Late Adulthood Interview Research Paper

In middle adulthood there are many changes that occur physically, psychologically, and socially as explained in the above passages. Yet, some say that this is the best time of their life, they experience enhanced self-confidence, great sex lives, career success, and enhanced brain functions. Middle age adults are better equipped to make better life choices and decisions and not worry so much about the negative parts of life. Their problem solving skills are greater which allows them to reason more creatively. They are able to enjoy sex freely without the worries of getting pregnant and they feel more confident with their partners. In general they are happier about life and look forward to enjoying the rest of their lives.

“Though the age boundaries are not set in stone, we will consider middle adulthood as the developmental period that begins at approximately 40 to 45 years of age and extends to about 60 to 65 years of age” (Santrock, 2013, p. 485). I interviewed two individuals for this paper. Each person was asked the same fifteen questions (Appendix). I interviewed a male and a female who fell in the midrange of middle adulthood.

I had the privilege of interviewing a 60 year old gentlemen who I will identify as Mr. E to protect his privacy for this assignment. The goal of my interview was to gain insight on aging from an older adult. I interviewed Mr. E in his home on a weekday evening. He expressed appreciation and was surprised that he was the focus of an interview in which his life story and thoughts would be recorded.

The request for approval for the interview was completed through telephone conversation. The subject was informed that the purpose of the interview was to obtain her recollections of her lifespan with specific emphasis on adolescent through middle age. The interview was taped with permission and then typed into word document. The subject was asked a sequences of general questions for the purpose of establishing the subject’s personal history. The subject was also asked to list the major highlights, accomplishments and expectations for the next five years of her life. Following this, the subject was asked 21 focus questions. The interview was then concluded with a words of

Ed is 77-year-old White heterosexual man who is in good health and lives in the Niles area of Fremont, California with his wife, Laura, and eldest son Michael. Ed strongly identifies as Irish-Catholic and he and Laura raised their family in an Irish-Catholic household. I selected Ed as my interviewee because he lives in my neighborhood and is good friends with my neighbor’s father. The two degrees of separation between us are gender, ethnicity/cultural identity, as well as socioeconomic status (he is an upper middle class retiree).

The lifespan interview was conducted 70 years of age married black female whom I will be calling Mrs. D. The purpose was to document the subject’s lifespan history with recollections of important or significant events in her development. Mrs. D is a native of McIntosh, Alabama. She was born to a Mr. and Mrs. Hiram P. Reed Sr. on the 13th of December in 1967 in McIntosh Alabama. She has five siblings 4 brothers and two sisters. She has 6 children three boys and three girls with one son being descent. This interview was conducted on a live face-to-face webcam so that Mrs. D would feel much more comfortable.

The humanity of aging is a concept sometimes hard to grasp. Understanding why we are

The Boomer that I interviewed recently retired but she said that for the most part, she enjoyed the professional development days and always found at least some helpful information that she could take with her. She especially liked the workshops that were interactive as well as those that incorporated small group work which enabled them to learn from each other. She said that when she was a young, new teacher she would often sign up for conferences that were out of town which focused on an applicable subject matter. Some of her team teachers would often come along so that they eventually incorporate the material together. She said that these conferences were very helpful to her. She especially liked the Great Expectations workshops she went

The journey through late adulthood can be experienced in different ways. One particular movie entitled “The Bucket List” exhibits an astounding portrayal of late adulthood. In fact, there are many accounts that the movie entails about late-adulthood. This includes the illustration of Erickson’s late adulthood stage – “Ego Integrity vs. Despair,” wisdom, marriage, friendship, parent-child relationship, and death and dying in late adulthood.

I interviewed my sister Sierra and at first glance she looks like a small and delicate person but she has a very exciting personality and she has blond hair. As we got into the interview we got into the subject of how she felt when she had to learn some of the responsibilities of an adult and how it had affected her life. And she said that it made her feel more like an adult and that she felt that she had a lot more responsibilities being older. Some of the responsibilities she has are going to interviews managing her time planning a schedule preparing her food and managing her money.

For this interview I choose to interview my daughter who is five, a good friend who is thirty three, my mom who is 52, and my grandma who is 74. I thought all of the interviews went well, and I had fun doing them. While I was doing the interview I did notice a few patterns that took place. The first pattern that I noticed is that the first two age groups said that they felt great being their age, and the last two age groups said that it felt good to be their age but they would feel better if they didn’t have aches and pains. The second pattern that I noticed was the two middle age groups were bummed that they had to work full time, but the age group from thirty-five to sixty-five was happy that they would be done working full time soon. I also noticed one more pattern between the middle age groups, and that was that they both hated their teens and they would never want to relive that age again.

Emerging Adulthood is a fascinating period of development with the shifting of life choices thanks to people living longer in countries such as the US. The 18 to mid 20-year-old person has a different outlook on life with the competitive job market, and the decision to try to attend college at the risk of not being able to find the job they need. The days of getting married before adulthood are long gone as people try to have a social life before settling down with a single individual. Trying new things and meeting new people is exciting and has taken a stronger meeting than to buy a home and start a family. With the healthier trends, people are living longer, and the age bracket has expanded and shifted for when settling down begins. Many

During middle adulthood, some aspects of cognitive processes continue to develop, others are maintained, and still others decline. According to Baltes and his colleagues, they believed that these changes gives a rise to a cognitive strategy called selective optimization and compensation. This strategy means that adaptive aging involves thinking that leads to maximizing gains towards maintenance of functioning at the current level and the regulation loss. This strategy involves three component, selection, optimization, and compensation. John, a 60 -year-old engineer is worried that his memory, attention, and problem solving skills have declined over the past decade. He wishes to maintain what cognitive capacity he has left and prevent further

During late adulthood one will experience dramatic loss and decline of physical abilities, strength, and energy as they near the end of their life cycle. “As we get older, we move slower, we become wrinkled, and we may feel the effects of various chronic conditions or disease. This process is known as senescence, the decline in body functioning associated with aging" (Papalia, Feldman, & Martorell, 2012, p. 501). Senescence then brings the idea of what is like to be old. Body systems start to decline in functioning ability under levels of stress, for "with age... many older people cannot respond to extra physical demands" (Papalia, Feldman, & Martorell, 2012, p. 506). Frailty and weakness in the bones and muscles then becomes a new factor

The selection portion of the SOC Model of Aging involves actively or passively reducing the number of activities, goals, or domains in order to focus on areas that are most salient in one’s everyday life (Lang et al, 2002). The model suggests that it is important to focus on aspects that would be most beneficial to a person, which will vary between individuals. For myself, I would choose to focus on a healthy and active lifestyle that includes exercise and proper nutrition. In addition to physical activity and proper nutrition, I thoroughly believe that social interaction is also important in positive aging, as more interactions with others can decrease the chance of social isolation. As I aspire to