Late Adulthood Paper

Introduction Summary

The examination of the paper allows us to establish the fact that one of the highlights of the fact that there has been an improvement in the quality of life especially in the western nations is based on the growing number of individuals who are living in advanced old age. The prevailing demographic component is thus the main attribute that makes it imperative that there is an implementation of medical as well as psychological interventions that exhibit the ability to assure adequate standards of wellbeing for this elderly population.

Through the examination of the accessible research, it is evident that in most of the western nations, the issue of advanced age is considered to be a period whereby there is a loss of cognitive efficiency as well as a reduction in anatomy among people falling in this population. It is additionally evident that less research has been conducted on issues revolving around the age-related improvements that could include wisdom, life experience as well as warmth.

From the consideration of these issues, it has become evident that the implication of the negative expectations as well as ideas leading to late adulthood can have an adverse impact on the beliefs relating to the aged population on attributes of their cognitive as well as memory abilities. When compared to the young adults, the older population is believed their memory is more fallacious, deteriorating with time and is less controllable. Research on the impact of the age-related attributes on self-referent wellbeing as well as cognitive efficiency has revealed that elderly individuals who have a higher perceived sense of control over their cognitive, as well as mnestic efficiency, were more satisfied with their lives and more optimistic about their life. Further, these individuals were more inclined to employ effective strategies in compensating for the mnestic losses, were less depressed, less anxious, less depressed and even less health vulnerable. 

Methodology Summary

The present study used a sample of 139 healthy 139 healthy adults between the age of 20 and 99 years old, which has voluntarily agreed to take part in the study and were consequently assigned to three age groups. These groups comprised the young who included participants between the age 20 and 30 years, the old who were between 65 and 74 years old and the very old who were taken to be the participants that were above the age of 75 years old. Recruitment of participants was conducted via local social services for the aged as well as via city councils.

For these participants to be included in the study, it was imperative that they are native-born, permanent residents in Ogliastra. Further, the participants had to be descendants of the people who are originally from the area for a minimum of two past generations and that they had to show indications of cognitive impairment. For the exclusion criteria, was a cut-off score of <24/30 on the mini-mental state examination, used to exclude the cognitively impaired participants.

Social demographic attributes and lifestyle were collected via the use of a preliminary interview for each of the participants. Each of the participants received a packet of questionnaires that included the cognitive failures questionnaire that was meant to investigate an individual’s capacity to resist irrelevant stimuli as they try to remember something, with the question being the participants being asked to self-rate how frequently motor or memory functions failed in the course of their daily functions. There was the sensitivity to memory questionnaire that had 34 items evaluating an individual’s propensity to recall, especially on the issue of frequency and intensity of recall. They were additionally evaluated on their tendencies to store personal memories in addition to the use of external aids as the dairy. The third questionnaire includes the psychological well-being and aging questionnaire that evaluated psychological wellness.

Results

Overall, there were three main outcomes from this study.  One of these outcomes is that individuals living in Sardinia exhibited greater levels of wellbeing and less depressive signs that psychological distress compared to the control population that was from northern Italy. It was additionally evident that age-related factors had an impact on the psychological wellness, with the participants classified as very old referring to coping strategies more than the younger groups.

Further, it is evident that psychological distress is more evident in the old as well as the very old groups. There was a case of a clear manifestation of clinical depression as well as psychological distress that was found among the participants under the classification of very old from northern Italy while young participants from Italy did do not differ significantly from the old as well as the very old participants. It is further established that signs of depression were more common among the female participants than the male counterparts.

It is clear that most of the older adults are on most occasions perceived as lacking competence related traits that include independence, confidence as well as mental and physical abilities, albeit the fact they are known to be kind, trustworthy as well as well nurtured. These types of view on most occasions operate without awareness or intention, and their reinforcement follows a series of additional negative stereotypes that take the assumption memory processes deteriorate progressively in late adulthood. These stereotypes further assume that the deterioration of the cognitive abilities of this aged population is inevitable, pervasive and uncontrollable. It is a relation to this issue that cases of memory failures among in the young population is associated with the lack of effort or attention while mnestic failures among the aged population are associated with incompetence. 

Conclusion

From the assessment of the study findings, cases of lower cognitive abilities, reliance on external assistance promoting memory and greater use of coping strategies was more common among the aged and very aged than the case was among the young participants. One of the prevailing explanation for these attributes is the fact that socio-cultural attributes that emphasize on the positive social roles played by the elderly as the state in Sardinia promote tend to support psychological well-being in late adulthood. Further, it is evident that in such a community, the elderly are considered helpful which makes them more respectable and are involved in their social work. In the case of the northern Italy, the region is characterized by dominance with the older people failing to be enhanced in their social communities.

While the current studies have tried to explain the issues and attitudes that are associated with the aged, it is imperative future research addresses the issue the impact that dietary dissimilarities have on the Sardinian and other Italian regions. In my opinion, the current study has been integral in providing additional information on the issue of respecting the aged especially in the Sardinia region as well as the role played by genetics in aging. The article has effectively enumerated the significance of involving the elderly in the society as a strategy of improving their wellbeing and the consequent quality of life.

The language that the authors have used in this article has additionally been effective in ensuring there is easy comprehension of the issues addressed. The authors have indicated balance in their examination of the different regions, allowing the reader to get a clear picture of the issues addressed. It, however, follows that the authors should have used more subheadings, especially in the analysis to make it easier for the readers to follow the case analyzed.  On the issue of future research, it is imperative that studies assess the effects of cross-cultural attributes on the self-rated psychological wellbeing in other regions in western cultures where there is an indication of collectivistic viewpoints.

References

Fastame, M. C., Penna, M. P., & Rossetti, E. S. (2014). Perceived cognitive efficiency      and subjective well-being in late adulthood: the impact of developmental         factors. Journal of Adult Development, 21(3), 173-180.

Sherry Roberts is the author of this paper. A senior editor at MeldaResearch.Com in essay writing services. If you need a similar paper you can place your order from cheap assignment writing service services.