal with the concept of generativity (Ostir, Ottenbacher, & Markides, 2004; Frazier, Mintz, & Mobley, 2005): the question of whether or not they can continue to make meaningful contributions to society in their twilight years. For teens, the issues are generally internal, and depend on whether their level of maturity allows them to act in regard to their own best interest, but this ability is greatly affected by social factors. (Barry & Wentzel, 2006, Raffaeli & Crockett, 2003). For older adults, external factors, including relationships with children, spouses, and peers, tends to hold greater import (Efklides, Kalaitzidou, & Chankin, 2003; Frazier, et al., 2005). In researching the elderly, quality of life issues tend to take precedence. Since the aging process is associated with some physical decline and often, degrees of isolation or pain (Efklides, et al, 2003; Ostir, et al., 2004; Paul, Fonseca, Martin, & Amado, 2003), much research looks at satisfaction and levels of contentedness among the elderly. In this stage of life, the question of death may loom over everything, particularly if quality of life is low (Ostir, et al., 2004). However, research shows that older adults can maintain a high quality of life if they have good social connections (Efklides, et al. 2003; Paul, et al., 2004; Frazier, Mintz, & Mobley, 2005), positive outlook (Ostir, et al., 2004), and maintain a degree of self-reliance (Paul, et al., 2003). For adolescents, autonomy is the major struggle, but research tends to focus on the struggle not for teens to achieve their independence, but the places where their desire for independence has negative outcomes (Raffaeli & Crockett, 2003; Soenens, Vansteenkiste, Luyckx, & Goossens, 2006). In other words, while teenagers can and do find trouble if they seek it out, they are unique in that certain behaviors that may appear attractive to them are prohibited only because they are teenagers. These behaviors include drinking alcohol, smoking cigarettes, breaking curfews, truancy, sexual behavior, and simply defying adult expectations. These behaviors can be found in the DSM under the category of Oppositional Defiant Disorder and are only considered pathological when exhibited by minors. Less research focuses on why most teens turn out well than why a smaller percentage go wrong (Barry & Wentzel , 2006). As we will see through an examination of these articles, although adolescents and senior adults are going through vastly different physical changes and have different cognitive abilities, they are both able to overcome the disadvantages of their physical development through the use of cognitive skills. Further, both groups depend primarily on social forces in the regulation of their psychological and physical well-being and derive the most happiness from positive interaction with family and peers.. Results-Physical Development There is a sense of finality to the physical changes taking place in both adolescents and the elderly. For teens, the transition involves the end of childhood, and the physical developments taking place will eventually produce an adult body. While most adolescents are interested in their bodies' development, the physical changes that concern them most tend to be those directly related to sexuality, and "the timing of pubertal changes is important to understanding an adolescent's psychological adjustment"(Oetzel & Scherer, 2003). Further, "early maturation can expose both boys and girls to greater psychological risk" (Oetzel & Scherer, 2003) as girls who enter puberty early "are vulnerable to developing psychological adjustment problems" (Oetzel & Scherer, 2003), while both genders run the risk of involvement with older, delinquent peers if they develop early (Oetzel & Scherer, 2003). Elderly subject, on the other hand, are looking at the transition that will take them to the ends of their lives. As such, physical development at this stage is actually a sort of reverse development, as older adults watch their bodies become less reliable. Again, quality of life issues take precedence for the elderly, and questions revolve around what activities they are still capable of participating. For teens, "one of the major developmental tasks individuals confront during the teenage years centers on sexuality" (Raffaelli & Crockett, 2003), because the physical changes taking place during this period are not merely external. Sexuality, while influenced by social factors, looms large in the adolescent mind as a result of the wash of chemicals moving through the body. These "biological correlates such as pubertal maturation" (Raffaelli & Crockett, 2003) may dictate to some degree a teen's behavior. Physical changes can influence a teen's sensation-seeking behavior. Those teens who exhibit greater attraction to sensation are more likely to engage in risky sexual behaviors (Raffaelli & Crockett, 2003), in which case teens' physical development can be directly linked to their cognitive processes. In other words, the physical development of this life period influences an adolescent's thoughts and behavior. Interestingly, although girls tend to mature faster than boys, research shows that "boys started having sexual intercourse earlier than girls" (Raffaelli & Crockett, 2003), suggesting that physical development, while important, is not the major factor in sexual decision-making. Elderly individuals are more concerned with those physical changes that result in loss of ability. Some physical issues in this period include stroke, myocardial infarction, hip fracture, and other loss of mobility (Ostir, et al., 2004) as well as those changes in the brain that may cause Alzheimer's disease (Eflides, et al., 2003). These conditions can lead to another major medical issue: frailty. Frailty can be defined in a number of ways, including a loss of strength or ability, greater vulnerability to medical conditions, or a decreased ability of the body to cope with stressors (Ostir, et al., 2004). However, "frailty is not inevitable and is reversible by active intervention