Chapter 17: Families In Later Life

Summary:

This chapter of the book focused on families in later life. The book begins with a discussion of the again society. The life expectancy, or average length of time people of the same age will live, is currently around 78 years of age. One factor this section analyzes is the growth of the older population of families. This is partly due to the shrinking younger population. Some terms in this section are:

· Gerontologists è Scientists who study the biological, psychological, and social aspects of aging.

· Young-Old è Age 65-74.

· Old-Old è Ages 75-84.

· Oldest-Old è Age 85+.

· Centenarians è People who live to the age of a hundred or older.

Another aspect of the growth of the older population is that there is a growing old-age dependency ratio. The old-age dependency ratio (dependency ratio or age dependency ratio or support ratio) is “the number of people age 65 and older who are not in the labor force per 100 people ages 20 to 64.” Another aspect of our aging society is the gender gap. Women live longer than men, and as individuals age, this gap grows. Additionally, there is a growing racial and ethnic diversity in our aging society.

Another aspect of families in later life is health and ageism. One question is when is “old?” For sociologists age is more related to what age one feels they are, rather than chronological age. Physical health is another aspect of this idea. In relation to physical health, physical decline is normal in later age. Some ways to live longer and better include:

· Exercise physically.

· Exercise mentally.

· Lose weight and don’t smoke.

· Watch what you eat.

· Control your blood pressure and avoid diabetes.

· Establish strong social networks.

Mental health is another prevalent issue. Aging has been associated with happiness due to the experiences of the generation on social and economic pressures. Depression is another key issue in late life. Lastly, dementia and related issues are more frequent in older populations.

New/Interesting/Unusual Items Learned:

I actually work on a study researching late life suicide, so I found the section on depression very interesting, as it is comorbid with late life suicide. Though they introduced it in a very general fashion, it was interesting to see a perspective that was not heavily influenced through psychiatry.

Discussion:

I thought that the graph on page 479 was very interesting. It shows birth cohorts, and how many members of the cohort are happy. Looking at the graph, it shows that happiness has continually lowered over time by every decade. Why is this?

Karl Wahlen