Course Of Adult Development Research Articles

THE NET ON THE RIVER WHERE VERY LITTLE HAS BEEN CAUGHT: DIFFERENCES IN MEMORY FOR DISCOURSE IN YOUNGER AND OLDER ADULTS

Abstract Experiential learning is key for courses in a gerontology certificate program at a midwestern nursing and health science college. One curricular emphasis is the uniqueness of every older adult that the student will encounter as they move from a novice student role to professional role mastery several years into their careers. To assist in this transition, one course has a unit on memory for discourse, especially memory for printed materials—essential in support of understanding medical conditions and treatment follow-through. Our project had college students compare their memory for short stories with memories of “students” from an OLLI Program who attended this class. The project, in an adult development course, provides students with community service, direct contact with older adults and reflective practices to integrate course content with this activity. Qualitative analyses were used. Content analyses of reflective essays identified four themes (a) older adult focus on key story propositions as well as incidental propositions with tie-in to acquired knowledge on attention/memory from course work (b) frequent use of situational schema based on greater world knowledge held by older adults and implications of this type of discourse in clinical settings (c) differences, that favored older adults, between groups in memory for details in structured versus unstructured stories, and (d) differences in style of recall for stories between age groups. Reflections were encouraged to tie new age-related knowledge about memory processes into better client follow through. Students also reflected on ways to make memory more optimal in clinical settings.

Older and younger adult definitions of emotion terms: a mixed-method content analysis

Objectives Conceptualizations of emotions might evolve over the course of adult development as motivations shift, but there are gaps in knowledge regarding these changes. This mixed-methods study tested theoretical predictions pertaining to age group differences in conceptualizations of emotions. Method University students (N = 210, M age = 20.1 years) and community-dwelling older adults (N = 90, M age = 72.5 years) participated in three survey studies (2016-2018) conducted in person, online, or via mail and provided written narrative definitions for 11 emotion words. Responses were coded for valence, arousal, time frame, reference to self, reference to social contacts, and nature of response (i.e. example or definition). Code frequencies were compared for younger and older adults via odds ratio and logistic regression analyses. Results Younger and older adults used many of the same words in definitions of emotion terms. Older participants more often referenced situational examples in their definitions than younger participants. As expected, older adults used more low arousal language, referenced the ‘self,’ and included other persons more in their emotion descriptions than younger persons. Unexpectedly, younger participants used more positive language in descriptions of some positive emotions. Conclusions Descriptions of emotion terms might serve a self-regulatory function, such as to facilitate low arousal emotion experiences for older adults or to illustrate important values, such as the greater importance of other persons to emotion experiences for older than younger adults.

“How different can we be?”: Using Tuesdays with Morrie and intergenerational interactions to promote positive views of older adults among college students

ABSTRACTThis article reports the results of an Adult Development course assignment. This assignment required that undergraduate students interact with an older adult on two occasions, provide written reflection on these interactions, and read and review the book, Tuesdays with Morrie. The goals of this assignment were for students to comfortably interact with older adults, to recognize the value of intergenerational interactions, and to recognize ageist or stereotyped ideas that they may have held about older adults. The analyses were primarily qualitative, but indicate that these goals were met. Student reactions to this assignment were overwhelmingly positive and insightful. While a number of students expressed initial concern about these interactions, they unanimously reported them to be positive experiences. Students also indicated that it was a learning experience for them, and sometimes for the older adults as well, and several made note of stereotypes or ageist ideas that they had held. Students completed the Fraboni Scale of Ageism after completing these assignments, and scores were significantly below neutral. While pretest, and additional post-test, measures would make the results of this study stronger, the students’ reports indicate that they perceived positive change within themselves, which suggests that this was an effective means of promoting positive attitudes about older adults.

Gender Role Attitude Malleability in the Context of Divorce and Remarriage: A Longitudinal Growth Curve Perspective

Suggestions from structural symbolic interactionism are that gender role attitudes are malleable—able to change and be redefined over the course of adult development—at the individual-level, particularly in relation to significant experiences. Using longitudinal growth modeling, this study examined how divorce and remarriage affect gender role attitude growth across a 20-year period (N = 1731). Remaining in a first marriage was related to a slight, but significant decline in traditional attitudes. Divorce was associated with a slight acceleration in the decline in traditional attitudes, while remarriage was associated with a slower rate of decline in traditional attitudes. As such, transitions out of the institution and roles of marriage were related to more egalitarian attitudes, but transitions into remarriage were associated with attitudinal shifts similar to those in first marriage. Evidence is also presented related to the possibility that attitudinal shifts toward more egalitarian may precipitate divorce for some. Implications for theoretical refinement are given.