strategies" (Ostir, et al., 2004). So, again, we see that, although physical factors have great influence on individuals moving through this developmental stage, those changes are not the most important ones. Ostir, et al. identified negative affect as a more important indicator of physical decline; in other words, while some may consider loss of ability a natural part of aging, psychological perspective goes a long way toward determining what physical changes will actually take place (2004). Efklides, et al., found similarly that regardless of actual physical health, some subjects mitigated their physical decline with "downward social comparisoncomparing their situation with others who suffered more" (2003). For both age groups, physical changes are prominent and can have a great effect on behavior and thought processes, especially since they can be distracting at best and disabling at worst. However, these issues seem to be the least important and the most easily overcome. Cognitive and social factors have a much greater bearing on the functioning of people moving through both cohorts. Results-Cognitive Development Cognitive changes in old age also tend to focus on diminished ability, with Alzheimer's disease, senile dementia, and general forgetfulness among the more common concerns. Having achieved mastery earlier in life and, theoretically, completed all intellectual developmental milestones, some older adults may see this loss of function as an inevitable result of aging, but again, this is not necessarily the case. Many older adults continue to learn throughout their lives, and may, perhaps, find new wisdom in themselves as a result of their rich life experiences. Teenagers, on the other hand, have more difficult cognitive challenges to cope with. As they are moving through the transition from childhood and adulthood, their cognitive abilities straddle these two worlds. Although most teens, "have acquired a substantial fund of knowledge[and] begin to demonstrate improvements in their capacity to process information and reason abstractly" (Oetzel & Scherer, 2003), the ability and not completely available. Often, adult reasoning and logic may be expected of them, despite their brains having not yet developed fully. As a result, teens find themselves at risk of poor-decision making, and troubled adolescents particularly demonstrate less cognitive development, particularly in terms of rationalizing or justifying their delinquent behavior (Oetzel & Scherer, 2003). However, this is not to say that mature reasoning is beyond their capability. In fact, some studies show that "child effects (self-disclosure) are more important than parent effects (behavior monitoring)" (Soenens, et al., 2006). It can be construed from this that both a child's cognitive skills-the knowledge that certain behaviors should be discussed with parents-as well as a parent's expectations that a teen can be trusted, rather than checked up on, have a bearing on their ability to self-regulate and engage in age-appropriate activities. Soenens, et al., saw a strong correlation between a supportive family culture and positive adolescent behavior, suggesting that "parents do play an active role in protecting their adolescent children from anti-social behavior by creating a family climate in which adolescent self-disclosure is promoted" (2006). This type of environment is an ideal culture for cognitive development in young adults, as it creates a space conducive to intellectual growth, in which problem-solving becomes a joint activity, with teens and adults working together. Teens who voluntarily self-disclose enjoy a greater sense of autonomy and do not feel that they are being monitored or controlled by parents. At the time same, they feel comfortable coming to adults for help with problems beyond their scope of abilities. Theoretically, they should also learn the difference between solutions they can envision on their own and those that need adult input (Soenens, et al., 2006) Due to the changing cognitive abilities of adolescents, adults may often find themselves perplexed when it comes to understanding and communicating with teenagers. Oetzel and Scherer (2003) point out that the percentage of adolescents in need of psychiatric or psychological counseling is high; they find reports that anywhere from ten to twenty-five percent of teens suffer from psychological disability "with more than 25% of high school students reporting persistent dysphoria and hopelessness severe enough to affect social and academic functioning, and 8 to 9% of youth admitting to attempts at suicide" (Oetzel & Scherer, 2003). Understanding that teenagers bring unique perspectives to psychotherapy, they relate ways in which therapists can more effectively engage with them based on their cognitive capabilities. Genuineness is a major issue for teens as they move through what tends to be a very self-conscious time period. They report that empathy is not enough; they "need to feel that the therapist will understand them andbe a source of support" (Oetzel & Scherer, 2003) along with a "non-judgmental acceptantand respect [for] their perspectives" (Oetzel & Scherer, 2003). In this time period, teens "detest insincerity and pretense" (Oetzel & Scherer, 2003) and will react negative to adults putting on youthful masks by using disingenuous slang or other attempt to act cool (Oetzel & Scherer, 2003). In general, adolescents are moving through periods of cognitive self-involvement as they learn to become adults. Although they are greatly concerned with the opinions of others, particularly their peer group, a most important intellectual challenge for them is to forge strong and trusting relationships with adults in which they can exercise their burgeoning cognitive abilities in a protective and nurturing environment, one in which they feel they can achieve some degree of autonomy. For senior adults, the cognitive challenges usually focus around retaining those abilities they have come to depend on during their lives. However, it has been shown that at this life