Aging is a process that is continuous and gradual that starts in the early years of adulthood. In the early middle years, most functions in the body start declining gradually (Bishop & Leoni, 2015). Aging processes are those aspects that add a person’s susceptibility as they advance in years to the factors that in the end cause death. It is a complicated process that involves a number of factors where a number of factors may associate simultaneously and conduct activities at multiple stages of functional organization. There are five main developmental stages that occur during the aging process. The five developmental stages were developed by Dr. Mark Frankel. In the first stage, an individual is self-reliant. A person is able to handle major issues such as chronic health issues on his/her own and little help is required at this point.
The second stage is the interdependence stage. During this stage, an individual is reliant on others people such as spouse, friend etc. for help. In this stage, majority of older adults see interdependence as a sign of decline and a person should start searching for living options that are independent (Feldman, 2011). The third stage comes with dependency. In this period, an individual becomes increasingly dependent for assistance with routine activities such as cooking. In addition, a decline in physiological ability decreases too. At this point, most people usually cope with a number of chronic problems and pain. The fourth stage is known as crisis management whereby the health and mental status have reduced to a level that one stays dependent on other people (Feldman, 2011). The last stage is the end of life where the aged person is taken to a nursing home. In this case an individual requires extensive individual assistance.
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There are four main models of ageing. They include biological model in which cell or DNA impairment can cause an accumulation of cells that are not competent (Cellerino & Tozzini, 2017). The biological approach to aging is explained by two categories of theories, that is, programmed theories and damage or error theories (Paula et. al, 2012). Programmed theories suggest that the process of aging follows a certain established biological timeline plan. According to the theories under this category, regulation of the changes relies on alterations that occur in genetic expression which affect the parts that conduct maintenance, ensure repair and defense activities (Kunlin, 2010). On the other hand, damage or error theories propose that environmental assaults results to a cumulative impairment at different levels are the cause of aging.
On the other hand, in organismal aging, the process of aging is seen from a holistic point of view that is founded on mechanistic aging. In organismal approach, the cellular and organismal senescence are differentiated from one another (Jessie, 2008). From this perspective, continued damage to physiological ability, loss of viability and more vulnerability are the causes for aging (Jayanthi, 2010). Contextual aging explains aging from an individual’s social and environmental aspects while developmental psychology puts together different domains to explain the aging process instead of focusing on one area (Jessie, 2008).
Contextual aging explains aging in terms of how aspects such as environment, an individual’s psychological status and a person’s social life impact the quality of life. This approach was developed in order to account for the lack of accuracy that is caused by applying chronological age only when explaining the aging process (Rashmi, 2016). It is a used as an index for determining an individual’s transactional life status. This approach proposes that age is not just a biological result of the number of years that an individual has or the physiological alterations that the body experiences at the various stages in life. It is also as a result of social norms and individual expectations that are relevant for each stage in life.
Reference
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