Adult Development
When people talk about psychological development, what most people think ofare children, who have clear and obvious developmental points. A child'sdevelopment corresponds to his or her physical growth. Thus we can look atan infant and not expect the child to be able to walk a balance beam orride a bike. We can look at a four year old and know that most four yearolds will not yet know how to read. We can look at ten year old and statewith confidence that this child is not yet ready to learn to ride a car. When thinking about development in this way, it is easy toconceptualize development as essentially over by age 18, allowing for somesort of transition to the one final state called "adulthood." However,adulthood has stages just as childhood does, and the recognition of thisfact can help adults as they face new challenges and learn new skills.Adults have to face the establishment of their lives as independent oftheir parents, building their own careers, marriage and family, the loss ofloved ones, increasing likelihood of some kind of chronic illness orinfirmity, retirement, and old age. Just as a child may encounterdifficulties as he or she progresses toward adulthood, adults may enc
Thus the attitudetaken, in the long run, toward some of the greatest challenges of old age -- the loss of loved ones -- can make a tremendous difference in the qualityof life for those who have experienced the loss. Wynne and Grover(1995) identified some of these variables as "perceived health,socioeconomic level, interpersonal relationships, participation in leisureactivities, attitude, and retirement satisfaction,, socioeconomic level,interpersonal relationships, participation in leisure activities, attitude,and retirement satisfaction. While they will impact each individual in unique ways, they arerealities that each person will have to cope with in one way or another asthey move into the stages of life we think of as retirement and old age. These issues are especially important to society now because thenumber in our population who could be categorized as "senior citizens" orelderly is growing rapidly, both because the "baby boomer" generation isaging and because various factors have extended the average life span(Wynne and Grover, 1995). It is interesting to note that humans always remain to some extent concretelearners (Neysmith-Roy and Segal, 1997) -- that is, they understandconcepts best when they have experienced them themselves. Some research has shown that a significant number of people worrythat they will be "unhappy, physically debilitated, or impoverished" (Wynneand Grover, 1995) in old age. Anexample of that might be well-controlled high blood pressure, not presentas long as the person takes appropriate measures. These medicalconditions can have the potential of interfering with social life as wellas ability to work, and may leave the person feeling "robbed" of somethingvaluable (Sidell, 1997). Parents who spent up to thirtyyears raising children may now have an "empty nest" and fewer demands madeon their expendable time. Retired individuals have increase time to pay attention tospiritual and mental health as well as the maintenance of physical healthand enjoyable leisure activities. While this makes the human brain dynamic and vibrant, it also meansthat moving through adult stages of life will be challenging for mostpeople, and that most people will not be fully prepared for the challengesaging presents to them. At all ages and stages, humans are activerather than passive learners, and produce knowledge as well as absorbingit.
Common topics in this essay:
Wynne Grover,
Lucas Kuhner,
Wynn Grover,
Samdahl Jekubovich,
,
Neysmith-Roy Segal,
Piaget Kohlberg,
grover 1995,
retirement age,
wynne grover 1995,
wynne grover,
leisure activities,
lucas kuhner 1999,
baltes et al,
people live,
et al,
lucas kuhner,
kuhner 1999,
et al 1999,
baltes et,
al 1999,
approach retirement age,
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Acceptance Essays