stage, intelligent use of intellectual processes can go a long way toward maintaining quality of life. At advanced age, a good use of global perspective mitigates the negative effects of aging. As reported above, Efklides, et al. (2003), found that senior adults who were able to rationalize their decline felt better than those who could not. Their research focused on three measures: life satisfaction, subjective well-being, and morale. The finding worked both ways. Negative perceptions had negative effect, and "[p]erceiving the problem as serious and interfering with one's life may add to negative affect and reported happiness" (Efklides, et al., 2003). They concluded that adaptation is a highly important quality in life satisfaction, as it allows goals to be achieved (whereas individuals who refuse to acknowledge their compromised abilities will become frustrated and unhappy). Further, using cognitive rationalization to accept physical changes "allows one's sense of control to remain intact, thus contributing to a sense of self-efficacy" (Efklides, et al., 2003). In this, they are similar to adolescents, for whom autonomy is a major issue as well as a major source of satisfaction. Ostir, et al. (2004) go even further with the idea of cognitive perception overriding physical disability. Their study looked at 1558 older Mexican individuals over a seven-year period of time and found that positive affect significantly reduced the incidence of frailty, defined as "a global concept to describe a condition, common in the very old, of impaired strength, endurance, and balance; vulnerability to trauma and other stressors; and a high risk for morbidity, disability, mortality" (Ostir, et al., 2004). This research is fascinating because it shows a direct correlation between cognitive process and physical ability. In general, "as positive affect scores at baseline increased, the associated risk of frailty decreased" (Ostir, et al., 2004). This research mentioned that incidence of health issues such as frailty are positively associated with lower socioeconomic background, but that their population sample transcended this expectation. Although they tended to be poorer and from rural areas, their positive affect actually reduced the probability of frailty and other health concerns to the point that they actually scored better than well-to-do white Americans in some studies (Ostir, et al., 2004). But, it is further suggested, that this difference in cognitive perception may be a result of social factors, which, as we will see, seem to have the greatest import on total well-being for both adolescents and senior adults. Results-Social Development Human beings are social creatures, and adolescents and senior adults both manifest this trait. For teens, their peer group may comprise the most important individuals, according to their conscious beliefs. At the same time, socially isolated children find themselves at risk for a host of deficiencies. Elderly adults are more likely to become socially isolated due to decreased mobility, other health and financial issues, and factors such as distance from family or death and illness in their own cohort. As we will see in greater detail, older adults with stronger social networks are more likely to enjoy good physical and mental health. Teens with positive social networks are more like to avoid anti-social, delinquent, or criminal behavior. Although autonomy is the major developmental milestone of adolescents, this takes the form of a shift away from family, "often perceived as rejecting and defiant by parents and other important adults" (Oetzel & Scherer, 2003), their social desires are focused more on "greater emphasis on attempting to 'fit in' with peer groups" (Oetzel & Scherer, 2003). As they explain, it is especially challenging for adults to engage with teenagers on a social level, and failure to engage will result in backlash behavior "in the form of anger and scorn" (Oetzel & Scherer, 2003), although some teens will be anxious for "connection and relationship" (Oetzel & Scherer, 2003). But connections with peers will remain dominant in the adolescent's mind as the most important, meaningful, and rewarding attachments. For this reason, a teen's friends have a great bearing on the child's development. As already mentioned, "contact with older and often delinquent peers.creates more opportunity and exposure to premature sexual encounters, delinquency, and substance abuse, resulting in more advanced psychological problems" (Oetzel & Scherer, 2003). In their 2006 paper, Barry and Wentzel acknowledge that most social research on teens focuses on these negative issues, but "few researchers have examined the positive influence of friends on social development, especially pro-social behavior during adolescence" (Barry and Wentzel, 2006). To that end, they "examined individuals' pursuits of goals to behave prosocially as a motivational process that links their perception of a friend's prosocial behavior and their own prosocial behavior" (Barry & Wentzel, 2006). Hypothesizing that teens observe their friends' behavior more closely than that of anyone else, they suspected that a modeling influence could be seen, which they explain as an "observational learning process" (Barry & Wentzel, 2006). They found that "a friend's prosocial behavior was related positively to an individual's goal pursuit when interaction with that friend was frequent" (Barry & Wentzel, 2006) or that teenagers who spent a lot of time with other well-behaved teenagers tended to choose positive behaviors in imitation of that friend. In some ways, this might be seen to mirror some of the results of Soenen, et al. 2006, in that prosocial behavior is expected, but not demanded. In both cases, teens are given a choice to behave or not behave according to their inclination, rather than due to fear of censure. For older adults, the question of autonomy, while important, takes a backseat to quality of life issues, and research shows that seniors with good social connection, both with their families