Social and Family Changes (the Social Clock).

            Mary has found something that she shares with Ruth: Diane E. Papalia and

associates, (1996, page 265) considers Kohlberg's Theory of Moral Reasoning with

reference to his Stage 7 for later adulthood. This is called the Cosmic Perspective and is

transcendental in as much as a person begins to realize that they are part of the universe,

not only a part of humanity. "All parts of the universe are integrally connected, and an

individual's actions impinge on the welfare of the whole."

            Cavanaugh and associate, (2002), state that problem solving styles do show

important age differences; most especially in an emotional context.  This suggests that the

adolescence and younger adults probably see family arguments in factual terms, rather

than in the emotional terms that their grandparents are likely to see. Older persons may

also resort to trying to regulate others, especially if they have a background in managing

others at work. They might be accustomed to leading, making decisions, and having those

decisions carried out by others.

Spiritual and Personal Growth and Identity.

            Together Mary and Ruth have been wondering why it seems so very important to

think about the past and to try to make sense of it. Then they ran into the following:

Barbara H. Lemme, (2002, page 49), reports that the last of Erickson's stages is from late

adulthood until death, is called Integrity versus Despair. If a person has integrated their

life into their consciousness by self reflection of all aspects of their life, they find

satisfaction and meaning to the years they have spent on earth.  The others see regrets and

that it is too late to salvage some meaning to their existence.

            Cavanaugh and associates, (2002), suggest that declinations of processing

capacity in older ages limits how well they are able to access social information. "When

we are faced with new situation, we draw on our previous experiences stored in memory,

or our social knowledge."

            The discussion on McAdams Theory found in the text by Cavanaugh and

associate, (2002), gives dispositional traits as one of three parallel levels of personality

structure and function. These traits are constant across contexts and, in his empirical

reasoning, constitute a continuum that can be measured.

            McAdams considers Personal Concerns on the second parallel level which

measures what is important to an individual. In this concept individual inner and exterior

life experiences have an important effect on outcomes.

            On the third parallel level of his model, McAdams measures Life Narrative as

aspects of the personality that bring the others together.  Life narrative helps dispositional

traits and personal concerns to live in the here and now and plan for the future as it

embodies both societal and inner forces. His model for change suggests that  "...identity

is fashioning and refashioning ones life story."

Multicultural Variations.

            Mary, John, and Ruth all come from a generation of segregation. John and Ruth

have very strong opinions about "those people." They sometimes use racial slurs as part

of their every day language. They are WASPS and very proud of it.

            Mary, though she grew up in the South, has altered her ideas as her life

experience has come along. Most especially with the death of her husband Frank, she has

been reconsidering some of her earlier up bringing. Besides, some of her favorite music,

movie, and TV stars over the years have been negro, like Nat King Cole.

Employment and Career or Retirement Issues.

            John and Mary have enough retirement income between Social Security and the

amount they saved to make a go at later life. They are very concerned about the cost of

medicine and the raising premiums that they have to pay for Medicare and their Medigap

polices. Sometimes they miss a meal to make sure they can meet their medical bills.

            Ruth, on the other hand, has severe financial problems since Frank's death. She

finds herself in the "feminization of poverty" family.  She does not understand why, but

his modest pension ceased after his death. She only has Social Security and the

generosity of friends to keep her going. They, like 25% of the older married population,

never had any children and this makes it especially hard in her old widowhood.

            As these individuals continue with fixed incomes, year after year, it might seem

that they would become bitter. But a good amount of research has been done to

understand the thought processes of the elderly. Zelinski and associate, (2003), found that

there maybe multiple processes in aging, some linked with stability and others with

change, that may account for the life span changes in cognition.

            Manfred Diehl and associates, (1996), discussed coping styles used by older

adults. While some coping strategies may not seem to be adaptive, they may serve the

older adults, nonetheless: "...coping and defense strategies such as principalization and

reversal may be quite functional for older adults. These strategies may be an indication of

resourcefulness and adaptive coping rather than immature or inflexible coping."

Principalization is defined as a cognitive reinterpretation of situations using truisms and

general principals. Reversal is defined as the use of emphasizing the older person's

positive aspects.