Older Adult Case Study Analysis: Diane

Diane is a psycho-socially well-adjusted older female adult who is 74 years old and lives in suburban California. She has been happily married for over fifty years and is a proud mother and grandmother. She is also active in the community and pursues hobbies and social activities. Diane's psychosocial adjustment level is reflective of three central developmental perspectives: Maslow's theory of self-actualization, Freud's genital stage, and Eriksen's wisdom stage of integrity vs. despair.

Older Adulthood And Erikson's Wisdom Phase

Diane's psychosocial profile also reflects the wisdom phase of Erikson's eight phases of psychosocial development; during which the individual achieves a sense of integrity if s/he has achieved his or her goals or despair if s/he feels she has not lived up to her potential. Diane's sense of accomplishment in her role as a mother is reflective of her sense of integrity regarding her life. "Her daughters joined all clubs and sports teams in which they wanted to participate. Diane is extremely proud that she could provide these experiences for her daughters during their school years" (Older Age Case Study: Diane, 2015, p. 3). Diane's pride at being able to provide her daughters with experiences she could not is indicative that she has successfully negotiated Erikson's wisdom stage. Diane has found a balance between the integrity and despair of Erikson's wisdom stage, characterized by the fact that she does not fear death and is a happy person who has a sense of accomplishment about her life's achievement (Erikson, 1959). According to Thao, et al: 

Wisdom can be associated with Erikson’s (1997) theory because wisdom is related to successfully navigating and resolving the developmental crises of integrity versus despair. The process of life review may enable one to see the illusory nature of past events, for instance, recognizing that what was a negative turning point event was in actuality a positive event; temporal gestalts allow one to reappraise a negative event as a positive one that can potentially result in greater understanding and wisdom (Thao, 2013, p. 361).

Diane As Maslow's Self-Actualized Individual 

Maslow described self-actualization as "What a man can be, he must be. This need we may call self-actualization...It refers to the desire for self-fulfillment, namely, to the tendency for him to become actualized in what he is potentially. This tendency might be phrased as the desire to become more and more what one is, to become everything that one is capable of becoming" (Maslow, 1943, p. 376). An individual who is fully self-actualized reflects Diane's need for self-actualization, namely fulfilling her potential, in her adult life is reflected in her establishing her own line of credit as well as her participation in social and community events.  

According to Maslow (1943) "Satisfaction of the self-esteem need leads to feelings of self-confidence, worth, strength, capability and adequacy of being useful and necessary in the world" (p. 382). Diane definitely reflects the qualities of the self-actualized individual in terms of her life philosophy and desire to establish autonomy financially. She also exhibits the qualities of a self-actualized person by striving to be 'necessary in the world' through community participation in older adulthood and activism in the civil rights movement in early adulthood. Maslow defined a hierarchy of needs with respect to the development of self-actualization in his seminal 1943 work "A theory of human motivation." Maslow defined certain characteristics in the self-actualized individual, which are summarized below. 

Self-actualized individuals firstly demonstrate a good perception of reality and see things "as they are." They also exhibit acceptance of themselves and human nature. Self-actualizers are also self-reliant and independent, as well as true to their own desires. Maslow's self-actualized subjects also displayed a life-mission that gave them a sense of meaning and relevance. Self-actualizers were also theorized by Maslow to be autonomous and not rely on others. The self-actualizer also was characterized as being grateful and displaying appreciation for the good things in life. Maslow also counted amongst the traits of self-actualized people that they had profound interpersonal relationships, yet were able to be comfortable with solitude. Lastly, Maslow considered social compassion another important trait of self-actualized individuals (Maslow, 1943). 

Diane demonstrated many of the traits of self-actualized individuals as outlined by Maslow. Diane had several close, interpersonal relationships; that with her husband, her three children, and her grandchildren. She even established a close relationship with her older sister in ate adulthood. In addition, she displayed socially conscious behavior by participating in the community and fighting for women's rights in early adulthood. She displayed satisfaction with her achievements in life and expressed little regret, resentment, or bitterness over disadvantages or experiences of loss in her childhood. 

As a self-actualized individual, Diane's "relations with other people, society and culture are characterized…by their autonomy. They do not really need other people, and they make their decisions for themselves, without having to rely on the opinions of others" (Heylighen, 1992, p. 39). While this could be characterized as a personality trait indicative of Diane's self-actualization, it could also be considered a product of an attachment disorder resulting from the loss of her father during adolescence, avoidant attachment disorder, which is characterized by the individual avoiding attachments. Diane demonstrates the desire to establish autonomy in various ways in her adult life, not only through the quality of her attachments but also through her philosophy and her life choices. 