as well as their peers, enjoyed a higher standard of psychological and physical health as well as overall satisfaction. Frazier et al. looked at eighty-six older African American church goers and found that religiosity was positively correlated with psychological well-being. It was not merely religious belief or practice that affected subject scores, but also the public aspect of religious worship: "public participation was associated with a favorable perception of mastery over one's environment, personal growth, good relationship with others, purpose in life, and self-acceptance" (Frazier et al., 2005). In this, social behavior appears to increase the possibility of autonomy as well as help to create and maintain a high quality of life for the older subjects of this study. Research shows that happiness is related to social factors more than any other variables. In Efklides et al. it is related that "there are no notable effects of age, gender, and income (except for very poor people). On the other hand, close relations, friendship, marriage, and faith do make a difference [italics sic]" (Efklides et al., 2003). It is thought that children are one of the most important factors in determining subjective well-being, as individuals who feel that they are still able to provide for their own (adult) children establish generativity-that is, they "are interested in offering, in making a contribution" (Efklides, et al., 2003). Efklides et al., looked at old in in Greece, where this type of relationship, where the parent continues to nurture children and grandchildren while the child supports the aging parent "is a value, a goal, and a source of pride and satisfaction" (Efklides, et al., 2003). Their research found that having children was important to both happiness and moral in old age. Paul et al. also found that social factors affected the level of contentedness for their elderly population of subjects in Portugal, where more than two-thirds of the subjects reported that talking to neighbors was the most important social activity in their lives (indeed, in most cases, the only social activity) (Paul, et al., 2003). Beginning with the views "that having social support is the key determinant of successful aging (Paul, et al., 2003) and "relationship with [ones] spouse is a central predictor of life satisfaction and a primary source of help in coping with poor health and disability" (Paul, et al., 2003), they looked at urban and rural populations and compared levels of life satisfaction. They found that people who had lived their whole lives in the country tended to relocate to nursing homes in the city to be near their children, and that they considered their lives to be harder if they were forced to live away from their children (Paul, et al., 2003). Otherwise, city-dwellers tended to be more isolated and possess less of a sense of autonomy than their rural counterparts (Paul, et al., 2003). Conclusion For both the examined age groups, it is easy to look at physical changes and make judgments based on visible characteristics. Sexual development in teens and physical deterioration in the elderly are often obvious and, naturally, do affect quality of life issues. However, studies show that many physical issues are commonly overcome through good cognitive ability, and that both teens and seniors can use good reasoning to move beyond the limitations of their age. Further, positive social structures, both in the immediate family as well as the community, may influence an individual's ability to think positively. This research suggests many avenues for further study. For teens, some research questions might focus around how socially acceptable adolescents move through the decision-making process. What family structures are associated with increased risk-taking behaviors, and how can we teach parents to provide more nurturing environments, where teens feel comfortable expressing themselves How do adolescents choose their friends, and what factors might be manipulated to help them choose friends with a eye toward appropriate behavior In the elderly, it would be particularly beneficial to know whether positive affect can be a learned behavior. Could we teach people suffering from age-related decline to think their way to feeling better, getting stronger, and living longer Might providing avenues for greater and more intimate social contact among isolated seniors lead to improved physical health There are many avenues for end-of-life research that could, theoretically, improve the quality of life for people all over the world. References Barry, C. M. and Wentzel, K. R. (2006) "Friend Influence on Prosocial Behavior: The Role of Motivational Factors and Friendship Characteristics." Developmental Psychology, 42. 153-163. Efklides, A., Kalaitzidou, M., and Chankin, G. (2003) "Subjective Quality of Life in Old Age in Greece." European Psychologist, 8. 178-191. Frazier, C., Mintz, L. B., and Mobley, M. (2005) "A Multidimensional Look at Religious Involvement and Psychological Well-Being among Urban Elderly African Americans." Journal of Counseling Psychology, 52. 583-590. Oetzel, K. B. and Scherer, D. G. (2003) "Therapeutic Engagement with Adolescents in Psychotherapy." Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Training, 40. 215-225. Ostir, G. V., Ottenbacher, K. J., and Markides, K. S. (2004) "Onset of Frailty in Older Adults and the Protective Role of Positive Affect." Psychology and Aging, 19. 402-408. Paul, C., Fonseca, A. M., Martin, I., and Amado, J. (2003) "Psychosocial Profile of Rural and Urban Elders in Portugal." European Psychologist, 8. 160-167. Raffaelli, M. and Crockett, L. J. (2003) "Sexual Risk Taking in Adolescence: The Role of Self-Regulation and Attraction to Risk." Developmental Psychology, 39. 1036-1046. Soenens, B., Vansteenkiste, M., Luyckx, K., and Goossens, L. (2006) "Parenting and Adolescent Problem Behavior: An Integrated Model with Adolescent Self-Disclosure and Perceived Parental Knowledge as Intervening Variables." Developmental Psychology, 42. 305-318. Read More