Lifestage Development
Theories of Ageing
For this part of the assignment I am going to be describing two theories of ageing. Firstly I will be describing the Disengagement theory and then the Activity theory. I will then be comparing the similarities and differences between the two, and also writing up two case studies of older people and explain the development that occurs in older life, relating back to the theories I will have discussed.
Firstly the theory of Social Disengagement, disengagement means a person’s withdrawal from involvement with anything. The theory was first put forward by two authors Cumming and Henry in 1961 who believed that it was natural for the elderly to withdraw from social involvement with others, due to
Further into his illness Howard became more and more disengaged. His whole life had changed due to the process of ageing along with the unfortunate illness he had.
Not only had the disengagement affected Howard as a person it was also affecting a lot around him. Firstly the most obvious effect it was having was on Howard’s family. They began to be constantly worry about him therefore would be constantly in contact asking him if he was ok. It also put a large amount of stress on his wife Vera, and because she was in her older age as well she found it very hard to deal with the stress she was under. By the time Howard was the age of 71 Vera had no other option but to put Howard in a nursing home so he could receive the care that he needed. Due to Howard’s illness Vera had now become disengaged, she had spent all of her time looking after her husband, worrying about him and visiting him constantly. Another major factor that affected Vera’s stress was the fees she had to pay at the nursing home. She was very worried about the scale of the costs and was worried about having to sell her home. She had gradually lost contact with her friends and had no time for any personal hobbies or even time to properly look after herself and because of this Vera had become stressed and run down and was finding caring for Howard very hard to cope with. Her biggest worry and fear constantly