Diane's attachment in older adulthood includes a large close-knit family including her husband of over fifty years, Douglass, her three daughters, as well as her three grandchildren, whom she is helping to raise. Diane also established a relationship with her older sister in late adulthood after she reconnected with her while researching her family lineage, which is one of Diane's hobbies. Diane's attachments are all with real people and she has few symbolic attachments. Her attachment style is informed by her role as a caregiver more than any other developmental perspective.

Diane's Autonomy As Avoidant Attachment Disorder

However, Diane's desire to control the relationships with her primary attachment differs such as her children and grandchildren could be considered a product of avoidant attachment disorder stemming from the loss of her primary attachment figure, her father, during early childhood. According to Van Assche:   

A second secondary attachment strategy is typically observed in individuals with avoidant attachment features. It consists of attempts to deactivate the attachment system and avoid contact with attachment figures during stressful times. These individuals are assumed to have learned that attachment behavior does not lead to more responsiveness or sensitivity in attachment figures. Hence, they typically emphasize the need to autonomously cope with stress and challenges, often expressed in compulsive self-reliant behavior in the face of stress (Van Assche, 2013, p. 69).

Diane's desire to control her own finances and assert independence with respect to her relationships with her attachments could be characteristic of an avoidant attachment disorder and not simply a product of her self-actualization as Maslow would assert.  

How Diane's Older Adult Adjustment Challenges Theoretical Conventions

There are some significant ways in which Diane's psychosocial profile does not fulfill the expectations of developmental perspectives. Despite the fact that due to her parent's divorce and loss of her close relationship with her father when she moved to California, Diane does not demonstrate any of the hallmarks of early insecure attachment disorder, which could have caused her to have difficulty in her adult relationships. In addition, despite being poor and not having access to opportunities such as extracurricular activities in adolescence due to her mother not having a car, Diane chose to overcome these circumstances rather than become a victim of them. Whereas many development theories would predict that Diane would develop self-esteem issues as a result of her perception that she lacked advantages in her childhood and adolescence, Diane's level of psychosocial development is well adjusted for an older adult of her age and background. 

Despite many experiences during her formative years that could have negatively affected her psychosocial development, Diane managed to reach older adulthood with a sense of accomplishment and fulfillment. Much of attachment theory focuses around the potential negative effects loss of a primary attachment, such as one's father, has on future relationships (Van Assche, 2013), yet Diane has been happily married for over fifty years and enjoys close attachments with her own children. She also enjoys close relationships with her own children and grandchildren, which some theories of psychosocial development would predict would be less likely due to the loss of a primary attachment figure in her early childhood and feelings of inadequacy during adolescence (Maslow, 1943).

Diane’s adult focus being a caretaker as a mother, wife, and, in later life, grandmother, is demonstrative of Freud’s genital stage of psychoanalytic development in that her main identity is that of a wife, mother, and grandmother (Freud, 1905). One of Diane's primary identities, and the one for which she exhibits the greatest level of satisfaction and that fulfills her need to feel gratification for her life's achievement is in that of her role as a mother and grandmother. This could be traced back to the fulfillment of Diane's genital stage of psychoanalytic development as can her second most gratifying role, her role in the community. Diane reflects great satisfaction with her status as a productive member of society, citing her efforts to fight for civil rights in early adulthood, and then her activities in later adulthood volunteering time to community organizations. 

According to Freud and Carl Jung, the "organism wishes to die only in its own fashion," and theorizes that there is a natural "path of development to natural death," and even a "death instinct" (Sullivan, 1963, p. 40). Because Diane has not experienced any traumatic loss in her life thus far, preparing for the potential foundation shaking impact of loss could be a productive therapeutic activity in order to help be proactive about preparing for loss. "A meaning-making approach to grief and loss removes the language of pathology and illness associated with grief and loss, and instead frames it as part of the experience of change that touches each of us throughout the rich tapestry and journey of life" (2005, Goldsworthy, p. 176).  Diane would benefit from conducting a life review process with a therapist as well. "Research shows that life satisfaction and well-being are higher among older adults who have been involved in a life review process and who report older adulthood as a positive stage of life" (Thao, 2013, p. 361).

