Development is a never-ending process. But the development ratio shows down in some stages. This period is the last period of development. The process of development in late adulthood is very slow than other stages. So, this stage is also known as late adulthood.
Late adulthood occurs between 65 to death. During this period, people are suffering from activities of daily life such as – bathing, dressing, eating, getting in and out of bed, and difficulty sit-in and out of chair because people’s motor activities are very poor.
According to Erikson, Late adulthood is presented with the help of Integrity vs despair. In this stage, satisfaction brings integrity to a person. And, the stage of despair comes when there is dissatisfaction.
There are three types of development in late adulthood. They are physical, cognitive, and social development. Cognitive and social development are interconnected. And, the size of the brain shrinks.
Development in Late Adulthood
Physical development is presented with the help of the nervous system, Cardiovascular and Respiratory systems, and sleep phenomenon.
I. Nervous System
The old person faces many problems related to the nervous system. The nervous system is made up of the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord) and peripheral nervous system. The adult’s brain weight decline, loss of synaptic connection, death of neurons, withering of myelin coating.
II. Cardiovascular and Respiratory systems
At this age, gradual process of the cardiovascular and respiratory systems. In the cardiovascular process, the heart muscle becomes more rigid and some cells of the heart has died.
III. Sleep Cycle An Older adult requires sleep of approximately 7 hours per night. Between 70 to 80 ages, men experience more sleep disturbances than women. During this period people sometimes get very little sleep. And sometimes feel very tired. Because their nervous system is very down. So, all these problems arise.
Older adults’ cognitive process is very weak and slow processing. In memory processing, retaining is very poor and consumes maximum time, and reduced the capacity of working memory.
Old-age person reduces their ability to think and understand. And sometimes they have to write down their actions. Because they forget the work so they have to do it. In late adulthood, a person has a lot of trouble remembering new things.
And an old person answers everything too late. Decision-making becomes very difficult at this age. Adulthood also suffers from the disease of amnesia. Their autobiographical memory also becomes weak. So, they also forget their experiences.
And if they get a chronic illness. Then their cognition power goes down. And they lose their ability to think and understand.
In this period, a person is no longer interested in social work. So, they prefer to be alone. Because they become very weak physically and mentally.
They don’t participate in social work. Because they feel physically helpless. So, they try to stay away from society.
The old adult person faces more problems. In psychosocial development theory, the last stage is “ Identity vs despair”. According to this stage, a person prefers wisdom.
Development in Early Childhood