Aging In Late Adulthood

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Aging is a process that all individuals go through. However, the changes that each person experience and the degree to which these changes affects a person’s life may differ. While some experience declines in physical health, cognitive abilities, and the sense of well-being, other individuals may face the problems to a different degree, leading to different outcomes as aging adults. The purpose of this paper is to present a case study of an elderly woman to examine one example of an individual experiencing late adulthood in order to determine the subject’s developmental status and reflections of aging in late adulthood. The older adult was given an interview to obtain data about her life history, general health, and perspective on aging. Additionally, …show more content…
As an elderly individual, she commented that one of the sadder aspects of aging is to have to witness some friends pass away. Nevertheless, Anna maintains a close relationship with her friends living close to her and with her children. As evident through the interview and after our walk together, Anna often sits with a couple of friends around a table outside and chat about their children and grandchildren. Furthermore, Anna exhibited a strong interest and focus on her children and grandchildren, as her answers to many of the questions posed to her were about her children and grandchildren. For example, Anna reflected that the most exciting part of her life was raising her four children and ensuring that they were educated so that they would not have to experience some of the hardships she had face. She also regrets that her husband passed away before he met her youngest granddaughter, because they had the same habit of chewing their tongues and she thought that he would have loved her very much and they would have gotten together well. Overall, Anna is satisfied with her life experiences. One method of determining Anna’s developmental status is to consider Erik Erikson’s psychosocial stages of development (Erikson, 1963). The …show more content…
As a young adult living through the Chinese Civil War, Anna was forced to leave her home and march thousands of miles. Yet once the war ended, she focused her energy on supporting and raising her children, giving them a chance to receive an education that she never had a chance to have. As a grandmother, she enjoys living in Tainan with her friends and having her children and grandchildren visit her from time to time. A major strength that Anna has is her grit and her optimistic attitude, which has allowed her to live independently in her old age and to feel satisfied at her ability to do so. Additionally, her strong connection with members of her community and her family have contributed to her optimal adjustment as she aged. The most interesting lesson that I learned about the experience of late adult from my interaction with Anna is that old age should not stop a person from being as happy as when they were younger. Anna taught me that despite inevitable losses in physical abilities in late adulthood, one should not fear the physical decline, but rather have even more of a reason to enjoy the present and be happy for what I still have. Prior to the interview, I was aware of Anna’s background, but it was not until after the interview when I finally understood the severity of the impact of the wars on her early years. Compared to my current
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