The COMTp.Val158Met Polymorphism and Cognitive Performance in Adult Development, Healthy Aging and Mild Cognitive Impairment

Background: The impact of genetic polymorphisms on cognition is assumed to increase with age as losses of brain resources have to be compensated for. We investigate the relation of catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT)p.Val158Met polymorphism and cognitive capacity in the course of adult development, healthy aging and the development of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) in two birth cohorts of subjects born between 1930 and 1932 or between 1950 and 1952. Methods: Thorough neuropsychological assessment was conducted in a total of 587 participants across three examination waves between 1993 and 2008. The COMT genotype was determined as a restriction fragment length polymorphism after PCR amplification and digestion with NlaIII. Results: Significant effects of the COMTp.Val158Met polymorphism were identified for attention and cognitive flexibility in the younger but not the older cohort. Conclusion: These results confirm the importance of the COMTp.Val158Met genotype on tasks assessing attention and cognitive flexibility in midlife but not in healthy aging and the development of MCI. Our findings suggest that the influence of COMT changes as a function of age, decreasing from midlife to aging.

Experiential Teaching in an Adult Development Course: Promoting an Understanding of Intergenerational Interactions

Twelve students in a developmental psychology service-learning course engaged in a service-learning project with two groups of elders in an urban setting. Nine members of the class provided quantitative and qualitative feedback on this experiential learning experience. Survey results indicated that students believed the project increased their interest in the content area and that the project was a valuable aspect of the course. Based on student reflection papers in the course, students could identify specific ways the project helped them to learn course content. Finally, two interviewed students commented on how the project helped dismantle ageist preconceptions they held prior to completing the course. The project illustrates the advantages of experiential teaching in promoting interactions and understanding between diverse age groups. Three recommendations for implementing experiential teaching in community psychology and service-learning courses are presented.

Fan Behavior and Lifespan Development Theory: Explaining Para-social and Social Attachment to Celebrities

The theories of Levinson (1986 Am Psychol 41(1):3–13) and Erikson (1959 Identity and the life cycle. WW Norton and Co, New York, 1968 Youth and crisis. WW Norton and Co, New York), Bandura’s (1986 Social foundations of thought and action: a social cognitive theory. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs) Social Cognitive Theory, and the ethological attachment theories of Bowlby (1969 Attachment and loss, Vol. 1, attachment. Hogarth, London), and Ainsworth (1978 Patterns of attachment: a psychological study of the strange situation. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Hillsdale) are used in a discussion of the para-social and social relationships that fans have with celebrities. Fans’ attachments to celebrities play primary and secondary roles in the developmental stages of adulthood and transitions between those stages. Celebrities are role models for adults, and attachment develops in much the same way it develops in face-to-face relationships, e.g. through proximity and familiarity with the face, voice, and manner of the celebrity. Included are examples from the fan research of the author. One conclusion is that fan attachments are often part of the normal course of adult development in the areas of identity, intimacy, and generativity. Additionally, application of Levinson’s concept of stage transitions suggested that this might be a time when relationships with celebrities are more likely to begin.

Transformations of epithelial monolayers during wing development of Manduca sexta

The two epithelial monolayers of the insect wing undergo striking morphogenetic changes during the course of adult development, but the exact interactions between these monolayers were not evident until the ultrastructure of the cells was carefully examined. The interaction of the dorsal monolayer with the ventral monolayer continually changes as the two initially separate monolayers first lose their pupal basal laminae and then come together along a sharp interface to form microtubule-associated junctions. As blood space between the two monolayers expands 2 days later, new adult basal laminae and cuticle form. Concomitantly the epithelial cells stretch along their apicobasal axes to create a thin cellular M layer halfway between the dorsal and ventral surfaces of the wing that represents the site where connections between the monolayers are maintained at specialized basal junctions. The elongated processes of each monolayer that make up this M layer first fasciculate and then span the space separating the two monolayers, but only at relatively widely-spaced intervals. During later stages of adult development, dense aggregates of microtubules appear in these epithelial processes and presumably contract as cells dramatically shorten along their apicobasal axes during expansion of the wing. Examination of the ultrastructure of the developing adult wing has revealed how certain cellular events can account for the mechanics of cuticle and wing expansion after adult emergence.

