Adult Development and Ageing

Anet Louw, Dap Louw

Description

Adult development – a life span that could easily be four to five times longer than that of childhood – is an important discipline in its own right. As life expectancy is increasing more rapidly than at any other time in human history, scientific knowledge about adult development and especially ageing will become even more crucial. Some younger students may wonder whether learning about adult development is relevant for them. It definitely is. First, adult development is about the ‘future you’. It is about the remarkable journey most of you have already entered and the fascinating life journey that lies ahead of you. Second, the information in the book should help you to understand all other adults better, including those close to you such as your parents, grandparents, and other older family members. Therefore, we believe that you will not only enjoy studying this book, but also find it enriching. • The target audience of this book is primarily undergraduate students in psychology, education, social work, psychiatry, and related disciplines. However, the nature and extent of Adult Development and Ageing also makes the text suitable for use at postgraduate level (especially where this field was not a focus area in the undergraduate course). Furthermore, the book contains valuable information that will be useful to anyone who has an interest in adult development. • There is a special focus to ageing as an integral part of human development. This special focus on ageing is also the main reason for including it in the title of this book. • The book focuses on the unique South African situation, therefore, local research data and South African examples are included in the book where possible.

Sujets

• Littérature Sud-Africaine
• Littérature sud-africaine
• Death
• Brain
• Grief
• Personality
• Mourning
• Intimate relationship
• Piaget's theory of cognitive development
• Cognitive development
• Adult development
• Ageing
• Sense
• Behavioural genetics
• Intimacy
• Bereavement
• Senses

Informations

• Publié par: UJ Press
• Date de parution: 20 décembre 2020
• Nombre de lectures: 2
• EAN13: 9781928424468
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 27 Mo

Extrait

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AdultDevelopment andAgeing

e-Book – This book is based on the 2019 Second Edition printed copy –

Dap Louw and Anet Louw Department of Psychology, University of the Free State

Adult development and ageing

Published by Sun Media Bloemfontein (Pty) Ltd

Imprint: SunBonani Books

All rights reserved

Copyright © 2020 (e-book in PDF) Dap Louw and Anet Louw

This book is based on the 2019 Second Edition printed copy

First Edition (e-book) 2020

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any electronic, photographic or mechanical means, including photocopying and recording on record, tape or laser disk, on microîlm, via the Internet, by e-mail, or by any other information storage and retrieval system, without prior written permission by the author. In this regard a request should be submitted to Prof Dap Louw: [e-mail] / 083 391 8331

Views reected in this publication are not necessarily those of the publisher. Graphic design: Carrin Scott. ISBN 978-1-928424-46-8 (e-book) https://doi.org/10.18820/9781928424468

AVAILABLE FROM: https://doi.org/10.18820/9781928424468

The recommended citation for this book is: Louw, D. & Louw, A. (2020). Adult development and ageing (e-Book). Bloemfontein: SunBonani Books. https://doi.org/10.18820/9781928424468

Do not sell or discard your books, notes or other learning materials once you have completed a course. When you embark upon your career you will find that your memory is not nearly as good as you thought it was --- and that you will need those materials again. Start building up your future professional library and knowledge bank now.The learning materials are not only meant to help you pass a test or exam, but also to assist you in the future.

This book is dedicated to Antoinette, Dappie, Janine, Dian, Mia and Reenen

PREFACE

Until a few decades ago, most people equated human development with child development. Even psychologists focused largely on the development of the child, with the result that most of their theories and research involved this segment of human development. This is understandable: for a long time psychologists considered childhood as the most important, if not decisive, part of development. However, this mode of thinking has since been debunked and replaced with the realisation that adult development – from the end of adolescence until the end of one’s life – plays an equally important role in a person’s development. Currently, all developmental psychologists regard adult development – a life span that could easily be four to five times longer than that of childhood – as an important discipline in its own right. As life expectancy is increasing more rapidly than at any other time in human history, scientific knowledge about adult development and especially ageing will become even more crucial. Some younger students may wonder whether learning about adult development is relevant for them. It definitely is. First, adult development is about the‘Future you’. It is about the remarkable journey most of you have already entered and the fascinating life journey that lies ahead of you. Second, the information in the book should help you to understand all other adults better, including those close to you such as your parents, grandparents, and other older family members. Therefore, we believe that you will not only enjoy studying this book, but also find it enriching. Some clarifications:

