Relationships And Their Effect

On How People Age Over Time

CHRISTOPHER MEYER
University of Florida
 In order to age well, one must be:
 In healthy condition
 Able to live independently
 Able to enjoy daily activities and hobbies
 Maintain relationships, whether it be friends, family, or themselves
(Antonucci & Akiyama, 1991)
 Relationships Over An Individual’s Lifespan
 Aging can be viewed as a lifespan experience (Riley, 1979)

 In an individual's lifespan, they develop, mature, and even simultaneously are affected by the
environment they are nurtured in while also having an impact on said environment. (Antonucci
& Akiyama, 1991)

 An individual’s lifespan can be broken down into 4 categories: infancy, adolescence, adulthood,
and late adulthood(old age).
 Infancy
 The mother-infant attachment process is
evidence that individuals require social
interaction and that certain interactions has a
large impact on how one’s social development
occurs, as well as being to communicate to
others (Antonucci & Akiyama, 1991).
 There is documented evidence that children who
have more secure forms of attachment during
infancy can adapt better in school, are more
competent, and demonstrate ego resilience (e.g.,
Arend et al., 1979).
 Infancy

 A lack of attachment, or lack of an attachment figure can

cause major implications up to adulthood and social
interactions later in life.
 Children who lacked an attachment figure in their
infancy/adolescence had a larger risk of getting
depression as adults (Brown and Harris, 1978).
 Not only is the relationship to the mother important to an
infant, but other family members, role models and
children also carry importance and becomes part of the
infant’s social world(Antonucci & Akiyama, 1991).
 Adolescence
 Some scholars have argued that social relations have a
fundamental or direct effect on how individuals feel about
themselves (Antonucci & Akiyama, 1991).
 In fact, the loss of an attachment figure or being with a bad
influence has such a detrimental effect to an individual, that it
can even give the same negative effects that an infant may
experience later in life.
 Substantial data are available to support this perspective,
as is demonstrated by the attachment literature linking
early secure relationships to later competence and in the
loss literature linking early childhood losses to depression
in adulthood (Antonucci & Akiyama, 1991).
 Adulthood

 In adulthood, social connections and interactions

can become quite complex and demanding, and it is
important for the individual to understand them and
how they affect the aging process and state of
health.
 The use of the successful aging model,
Adulthood

which is frequently used in
gerontological research (Rowe &
Kahn, 1998), helps in studying the
outcomes of the aging process, such
as:
 Decline in an individual’s mental
health
 Decline in an individual’s physical
health
 Social relations
  Although the successful aging model is criticized for its
lack of contextual factors and limited scope (Stowe &
Cooney, 2015), it still provides relevant information
that helps better understand relationships in adulthood.

The Successful  According to the successful aging model, there are

many contributing factors to having lifestyles that are
Aging Model established (Rowe & Kahn, 1998):
 Attitude in life
 Beliefs
 Actions
 Physical/Cognitive capacities
 The Successful Aging
Model
 With the use of the successful aging model, there are many
social psychological theoretical perspectives that are used in
conjunction to try to explain the outcomes of aging
(Wickrama, O’Neal & Lee, 2020).
 Out of those perspectives, the life course perspective (Elder,
1998; Settersten, 2003; Stowe & Cooney, 2015) and systems
perspective (Broderick, 1993) are implemented by family and
recourse researchers in their own explanations of aging
outcomes.
 Both the life course and systems perspective have been noted
to have important strenght, as well as their own downfalls
(Wickrama, O’Neal & Lee, 2020).
 According to the life course perspective, the
aging process is not limited to one life stage
(Wickrama, O’Neal & Lee, 2020).
 The process itself is instead viewed as the
accumulation of many unique events that occur
continuously over the entirety of the life course.
This theory focuses on certain factors (Elder,
The Life Course

1998; Settersten, 2003; Stowe & Cooney,
2015), such as:
 Historical place and time Perspective
 Social Structure
 Continuity
 Parallel social and developmental pathways
 Social and close relationships
 Personal Agency
 The Life Course
Perspective
 The factor of historical place and time
influences the aging process due to the
sociohistorical environment having an
impact on available resources as well as
placing constraints on individuals lives
(Wickrama, O’Neal & Lee, 2020).
 Depending on an individual’s life
experiences, they may have distinct social
trajectories and cohorts that can ultimately
affect on how their state of health is and how
their aging process will turn out.
 The Life Course Perspective
 In the life course perspective, there is thought to be parallel trajectories of social circumstances
and developmental attributes unique to an individual (Wickrama, O’Neal & Lee, 2020).
 Any change in social circumstance are reflected in developmental attributes and can happen
vice versa. This means that for any life stage, experiences and developmental changes go
together for the next life stage.
 The conceptualized social pathway not only consists of continuous events, but it also contains
discrete events that occur in specific times.
The Life Course Perspective
 The Systems Perspective

 In the systems perspective, relationships are viewed as

systems, and in the general systems perspective (Von
Bertalanffy, 1969), a system is made up of dependent but
interconnected parts that influence each other.
 These parts (individuals), are directly influenced by the system
(the relationship) and at the same time the system is influenced
by the parts, which is seen as changes in the system.
 Global system characteristics (size, numbers of parts,
duration,) also play an important role in the function of
the system, and its effects on the parts.
The System Perspective
 Late Adulthood

 In late adulthood, an individual for the most part may

maintain most of their relationships formed throughout
their lifespan and will strengthen the most important
relationships to them if it will improve their health and
make the aging process a better experience.
 The opposite can occur as well, such as one becoming
extremely isolated due to many negative experiences
and death of close friends and loved ones.
 However, this doesn’t mean that the individual can form
new relationships and continue to live a happy life.
 Relationships can vary from a
Conclusion

playmate at infancy to the people that
may help elderly people at a nursing
home.
 Whether good or bad experiences, an
individual ultimately has the choice to
develop or destroy relationships,
depending on their values, mental
health, and past relationships.
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