Women's personality in middle age: Gender, history, and midcourse corrections.

This article examines several key features of the course of adult development in the cohort of women born during the baby boom. By focusing on the women in this group and comparing their experience with that of older cohorts and research on men, the authors demonstrate the need for models of aging that take account of the inter-sections of history, gender, and individual development. Concepts proposed as universal features of middle age (midlife crisis, generativity, aging), as well as those proposed as specific to women (empty nest, menopause) are examined. Perhaps most important, certain features not commonly viewed as particularly important in women's middle aging (midlife review, identity, confident power) are shown to be central. The need for further research examining these same processes among men and different groups of women is underscored.

Trapped in the Mirror: Psychosocial Reflections on Mid-Life and the Queen inSnow White

Psychological interest in folktales stems in part from their dual roles as expressers of psychological themes and as traditional vehicles for intergenerational socialization. The tale of <i>Snow White </i>is used here as an evocative lens for examining issues and research regarding self and mid-life development, especially for women. Themes highlighted by this old tale provoke contemporary reflections on beauty and image, conferred power, self-evaluative locus, the role of ‘the mirror’ in development, and the psychosocial difficulties created by the ambivalencies assigned to feminine roles. These themes are discussed in the context of literature on adulthood, aging, and women’s development. Theoretical approaches that converge in discussing these themes include Cooley’s ‘looking-glass self, Baldwin’s symbolic interactionism, Lacan’s mirror stage, James’ ‘I-me’ distinction, and life-span developmental perspectives. Examination of the societally and personally evocative images, themes, and messages highlighted by this tale, particularly for mid-life women facing the image-evaluating ‘mirror’, leads to reassessment of some pertinent dialectics regarding mid-life transition – in particular the need for more authentic self and social mirrors during the course of adult development.

Family Myths: Living Our Roles, Betraying Ourselves

JOYCE BLOCK, PH.D.: Family Myths: Living Our Roles, Betraying Ourselves. Simon & Schuster, New York, NY, 1994, 288 pp., $22.50. Although many factors affect identity development in children, the relationship between the developing child and his or her parents probably represents the most significant influence during the course of the individual's life span. The main purpose of Family Myths: Living Our Roles, Betraying Ourselves, written by Dr. Block, is to examine how families create roles for children--roles that presumably have the power to shape children's identities and to determine the course of adult development. Drawing on ideas from both psychoanalytic and family systems theories, the author presents her views about the genesis and maintenance of identity and illustrates her views using case material, fairy tales, and ancient myths. The six chapters in this book are grouped into two sections. The first section, Mythological identities and real-life dramas, includes four chapters. Chapter 1, the author explains how families tend to create roles for their individual members and suggests that these roles often become self-fulfilling prophesies over time; the role gradually defines the child's identity as he or she comes to believe in the inevitability of a particular story line associated with the role. Chapter 2, the author asserts that the tendency of families to create roles for their members and to mythologize their lives is universal; the family Brain and the family Comedian, the Wild Child and the Sensitive Plant, the Responsible Daughter and the Prodigal Son are offered as common examples of the characters created by families and used to enact family dramas. Chapter 3, Block describes how parental comparisons of children and their siblings can contribute to, and maintain problems in, identity development by misrepresenting reality and defining unrealistic roles for children that are reenacted in later life. Chapter 4 provides an interesting account of how family myths can exert a powerful influence on an individual's choice of a companion during adulthood. According to the author, many individuals search for a companion who will help to confirm their mythological identity and whose behavior will meet their unfulfilled needs. The second section, In pursuit of the 'Real Self', is composed of two chapters that discuss different ways of overcoming the influence of family roles or mythic identities. …

Editor's note: The parameters of adult development

Based on a recent extension of Heinz Werner's (1957) organismic-developmental theory (e.g., Wapner, 1987; Wapner & Demick, 1990, 1991), suggestions for the parameters of theJournal of Adult Development have been generated. These include the need for: (1) a focus on adult development at all levels of integration (biological, psychological, sociocultural); (2) increased examination of the interrelations among these levels as well as between the psychological part-processes ofexperience (cognition, affect, valuation) andaction over the course of adult development; (3) the complementarity of theory and empiricism, of basic and applied research, and of quantitative and qualitative approaches to methodology; and (4) transdisciplinary collaboration. Preliminary editorial policies are sketched; recommendations for any aspect of policy and procedure are strongly encouraged.