• The target audience of this book is primarily undergraduate students in psychology, education, social work, psychiatry, and related disciplines. However, the nature and extent ofAdult Development and Ageing also makes the text suitable for use at postgraduate level (especially where this field was not a focus area in the undergraduate course). Furthermore, the book contains valuable information that will be useful to anyone who has an interest in adult development. •  Information on various aspects of adult behaviour is available in abundance in media such as the Internet, magazines, and newspapers. However, this plethora of information has created a problem of its own: It is very difficult to separate the wheat from the cha. This is why one of the main objectives of the book is to provide the reader with the most recent scientific information. •  We decided to add a special focus to the book — ageing. Ageing is an III

integral part of human development but seems to be a topic that is often ignored because of its negative emotional connotations. However, ageing cannot be wished away. In fact, the better we understand this inevitable part of life, the better we can adjust to it. This special focus on ageing is also the main reason for including it in the title of this book. •  One of our most important aims is to make the book as relevant as possible to the unique South African situation. It never ceases to amaze us to see how many students, including those who enrol for psychology, are trained for a profession in South Africa using international textbooks that basically have limited relevance and therefore limited practical application value (except for the students to pass their exams). Therefore, we went to great lengths to trace and include local research data and South African examples. This was no easy task, especially because some empirical data and other information, for example, were part of unpublished reports and theses or published in relatively unknown sources. However, the search exceeded our expectations and we are happy and proud to share the results with you. Nevertheless, a significant part of the book still relies heavily on international and particularly Western research. There are mainly two reasons for this. Firstly, it cannot be denied that there are certain ‘universal truths’ (information or data that, to a greater or lesser degree, hold true for most or all cultures). These universal truths have been uncovered by international researchers, and it would be an academic omission to disregard these important contributions. Secondly, many research areas in adult development still lie fallow in South Africa, with the result that we had no other option but to use international data. Thus, the editors would like to encourage present and future researchers strongly to assist us in improving the relevancy level in future editions by bringing empirical data and other information on the South African situation to our attention. We owe it to our students, colleagues and other interested parties to provide them with relevant material. •  The authors are aware that the majority of students will be reading this book in their second or even third language. We are equally aware that many students bring with them a scholastic backlog, for whatever reason. Thus, the book has been made as reader- and especially student-friendly as possible. Therefore, the writing style and the language level have been made as accessible as possible. For this purpose, we also incorporated the services of a professional language editor. Furthermore, new concepts and terms have been defined, while keywords have been printed in bold. To assist students in their studies, additional information is provided in inserts (boxes) to facilitate further understanding. These boxes include

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topics for critical thinking, a focus on interesting South African and other research, or concentrate on the practical application of the issues discussed. At the end of each major section, questions are provided to aid the student to review the material. •  As far as terminology is concerned: Gender.Sexist writing is oensive and the authors have done their best to avoid it. Their solution has been to use the plural form ‘they’. However, in cases where the plural is inappropriate or unnatural, ‘he or she’ is used, while ‘he’ and ‘she’ are often used alternately. Coloured. The authors acknowledge that the term ‘coloured’ is oensive to some classified in this way. After consulting widely, it was decided to retain the term for practical reasons. Most South African research, including that of the Central Statistical Service and Government departments, makes use of the category ‘Coloured’. By leaving out the category altogether or by combining it with another category would create unnecessary confusion. Racial diferences. The current authors are against the (sometimes unintentional) racist conveyance of information that is found often in the media and unfortunately also in scientific sources. Especially in South Africa, where science was employed during the years of apartheid in an attempt to indicate discriminating dierences between races, such dierences must be presented with great responsibility in the current era. The authors pursued this aim. Several irrelevant references to race dierences in the previous edition have been removed. Where references to race and ethnicity still appear, the aim is mainly to acknowledge and indicate the rich and unique dierences in our country  in the same way in which other interesting dierences (e.g. with regard to gender and socio-economic status) are pointed out. It is of utmost importance that readers and students accept the generally accepted fact  that dierences within one race are just as large as, and even larger, between races. •  The reference system of the American Psychological Association is used by most psychologists. However, because some of their requirements dier from language and other (e.g. statistical) principles in South Africa, it was used only as a guideline in this book. However, we did strive to fulfil the core aim of any reference system, namely to make it easy to trace sources. •  Regarding the approach to the composition of the book: In a predecessor of this text,Human Development, we followed a sequential life span approach in the section on adult development. However, several reviewers and colleagues found such an approach to be overlapping and superficial;

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therefore, we changed to the thematic approach by discussing adult life span development and ageing within the framework of each of the following major areas of development: physical development, cognitive development, personality development, and social development. Many international textbooks also follow this approach on adult development.

