Late Adulthood and End of Life

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Perspectives on Late Adulthood and End of Life PSY 375 May 5, 2011 Late Adulthood and End of Life Paper Adulthood; it is a period in ones life when most things eem to settle into a confortable routine. Employment tends to find its stability, family is strengthened by the years of growth and personal wisdom, and individual perseptions become more defined. It is more common for individuals to live longer hence lengthening the period of adulthood considerably in comparison to that of approximately 50 years ago. It is considered normal for an individual to live long into their late 80's and 90's these days due to the great strides in medicaine and a greater understanding of the human condition. In this paper we will look at what it means to be an adult in todays modern age. We will examine the concept of ageism and the sterotypes associated growing older. We will look at how cultural differences affect the aging adult as well as how death and dying are viewed and dealth with. Growing older has always had a stigma associated with it. An image of rocking chairs, front porches and old timers telling the same story over and over again to an unwilling audience. Is this an accurrate view of what it means to be an adult, an older adult? In our modern socitey ther are many challenges for those of this developmental stage, one of which is ageism. Ageism is the negative attitude towards our elderly and aging based on the idea that older individuals have less control over their mental state, that they are less attractive or even that they are less competent (Feldman, 2008). This antiquated attitude presents a miriade of challenges for our aging nation as they find themselves combating the socially accepted behavior of devalued steroetyping. In instances of agism the actions of the older individuals are misinterpreted and blamed on the idea that an
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