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SOCIOEMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN LATE ADULTHOOD
16
ESSENTIALS OF LIFE-SPAN
DEVELOPMENT
JOHN W. SANTROCK
3e

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16-2
CHAPTER OUTLINE
• Theories of socioemotional development
• Personality and society
• Families and social relationships
• Ethnicity, gender, and culture

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16-3
THEORIES OF SOCIOEMOTIONAL
DEVELOPMENT
• Erikson’s theory
• Activity theory
• Socioemotional selectivity theory
• Selective optimization with compensation theory

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16-4
THEORIES OF SOCIOEMOTIONAL
DEVELOPMENT
• Erikson’s theory
• Integrity vs. despair: Involves reflecting on the past and
either piecing together a positive review or concluding that
one’s life has not been well spent
• Life review - Looking back at one’s life experiences, evaluating
them, and interpreting/reinterpreting them
• Reminiscence therapy - Discussing past activities and
experiences with another individual or group

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16-5
THEORIES OF SOCIOEMOTIONAL
DEVELOPMENT
• Activity theory
• The more active and involved older adults are, the more
likely they are to be satisfied with their lives
• Socioemotional selectivity theory
• Older adults become more selective about their social
networks, spending more time with individuals with whom
they have had rewarding relationships

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16-6
THEORIES OF SOCIOEMOTIONAL
DEVELOPMENT
• Two important classes of goals
• Knowledge-related
• Emotion-related
• Trajectory for each type of goal is different

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16-7
THEORIES OF SOCIOEMOTIONAL
DEVELOPMENT
• Selective optimization with compensation theory:
Successful aging is linked with three main factors:
• Selection - Older adults have a reduced capacity and loss
of functioning, which require a reduction in performance in
most life domains

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16-8
THEORIES OF SOCIOEMOTIONAL
DEVELOPMENT
• Optimization - It is possible to maintain performance in
some areas through continued practice and the use of
new technologies
• Compensation - Older adults need to compensate when
life tasks require a higher level of capacity

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16-9
FIGURE 16.1 - DEGREE OF PERSONAL LIFE
INVESTMENT AT DIFFERENT POINTS IN LIFE

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16-10
PERSONALITY AND SOCIETY
• Personality
• Older adults in society

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16-11
PERSONALITY AND SOCIETY
• Personality
• Transition into late adulthood was characterized by
increases in following aspects of conscientiousness
• Impulse control, reliability, and conventionality
• Higher conscientiousness, extraversion, and openness were
related to a lower risk of earlier death

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16-12
PERSONALITY, THE SELF, AND SOCIETY
• Older adults in society
• Stereotyping older adults
• Ageism: Prejudice against others because of their age
• Policy issues in an aging society
• Status of the economy
• Health care
• Eldercare: Physical and emotional caretaking of older members
of the family
• Whether that care is day-to-day physical assistance or responsibility
for arranging and overseeing such care
• Technology

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16-13
FAMILIES AND SOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS
• Lifestyle diversity
• Older adult parents and their adult children
• Friendship
• Social support and social integration
• Altruism and volunteerism

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16-14
LIFESTYLE DIVERSITY
• Married older adults
• In 2010, 57% of U.S. adults over 65 were married; 27% of
older adult women were widows
• Marital satisfaction is greater in older adults than middle-
aged adults
• Older adults who are married or partnered are usually
happier and live longer than those who are single

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16-15
LIFESTYLE DIVERSITY
• Divorced and remarried older adults
• In 2010, 11 percent of women and 9 percent of men 65
years and older in the United States were divorced or
separated
• Divorce has social, financial, and physical consequences
• Remarriage is increasing due to:
• Rising divorce rates
• Increased longevity
• Better health

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16-16
LIFESTYLE DIVERSITY
• Cohabiting older adults
• In 2010, 3 percent of older adults were cohabiting

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16-17
OLDER ADULT PARENTS AND THEIR
CHILDREN
• About 80% of older adults have living children,
many of whom are middle-aged
• Adult daughters are more likely to be involved in
the lives of aging parents
• Adult children often coordinate and monitor
services for aging disabled parents

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16-18
FRIENDSHIP
• In late adulthood, new friendships are less likely to
be forged and close friends are chosen over new
friends
• Individuals with close ties to friends were less likely to
die across a seven-year age span

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16-19
SOCIAL SUPPORT AND SOCIAL
INTEGRATION
• Social convoy model of social relations: Individuals
go through life embedded in a personal network of
individuals to whom they give and from whom they
receive social support

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16-20
SOCIAL SUPPORT AND SOCIAL
INTEGRATION
• Older adults have fewer peripheral social contacts
and more emotionally positive contacts with friends
and family
• A low level of social integration is linked with
coronary heart disease in older adults

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16-21
ALTRUISM AND VOLUNTEERISM
• Older adults who had persistently low or declining
feelings of usefulness to others had an increased risk
of earlier death
• Volunteering is associated with a number of positive
outcomes
• Constructive activities
• Productive roles
• Social integration
• Enhanced meaningfulness

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16-22
ETHNICITY
• Ethnicity
• Gender
• Culture

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16-23
ETHNICITY
• Elderly ethnic minority individuals face both ageism
and racism
• Despite stress and discrimination many ethnic
minority individuals have developed coping
mechanisms that allow them to survive

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16-24
GENDER
• Some developmentalists believe that there is
decreasing femininity in women and decreasing
masculinity in men during late adulthood
• Older men often become more feminine, but women do
not necessarily become more masculine
• Older adult females face ageism and sexism

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16-25
CULTURE
• Six factors are likely to predict high status for older
adults in a culture:
• Have valuable knowledge
• Control key family/community resources
• Engage in useful/valued functions as long as possible
• Age-related role changes that give greater responsibility,
authority, and advisory capacity
• Extended family
• Respect for older adults

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16-26
SUCCESSFUL AGING
• Many abilities can be maintained and/or improved
in older adults due to:
• Proper diet
• Active lifestyle
• Mental stimulation and flexibility
• Positive coping skills
• Good social relationships and support
• Absence of disease