Interviewing across the Life Span: A Project for an Adult Development Course

A project for an adult development course is described. The project helps students apply the theory and research they study and develop basic interviewing skills. Students interview individuals from different phases of the life cycle and write a paper discussing their subjects' lives in terms of major developmental psychology concepts. This article describes how the students are prepared for the project and how they are evaluated. Some potential problems are discussed.

STUDIES OF THE ECDYSIOTROPIC ACTIVITY OF JUVENILE HORMONE IN PUPAE OF THE TOBACCO HORNWORM,MANDUCA SEXTA

Topical administration of a juvenile hormone analog (JHA) to pupae of the tobacco hornworm accelerated the initiation of adult development and proved to be an ecdysiotropic stimulus even in the absence of the brain. Nevertheless, individuals developing in response to JHA were never normal. In fact, doses of JHA too low to accelerate development often provoked typical abnormalities in the resulting moths. Allatectomy of either diapause-destined or non-diapause pupae failed to alter the time course of adult development. In line with this finding, corpora allata (CA) from both diapause-destined and non-diapause pupae were without activity in two juvenile hormone (JH) bioassays. These results suggest that JH is not involved in the normal initiation of adult development. Indeed, it must be absent for normal development to proceed. Evidently, the ecdysiotropic effect of exogenous JH in pupae reflects a sensitivity to JH retained from the larval period.

The graying of the college classroom.

This study is concerned with the effects of having people older than 60 years of age participate as peers in the college classroom with college-age students. We were particularly interested in changes in attitudes of the younger participants toward their own aging, older people, and intergenerational classes, and in changes in attitudes of the older students toward intergenerational classes, young people, and studying in a college class. Although little is known about the attitudes of older people toward youth (Powell & Arquitt, 1978), the attitudes of youth toward older people have been studied extensively. A number of the latter studies have focused on interventions meant to change attitudes. Rosencrantz and McNevin (1969) found that, the more frequent the contact with older people the more favorable the attitude of college students, but Drake (1957) and Thorson (1975), who defined contact as having a living grandparent, failed to find such an effect. Seefeldt et al. (1977) and Glass and associates (Class & Trent, 1978, 1980; Class et al., 1977; Trent et al., 1979) designed educational experiences that led to more positive attitudes toward older people on the part of children and adolescents. Trent and others, for example, found positive change after a seminar series on aging, interaction with older adults, and a combination of the two. Although studies of changes in attitude of people of college age have been mildly contradictory, the research suggests that courses in gerontology alone fail to cause positive changes in attitude (Fletcher et al., 1971; Troll & Schlossberg, 1970; Tuckman & Lorge, 1954) whereas contact with older people (Holzman et al., 1978; Porter & O'Connor, 1978) does cause positive changes in attitude. Gordon and Hallauer (1976) found that an adult development course alone led to positive changes in attitude to-

A sex-specific ninhydrin-positive substance found in the paragonia of adult males of Drosophila melanogaster

The paragonia (accessory glands) of male adults of Drosophila melanogaster were found to contain a ninhydrin-positive substance which, judging from its position on the two-dimensional chromatogram, obviously corresponds to the sex peptide reported by others. The content of the paragonia substance increases as the paragonia grow in the course of adult development. Two lines of evidence indicate that this substance occurs only in the paragonia of males: (a) extraction of free ninhydrin-reacting components from different organs; (b) after transplantation of male genital discs into larvae of the same sex, the concentration of this substance in the adult was found to increase. The fact that this substance was also found in female flies which had received male genital discs by transplantation indicates that its formation is autonomous. No distinct evidence of the occurrence of the paragonia substance could be found in adult males of Culex pipiens and C. fatigans. The chemical nature and the possible function of this substance are discussed.