How is this achieved? By focusing on what one has accomplished in life and taking pleasure in it: the knowledge that one has raised strong, smart children; that the life one has lived as been one full of meaningful relationships; that one has given something to society; and, that their life has had meaning because of all of these things. This is what Erikson called "generativity," (2009) though Peck focuses more on the things that one has achieved rather than focusing on things that one is achieving on an ongoing basis (2009). Growing older means that while we must accept our own mortality, we must also accept others' mortality as well. As we grow older, people die around us. While it is a natural process of life, it is not an easy one to deal with. Not only does it cause us to grieve for the people we have lost, but it also reminds us that the day will come for us too. Watching my stepfather grow older (he is seven years older than my mother) is difficult. Last year he had a TMI, which is a minor stroke, and it left my mother incredibly scared. While she is a successful lawyer, she was faced with the thought of not having him. She didn't know...
She became frantic, not knowing what she would do if her husband ever couldn't do these things anymore -- or worse, if he died. This was a very difficult time in my family, not just for my mother, but for the first time, I -- and all of my siblings -- saw our parents as older adults, people who were not hearing the best, having TMIs and becoming tired very early. Where were the parents we remember? The supermom? Studying psychology has made me wonder about them and what they are going through. While it is hard for us -- the kids -- to see them getting older, how do they feel about themselves getting older? I hope that they have achieved Erikson's latest challenge and that they have been able to transcend their egos and that they have found wisdom over despair. This is all that any of us can hope for.
Aging The social issue in which I am interested is how the aging of society will affect the way that we view the elderly. The idea here is that population growth via the baby boom created a generation that had the economic means -- by virtue of the ratio of working age people to elderly -- to remain at a distance from the elderly. The textbook describes how this generation (and
They wanted to have single rooms and would prefer not to share the bathrooms basically for hygienic reasons. They would also prefer having enough space for their personal items and personalizing their own space. Most of them felt that the facilities were secure and safe. Findings of this research revealed that older people, despite poorer physical health, did better than younger adults psychologically about their well-being. The participants seemed
At some point, the burden on those still working to support those who have retired will become untenable. Solutions will have to be found, and those solutions will involve deciding who gets what, when, and how. This fiscal problem will require a forced distribution of wealth, something likely to upset most affected by it. Retirees will be outraged if they get less from Social Security than the generation before
Aging & Later Life Issues As people age, life brings issues of economic, health, and functional concerns. Retirement for some may mean a life of freedom, but for most people, it presents a series of issues as social security payments are not enough to make ends meet. Medicare and Medicaid do not always pay all the costs that are needed for services, especially in home and community-based needs. And, living on
Such a life journey is not generally one that will encourage a great deal of compassion for younger women. While there is a great deal of popular psychology and culture that argues that suffering makes us compassionate, this is very often not the case. A woman who has been subject to emotional, psychological, and often physical abuse throughout her earlier decades would have to be saintly indeed not to feel
Aging Workforce The month of May was initiated by President John F. Kennedy as the month to honor the contributions of older Americans (Older pp). At that time roughly seventeen million living Americans had reached their 65th birthdays, today, approximately thirty-five million Americans, or one in eight, are 65 years old or older (Older pp). According to the United States Census Bureau, nineteen percent of men and ten percent of women
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