HEALTH AND PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT IN MIDDLE …



HEALTH AND PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT IN MIDDLE ADULTHOOD

That sound you hear, ladies and gentlemen, is my body falling apart as middle age approaches.

What a drag it is getting old... I think it was the Rolling Stones who said that, and they were right as far as physical development goes. Even worse is the fact that it is all downhill from here, physiologically speaking. This gradual decline in physical ability has been going on for a while, but it starts to become noticeable for most people by around their forties or so... MIDDLE AGE.

As people age, they must adjust to the increasing disability of their own bodies. As Hillyer (1993) has pointed out in Feminism and disability, when a woman can no longer trust her eyesight or coordination enough to get up on a ladder and fix a leak in the ceiling, for example, it affects her concept of herself as a strong, independent woman. And so begins a trend toward increasing dependence on others…..

For those who have more income, this increasing dependency may not be so obvious, as they simply pay others to, e.g., repair the roof. However, there is some small change in a woman’s (or man’s) self-concept when she comes to realize that she no longer CAN do such things herself. This is a whole different ballgame from not having time, or choosing not to because you don’t like the dead, yucky leaves up there.

Compared to when you were an adolescent, you are three times as likely at age 45 to have chronic sinus problems, thirteen times as likely to have arthritis or high blood pressure, seven times as likely to have an orthopedic impairment. Visual impairment is five times as common, hearing impairment is almost nine times as prevalent.

This does not mean that one's self-esteem is necessarily reduced. One may simply change one's values and decide that physical ability is overrated. The point is, SOME PSYCHOLOGICAL ADJUSTMENT IS NECESSARY. Which brings us to the first of -----

Robert Peck's four psychosocial tasks of mid-life

 

|[pic] |1. Move to valuing wisdom over valuing physical prowess. |

| | For many, this is the hardest task - to accept that you just do not have the energy to work as much as many |

| |hours as you did when you were younger, to acknowledge that you have to cut back and say "no" to some contracts, |

| |activities and people. |

| |  |

| |  |

|[pic] |2. Shift from socializing versus sexualizing in human relationships. |

| |Physical ties become less important than emotional ties. Relationships deepen. Superficial motives wane. |

|[pic] |3. Cathectic flexibility versus cathectic impoverishment |

| |This means emotional investment in an object, activity or idea. A lot of research shows this to be important in |

| |middle age. People change their views and values from early to late adulthood. |

|[pic] |4. Mental flexibility versus mental rigidity |

| |During middle age, people need to guard against becoming "set in their ways" and remain open to alternate means |

| |of accomplishing goals. |

| |  |

| |  |

| |  |

 

It's not all bad news, though. On the positive side, middle adulthood is a period considerably less stressful than early adulthood or adolescence. Two reasons this are so are EXPERIENCE and STATUS which comes with increasing age. By middle age, we often have less anxiety because we are able, through our experience, to anticipate the likely outcomes of situations, are more sure of own goals and abilities.

Let's talk a little about experience. One major cause of anxiety and stress is uncertainty, not knowing a probable outcome, not knowing what to do. If you have never traveled on business, interviewed for a job or bought a home before, it can be a very stressful experience.    There are a great many little things, from registering a child for school to registering an automobile which are less stressful because we have done them before. This fact is equally true on the job. Once you have written 50 grant proposals, Individual Education Plans or C++ programs, it is a lot easier than doing it the first time. You know what to do, and, even more important in reducing stress, you know that you are capable of doing it.

Middle age is when most of us achieve the highest status in our professions. Because you have proven yourself, as a middle adult you are able to have more choice over your work tasks, hours and conditions. You receive more money, have more vacation time and other fringe benefits because you have earned it. Remember the earlier web page on the types of first jobs most young adults have? These tend to be limited in authority and creativity, in contrast to the type of positions which are occupied by people in middle age.

What about people who are still stuck in a dead-end, low-paying job at age 55? Chances are, THEY are not too happy. Income is related to life satisfaction at the lower end, that is, people who are living in poverty are more depressed than people who are not. However, there is not much relationship overall. In other words, the president of a university is not necessarily any happier than a professor there, but they are both likely to be happier than the janitor who comes in and waxes their office floors each night.

Your task is to interview someone in middle age (40 – 60). They cannot be of retirement age. You need to interview them and present their experiences with how they moved through Peck’s four psychosocial tasks of mid life. After you give us some background about the person in the first paragraph, you should write one section (at least one detailed paragraph per task) describing examples for each of the tasks. In your final paragraph you should ask your subject if they have any fears about getting older. These will be presented in the concluding paragraph. This assignment is worth fifty points.

5 = Intro: Tell me about the person, their age, background, family, job, etc.

10 for each stage. To earn all ten points you need to accurately describe how your subject explained an experience they had dealing with each task.

5 – Conclusion, fears about old age.

= 50 points.

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download