N3261 OA Test 2 Cumulative Questions and Correct Answers

The majority of older adults say that they feel irritated or angry much of the time. T or F? Ans False - Older adults are no more angry or irritated than younger adults. Individuals who are angry or irritated a good portion of the time while younger will probably be individuals who are angry or irritated a good portion of the time in old age. Over 12% of the population of the US is over the age of 65. T or F? Ans True - the percent of older adults in the US has been steadily increasing. In fact, the percent of individuals over 65 in the US has risen from less than 5% in 1900 to approx. 12.4% in 2007, and is expected to reach 22.9% by year 2050. Older people tend to become more religious as they age. This is often a result of facing their own mortality. T or F? Ans False - Level of religiosity tends to remain fairly stable across the lifespan. Older adults do tend to be more religious than younger adults in the US. However, as a cohort, they have always been more religious reflecting the time and culture within which they were raised. Pain is a natural part of the aging process. T or F? Ans False - Pain is not a natural part of the aging process. Rather it is a sign of injury or illness. As such, pain should not be ignored. Unfortunately, too often people will attribute pain to aging and wait too long to seek medical help with negative outcomes. Old age can be often characterized as a second childhood. T or F? Ans False - The lifespan is unidirectional. Older adults are adults and should be treated as such even if the elder is incapacitated by illness. Reversal of roles between parent and child exists. Thus, the adult child caring for the non-well parent may say they have taken on the role of the parent and the elder has become the child. T or F? Ans False - This is a myth. Caring for a non-well parent is not the equivalent to role reversal. In fact, true role reversal is seen as dysfunctional. Most older adults have difficulty adapting to change. They tend to be set in their ways. T or F? Ans False - Older adults are no more ridged than younger adults. This tends to be a relatively stable personality characteristic. Thus, individuals who are rigid and have difficulty adapting to change in young adulthood probably have these same difficulties when they become older. With age comes wisdom. T or F? Ans Mostly false - Wisdom is an illusive concept and is difficult to define. Max Planck Institute defines wisdom as an "expert judgement system in the fundamental pragmatics of life." Individuals possessing wisdom exercise insight, judgment, self-knowledge, and the ability to effectively manage the