The effects of ageing

P4- The activity theory
As people grow older, they start to have a different outlook on life and begin to make changes for themselves which fit better to their everyday lifestyle. Emotionally, physically and socially they begin to change and this then relates to the activity theory developed by Robert J. Havighurst. The Activity theory is based around elderly people and how they change their lifestyle and thinking way’s as they get older. All of elderly people who fit into the activity theory is said that they have a much happier lifestyle opposed to people who fit into the disengagement theory because they are getting involved with social activities and interacting family members or new people within their community. However, for individuals to understand true happiness and make the most out of their lives whilst participating in these events, its said that you have to throughly enjoy what your doing to make the most out of it where as if you were to do something you have no interest in at all, this would then have a negative impact on you.

An example of this would be an individual playing cricket. They might not know anything about the sport or have an interest at all but go ahead and participate in it anyway. This would then have a negative impact on the individual because they are doing something that they do not really enjoy, have an interest in or have any knowledge on it. By them doing this, it could make them bored and unhappy because they are doing something which they don’t really care for at all. However, if a person decides to take part in an activity which they have loved since they were a child or used to do all the time whilst they were growing up (e.g. painting, playing football, tennis etc.) it is said that they would enjoy it so much more because its familiar to them and would bring back happier memories because its something they love to do. This would then have a positive impact on the individual because they feel that because they are taking part in something that they did when they were younger, that they can then do other things that they did back then and would just genuinely make them happier as a person because it benefits them health wise and emotionally.

Something else which could effect them in a positive way would be be interacting with new people, younger or their age. This activity theory suggests that when meeting and socialising with new people that theya re at their happiest and is meaningful to them. This is because they are interacting with people similar to them and who enjoy similar things to them and it replaces the thought of them retiring and makes them not think negatively about life or make them limit their options or think about what they shouldn’t do because of how old they are. This then has a positive impact on them because they are being able to do what they wish without having any daunting thoughts or feeling of regret because they are doing as they please.

As a summary, the activity theory is something that was produced to show that the elderly people who interact with people (new, old, family members etc.) and do activities which are an interest to them or participate in things that they have done since school makes them happy and the people leave the thought of them ageing to the back of their mind whilst they have fun and do things which they enjoy.

The disengagement theory
The activity theory talks about how the elderly who participate in events are a lot happier and have a better outlook on life and forget that they are growing however, the disengagement theory is the complete opposite as it talks about the elderly who completely stop interacting with the outside and stop having a social life. As the same as people who fit into the activity theory, people grow older and start to have different outlooks on things. Life, what they think they should and shouldn’t do and then carry out these thoughts and adapt their life to how they and society