This class is over and done with. And it only cost 2000 bucks to learn, "the study of human development is science-driven, complex, multicontextual, and multifactorial" or some such mushiness. Bleh.
13 Dec 2011
A Developmental Perspective on the Unaccounted-for Elders of Japan
In Japan a recent effort to congratulate Tokyo’s oldest man led to a national outcry after he was found to have been dead and mummified in his apartment since 1978 (Fackler). Commentators throughout the country, which had prided itself for its longevity and its respect for elders, expressed outrage and woe over this incident and others indicating that many other centenarians were either long dead or impossible to locate. In this report I will briefly mention how the biosocial, cognitive, and psychosocial perspectives relate to this news item. I will then share a personal experience and offer a final comment on how useful the developmental perspective is in this issue.
Biosocial
The Berger textbook discusses centenarians in the chapter on biosocial development in late adulthood and mentions four characteristics of centenarians: good diet, activity, social respect, and exercise (p. 660). All these factors may have helped many Japanese people to reach old age. It is what happened after reaching old age that led to the national tragedy over Japan’s unaccounted-for elders.
Cognitive
Some of the cases of missing elders occurred after the parent left home under “murky circumstances” after which the family members did not pursue them because they had been so overburdened (Fackler). The parents may leave under a cloud of dementia and never return. Berger explains that dementias such as Alzheimer disease can cause a person to fail to recognize relatives and forget the way home. Eventually the disease progresses to the point where the victim requires full-time care, which may be impossible for offspring to provide (p. 680).
Psychosocial
I was surprised to find the term “psychosocial” used in the New York Times article I cite. Fackler notes that “officials here tend to downplay the psychosocial explanations” (2010). While some editorials have wailed about neglect of the elderly and deterioration of social bonds, it may simply be that public record-keeping is inadequate. The cultural context might contribute to the problem: Fackler cites public health experts who say that Japanese society discourages putting elderly parents away in nursing homes and assisted living facilities, which means that their care falls upon offspring who may be in their 70’s and in need of assistance themselves.
A personal experience
I read over a year ago about Tokyo’s supposed oldest man being found as a mummy, and remembered it until this assignment because it was so shocking. But I realize now that my own grandma (my only surviving grandparent) could be at risk of a similar fate. At 91, she lives alone with minimal assistance. Although my siblings and I visit her regularly, there are times when we go for two weeks or more without seeing her. If she were to pass away in her apartment and go undiscovered for a week or two, we would not be able to see her one last time at an open-casket funeral because of decomposition. The guilt over not being able to say goodbye would be mortifying to me. Yet all it would take is for a couple of developmental factors to intersect: heart failure or some other disease of the elderly, inability or unwillingness to call 911, and my grandma’s highly independent living.
A final thought
I am intrigued by Japan’s unaccounted-for elders because this phenomenon may soon become common in the United States, too. With more people reaching old age without being married, with fewer children to provide care, and a more unhealthy and needy population in general, I think there will be more and more isolated and un-visited elderly people who turn up mummified or worse. The developmental perspective may provide tools for understanding what went wrong in Japan and avoiding it here.
Works cited
Berger, Kathleen Stassen “The Developing Person through the Life Span” Worth Publishers: New York, 2011.
pseudoisaac 