Grief and loss have not had a major impact on Diane's life thus far. Diane experienced the most significant loss and grief in her childhood and adolescence rather than in her adult life. She does not mention the loss of either of her parents as pivotal events in her adult development, which is indicative of her high level of self-reliance and independence. The two main episodes of loss in Diane's developmental history occurred during adolescence when her parents divorced and her mother moved her to urban California from rural Texas. This one life event produced three elements of loss: the loss of her community (rural Texas), the loss of her family unit due to divorce, and most significantly, the loss of her close relationship with her father. Because her mother moved to California, after her parents' divorce Diane was not able to maintain as close a relationship with her father as she had prior. She does express sadness and grief for the "loss" of her father due to her parent's divorce, but does not seem bitter or to be holding resentment over it.

Intersectionality in Diane's Older Adulthood Psychosocial Development

The theory of intersectionality and the role of gender, class, and race in Diane's adult psychosocial development is useful when considering her older adult psychosocial adjustment.  Intersectionality is a critical concept used to explore how oppressive institutions such as racism, sexism, and classism are all interconnected and should not be examined independently of each other. "The concept of “political intersectionality” reflects a dual concern for resisting the systemic forces that significantly shape the differential life chances of intersectionality’s subjects and for reshaping modes of resistance beyond allegedly universal, single-axis approaches" (Cho, 2013, p. 800). Intersectionality is useful in analyzing Diane's older adult psychosocial development in terms of the effect of her transition in adolescence to an urban environment as well as her perception of how her class identity affected and influenced adult development.

Diane discusses the experience of her mother divorcing her father as one of loss because her father was a primary attachment figure in her childhood and when her parents divorced, she moved with her mother to California. Due to this divorce, Diane experienced a major change in her identity as defined by intersectionality studies: her environment shifted from a rural setting to an urban one. This major identity shift shaped Diane's psychosocial adaptation in adulthood by widening her perspective and helping her grow as an individual. Despite the fact that the event was negative generally speaking, Diane was able to derive positive influence from this shift in her perspective. Diane believed that her transition to an urban environment was an overall positive factor in terms of enabling her to provide a more well-rounded upbringing to her own children despite the negative effects of being separated from her father.

Another aspect of intersectionality that can be considered would be Diane's identification as poor. "The lack of finances did not deter Diane in her pursuit for an enjoyable school experience. To this day, she still remembers the encouraging influence that her middle school social studies teacher provided, motivating her to strive to get more out of life ("Older Adult Case Study, Diane, 2015, p. 3). Diane's recollection of her childhood is characterized mainly by the fact that in her childhood all her needs were provided for by her parents: "When she was young, her mother embodied the devoted, good Christian housewife and took care of all household necessities.  Diane received her basic needs required for life" (Older Adult Case Study: Diane, p. 2). 

However, her recollection of her adolescence is characterized by a new identity as poor, specifically, in terms of her inability to participate in extracurricular activities because her mother did not have a car. Nevertheless, as a well-adjusted older adult, she did not recall these circumstances with any resentment or characterize them as necessarily negative, instead, she displayed the characteristics of Maslow's self-actualized individual in exhibiting pride at her ability to overcome them. She also exhibits self-actualized qualities in her pride and self-fulfillment at being able to provide for her daughters that which she did not have as an adolescent: "Her daughters joined all clubs and sports teams in which they wanted to participate. Diane is extremely proud that she could provide these experiences for her daughters during their school years" ("Older Adult Case Study: Diane, 2015, p. 3). This is also indicative of Erikson's older adult wisdom stage negotiation, that Diane has achieved integrity rather than despair when considering her life's accomplishments.

Spirituality and Religion  

Spirituality and religion have played a major role in Diane's life. Her Christian upbringing informs her life philosophy and serves as a foundation for her integrity in her accomplishments. Her grounding in Christianity motivates Diane's efforts to participate in the community by volunteering her time to civil rights organizations and other activities for the good of society. Although Diane identifies as a Christian, her spiritual and religious identity is not central to her psychosocial adjustment in older adulthood. It has, however, played a role throughout her adult life in terms of informing her philosophy and guiding her actions. 

In addition, Diane's intergenerational approach to establishing and maintaining the relationship with her primary family attachments is informed by her Christian upbringing. "Multigenerational families are characterized by cross-generational reciprocity and interdependence rather than dependence or independence" (Victor, 2005, p. 345). Diane takes pride in the fact that she was able to help her three daughters raise their children, and made a major effort in being present in her children's lives and representing a source of support for them in their own family structures.

Spirituality played a role in Diane's psychosocial development as an adult in terms of informing her life philosophy and values with respect to being a good mother and contributing to society. Her symbolic spiritual attachment to God do not exhibit neurotic tendencies and seem to be relatively well-adjusted and well integrated into her overall psychosocial identity as a wife and mother.

References

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