Unit 4, Development of life stages by Annette Keselova.
P1
In this section, I will be talking about each development of life stages and link them to a celebrity Michelle Obama. I will also predict some life stages such as later adulthood and describe what are P.I.E.S.
P.I.E.S
There are five developments through life stages; physical, intellectual, Emotional and social.
Physical development is when we begin to fit into our own age, this means we either grow from a young age or get old. This includes physical body change and developing our skills such as walking or driving a car.
Intellectual development is when our speech is developing including our skills, for example, when if an infant knows their colours and alphabet.
Emotional development is our emotions, for example, a female of age 15-16 tend to become more 'emotional' or in other words 'moody' because their hormones produce another hormone called estrogen which causes a female body to mature.
Social development is quite similar to emotional, this is when you connect with people in your age and begin to act similarly.
Conception.
Human life begins at conception, a woman produces an egg each month roughly two weeks after her menstrual period which then travels from the ovary, along with the fallopian tube towards the uterus. If sexual intercourse takes place while the egg is in the fallopian tube there is a possibility of conception. The man produces millions of sperm during ejaculation but just one sperm may fertilize the egg, fertilization means that the genetic material in the sperm joins with the genetic material in the egg to start a new life. Only half of fertilized eggs become babies.
Pregnancy.
Pregnancy begins when the sperm penetrates an egg, a couple days later the egg begins to divide. After two or three days later there are enough cells to make the fertilized egg. This travels to the uterus where it becomes anchored. The developing cell is now called an embryo it is attached to the wall of the uterus by the placenta. Once the embryo is attached to the uterus wall, a chemical is sent to the body to stop the woman having her menstrual period. After eight weeks, the embryo has grown and now has a recognizable heartbeat and grows eyes, ears, and mouth, legs and arms. At this stage, the growing organism is called a fetus.
During the remaining sevens months, the organs in the fetus start to develop until 20 weeks until it reaches the size of a baby.
Birth and Pregnancy.
After nine months after conception, the baby will be born, the newborn baby has to take easily digestible food such as the mother's milk in order to grow. A newborn baby does not have a fully developed brain but can hear sounds, tell the difference in a way things smell which helps them to identify their own mother or carer. Newborns are born with primitive reflexes, these are reflex actions which occur in the central nervous system this includes; newborn baby turning their head if you place a finger in the palm of a baby and the baby grasp your finger tightly if the newborn baby is held upright with their feet touching the ground.Newborn babies do not have much of a body control, they can not hold up their head, roll over or sit up, therefore, they need hundred percent of their mothers or carers attention.
Infancy.
Physical development
Anon (2016) Bounty.com states that baby at the age of two should be able to kick and wave, babies moments become less jerky and more ordinated; this means that the baby will kick its legs when it is happy and excited or be lying down. Babies may have enough neck power to lift their head up for a short time, by the age of two Michelle Obama would be most likely to do this including grasping and unclasping; babies are born with grasping reflex but do not know how to use it yet, therefore, they might be pulling onto hair or grasping their mother/carers finger. This also means children like Michelle Obama would also be able grasping and pulling objects when she was a two year old.
Intellectual development.
At the age of two, a child will be learning different things. Anon (2017) ParentFurther.com states that children will learn by exploring with their hands and mouth; they will throw, drop and put items in their mouths.
Children at this age will learn how to use everyday objects such as a spoon and learn to drink from a cup, it is important children learn how to use everyday objects to get their mind going.
At the age of two, children should at least know 50 vocabulary words as they learn to speak, they will most likely use two-word sentences such as "More juice" or " want cookie". The more the child is learning to speak they will be able to ask their parent/carer what they might want or if something is hurting them unlike when they are newborns. Michelle Obama would be able to do the same thing as other children. Children learn to speak their language naturally as they are interested in sounds and noise, however, children who are born deaf do not learn a language but may learn sign language to help them communicate with others.
Emotional development
This is when the child will start to bond with other children their age, they will bond with people who care for them such as mother, father, sibling or someone that cares for them. This brings them a sense of security and helps them through life stages. However, in some cases, a child may also have a different attachment to someone or something such as a pet like a dog or a cat or sometimes a toy if they lack a secure family life.