Finally, every work can be improved. Of course, the present text is no exception. Therefore, we would appreciate any recommendations and comments from colleagues, students, and other readers. Most importantly, it is our wish that you will find this book as enriching as we did in writing it.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This book would not have been published had it not been for the support and feedback of various colleagues over the years. We cannot thank them enough. We would like to pay special tribute to Pro. Lily Gerdes, Werner Meyer and Dorette van Ede who were part of the editorial team in the past. We also express our sincere gratitude to theUniversity of the Free State for the use of its academic facilities and general support.

 The essential role of our wonderful support sta cannot be overestimated:

– Hesma van Tonder: Research librarian, also responsible for the index and list of references. – Carrin Scott: Graphic designer – Danie Steyl: Language editor – Jaco van Tonder: Cartoonist

By far the majority of the photos in this book were obtained from Shutterstock. The authors went to great lengths to obtain permission to use some of the other material appearing in this publication. However, in some cases, it proved impossible to trace copyright holders, or copyright holders had not responded to the authors’ correspondence by the time of going to print. Human error could also occasionally have crept in with regard to possible errors and omissions. Therefore, the authors would be most grateful for information that would enable them to rectify any such omission or errors in future editions. In the interim, they apologise for any unintentional infringements.

Dap Louw and Anet Louw Department of Psychology University of the Free State Bloemfontein

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IMPORTANT NOTE The following should always be kept in mind as you read this book: The media, and even some textbooks, unfortunately tend to present human development as if all individuals develop according to a specific formula. Such information is often seen as “normal” and inevitably as more acceptable. However, such a presentation or viewpoint contradicts one of the most important principles in psychology –every person is unique. Therefore, students and others interested in human behaviour should continually realise that research and similar information on human beings refer primarily to ‘averages’ or guidelines. Special caution should be taken not to label individuals who do not meet these predetermined formulas or expectations. The uniqueness of the individual should be respected, encouraged, and nurtured. Disregarding this characteristic could easily lead to the wasting of unique and valuable potential.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1 BASIC CONCEPTS OF ADULT DEELOPMENT AND AGEING.................  1.1INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................4  1.1.1 Substages of adulthood...........................................................................................8  1.1.2 Perspectives on age .................................................................................................9  1.1.3 The demographics of the human population ................................................. 12  1.1.4 Well-being ................................................................................................................ 18  1.2 A LIFE-SPAN DEVELOPMENTAL PERSPECTIVE .................................................. 22  1.3 THE FORCES AND INFLUENCES OF DEVELOPMENT......................................... 24  1.4 DEBATES, ISSUES AND MODELS OF DEVELOPMENT ....................................... 26  1.5 DOMAINS OF DEVELOPMENT..................................................................................... 31  1.6 RESEARCH IN ADULT DEVELOPMENT.................................................................... 33  1.6.1 Kinds of research ................................................................................................... 33  1.6.2 Methods of gathering information .................................................................. 34  1.6.3 General research designs ................................................................................... 38  1.6.4 Research designs for studying adult development.................................... 42  1.6.5 Cross-cultural research ....................................................................................... 46  1.6.6 Conducting research on the Internet ............................................................. 48  1.6.7 Research ethics ..................................................................................................... 50

CHAPTER 2 PHYSICAL DEELOPMENT AND SEXUALITY........................................... 55  2.1 INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................. 56  2.2 BIOLOGICAL THEORIES OF AGEING........................................................................ 58  2.2.1 Programmed ageing theories ........................................................................... 59  2.2.2 Error theories ......................................................................................................... 61  2.3 SPECIFIC PHYSICAL CHANGES ................................................................................. 64  2.3.1 The brain.................................................................................................................. 64  2.3.2 The senses.............................................................................................................. 66  2.3.3 Muscle strength ..................................................................................................... 71  2.3.4 Stamina....................................................................................................................73  2.3.5 Physical appearance ............................................................................................73  2.3.6 Height and weight ................................................................................................74  2.3.7 Internal organs...................................................................................................... 76  2.3.8 Physical health.......................................................................................................77  2.3.9 Climacteric and menopause............................................................................. 85  2.4 SEXUALITY....................................................................................................................... 89  2.4.1 International research........................................................................................... 91  2.4.2 South African research....................................................................................... 93  2.4.3 Sexual behaviour patterns in adulthood ...................................................... 97  2.4.4 Sexual orientation ...............................................................................................101

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