Psychosocial Aspects of Aging

Psychosocial Aspects of Aging

By this interview, we knew that ageing is not merely a biological phenomenon experienced identically by all people, neither is it necessarily separate stages or states of being which just 'arrive' The ageing process needs to be represented as a social, physical, psychological and spiritual process in which individuals have created for themselves or have imposed upon them. One aged people said that experiences of past and future cohorts are likely to be very different from today's cohorts so care must be taken when communicating current data to future populations. Older people have many experiences in common with other age groups, and share many of their interests. For example, people can experience homelessness, poverty or are homeowners in various cohorts.

Current studies of ageing show that aged care and rehabilitation policies and practices reflect a pessimistic and negative view of old age - a form of ageism characterizing older people as useless and dependant, allowing the younger generation to see older people as different from themselves, thus they subtly cease to identify with their elders as human beings.

The elderly tend to adopt negative definitions of them and perpetuate the stereotypes directed against them, thereby reinforcing society's beliefs. Social expectations regarding old age and the elderly tend to be negative, and elders are particularly vulnerable to the expectations expressed by others in interactions. Research on conversation addressed to the elderly indicates that caregivers tend to modify their speech more in terms of stereotyped communication needs than in terms of the real, individual needs of specific older individuals (Ryan 2001).

Bee (2000) provides that the evidence regarding the comprehension of language sounds across adulthood generally suggests that healthy older adults do as well as younger groups on such tasks under optimum conditions. However, one important issue in elderly populations concerns the role of sensory impairment, in particularly, both hearing and visual impairment increases sharply in later adulthood.

Human Service Professionals and Older Persons Organizations play key roles in developing strategies that reflect and advocate positive ageing approaches being careful to avoid the dangers of advocacy that reinforce negative stereotypes, such as the old being 'sick and frail' and the young being 'normal' as if they were universal. Previous studies carry a negative effect of comparing older persons as normal versus disability. Pratt & Norris (2004) reflect that as people live longer and fuller lives, negative views of ageing and old age are being replaced by appraisals of the ageing process and that older people are emphasizing alternatives and choices.

Theoretical perspectives on positive psychological functioning of the elderly include Maslow's (Baltes & Graf 2006) conception of self-actualization being the final phase of development; as one interviewee describes this phase as strong feelings of empathy and affection for all human beings and capable of greater love, deeper friendship, and more complete identification with others. Adult developmental theories such as Erikson's also emphasize the achievement of intimacy with others and the guidance and directions of ...