Michelle Obama was raised in a middle-class family with her mother, father and brother Craig. Michelle's main attachment was her mother and brother Craig who she would build forts with when she was a child and have her childhood memories with.
John Bowlby, The attachment theory.
Anon (2017) PsychologyWorld.com states that the attachment theory proves that a strong emotional and physical attachment to at least one primary caregiver is important to the child's personal development. This means that the child's bond to its caregivers such as a mother or a father is necessary as it influences them as they grow up.
" Attachment is a deep and enduring emotional bond that connects one person to another person across time and space". Saul Mcleod (2009) SimplyPsychology.com. This shows that in order for the infant to be happy the bond between the infant and the caregiver must be unbreakable if there is a connection there is more a sense of security that the infant feels towards the caregiver.
John Bowlby has created stages of attachment, these are; pre-attachment (newborn), Attachment in making (6-8 months-18), clear-cut attachment (6-8 months-18 months to 2 years) and formation of reciprocal relationship (18 months to years +). All of these stages explain when the child develops a sense of trust in their caregiver when the attachment is established the child's anxiety when their caregiver is not there disappears because they learn to understand that when their caregiver is not there they will come back and always be there for them. This creates a sense of security and trust which helps the child lead a happy childhood when a child is able to explore and do different things such as play with other children.
However, Children who have developed an insecure attachment to their caregiver in other words; have no connection and a relationship with their caregiver who fulfills their needs there is a mixture of different emotions such as anger and helplessness as they do not have the attachment to their mother or caregiver. This leads to early depression and no sense of security.
Social development.
At this stage, a child including Michelle Obama may be learning how to play with other children and imitate facial expressions as well as develop a social smile by three months. Children begin to speak by babbling first which then leads to gradually learning new vocabulary learning to say simple words and phrases. This means that children also learn how to interact with other children and play with them and helps them with their growth.
Early childhood 3-8
Physical development.
Children are able to take a part in activities independently, for example, building blocks or sliding down a slide. Children's motor skills develop greater as by the age of five they are able to walk up the stairs or on the ground and run without the help of their parent. Children by the age of 3-8 have a good hand-eye coordination which is the ability to catch a ball and throw it. Children are starting to become more active when they are able to move around independently.
Michelle Obama was an active child and always getting involved in different activities with her mother and brother.Intellectual development.
The child's communication and language skills develop as they hit the age of 3-8 years, for example, they are now able to count one to ten in the right order, they will also know the days of the week and colours.
Children start to attend a school which helps their intellectual development to build faster, they are able to speak in full sentences and ask for what they want. They now have the ability to think about things around them and learn how to behave in a specific situation such as if they are getting told off by a teacher or a parent.
Emotional development.
At this stage, children are able to control their own emotions; they get excited when they are happy and cry when they are sad. They are able to explain these emotions as their intellectuality has developed as they grew up therefore, they can tell others when they are happy or when they are sad and explain the reason why.
Children at this age learn how to work with other children during group works at a school or with their siblings at home, they are able to share things and cooperate very well.Social development
At the age of 3-8 children are able to socialize with other children and play with them. They develop friendships and number of friends which they might call their 'best friends'. By this age, Michelle Obama was able to interact with other children at the age of 3-8 years old.
Adolescence 9-18
Physical development.
When you hit your teens, you will see that your body is changing shape as you grow. These changes result of hormone releases which turn a child into a fully reproductive adult. For girls, physical changes are caused by estrogen and for boys, this is called testosterone.
At this stage, children are moving to adolescence where they are learning to become adults. One of the most important features is puberty which helps them to reach sexual maturity.
Puberty in girls starts at the age of 11-13, although girls hit puberty before they turn 13 boys begin puberty later at middle 13 to 15 years of age. Puberty is a stage which prepares the body for sexual reproduction, it is set off by the action of hormones which control sexual development.
Girls sexual development during puberty includes; enlargement of breast, development of pubic hair and menstrual period. On the other hand, boys experience growth of pubic hair and facial hair and a stronger muscle strength. Boys voice also 'breaks' and becomes deeper in tone.
