Deck 23: Seciton 4: Late Adulthood: Biosocial Development

Question 1

Individuals can make adjustments that allow for activity and engagement throughout the aging process, but there is nothing that societies can do to optimize the experience.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

When the elderly internalize ageist attitudes, those attitudes can become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

After years of heavy smoking, Tim has developed emphysema. His condition is due to the effects of primary aging.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

Primary aging is genetic.

Question 5

The dependency ratio refers to the proportion of the population that depends on others for care.

Question 6

Elderspeak is necessary to enable older people to comprehend speech.

Question 7

About 10 percent of adults over age 64 in the United States are in nursing homes.

Question 8

Primary aging reveals the consequences of inherited weaknesses, health habits, and environmental conditions.

Question 9

Sensory loss without compensation can lead to depression in the elderly.

Question 10

The specific physical illnesses or conditions that become more common with aging are features of primary aging.

Question 11

Older adults spend more time in bed, take longer to fall asleep, and wake about 10 times per night.

Question 12

A five-nation study indicated that regular sexual intercourse is the most significant predictor of happiness in long-term romances.

Question 13

James is 75 years old and is healthy, active, financially secure, and independent. He would fall into the young-old category.

Question 14

Changing one's views about what constitutes satisfying sex is an example of selective optimization with compensation.

Question 15

An older adult who avoids driving at night is using selective optimization with compensation.

Question 16

The world is undergoing a demographic shift toward more older adults and fewer young children.

Question 17

Nearly all adults over age 65 need eyeglasses.

Question 18

Older adults are more likely to be the target of street crimes than young adults are.

Question 19

The brain slows down, and connections between parts weaken, leading to slower processing time.

Question 20

Ageism is defined as a negative attitude toward the elderly.

Question 21

Compression of morbidity refers to lengthening the amount of time that a person spends ill or infirm.

Question 22

Calorie restriction has been shown to reverse dementia.

Question 23

Osteoporosis is the official name for fragile bones that have lost density with age.

Question 24

Average life expectancy is predicted to continue to increase over the next 35 years.

Question 25

The inability to replicate all of the telomeres at the ends of the chromosomes in cells causes aging, according to the wear-and-tear theory.

Question 26

An excellent diet, plenty of exercise, and a strong network of social support can add years, but probably not decades, to one's life.

Question 27

The universal and irreversible physical changes that happen to all people are features of secondary aging.

Question 28

Heart attack is to acute illness as heart disease is to chronic illness.

Question 29

Gerontologists agree that the average life expectancy for humans will continue to increase indefinitely.

Question 30

The wear-and-tear theory proposes that we age because new cells are imperfect copies of old ones.

Question 31

The existence of the Hayflick limit disproves the theory of the genetic clock.

Question 32

The wear-and-tear theory contends that the body wears out, causing aging.

Question 33

According to one theory of aging, the genetic clock gradually switches off the genes that promote growth and switches on genes that promote aging.