Human Growth and Development / Unit 15 HGD 2103 worked example, 60 to 90 seconds
Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Aging
The idea
Birren and Cunningham distinguished three types of aging. Primary aging is the natural process, not accelerated by disease: subtle slowing of processing speed and working memory, and weakening bone and muscle. Secondary aging is change accelerated by disease, lifestyle or environment, such as the effects of poor diet, inactivity, pollutants or poor access to care; it is the main target of intervention. Tertiary aging is rapid, general decline in the months and years before death.
In practice
Terminal decline: an eighty-eight-year-old whose memory, steady for years, falls sharply in the two years before her death.
Where people slip
Terminal decline is accelerated, nonnormative cognitive decline, often one to five years before death. Exam items describe a change and ask for the type: normal slowing is primary, disease-driven change is secondary, and the steep decline near death is tertiary.
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