Intellectual development.
At this stage, you are able to think of the things that you want to do by yourself, you may start to imagine that you want to become a musician or a scientist. When Michelle Obama was in sixth grade (12-13 years old) she has taken classes in a gifted program where she learned French and completed her courses in Biology. When she graduated, she attended Whitney M.Young magnet high school for gifted students.
As you hit your teens, you are more able to think more in a logical way to get the things you want, for example hanging out with your friends or getting a haircut of your choice. At this stage, you are independent enough to think for yourself about what you do, what you want and how you can get it.Emotional development.
At this stage, boys and girls will change. This is an especially hard time for teenagers as in this stage they are trying to find out who they are, in other words, they begin to form their own personality. Especially at this stage mood swings occur including insecurities and relationships.This also means that as you hit your teens, confusion may be the biggest fears as you are still finding out who you are. This sometimes leads to slight isolation from your parents as when you hit adolescence you may believe to yourself that you are more independent than you are.
Adolescence is the stage where teenagers develop a physical attraction to the opposite or the same sex and explore. However, every teenager is different therefore some might not start to sexually explore until they are a lot older like Michelle Obama, Michelle Obama had her first kiss when she was 20 and engaged to Barack Obama.
Adolescence is a stage where teens begin to start 'dating' and building strong relationships with other people, it is the stage where you face many changes with your body and you will find yourself experiencing many different kinds of emotions at different levels, especially for girls due to menstruation periods where all the hormones are creating mood swings.
Adulthood 19-45
Physical development.
As we age, our bodies change in many physical ways.In the stage of early adulthood, physical abilities start to fade away as the body is aging.When we reach early adulthood, physical maturation is complete. We start to show early signs of aging when we are 30, this includes grey hairs, hair beginning to thin, dry skin and a loose of muscle strength. In the case of Michelle Obama, at the age of 45, her sign of aging would be the sign of wrinkles just like in everyone else.
Intellectual development.
At this stage, you are more dependent and able to deal with problems on your own. In this stage, Michelle Obama was studying at Harvard University where she studied political science and graduated with a B.A in 1983. Some people choose to stay in education whereas some people, decide not to. Everyone decides to take different paths in their life, some decide to work straight away and some decide to travel around the world to meet new cultures.
Emotional development.
Social development.
At this stage, we begin to build friendships and relationships and become more social with others; this may include things such as marriage and planning a family, Michelle and Barack married on October 3rd, 1998 and had her two daughters Amalia and Sasha.
Physical development.
Physical capabilities start to decline as the body does not function as effectively in early adulthood. The skin begins to lack collagen which provides our skin with elasticity, this is what makes the skin loose and wrinkle and as a result, causes the skin to become thin and dry.
Anon (2016) Cliffsnotes.com states that middle-aged adults report good health and physical functioning, like Michelle Obama who became the first lady when she was 44 years old. Michelle Obama was still working as a lawyer when she was 44 years old and became the first Black American first lady.
However, some adults may show aging signs earlier, some of these signs may be; growing grey hairs and balding and muscle capability declining.
Intellectual development.
For some adults, this may be the stage where they decide to take their life into a new direction; such a travel or return to education. Michelle Obama as a first lady focused her attention on issues such as supporting military families, working with women and encouraging national service.
This shows that someone like Michelle Obama decided to keep on working and doing different things to help her people, such as volunteering at the homeless shelter with her husband Barack Obama to help out in the soup kitchens in Washington D.C. Emotional development.
As hormones are losing, this can create a wide range of confused emotions and often lead people into 'mid-age crisis' which is when people and mostly, older women dress up young and do different activities that an 18-20-year-old would do such as partying.
However, others may not give into these feelings and carry on doing what makes them happy such as taking care of their family if they still have children or they have grand-children. Michelle Obama, even as a 40+-year-old woman she has become a fashion idol to other people and is known as not only a first lady but a mother who takes care of her family.Social development
People tend to expand their social development as they get older which means going out in public and meeting new people whilst others, choose to spend more time with their families. Michelle Obama as a first lady would be meeting new people every day but also spending time with her family, she would have expanded her socialization as she got older.
