Introduction
With the aging process, various changes occur in the human body, which are not always positive. Hence, late adults have a greater predisposition to the occurrence of serious diseases. These can be diseases of organs and various systems, for example, cardiac or vascular.
In late adulthood, there is a decrease in the strength of the body, which also includes the muscular system. In addition, there is a decrease in mobility since physical exertion requires much energy from the body.
As for the external manifestations, gray hair may appear in late adulthood, depending on the individual characteristics of people. In addition, morphological changes include loss of elasticity and substances such as collagen on the face, which leads to wrinkles and sagging skin. In some cases, hair loss and vision impairment are possible.
In late adulthood, there is a transformation of the joint system, which eventually weakens and does not withstand the previous lifestyle. Thus, due to reduced mobility and disruption of the vestibular apparatus, a large number of older adults suffer from falls. However, it is worth noting that this most often refers to representatives of late adults closer to sixty years.
Due to changes in the work of the body and muscles of the elderly, there is a need to moderate physical activity. Among the possible ways to improve the functioning of the body are swimming and straightforward exercises aimed at a particular age group. Research states that “the human brain shrinks with advancing age, but recent research suggests that it is also capable of remarkable plasticity, even in late life” (Erickson et al., 2022, p. 99). This is influenced by physical activity at an older age, which determines its value.
In addition to the above, many late adults experience a gradual decrease in vision. This may be due either to a sharp deterioration due to an incorrect lifestyle or due to hereditary features of the patient’s vision.
Mental Development
At an older age, people retain semantic memory, that is, the ability to remember vocabulary. Over time, short-term memory deteriorates, and individuals rely on various strategies that help them remember specific events or things. Therefore, due to such a decrease in memory quality, older adults recall details less often and worse and rely more on a general description of what they remember.
Moreover, people’s working memory decreases significantly with age, which helps to retain information for a certain amount of time. Because of this, adults have difficulty concentrating and maintaining attention on one thing. One of the strategies for coping with this issue is the use of various strategies for memorization, one of which may be taking notes of events and things to remember.
Sources emphasize that the older generation of adults has a different way of focusing (Fung et al., 2019). Henceforth, due to the reduced ability to remember details, they rely on external cues. Such hints most often include familiar aspects and contexts that lead to this or that important information.
In addition, there are changes in the emotional side of the functioning of older adults. Integrity and despair play a role in this process, which affects how people relate to their age. Many are experiencing serious stress, which affects their health and well-being, while others are coming to accept their new position and the valuable experience they have gained.
Moral Development
Among the scientific literature, there is the Kohlberg theory, which determines the stages of moral development of individuals. Hence, this approach claims that late adulthood is at the final stage called post-conventional morality (Mathes, 2021). A distinctive feature of this stage is an orientation towards personal values and adherence to them.
Moreover, post-conventional morality is characterized by the fact that individuals impose their moral values relative to the situation in which they are needed. In other words, they deviate from the concepts that are accepted in their society and take into account the multiple contexts of what is happening and the people with whom they interact.
Regarding morality, adults at a given age gain more emphasis on the personal rights of other individuals. In other words, individual laws and rules play a rather significant role in decision-making. Therefore, later adults emphasize the consideration of these concepts and the importance of taking them into account from an early conscious age to improve relationships in society. For some, this may acquire extreme characteristics and be expressed in an excessive desire to see justice everywhere.
In addition to compliance with individual laws and regulations, ethics also acquires exceptional value at the post-conventional morality stage. However, because it is a complex phenomenon, not every adult is characterized by taking into account this aspect. Like the last characteristic, the ethical principles of individuals at a given age are expressed by taking the perspective of all the individuals and situations involved. It is noted that this final stage is the highest stage of functioning people.
Social Development
With age, people are much less likely to experience changes that affect the social sphere of life. One of the main ones is the change of working status and retirement, which depends on the type of work. In some cases, closer to an older age, many may lose a spouse, which can seriously affect the psychological state of individuals.
It is worth noting that leaving the workplace is not always the case for all late adults. Sources note that at this stage, people adapt much better to social changes. This is especially evident in the example of those people who prefer to switch to a part-time schedule or participate in volunteer social activities. For those who prefer to leave the workplace, the social environment and the ways of leisure activities are changing significantly.
However, an active social life is not typical for all later adults. It is characterized by the “disengagement theory outlines a process of disengagement from social life that people experience as they age and become elderly” (Crossman, 2019, para. 1). According to this approach, people with age prefer to isolate themselves from society and feel more comfortable being alone than the younger generation. In addition, they are less concerned about how actively and vigorously they participate in social life.
Even though many adults have a lot of life experience in later years, there is an opinion that many adhere to the opinions that they formed at a young age. In addition, later adults often try to compensate at this stage for the opportunities that they might have missed earlier. Thus, individuals make decisions, form opinions and create relationships based on experience, but primarily based on opinions and views defined at an early age.
Social ties play a unique role at this stage of life. Thus, emotional support becomes an important component, especially during critical situations. Individuals often form a reasonably close and small circle of communication, which they retain until the end of their lives. Because the older a person becomes, the higher the likelihood of serious diseases. Thus, it causes the need for emotional support.
References
Crossman, A. (2019). Disengagement theory. ThoughtCo.
Erickson, K. I., Gildengers, A. G., & Butters, M. A. (2022). Physical activity and brain plasticity in late adulthood. Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience, 99-108.
Fung, H. H., Lu, M., & Isaacowitz, D. M. (2019). Aging and attention: Meaningfulness may be more important than valence. Psychology and Aging, 34(1), 85.
Mathes, E. W. (2021). An evolutionary perspective on Kohlberg’s theory of moral development. Current Psychology, 40(8), 3908-3921.