Part VIII: Late Adulthood

© Jacqueline Veissid/Blend Images/Corbis

Rubberball/Getty Images

What emotions do you anticipate as you read about late adulthood? Sadness, depression, resignation, sympathy, sorrow? Expect instead surprise and joy. You will learn that many older adults are active, alert, and self-sufficient; marked intellectual decline (“senility”) is unusual; and older adults are happier than younger ones. That does not mean mindless contentment. Earlier personality and social patterns continue; the complexities of human life are evident. Joy is mixed with sorrow, and poverty, loneliness, and chronic illness are debilitating. However, most older adults, most of the time, are active and independent.

Unfortunately, late adulthood, more than any other part of life, is a magnet for mis-nformation and prejudice. If your first thought was a sad one as you approached these chapters, you are not alone. Why? Think about that as you read.