Developmental Analysis of Late Adulthood
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Developmental Analysis of Late Adulthood
Interviewee Overview
I interviewed Calvin Booker, a 69-year-old man residing in Texas, for this assignment. Mr. Booker is a family man. He has one, Winner Booker, with whom they share three children. His wife is in her early 60s. Mr. and Mrs. Booker have been married for almost forty years, and they share three children and four grandchildren. Their eldest son Joe (38), is married with two children. Lisa (36), Booker’s eldest daughter, is married with one child, and so is Ivanna (31). As regards living arrangements, Booker lives with his wife in their family home on the outskirts of Houston. Booker is a retired army officer who has been commissioned to numerous stations over the duration of his career. He served in numerous capacities for 15 years before retiring at 62 years. Booker holds a Bachelor’s degree in Law from Georgetown University. Booker also attended a senior service academy, after which he enrolled in the Reserve Officers Training Corps program. Before joining the army, Booker worked as a legal officer at the governor’s office for a few years. He found service a better fit which is why he made the switch. Since Booker retired, he retreated to his family home, where he lives a quiet happy life with his wife and dog, Malory. He does not have much of hobbies left to indulge in, although he is still into fitness. Booker will go jogging /walking or long drives by himself every once in a while.
Summary of Booker’s Current Developmental Period.
Booker is in the stage of development known as Late Adulthood. Booker is a strong elderly man that does not need any specialized care. He still lives with his wife, keeps fit, and seems happy and fulfilled. According to the textbook (Lally & Valentine-French, 2019), Booker can be categorized as young-old. This is the first stage of late adulthood and comprises individuals between 65 and 74 years. This stage is considered the golden years of late adulthood. Compared to older counterparts, this category of people has relatively better social engagement and good health. The textbook also noted that these individuals have better memory, intelligence, and attention. It also noted that they do not need caregivers, work for pleasure, and maybe still be living with their spouse. Similarly, Booker is in great health, stays with his wife, and runs to keep fit from time to time. Theorist Erik Erikson theorized that late adulthood was a time to find meaning in life, understand one’s life and accept death as inevitable. Ageism is also another theory regarding late adulthood. It posits that discrimination and prejudice tend to be directed at older people. They are deemed to be in less control of their mental facilities.
Physical Development in Late Adulthood
The expected norm is that once a person reaches 60, they become prone to many issues such as slowed reaction time, reduced muscle strength, and skin losing elasticity. Average life expectancy is informed by their access to medical care, socioeconomic stays, and region. It is also expected that people in the same age bracket as Booker will begin to lose sight and other senses like touch and taste. They also become sensitive. However, this is not the case for Booker. Booker is in perfect health and even enjoys random runs. He is fit; maybe it has to do with the fact that he was in the army. Erik Erikson theorized that as people continued to age and enter the last stage of life, they went through a crisis over despair and integrity. They take stock of their lives and think about their mark in society. The ones who are happy about what they did feel a sense of integrity, while those that are not satisfied feel despair.
Cognitive Development in Late Adulthood
Cognitive development pertains to the abilities performed by the memory. It is expected that as people approach late adulthood, their memory tends to see a decline. Memory decline in old age is expected because of increased speed of storage, memory retrieval, and encoding. Old people are also at high risk of suffering from dementia and other brain desires that make them people-dependent (Singh, Hanlon, Santiago, & Seed, 2017). However, in Booker’s case, this is not the case. Booker is 69 years old, yet he has not exhibited any signs of declined memory loss. Small details may sometimes escape him as they do to everybody, but it is nothing out of the ordinary or life-threatening. As a matter of fact, Booker remembers every single detail of his life, before, during and after being commissioned. He also knows all his family members by name and can hold decent conversations with them. A theory posits that older people have a better semantic memory than other people. They remember vocabulary better, while younger ones are better at rehearsing and retrieving information.
Psychosocial Development in Late Adulthood
As people advance into late adulthood, their productivity pace reduces, which gives them plenty of time to reflect on the life they have lived. According to Erik Erikson, if a person views themselves as having led a successful life, they will feel as having lived productively. On the other hand, if they do not attain their life goals, they tend to become hopeless and might sink into depression. Booker lived a happy and fulfilled life. He says that he feels he has accomplished all his life goals. Booker served his country from a young age, had a beautiful family, bought a home, and catered to his family’s needs. He, however, reported that he regrets one thing; being away from his family and loved ones for too long. This is always a struggle for every man in uniform. Leaving family behind for a greater purpose of serving the country is one the most selfless things officers do. However, they regret not spending quality time with their loved ones. The disengagement theory insists that older people should be discouraged from solitude and inactivity. This theory is opposed to the idea of keeping people in old age so busy that they rarely have time for reflection and contemplation. Moreover, the continuity theory notes that as people approach late adulthood, they continue viewing themselves the same as they did when they were children. Essentially, the way a person approaches goals, problems, and situations is the same as when they were children.
Uncompleted Tasks
The only developmental task that Booker is struggling with in late adulthood is not spending quality time with his larger and immediate family. While Booker still has the companionship from his wife, he feels that he should be spending more time with his daughter, son, and grandchildren. He already regrets being away from them for too long. His children visit him occasionally, but he does not see them as much as he would want since they live in different states. Booker’s gas made peace and is happy with all aspects of his life besides this one. One way Booker can achieve this task is by discussing the issue with his family. They can plan to hold monthly family gatherings or invite their parents to stay with them more frequently. This will help Booker to stay at more peace with himself.
Conclusion
In closing, Booker is a 69-year-old- army retired officer in his late adulthood. He lived a decent life and attained all his life goals. His only regret is that he did not spend as much time as he would have wanted with his children because he was never home. His job would not have allowed him to. He is relatively physically strong and keeps fit by jogging from time to time. He has a perfect memory, and all his senses are working perfectly.
References
Lally, M., & Valentine-French, S. (2019). Lifespan development: A psychological perspective. Marth Lally & Valentine-French, Suzanne.
Singh, V. K., Hanlon, B. K., Santiago, P. T., & Seed, T. M. (2017). A review of radiation countermeasures focusing on injury-specific medicinals and regulatory approval status: part III. Countermeasures under early stages of development along with ‘standard of care’medicinal and procedures not requiring regulatory approval for use. International journal of radiation biology, 93(9), 885-906.