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Erikson's life stages criticisms and evaluations
Erikson's life stages criticisms and evaluations
Erikson's theory of adulthood
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Interview with Older Adult
Uriah Rygula
University of St. Francis
Introduction
An interview was arranged with an older adult to discuss issues related to aging. The interview was designed to gain appreciation and understanding of an older adult. One theory of aging came into mind when I thought about this topic. Erik Erikson Life-Course and Personality Development theory, “Erikson described the task of old age as balancing the search for integrity and wholeness with a sense of despair.” NS is the older adult that I conducted the interview with. I’ve decided to pick NS to interview because she is very positive about life and her age. Everything that I have come across about aging is negative such as depression, isolation, and illness.
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NS was born in raised in Poland; she came to the United States when she was 7 years old. Her first language is West Slavic, which only a small portion of Poland speaks. NS support system is her husband who collects disability from an injury that happened at work. She also gets support from her son, and daughter in law. Her son is a computer technician and daughter in law is a stay at home mom. Lastly, herself she gets support from social security. She was sixth grade English teacher for 27 years at Clifford Jr. High, now she is a retired. She currently resides in Aurora, IL and lives with her son, daughter in law, grandchildren, and her …show more content…
Some of her best years were caring for her children. When her daughter entered the first grade NS decided that it was time for her to go back to school as well. In 1984 NS graduated college with her teaching degree, and retired at age 66. Her best years weren’t over yet. Her daughter welcomed her first child in 2009, and a year later her son welcomed his first-born. She had two beautiful grandchildren that kept her young, but that wasn’t the last of grandchildren. Nine months after her second grandchild, her son welcomed a baby girl in 2011. She stated, “It was a blessing to have them one after the other. Every time I turned around there was grandchild being born. I was in grandma heaven.” I asked what are your plans for the future, she replied, “ Watching my beautiful grandchildren grow, spending as much time with them as possible because before you know it they’ll be grown and have families of their own. Also enjoying my time with my husband. In September marks our 50th year anniversary, and I can’t wait to spend it with
An individual’s personality and character structure portrays a major reflection of how they age. Personality style and character structure both incorporate the conscious and unconscious motivational, cognitive and affective mental states, as well as defense mechanisms (Silver 1992). Biopsychosocial factors-broken down into biological, psychological, and sociocultural-also play a huge role in personality and aging (Notes 10/08). Some examples of biological factors are health, genetics, and physiological function. Thoughts, feelings, and emotions would be considered psychological factors. Sociocultural factors include family, religion and community. Additionally, people endure unique experiences and circumstances throughout their life course,
The older person that I interviewed was my great-grandfather, Kay Wilson. He is eighty-three years old and is currently retired, living at home. Wilson was born on February 27, 1934 and raised in Sylacauga, AL by his mother. His father was not active in his life, but his grandparents were his main caretakers growing up.
When looking back over her life, so far, she says not a bad life. Then again she’s not done yet and hopes to have another good ten years. I leave you with her life’s message.
Prominent musician, Celine Dion, once said, “There’s no such thing is aging, but maturing and knowledge. It’s beautiful, I call that beauty.” To many, growing old is just a natural, beautiful part of life. It is inevitable. It is inescapable. The functionalist perspective of sociology states that the elderly perform a function in order to keep society running with ease. Functionalists focus on the disengagement theory and how people tend to disengage from society as they approach death. Symbolic interactionists focus on how environmental factors and relationships with others affect the aging experience, focusing on the activity theory and the continuity theory (Carl, 2011, p. 220). Conflict theorists focus on the discrepancies that arise between different age groups. They also focus on the economical side of aging and the issues that may arise due to an active elderly population (Carl, 2011, p. 221).
Aging and old age for a long time presented as dominated by negative traits and states such as sickness, depression and isolation. The aging process is not simply senescence most people over the age of 65 are not Senile, bedridden, isolated, or suicidal (Aldwin & Levenson, 1994). This change in perspective led the investigation of the other side of the coin. Ageing is seen as health, maturity and personal Royal growth, self-acceptance, happiness, generatively, coping and acceptance of age-related constraints (Birren & Fisher, 1995). Psychological und...
This reflection paper is based on the life history interview conducted on me and a 78-year-old woman who is soon going to celebrate her 79th birthday on Sep 21st. I would call her with a fictitious name “Smita” in the entire paper to maintain and protect her privacy. The interview was about our life. It was divided into six major life categories: childhood, adulthood, identity, the present, aging, and life lessons. Having an opportunity to interview a 78-year-old woman and writing this reflective paper about the life history and experiences had made me realize that I have a lot to learn about the stages of human life. Every individual lives are different and it varies tremendously. As an interviewee my goal was to collect the details of life, different stories, and experiences that makes our life unique from the rest of the people.
