MSW 531 MODULE 8

THEORIES

Prescriptive Theories of Psychosocial Aging

As discussed in McInnis-Dittrick (2020), prescriptive theories of successful aging.

How should we adapt to the forces of change that come with aging? Each theory has a rather monolithic answer to that question. Explore these theories below.

Activity Theory (Havighurst, 1961)

According to Activity Theory, when older adults stay connected to their social environments, and can both depend on others and be depended upon, they experience more positive paths through the aging process. An older lesbian couple known to the author has become more isolated for several reasons: being gay makes them more guarded in forming connections in a largely conservative community; health problems often keep them at home; and they find many of their social needs are met through each other and through the healthcare providers that make home visits. The partner with the more debilitating health problems became depressed, but when her wife went through cancer treatment, she became more functional and less depressed as she took on a caregiving role within the constraints of her own health.

Role Theory (Turner, 1978)

When older adults lose roles like employee, active parent, or spouse, role theory predicts that they will be happier and more fulfilled if they can shift into new roles that provide meaning and relationship. For example, an older adult known to the author retired early from work in the deli section of a supermarket when his health worsened. He became adept at digital art and shared it on a social media platform and enjoyed receiving accolades from around the world.  

Atchley, 1989)

This theory is a synthesis of Activity Theory and Role Theory, with a dash of Disengagement Theory thrown in. It hypothesizes that in order to be happy, older adults must both strive to maintain roles and activities, but also develop the ability to creatively adapt to changes and relinquish roles and activities that no longer fit. The examples given above under each theory also fit here. Another: an older African-American man who was hospitalized for altered mental status and discharged to an Assisted Living Facility where he was the only Black resident and overheard racial slurs, recovered his cognitive faculties, exercised diligently, and was able to go back to his home in a rural area and maintain relationships through the phone, visits from neighbors, and paid caregivers.

How would you Integrate the Prescriptive Theories?

compare your answer to an expert's suggestion. What do both responses have to offer?

Answer: Expert suggestion:"As our roles and capabilities change with age, we can best adapt by letting go of roles, relationships, and activities that are no longer possible or beneficial, while embracing those that we will find most rewarding – many of which will be a continuation of our lifelong interests, values, and strengths."

****************************************************************************************

Descriptive Theories of Psychosocial Aging

Descriptive theories of psychosocial aging seek to capture people's lived experiences in a social context and avoid placing all of the burden of success on the individual.

How do we adapt to the challenges of aging in a world that is socially constructed?

Social Constructionism (Berger & Luckmann, 1966)

Although Role Theory, Activity Theory, and Continuity Theory implicitly advocate for the importance of meaningful relationships and activities, Social Constructionism places the act of social meaning-making at the center of psychosocial aging. The uneasy relationship between imposed narratives from society, and those that are authored by the individual, determines how older adults understand and navigate their lives. Social meanings, rather than deterministic relationships among variables, are the drivers of life, and must be understood from the older adult’s perspective.

When the author realized that a family patriarch's diagnosis of dementia threatened a whole family’s organization, the author began to listen to family stories about the gifts and values of the patriarch and help family members build on them. Formerly a master gardener, this patriarch now discovered beautiful stones laid out in the backyard. He collected them and they were placed in a new pattern the next day. It wasn’t important for the family to accept the diagnosis, but to help their father and grandfather maintain a sense of dignity that in turn made them feel continuity in the family structure.

The Life Course Perspective (Elder, 1985)

This theoretical approach marries well with Social Constructionism, but turns its sites backward in time, to see how timing, processes, and context - events and circumstances together with individual and family interpretations and responses - have shaped life patterns leading up to the present moment. Advantages and disadvantages based on social and economic inequality are incorporated but are not seen as fixed variables given the human capacity to grown through adversity.

The GI Bill, which has allowed qualifying veterans to pursue higher education with free tuition since World War II, has changed the life course of many people and their families. Yet the identity of “college student” is not as easy to embrace for those whose academic self-concept was never positive, whether due to a poor fit with the educational approach of the times, or internalized racist myths of mental inferiority.

