Comment on the following Diverse Populations and Age paper;
Thing to Remember:
- Answer this discussion with opinions/ideas creatively and clearly. Supports post using several outside, peer-reviewed sources.
- 1 References, find resources that are 5 years or less
- No errors with APA format 6 Edition
Diverse Populations and Age
Socioeconomic status, culture, gender, ethnicity and spirituality all affect both mental and physical health. These effects can change throughout the young, middle, and older adult life time. Young adults (ages 18-35) can be affected by many different circumstances. Physical and emotional changes are occurring which presents both opportunities to learn and grow, but also for negative issues to impede on health ( (Edelman, Kudzma, & Mandle, 2014, p. 536). Young adult is generally the healthiest period for people. Their bodies are nearly fully grown, and the physical capabilities are in the topmost condition. (Edelman, Kudzma, & Mandle, 2014). However, many issues have detrimental effects on the health of young adults. Going out into the “real world” has its disadvantages. Ethnic minorities can encounter prejudice at any age, however, young adults are not sheltered by school rules and the comforts of home and parent lives. Prejudices and discrimination can occur for all of the afore mentioned reasons, SES, culture, gender, ethnicity and spirituality. Young adults must learn how to effective deal with these prejudices to prevent negative self-views, poor self-esteem, and excessive stress. Generalized anxiety disorder, depression and substance abuse problems often stem from not knowing how to effectively deal with these stressors.
An additional stressor for young adults is created by the person not living at home, and becoming autonomous. The person may want to choose a different religion, or may have questions about their sexual orientation or preferences. This can create stress for the person when these new values go against his or her parent’s values. The parents may not want their child to date outside of their religion, SES or ethnicity. Again, these strenuous situations can lead to self-harming behaviors such as alcohol, drugs, unsafe sex, and unsafe actions such as staying out all night, or going to dangerous situations.
Middle-aged adults (35-64) have different responsibilities, different health concerns, and different stressors. Stress from death, caring for parents and children, jobs and careers, divorce, and declining health are major issues in middle adults mental and physical health. These stressors can increase diseases such as high blood pressure, and other heart diseases, anxiety and depression, and increase the chance of substance abuse. They may be caring for a young or older child, in grade school or college. Dealing with the financial stressors of a less than perfect body, children, parents, and themselves can all place a lot of stress on a middle-aged person,
Lastly, the older adult. After age 65, its all downhill. At least that is what some think. Some people enjoy retirement, are free from being the caregiver to their children and/or their parents. They have their house and cars paid off, and can enjoy more from life. Others however, have to deal with little or no income, inability to buy medications, an aging and ill body, and more of the stress of death.
Let’s examine a fictional family, the Lopez’s. Mrs. Lopez’s parents immigrated from Cuba to America when she was three years old. She never went to college. She married George Lopez and had two children. Her father and his mother live nearby and they are called upon to care for them from time to time. George works in a factory. Angie has been a stay at home mom most of her young adult life, and now must go out and find a job. They are dealing with the financial constraints of college, and caring for their parents on a low-income budget. The constant stress of this life can be a bit over whelming and the temptation to drink alcohol is constant. They cannot afford a vacation and have little free time, or together time. Moreover, their daughter has just announced she is bisexual, which is a sin in their religion, and they are worried about her spiritual life, but don’t want to ruin their relationship with their daughter. They are needing to take care of their parents more and more frequently now and while many generations have had to care for both parents and children at the same time is hardly a new concept, improvements in geriatric care, and all health care and preventative care are resulting in people living longer. This means that this age group often carries this burden decades longer than their parents or grandparents did (Vitelli, 2015).
The children are young adults, going to college as first generation high school graduates. Carmen, the oldest daughter feels she is bisexual. This goes against her parents and grandparent’s beliefs. She is learning how to navigate the world, as a Hispanic American in a low socio-economic class. Her sexual preference makes everyday life harder, especially when she is at home. She feels stress when approaching the subject with her parents and prefers to avoid the situation which further strains her relationship. Max has found himself in dangerous relationships, drinking excessive alcohol on several occasions, and his grades are suffering. The college he goes to has very few Hispanic people attending so he feels like an outsider more than when he lived at home. Not having a great deal of money makes matters worse as he cannot afford a car as do most of his peers.
The grandparents are still working. They never had the chance to save for retirement or have a 401k because they were never employed in a place that offered these types of benefits. They have failing health, especially Benita, the grandmother who smokes and drinks nearly every day. They worry about being a burden to their children, so they do not ask for assistance when they need it which has led to not taking medications at the right time, or at all when they cannot afford to buy them.
Being able to deal with these stressors is important to both mental and physical health. All ages have unique stressors and events that may or may not affect them.
References
Edelman, C. L., Kudzma, E. C., & Mandle, C. L. (2014). Health Promotion Through the LIfeSpan(Eighth ed.). St. Louis: Elsevier.
Vitelli, R. (2015, January 26). Being in the Sandwich Generation. Retrieved from Psychology Today: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/media-spotlight/201501/being-in-the-sandwich-generation