Later adulthood 65+
Physical development.
At this point, the body is no longer functioning like it used to in early adulthood. The joints and muscles stiffer which makes it harder to move without a support for someone else. Other factors include; wrinkle appearances and loose of height. At this stage, Michelle Obama would most likely be 65+ and unable to be as active like she used to in her middle adulthood. Eyesight also becomes a major problem, some who suffer from; diabetes, high blood pressure or, a family history of glaucoma are more likely to develop eye and vision problems.
At the age 60+ women hit menopause which is caused by the lack of estrogen in ovaries which is the main hormone that controls your menstrual cycle. Furthermore, in men sperm production decreases and prostate enlarges, this means hormone levels begin to decrease. Intellectual development.
Erik Erikson (2016) states that this is the right time to find meaning and satisfaction in life rather than being bitter and delusional, this means; solving any conflicts you may have with friends or family so that you can live in peace or, this can mean looking for someone who you would spend the last years of your life with.
For Michelle Obama, this would mean spending the rest of her life settling down with her husband and take chance to travel around the world or live somewhere more peaceful such as a countryside where many elderly choose to spend their last years of their life.
At this stage, some elderly people decide to go back to education and study in universities this helps them to feel that they are not useless and helps them develop confidence. From my own personal experience, my neighbour who is over fifty years old decided to study medicine. Although she knows she will not be able to do this as a job in years to come, she believes your intelligence can expand if you want it to. This gives her confidence and makes her belief in herself.Emotional development.
At this stage, old people love to spend times with their families, people who have no family may end up being completely isolated from everyone else, some of them may be attending day care centers for the elderly to help them not feel isolated from society and to socialize with people like them. At this stage, Michelle Obama would be spending more time with her family and possibly grandchildren if her daughters had their own children.
At this stage, it is common for elderly people to develop depression and anxiety as they are not able to be as active when they were younger, they begin to lack independence; this means they need to be taken to the toilet and have their food fed to them or cut up. This can make someone feel controlled and feel a lack of freedom.
Elders who've loved ones passed before them will face isolation and insecurity as they do not a connection with others, at this point depression is developed due to the amount of loneliness.
P2,P3,P4,M2
P2, Describe the potential influences of five life factors on the development of individuals.
Social class
Social class affects the type of opportunities available to a person, we are able to have more opportunities if our social status is between middle and high class. If a child comes from a low-income home, they will have a low confidence as they are not able to afford new things such as phones, toys, and clothes and catch up with their friends on the latest activities.
Parents who come from a low-income home might feel stressed as they are not able to provide their children with a proper diet and housing, this eventually leads to depression as they believe their children's expectations are to live unemployed or on the streets.
Coming from a low-income home, you have less access to computers and books for school work, this is why some children are 'behind' other students, as they might have to be helping out their families with their siblings or even work instead of going to school unlike some students, who come from higher income home such as Michelle Obama when she was young, have a higher opportunity to education. Michelle's family came from a higher social status which is how she was able to have a big access to better education for example; studying at Harvard.
Therefore, this shows how our social status represents the opportunities we are able to have and sometimes, if we come from a lower status there is a less chance of us doing better than people who come from a higher social status.
Housing
A poor quality housing can lead to stress from overcrowding, this includes; lack of privacy, having to wait to use facilities such as a bathroom, and noise.
Poor quality housing often links to a low social status, you might live in an area with a high crime rate and some architectural features can create safety hazards.
This affects your own personal development as it can make you feel vulnerable to live in an area with a high crime rate and possibly with architectural features that create safety hazards, this also leads to stress in the family.
Criminal behavior may be common between young people who come from a lower class family and have a poor housing, however, young people who live in a quality neighborhood have a better support for P.I.E.S development.
Employment status.
Being unemployed means that you live on a low income which affects a number of opportunities you can have, your children will be affected and so will be their education, activities outside of schools such as hanging out with friends and catching up with the latest trends.
There are many impacts to low income, such as a risk of dying; if you are not able to buy food there is a higher chance you may die, hygiene will be affected if you can not afford any basic hygiene tools such as a wash.
