PSY 205 Week 5 Late Adulthood, Death and Dying Example

Eighty-One and Still Growing: Late Adulthood, Loss and Grief in an Assisted Living Resident

[Student Name]

University of Phoenix

PSY/205: Life Span Human Development

Week 5 Assignment

[Instructor Name]

[Date]

The resident and her family are composites written for a model paper; theories and research come from the sources listed.

Late adulthood, usually defined as age sixty-five and older, now lasts decades for many people. It brings physical and cognitive changes, new roles and, eventually, the end of life. This paper follows a composite woman in Sun City, Arizona, through the year after her husband's death to show how development continues in late adulthood and how people face loss and death.

The Person

Eleanor is eighty-one. She was married for fifty-five years, raised three children and worked as a school librarian. Her husband died of heart failure last year after a long illness during which she was his main caregiver. Two months after his death, with her children's encouragement, she moved into an assisted living community near her daughter.

Physical Change

Eleanor has arthritis in her knees and walks with a cane. Her hearing has declined, and she uses hearing aids. These changes are common in late adulthood and rarely stop her from doing what she wants. Her blood pressure is controlled with medication, and she walks the community's hallways twice a day. Normal aging brings gradual decline in sensory and physical abilities, but many changes can be eased by activity, assistive devices and medical care.

Cognitive Change

Eleanor is slower to recall names and now and then reaches the kitchen without remembering what she came for. Her vocabulary, knowledge of literature and judgment remain strong. These changes fit normal aging: processing speed and some memory functions slow, while knowledge and expertise are preserved. Dementia is different. It involves memory loss and confusion severe enough to disrupt daily life, such as getting lost in familiar places or being unable to manage medications. Eleanor manages her own medications and finances, which suggests normal aging rather than dementia, though her doctor screens her annually.

Relationships and Socioemotional Selectivity

Eleanor has turned down several invitations to group activities and instead spends time with her daughter, a close friend from church and one neighbor. Her children worry she is withdrawing. Carstensen (2006) proposed socioemotional selectivity theory, which holds that when people perceive their time as limited, as many older adults do, they shift their goals from gathering new information and contacts toward emotionally meaningful experiences and relationships. Her research found that older adults often report as much or more emotional well-being than younger adults and prefer smaller, closer social networks. Eleanor's choices fit this theory: she is investing in relationships that matter most to her, not withdrawing from life.

Grief and Resilience

Eleanor cried often in the first weeks after her husband's death, but she now sleeps reasonably well, keeps her routines and talks about him with warmth. Her children expected her to be devastated longer and wonder whether she is hiding her feelings.

Bonanno (2004) reviewed research on loss and trauma and found that resilience, maintaining relatively stable functioning after a loss, was far more common than once believed, and that many bereaved people did not show prolonged depression. He also noted that the absence of intense grief is not necessarily a sign of denial or a problem to be treated. Eleanor's steadiness may also reflect the long illness that preceded her husband's death, during which she had already begun to grieve and adjust.

Eleanor's children worried that she grieved too little; research suggests her steadiness is the most common path through loss.

Stage Models of Dying and Grief

A psychiatrist who interviewed terminally ill patients described five stages, denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance, that became widely known and are often applied to grief (Kübler-Ross, 1969). Her work brought attention to the emotional needs of dying people and helped change medical care. However, later research did not find that people move through these stages in order, or that everyone experiences them. The model is best understood as a description of reactions that may occur, not a sequence people must follow.

Integrity and Meaning

Erikson described late adulthood as the stage of integrity versus despair, when people review their lives and come to terms with them. Eleanor has begun writing letters to her grandchildren about her life, including stories of her career and marriage. This life review supports a sense of integrity, of a life that made sense and mattered.

Facing Her Own Death

Eleanor has completed an advance directive stating that she would prefer comfort-focused care if she becomes seriously ill. Discussing her wishes with her children was difficult but brought relief. Attitudes toward death vary widely across cultures and religions; for Eleanor, her faith and her husband's peaceful death in hospice shape her calm outlook.

Adjusting to Assisted Living

Moving from a home of forty years into assisted living is itself a major transition. Eleanor misses her garden and the sounds of her old street. She has made her apartment familiar with her husband's chair, family photographs and books, which research on relocation suggests can ease adjustment. The move also brought benefits: help with housekeeping, meals with others and quick access to staff if she falls. For many older adults, the timing and choice of a move matter; Eleanor's sense that she chose the move, rather than being placed, has helped her settle.

Supporting Eleanor

Staff and family can support her in several ways. Respecting her preference for a small circle of friends, while offering occasional low-pressure invitations, honors her choices. Activities that use her expertise, such as leading a book discussion in the community library, support purpose. Her children can listen when she wants to talk about her husband without pushing her to grieve in a particular way. Keeping her advance directive up to date and shared with her doctor ensures her wishes guide future care.

Conclusion

Eleanor's year shows late adulthood as a time of both loss and continued growth. Physical and cognitive changes are real but manageable; her narrower social circle reflects meaningful choices; and her steady response to grief reflects the resilience research has found to be common. Stage models offer limited guidance, while listening to the person and respecting her wishes offers a great deal.

References

Bonanno, G. A. (2004). Loss, trauma, and human resilience: Have we underestimated the human capacity to thrive after extremely aversive events? American Psychologist, 59(1), 20-28. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.59.1.20

Carstensen, L. L. (2006). The influence of a sense of time on human development. Science, 312(5782), 1913-1915. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1127488

Kübler-Ross, E. (1969). On death and dying. Macmillan.