Chapter 18
Emotional and Social Development in Late
Adulthood
Erikson’s Theory
■ Ego Integrity vs. Despair
– The final stage in Erikson’s theory (late adulthood)
– Focuses on reflecting back on life and coming to terms with it
Ego Integrity
■ A sense of wholeness, completeness, and satisfaction with life
■ Results from accepting both triumphs and disappointments in key life
areas:
– Love, parenting, work, friendships, and community involvement
■ Recognizes that chosen, abandoned, and unexplored life paths all
shaped a meaningful life
■ Leads to serenity, contentment, and peace with mortality
Predictors and outcomes
■ Generativity in midlife ego integrity in late life
■ Ego integrity is linked to:
– Greater psychological well-being
– Positive mood and higher self-acceptance
– Stronger marital and family relationships
– Greater community involvement
– Comfort in receiving help when needed
Despair
■ Arises from regret and a belief that life was
poorly lived
■ Feels that it is too late for change or
fulfillment
■ Results in:
– Bitterness, hopelessness, and fear of
death
– Anger and contempt toward others,
masking self-directed contempt
Peck’s Tasks of Ego Integrity and Joan
Erikson’s Gerotranscence
■ According to Robert Peck, attaining ego integrity involves three distinct tasks:
– Ego differentiation: People who focused mostly on their careers find self-
worth in other areas such as family, friends, and community
– Body transcendence: Accepting physical aging by focusing on mental,
emotional, and social strengths
– Ego transcendence: Accepting death in a healthy way and trying to make life
better and more meaningful for younger generations
■ Joan Erikson: Gerotranscendence—a cosmic and transcendent perspective
directed forward and outward, beyond the self (Yaşlılıkta benlik ötesi gelişim)
Labouvie-Vief’s View
■ ….. points out that older adults improve in affect optimization, the
ability to maximize positive emotion and dampen negative emotion
■ This bias toward the emotionally positive contributes an upbeat
attitude that is linked to longer survival
Stability and Change in
Self-Concept and Personality
■ The “big five” personality traits remain stable from mid- to late life.
■ Older adults’ accumulation of a lifetime of self-knowledge leads to more secure and
complex self-concepts.
■ In late adulthood, resilience is fostered by gains in agreeableness and acceptance
of change.
■ Engaging in cognitively challenging activities promotes openness to experience.
Contextual Influences on Psychological
Well-Being
■ Control vs. dependency
– Dependency–support script and the independence–ignore script,
older adults’ dependency behaviors are attended to immediately
while their independent behaviors are ignored.
– Dependency can be adaptive if older adults choose where they want
help and save their energy for things they care about.
– Support that helps older adults use their abilities to reach their
goals improves person–environment fit and psychological well-
being.
Contextual Influences on Psychological
Well-Being
■ Physical health
■ Negative life events
■ Social support
A changing social world
■ Disengagement Theory
– Proposes that aging involves a mutual withdrawal between older adults and
society
– This withdrawal is seen as preparation for death
– However, research shows that most older adults do not fully disengage
– Instead, they let go of unsatisfying relationships and maintain meaningful ones
■ Activity Theory
– Suggests that social withdrawal is due to external barriers, not personal choice
– Older adults typically want to remain socially active
– However, simply increasing social opportunities does not guarantee higher
levels of social activity
– Quality and relevance of social interactions are key
■ Socioemotional Selectivity Theory
– As people age, their social networks become more selective.
– Older adults focus on relationships that serve emotional regulation.
– They prefer fewer but high-quality, emotionally meaningful interactions.
– Time is perceived as limited, so emotional satisfaction becomes a priority.
Relationships in Late Adulthood
■ Social Convoy Model
– Describes how individuals’ social networks change throughout life.
– As some social ties are lost, aging adults work to maintain gratifying
relationships.
Marital Satisfaction in Late Adulthood
■ Peaks due to reduced stressful responsibilities.
■ Increases in perceptions of relationship fairness, shared leisure activities,
and positive communication.
■ Most gay and lesbian older adults report happy and fulfilling relationships.
■ Divorce in late life causes greater stress than in younger adults.
■ Remarriage rates are low but tend to lead to more stable relationships.
■ Cohabitation is increasingly chosen as a long-term alternative to marriage.
■ Adaptation to Widowhood
– Varies by age, social support, and personality.
– Older adults adapt better than younger ones; women adapt better than men.
– Resilience is promoted by efforts to maintain social ties, an outgoing
personality, high self-esteem, and a strong sense of self-efficacy in managing
daily tasks.
■ Unmarried and Childless Older Adults
– Most develop alternative meaningful relationships.
– Never-married childless women are generally better adjusted than men.
– Both men and women, despite smaller social networks, find necessary social
support.
■ Sibling Relationships
– Most siblings live close by, communicate regularly, and visit several times a year.
– Siblings are especially important as an “insurance policy” for widowed and never-
married older adults
■ Friendships in Late Adulthood
– Serve multiple functions:
■ Provide intimacy and companionship
■ Act as a shield against negative judgments
■ Connect individuals to the larger community
■ Offer protection from psychological effects of loss
Retirement
■ Factors Influencing Retirement Decision
– Affordability and financial resources
– Health status
– Nature of the work environment
– Opportunities to engage in meaningful activities
– Societal factors like retirement benefits
– Gender differences
■ Women tend to retire earlier than men.
Optimal aging
■ Older adults who achieve optimal aging use strategies to minimize
losses and maximize gains.
■ Supportive societal contexts promote optimal aging by helping older adults manage
life changes effectively.
■ Key societal supports include:
– Well-funded social security plans.
– Access to quality health care.
– Safe housing environments.