The Person-Environment Perspective (Lawton, 1989)

In contrast to the prescriptive theories’ focus on the individual as responsible for their own adaptation, the Person-Environment Perspective sees the importance of the social and physical environment itself as a source of limitations and possibilities, and as a target for change.

For example, the simple addition of a ramp from the door to the driveway often helps to restore older adults’ connection to the community when they are no longer able to safely negotiate stairs. One couple insisted that their new ramp be built so that the stairs were still accessible, so that they could go up the stairs to re-enter their home and maintain some strength in their legs – a key to fall prevention and, had they known it, one protective factor against dementia.

SOC theory: Selectivity with Optimization and Compensation (Baltes & Baltes, 1990)

Selectivity with Optimization and Compensation. As adults age, they narrow their interests, activities and relationships to conserve energy, optimize what is still available to them, and compensate for losses with alternatives. An example might be sitting with the same people at dinner every night in an assisted living facility, getting to know one’s dining companions well and forming trusting relationships, and compensating for an embarrassing difficulty feeding one’s self with Parkinson’s-related tremors by using weighted utensils and choosing less messy foods.

Queer Theory (Jagose, 1996)

In his early 60s, the man in a heterosexual couple was finally able to embrace his identity as a woman and underwent top surgery. She and her wife divorced, but later, as the transgender woman’s health declined, her ex-wife moved back in and assumed the roles of caregiver and best friend. Queer Theory evolved from deconstructionism to confront the biases and social norms that would pathologize such lives by calling into question the binary categories most of us assume are just “the way things are.”

By understanding and applying Queer Theory to gerontology, social workers can be open to and celebrate the gender diversity and fluidity that exists, while being sensitive to the extra barriers and internalized negative self-concepts that people of older generations often face.  

How would you integrate the Descriptive theories?

Can we combine these theories into one integrative perspective?

What do both responses have to offer?

Answer: How we adapt to the challenges of aging depends on where we come from, how we construct the narrative of our lives, how we make meaning of the present social context, and how we continually create our identities as we negotiate between societal stories and our lived experiences. "

THEORIES

Prescriptive Theories of Psychosocial Aging

As discussed in McInnis-Dittrick (2020), prescriptive theories of successful aging.

How should we adapt to the forces of change that come with aging? Each theory has a rather monolithic answer to that question. Explore these theories below.

Activity Theory (Havighurst, 1961)

According to Activity Theory, when older adults stay connected to their social environments, and can both depend on others and be depended upon, they experience more positive paths through the aging process. An older lesbian couple known to the author has become more isolated for several reasons: being gay makes them more guarded in forming connections in a largely conservative community; health problems often keep them at home; and they find many of their social needs are met through each other and through the healthcare providers that make home visits. The partner with the more debilitating health problems became depressed, but when her wife went through cancer treatment, she became more functional and less depressed as she took on a caregiving role within the constraints of her own health.

Role Theory (Turner, 1978)

When older adults lose roles like employee, active parent, or spouse, role theory predicts that they will be happier and more fulfilled if they can shift into new roles that provide meaning and relationship. For example, an older adult known to the author retired early from work in the deli section of a supermarket when his health worsened. He became adept at digital art and shared it on a social media platform and enjoyed receiving accolades from around the world.  

Atchley, 1989)

This theory is a synthesis of Activity Theory and Role Theory, with a dash of Disengagement Theory thrown in. It hypothesizes that in order to be happy, older adults must both strive to maintain roles and activities, but also develop the ability to creatively adapt to changes and relinquish roles and activities that no longer fit. The examples given above under each theory also fit here. Another: an older African-American man who was hospitalized for altered mental status and discharged to an Assisted Living Facility where he was the only Black resident and overheard racial slurs, recovered his cognitive faculties, exercised diligently, and was able to go back to his home in a rural area and maintain relationships through the phone, visits from neighbors, and paid caregivers.

How would you Integrate the Prescriptive Theories?

compare your answer to an expert's suggestion. What do both responses have to offer?

