Unit 4 Task 3

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Unit 4: Task 3 In this assignment I am going to talk about the different theories of ageing and the physical and psychological changes which are related to ageing. Everybody has different experiences of ageing. Some people may develop serious problems with the ageing process in their fifties, however some people may only have some problems in their nineties. There is no simple process that effects everyone in the same way. Disengagement theory The definition of disengagement is: a theory that older people will need to withdraw from social contact with others. Older people will disengage because of reduced physical health and loss of social opportunities. In 1961 two authors Cumming and Henry put forward the ‘disengagement theory’ which means that older people would naturally withdraw from social involvement with others as they get older. Older people would have restricted opportunities to interact with others. Some of the issues that surround this are; getting around, money, different personalities, hearing/vision, technology, mobility, dementia, illness, physical changes, death of friends/family and accessible family. Cummings argued that older people would experience a reduction in social contact as they grew older and become ‘individual’ and less concerned about the expectations of others. He argued that it was appropriate and healthy for older people to withdraw from others. He said disengagement was a natural part of ageing. The theory of disengagement was widely accepted, for example Bromley in 1974 argued that although some individual fight the process all the way, disengagement to some degree is bound to happen because old people have neither the physical nor mental resources they had when they was young. The theory of disengagement fits with the ‘springboard’ view of life. It suggests that losing contact with other people is inevitable consequence of
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