A Legacy of Wisdom: Dorothy's Story

Abstract

This writing is a summary of an interview conducted with my grandmother, Dorothy, who, at age 73, is in the later adulthood stage of development.  In the interview, we explored various challenges she has had to overcome in her life, current difficulties that she is facing in this stage of adulthood, and coping strategies she uses to function at a higher level.  Since one of my grandmother’s primary coping skills in dealing with stress is physical exercise, neuroscience research about the impact of physical activity and the retention of gray matter in the brain in late adulthood is included. 

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I had the pleasure of sitting down with my maternal grandmother, Dorothy, to talk a bit with her about her life, both challenges that she has faced in the past, as well as difficulties that she is facing in her current stage of life. I explained to her information regarding Erik Erikson’s stages of human development, clarifying that at age 73, she is in the stage of later adulthood, which focuses on ego-integrity versus despair (Feldman, 2014). She agreed that while she predominantly exhibits the characteristics of the positive outcome of this stage, which is having gained a sense of unity in life’s accomplishments, she also felt a slight sense in certain realms of her life of the negative outcome of regret over lost opportunities in life. Overall, she feels that she has gained the ego quality of wisdom and has a peace and happiness about her life. I had to chuckle at her dismay though, when I explained that the next stage of life begins at 75 and is indicated by “very old age”. She just shook her head with a wry smile and said, “I sure don’t feel ‘very old’”.

Those who know Dorothy and are blessed by her cheerful disposition would never know that she has faced considerable challenges in life. She was seventh of ten children and grew up in a rural area of southern Virginia. Her family was rather poor and her father was an alcoholic, which brought about many challenges to family life. She indicated that it was difficult to watch her mother struggle to work hard to put food on the table, due to her father’s lack of responsibility and work ethic. In her late teens, Dorothy became pregnant and soon after married the father. Ironically, the very lifestyle she despised that her mother was living became her own reality. She eventually had three children and worked in a factory all of her adulthood to provide for her family. Her husband was abusive, never held a job, continued with his alcoholism throughout his life and their marriage eventually ended in divorce.

Some challenges that Dorothy is currently facing in this stage of life would be financial struggles and a constant worry that healthcare costs may become overwhelming. She also spends a considerable amount of time caring for her aging siblings and is now facing the inevitability of her own aging process and the feelings of depression that come with that. Dorothy states that “faith in God and prayer are the keys” to her coping with both past and current challenges in life. She chooses a positive outlook and seeks to be encouraging to others. She volunteers with her church and at local nursing homes and has a network of friends to avoid loneliness. She also chooses to walk two miles daily to help keep her body healthy and to help combat any health issues that may arise.

Much academic research has been done that purports the importance of daily exercise, not only for benefits to physical health, but to aid in brain and cognitive health. One such study done by Erickson, Raji, Lopez, Becker, Rosano, Newman, Gach, Thompson, Ho, and Kuller (2010) hypothesized that physical activity can help to protect the deterioration of the brain and spare gray matter in later adulthood, which, in turn, reduces the risk of cognitive impairment in aging. This longitudinal study tested 299 adults, with the average age of 78, and recorded average blocks walked and the impact of that exercise over a nine-year period. Subjects were broken up into quartiles based on the average number of blocks per week that they walked. Those in the fourth quartile, who walked at least 72 blocks (approximately 6-9 miles) a week had a positive impact on gray matter volume in the brain. In conclusion, Erikson, et.al. stated that, “greater walking distances are associated with greater gray matter volume in a time period of life in which cortical deterioration and risk for dementia is greatest” (p. 1422). I am thankful that my grandmother values the cognitive and physical benefits of exercise and will hopefully remain healthy for many years to come.

Questions for Discussion

1. My grandmother was surprised that at age 75 she would be considered “very old age” in terms of developmental stages. Do you find as you get older that your preconceived ideas about aging has changed?

2. What are some ways we can counsel individuals to break generational cycles of alcoholism or abusive family structures?

3. The neuroscience article that I read measured positive benefits to the brain from scans after subjects regularly participated in physical activity; however, there were no biological factors mentioned. What do you suppose is going on in the body biologically with regular exercise that would protect the brain from deterioration?

References

Erickson K.I., Raji C.A., Lopez O.L., Becker J.T., Rosano C., Newman A.B., Gach H.M., Thompson P.M., Ho A.J., Kuller L.H. (2010). Physical activity predicts gray matter volume in late adulthood: The Cardiovascular Health Study. Neurology, 75, 1415–1422.

Feldman, R. S. (2013). Development Across the Life Span (Seventh edition, 346-413). Amherst, Canada: Pearson Education.