Answer: Expert suggestion:"As our roles and capabilities change with age, we can best adapt by letting go of roles, relationships, and activities that are no longer possible or beneficial, while embracing those that we will find most rewarding – many of which will be a continuation of our lifelong interests, values, and strengths."

****************************************************************************************

Descriptive Theories of Psychosocial Aging

Descriptive theories of psychosocial aging seek to capture people's lived experiences in a social context and avoid placing all of the burden of success on the individual.

How do we adapt to the challenges of aging in a world that is socially constructed?

Social Constructionism (Berger & Luckmann, 1966)

Although Role Theory, Activity Theory, and Continuity Theory implicitly advocate for the importance of meaningful relationships and activities, Social Constructionism places the act of social meaning-making at the center of psychosocial aging. The uneasy relationship between imposed narratives from society, and those that are authored by the individual, determines how older adults understand and navigate their lives. Social meanings, rather than deterministic relationships among variables, are the drivers of life, and must be understood from the older adult’s perspective.

When the author realized that a family patriarch's diagnosis of dementia threatened a whole family’s organization, the author began to listen to family stories about the gifts and values of the patriarch and help family members build on them. Formerly a master gardener, this patriarch now discovered beautiful stones laid out in the backyard. He collected them and they were placed in a new pattern the next day. It wasn’t important for the family to accept the diagnosis, but to help their father and grandfather maintain a sense of dignity that in turn made them feel continuity in the family structure.

The Life Course Perspective (Elder, 1985)

This theoretical approach marries well with Social Constructionism, but turns its sites backward in time, to see how timing, processes, and context - events and circumstances together with individual and family interpretations and responses - have shaped life patterns leading up to the present moment. Advantages and disadvantages based on social and economic inequality are incorporated but are not seen as fixed variables given the human capacity to grown through adversity.

The GI Bill, which has allowed qualifying veterans to pursue higher education with free tuition since World War II, has changed the life course of many people and their families. Yet the identity of “college student” is not as easy to embrace for those whose academic self-concept was never positive, whether due to a poor fit with the educational approach of the times, or internalized racist myths of mental inferiority.

The Person-Environment Perspective (Lawton, 1989)

In contrast to the prescriptive theories’ focus on the individual as responsible for their own adaptation, the Person-Environment Perspective sees the importance of the social and physical environment itself as a source of limitations and possibilities, and as a target for change.

For example, the simple addition of a ramp from the door to the driveway often helps to restore older adults’ connection to the community when they are no longer able to safely negotiate stairs. One couple insisted that their new ramp be built so that the stairs were still accessible, so that they could go up the stairs to re-enter their home and maintain some strength in their legs – a key to fall prevention and, had they known it, one protective factor against dementia.

SOC theory: Selectivity with Optimization and Compensation (Baltes & Baltes, 1990)

Selectivity with Optimization and Compensation. As adults age, they narrow their interests, activities and relationships to conserve energy, optimize what is still available to them, and compensate for losses with alternatives. An example might be sitting with the same people at dinner every night in an assisted living facility, getting to know one’s dining companions well and forming trusting relationships, and compensating for an embarrassing difficulty feeding one’s self with Parkinson’s-related tremors by using weighted utensils and choosing less messy foods.

Queer Theory (Jagose, 1996)

In his early 60s, the man in a heterosexual couple was finally able to embrace his identity as a woman and underwent top surgery. She and her wife divorced, but later, as the transgender woman’s health declined, her ex-wife moved back in and assumed the roles of caregiver and best friend. Queer Theory evolved from deconstructionism to confront the biases and social norms that would pathologize such lives by calling into question the binary categories most of us assume are just “the way things are.”

By understanding and applying Queer Theory to gerontology, social workers can be open to and celebrate the gender diversity and fluidity that exists, while being sensitive to the extra barriers and internalized negative self-concepts that people of older generations often face.  

How would you integrate the Descriptive theories?

Can we combine these theories into one integrative perspective?

What do both responses have to offer?

Answer: How we adapt to the challenges of aging depends on where we come from, how we construct the narrative of our lives, how we make meaning of the present social context, and how we continually create our identities as we negotiate between societal stories and our lived experiences. "