Study Guide: Middle and Late Adulthood

Adulthood, Late Adulthood, Death and Dying

1. Summarize physical changes that occur in midlife.
2. Define menopause and explain menopausal changes.
3. What is andropause?
4. How does the climacteric impact sexuality?
5. How does exercise impact aging?
6. Describe the ideal diet for midlife adults.
7. Which cognitive skills increase and decrease in midlife?
8. How do midlife students differ from younger students?
9. Compare the expert and the novice.
10. Is there any such thing as a midlife crisis? Explain.
11. What is Erikson’s stage for midlife adults?
12. What is kinkeeping?
13. Compare types of singles.
14. How does marital satisfaction vary during the life cycle?
15. Describe Cuber and Haroff’s typology of marriages.
16. What does Gottman say about communication in marriage?
17. Describe the stations of divorce.
18. How common is remarriage?
19. What happens to personality in midlife?
20. Compare styles of grandparenting.
21. Compare optimal, usual, and impaired aging.
22. Discuss demographic changes in the age structure found in the United States from 1900 to the present.
23. America and the globe are “graying.”What does this mean?
24. How has life expectancy changed since 1900? Compare life expectancies based on gender and race/ethnicity.
25. What is ageism? Define elderspeak.
26. Compare primary and secondary aging and give examples of each.
27. How common are problems of vision and hearing loss among people 65 and older?
28. Describe theories of aging. Why do we age? (Include definitions of Hayflick limit and telomeres).
29. How does age impact the sensory register, working (short-term), and long-term memory?
30. What is wisdom? Does it come with age?
31. Define abnormal losses of cognitive functioning including dementia and delirium. What are nonorganic causes?
32. Contrast disengagement, activity, and continuity theories of aging.
33. What is socio-emotional selectivity theory?
34. Who cares for older, dependent adults? How many are in nursing homes?
35. Discuss elderly abuse.
36. What are the most common causes of death in the United States?
37. What are the most deadly diseases worldwide?
38. Compare physiological, social, and psychic death.
39. List and describe the five stages of loss.
40. What is palliative care?
41. Describe hospice programs.
42. Who is Dame Cicely Saunders? What are the seven pains?
43. What is anticipatory grief? Disenfranchised grief?
44. Kubler-Ross and Kessler suggest that this is a “death-defying, grief-dismissing world”. What does this mean?