Dixon and Paxton (2010) Health and social care level 3, state that the main disadvantage of poverty is that it is associated with being a victim of crime. If you live on a low income you may try earning money in a different way, such as stealing or drug dealing for other people.
Education
People with less or no qualifications are more like to be unemployed or employed in low pay work such as cleaning. People who come from higher or middle-class families have a better chance to have better professions such as a doctor or a lawyer, than people who come from a lower class family.
Children who live with unemployed parents means they are less likely to be employed in the future than children who's parents are employed. No access to a proper education eventually results in poverty and unemployment, this is also a result of why some feel pressured to earn money quickly and leave education.
The impact of low income.
There are a number of impacts of income, one of the most popular impacts include; poor diet and exposure to pollution if you live in an overcrowded area.
Air and water pollution can influence your personal development and may be a huge risk for your health, Cars produce a wide range of pollutants which are chemicals exposed to the air. People who have a low income may often live on these busy roads therefore, they are particularly more exposed to pollution.
It is important that our body receives all the right nutrients we need to help us develop. Pregnant women should eat more fruit and vegetables including; starchy food such as bread and pasta, foods rich in protein such as meat and foods which contain calcium such as milk and cheese. However, if you have a low income as a pregnant woman you will not have access to all these nutrients that you need when carrying a baby, therefore there is a higher chance of dying because of the lack of good diet.
P3, Major life events.
Events that are predicted.
Marriage is the most popular predicted event, as we hit adolescence we are beginning to meet people who we connect with and relate to, it is the stage we begin to experience with our sexuality and possibly, some start to search for 'the right' person to spend the rest of their life with. Marriage is the most common event where couples promise each other loyalty and trust.
Michelle Obama married Barack Obama on October 3rd, 1992, in this stage she already built her career and stepped into marriage.
Parenthood is also a common event, it is a stage where you learn new parenting skills and become attached to an infant as you build your own family. You begin to realize you have new demands on time and energy. You are learning to take care of someone else and deal with the fact you have a new responsibility which is to take care of your infant. Parenthood sometimes includes a risk of stress such as a lack of sleep and being tired. Michelle Obama and Barack Obama had their first daughters in 1992, Amalia and Sasha.
Events that are unpredicted.
A bereavement is an event where you have to deal with a loss or a change of lifestyle, it is often unpredicted and can involve a loss of a person that you were emotionally attached, loss of home/leisure, loss of friends, loss of income that the person brought into the household and a loss of physical and sexual comfort. Bereavement can lead to a loss of self-confidence and low self-esteem as you are feeling unable to deal with a different lifestyle.
Many people can go through a bereavement, for example, If Michelle Obama divorced, the both of them would have to deal with their loss and adapt to their new lifestyle. This would mainly affect their children and make it hard for them to adapt to the new lifestyle, there is a chance they would not live together but separately.
Illness or injury in a family is an unpredictable life event, it may be a life-threatening illness such as cancer. This completely changes your life around as you may have to go through many medical procedures that may not be very cheap. In some cases, medical procedures can not be brought into your case as some illnesses can not be treated therefore, you have a certain amount of time that you live and sooner or later you die.
P4, M2 What are two theories of ageing and how do they affect individuals?
The Activity theory (aging)
As people age, they tend to disengage from society, they do not take a part in activities and want to be seen less in the public.
The activity theory which is also known as the implicit theory of aging suggests that elderly who stay active have a successful aging rather than those who are not active at all. Elderly who stay active and keep interest in life maintain their physical and mental skills which mean that they are more happy and willing to learn different things.
Bromley (1966) Wikipedia/Activity theory.com argued that older people need to disengage but they also need to remain 'active' in order to prevent disengagement going too far. This means that elderly need to find a meaning in life and enjoy the company of others to help them remain active and prevent them from leading into stagnation.Some activities that the elderly may take part in are art, dancing and traveling. Traveling may be the most popular activity as elderly are able to travel where they want for free.
As Michelle Obama gets older, she might still be interested in helping people and taking her career higher, because she is very successful she might decide to do different activities with her family instead, which is what most elderly people choose.