This paper is going to discuss the life of A.A, a dear friend of my mother in law's. I interviewed him with the help of his wife. I was able to listen while they told me all about his life, including many great memories and also many sad ones. The reason for this interview was to spend time with an elderly person and ask questions about their life and health.
Theories concerned with ageing are constructed in an attempt to objectively satisfy the inquiries that arise after studying ageing and to provide evidence based clarifications. In the context of this essay, they allow troubleshooting regarding issues around the type of support would be expected to be needed by Betty and her son. Bengtson et al, (1999) accepts the potential pragmatism of the theories nevertheless he argues that they can be generalised and unimaginative. The controversy regarding theorising ageing becomes especially relevant when they are applied in isolation failing to address that “the science and positivism are severely limiting… for understanding aspects of ageing.” Bengtson et al (1999)
Mrs. K is a woman in the late adulthood stage of life. She and her husband are celebrating 37 years of marriage, have two adults sons and an adult daughter, and three grandchildren. Mrs. K recently retired within the past few years, and her husband retired less than two months ago. Mrs. K stated that her life is busy, between babysitting her grandchildren, working part time, and keeping connected to the community. She looks forward to planning trips with her husband in their retirement such as New York City and Ireland. She appears to have a close bond with her adult children and greatly enjoys when her grandchildren visit. Mrs. K retired from a successful career at a local high school where she worked with students who faced developmental
In an effort to learn about matters of health, illness and understanding the views of what it means to someone who is considered an older adult I interviewed with F.C. using the following five assessment tools. Throughout this paper I will discuss my interview with F.C. entailing a social history, nutritional status, Katz index score of independence in activities of daily living, the results of her mini mental exam, fall prevention scale and a summary of my overall impression.
Older adults are a very knowledgeable population and have had a lot of life experiences. As people age, things start to change physically, mentally, and socially. It’s important to understand the process of aging, so that older adults can be taken care of properly. I interviewed P.R. who is a 71-year-old male that lives alone in his home. P.R. is a retired coal miner, and is currently living off his social security and savings. He lives close to both his daughter and son, who frequently help him out with things that are needed. P.R. was able to give me a lot of insight about specific challenges that he has experienced in his life that is associated with aging. I will be discussing challenges that P.R experienced physically, mentally,
Late adulthood should be a time in a person's life where they feel fulfilled. They can look back on their memories and be happy with the way they have lived their life. Now, too many elderly people are not satisfied and look at this stage as depressing. Most fear death of either a loved one or for themselves. This topic is interesting to me because elderly people should make the best of their last stage of life. This topic discusses about getting older, the life changes that they go through physically, emotionally, and mentally. We should know more about it so that we can help our family and friends get through one of the best, yet toughest part of our mortal life.
Aging and being old was dominated by negative characteristics and conditions such as illness, depression, and isolation for a long time (Eibach, Mock, & Courtney, 2010). At first glance the terms “success” and “aging” seem to be in conflict to each other. When asking people about aging, their answers have many facets that are also found in psychological definitions: successful aging is seen as health, maturity and personal growth, self-acceptance, happiness, generativity, coping, and acceptance of age-related limitations. In the psychological sense successful aging is also often seen as the absence of age-associated characteristics (Strawbridge, Wallhagen, & Cohen, 2002). It seems that successful aging means is not aging.
She worked as a twenty four hour home health aide for the elderly and lived well under her means so she could save money to send for her children. After being the United States for two years my grandmother was reunited with her children. Although I was the first family member to born a United States, I was brought up that Trinidad was home. When I reflect about where most of extended family lives only a hand full of them still live in Trinidad, my family is scattered all over the united states, Canada, and Europe. My family’s situation is not unique; there are millions of families that share this commonalty with me in the Caribbean. One could go in any Caribbean nation and ask one hundred strangers if they have a relative or friend living in North America and Europe and ninety- nine of them can answer
The term senior citizen is difficult for some to fathom due to the aging that comes along with it. My father is one of those people; he almost cringes to the words “senior citizen”. My father’s name is Robert and he is 66 years old. Robert was born in Philadelphia’s Misericordia Hospital, but was raised in Maple Shade, New Jersey. He has one sister and two brothers. Robert is married and has four children. In his free time, he enjoys watching sports, participating in the stock market, and modeling trains. Robert is a high school graduate who attended Camden County College for electromechanical engineering. He then pursued a different career in analogue digital technology at Lyons Institute of Technology.