Some may feel that they need to stay active as it helps them to believe their life is worth something, some elderly who are over the age of 50 decide to stay at work because it helps them and gives them confidence. Michelle Obama is 53 years of age and still continues with her career as a lawyer, this shows us that the theory of aging may necessarily affect everyone.
To summarize; the activity theory argues that older people need to stay mentally and socially active in order to limit the risks associated with disengagement.
Continuity theory
The continuity of normal aging states that older adults will usually maintain the same activities, behaviors, relationships as they did in their earlier years of life.According to this theory, older adults try to maintain this continuity of lifestyle by adapting strategies that are connected to their past experiences.
The important thing is people can continue to develop an internal sense of self-esteem and self-concept. Memories of the past may be important as they help the person to share their story.
Continuity theory suggests that people will have different needs when it comes to activity. Some people may wish to withdraw from social and physical activities because they see them selfs as a person who must retire and adopt the disengaged lifestyle. Others, such as Michelle Obama would most likely continue with her career.
On the other hand, for some elderly to continue adapting their lifestyle this means they might still complete the housework and cook for their children. However, for some, this gets physically harder as they get older, therefore, they might consider moving out from their city into a countryside to spend the rest of their later adolescence.
Due to Michelle's Obama career, it would be hard to predict whether she would choose to quit her career and retire or continue with her lifestyle as when you reach a later age your ideas and of continuing to adapt to your normal lifestyle changes, you may not be as active but not necessarily disengaging either.
To summarize; the continuity theory suggests that older people will generally continue to adapt a self-concept that they developed in earlier life.
D2,P5,M3
D2, How does the activity theory and continuity theory affect Health and Social care provision?
The activity theory argues that older people need to stay mentally and socially active in order to decrease the risk of disengaging, unlike the continuity theory which states that older people will generally maintain their role as when they were younger to give them the sense of who they are and to continue a self-concept that they developed in earlier life. Elderly people choose to take differents paths, whether they decide to stay active or disengage due to depression, Some, however, decide to stay in their role and carry on being active.
A majority of older people choose to stay in their own homes where they can be supported by friends, family and health care providers such as carers, carers help their patients by helping them with housework, shopping, and many other things. However, some elderly people may choose to move into a care home as the housework may cause too much pressure on them. In this case, NHS provide care homes for the elderly people to take care of them. Care homes provide leisure and 24hr care and leisure, this means they have a number of activities to keep their residents active if they choose to.
Elderly who like to take part in the community and stay active, the Government offers a freedom pass which allows them to travel by public transport. Traveling in London may be very expensive, this will affect elderly people who would like to stay active and make them disengage and depressed. Some may not be able to travel as it may be too expensive for them to do so, the freedom pass allows them to travel in any part of London for free which allows them to meet their friends and family. The freedom pass will allow them to stay physically active.
The NHS provides many different services for the elderly such as day care centres; this is where the elderly are able to maintain their social life skills and meet other people. The elderly are provided with day care support especially for those who are quite vulnerable and suffer from complex needs. Day care centres provide activities and opportunities to keep their service users active and maintain the continuity of their life.
Psychological changes.
P5. Physical and Psychological factors associating with ageing.
As we physically age, each person experiences different psychological changes as well. Cumming (1975) Wikipedia.com stated that some people disengage from social activity as they get older. Some, remain in contact with their friends and family. Erik Erikson argued in 1963 that older people need to develop a sense of ' ego integrity', Ego integrity is holding on to your self-esteem.
The physical and mental illness may cause some people to lose self-confidence in doing things that they enjoy, such as working. For example, a person who suffers from dementia sometimes forgets, therefore, they need to be reminded of what they were told. However, someone with dementia who feels that they must always be reminded of their task may build up social anxiety as they feel they are being 'slow'.
Physical changes.
As we grow older, our bodies begin to change and our skin begins to lose its elasticity. The loss of elastic tissue in the skin causes the skin to thin and hang loosely as we age. Therefore, skin begins to look more transparent, thin and dry, which causes wrinkles to appear.
Keratin is a protein which makes up our hair, skin, and nails. Melanocytes provide us with pigment in our hair and give it colour. Eventually, when Melanocytes meet with aging the hairs loose its pigment and begin to turn grey and eventually white. This is because your body stops providing melanin which helps to give your hair a colour.
As we age, our strength weakens which means the bones begin to stiff and muscles get weaker this means that elderly people will need their family or a carer to help them move around or to do things for them such as cleaning, some may end up in a wheelchair if they have a higher difficulty with moving around and majority use a stick to help them move around. As the bones stiffer and muscles get weaker the elderly are not as able to do the activities they enjoy, however in some cases they are still able to be active if they have family or a carer with them.
Menopause is the end of woman's menstruation cycle it is common in aging and sometimes happens early for some women at the age of 40-45. Menopause occurs when ovaries stop producing estrogen. Estrogen is the hormone that controls your menstrual cycle. As a female body is aging, the body stops producing estrogen and progesterone which causes a menopause. In some cases, women will not hit their menopause until the age of 60.
Psychological changes.
As we get older, the predictability of death becomes more and more real; some are afraid of death whilst other elders accept death as a part of life. However, there is no doubt most elderly people will face a fear of future they ask themselves questions such as " What is my reason being here now that I'm useless?"; thoughts as such may lead to a long-term depression and anxiety as the elder may feel that they are no longer useful because they can not be as active as they were when they were young. This shows that aging can lead to depression.
Poor memory is common in elders who faced dementia or a brain injury, however in most cases, elders who have not faced these issues can still be quite 'forgetful', this means forgetting important things such as the time for a next doctors appointment, forgetting where he/she put their glasses or someone's name.
Loss of independence becomes a major issue as elders who used to be very active and drive themselves to appointments or go to the shop are not able to do so anymore as they need an assistance. It is difficult to rely on others for essential care such as bathing from a carer or even a family member who used to look up to them for assistance, this can make an elder feel uncomfortable and vulnerable. Therefore, elders find themselves losing more freedom as they are not able to do what they need independently.
Some elders suffer from grief and loss as they get older their love ones pass away, losing people you care about can make you feel abandoned and lonely; when a loved one passes away your feeling more anxious and vulnerable, this typically includes a lack of connection and communication with other beings.
To conclude, every elder had a different life experience, therefore, everyone might face different changes, Some might continue to develop their career further like Michelle Obama even with physical changes such as wrinkles. Also, psychologically, everyone deals with their emotions differently as everyone faces different psychological changes in later life.
M3. Effects on self-esteem and self-confidence of physical changes associated with ageing.
Some elders may face problems with their self-esteem and self- confidence. Their self-esteem may is low because they feel that they can not love themselves because of the physical changes that are happening to their body, this includes; wrinkles, gray hair, menopause and weight gain in some elders. For these reasons, there are certain things that adults such as Michelle Obama do to bring their self-confidence up and make them feel happy with who they are.
Wrinkles are a typical sign of growing old, they appear due to the lack of tissues in the skin which provide enough elasticity for a smooth skin however when we grow old skin begins to lose its elasticity, and so, for this reason, some adults try to hide the appearance of wrinkles by spending hundred pounds for 'anti-ageing creams' which are supposed to reduce the appearance of wrinkles and supposedly ' fight them away', this is a popular choice that many people, such as Michelle Obama might come across at one point of their life. Brands such as L'oreal and Garnier make over billions of pounds for producing and creating these products.
Some elders who are wealthy enough might take it to an extreme and have a number of cosmetic surgeries performed on them; this means injecting the botox into the wrinkles to reduce the appearance of them, this method can cost over a thousand pounds. For some elders, this helps them to develop self-confidence as they feel better about their own appearance and they are able to walk into public and be more socially active.
As you grow older, you begin to become less active and so your gaining weight. Some elders may feel embarrassed by these and instead of choosing a healthy way to loose weight which is by exercising and having a healthy diet they consider liposuction, liposuction is a method where your body fat is 'sucked away' leaving you with a body you desired.
Furthermore, everyone will face changes in later life that they can deal with or change to help them develop self-confidence and high self-esteem. There is less chance of Michelle Obama having to deal with her physical effects this way therefore, everyone is different.
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