Chapter 17

Summary:

Today, someone has a 1 in 500 chance of living to be 100 years old. In America, people have a life expectancy (the average length of time people of the same age will live) of about 78 years. Since, the older population is growing, the younger population seems to be shrinking. The older population has be broken up into three categories:

• young-old: 65 – 74 years old
• old-old: 75 – 84 years old
• oldest-old: 85+ years old
• centenarians: 100+ years

In the United States, women tend to live longer than men, and start to outnumber men by the age of 35; however, this gap get a lot bigger at the age of 70. Also, America’s older population has a lot more diversity than it had before. Racial and ethnic groups have higher birth rates, so the amount of people in these groups over the age of 65 is expected to grow. Due to increased life expectancies, racial and ethnic families are becoming later life families (or families that are beyond child-rearing years who have launched their children, or child-free families that are beginning to plan for retirement).

Age is a construct and there is not one certain time that everyone will feel old once they reach that point, when one will feel old depends on many factors. It is normal for a person’s physical health to decline as they get older. However, there are a couple things that they can do to live longer and better:

• 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

As people get older, there mental health also starts to decline. Older people may experience depression (mental disorder characterized by pervasive sadness and other negative emotions that interfere with the ability to work, study sleep, eat, and enjoy formerly pleasurable activities), and dementia (the loss of mental abilities that commonly occur late in life). A form of dementia is Alzheimer’s disease, which is a progressive, degenerative disorder that attacks the brain and impairs memory, thinking and behavior.

As people are getting older they are preparing for retirement, the exit from the paid labor force, but shortly as retiring some are realizing that they cannot afford to stay retired because they cannot live off of the limited amount of fund they receive from social security (a public retirement pension system administrated by the federal government). Along with this problem, if one is retired and they are on Medicare, a federal health insurance program, then the more social security money they receive, the more they have to pay for Medicare; Medicare does not include dental, eye care, and long term care.

As a person gets older, and if they have children of their own, they are likely to become grandparents. There are five different grandparenting styles:

1. remote or detached: the grandparents and grandchildren live far apart and see each other infrequently, maintaining a largely ritualistic relationship
2. companionate and supportive: (the most common) the grandparents see their grandchildren often, frequently do things with them, and offer them emotional and instrumental support, such as giving them money, but they do not seek and authority in the grandchildren’s life
3. involved and influential: grandparents play an active role in their grandchildren’s live, they may be spontaneous and playful, but they exert substantial authority over their grandchildren
4. advisory and authoritative: the grandparent serves as an advisor
5. cultural transmitters: advisory grandparents usually overlap with this type; they teach norms and values

When parents are not able to be around, for whatever reason, some grandparents have to take on the role of a surrogate (where the grandparent provides regular care or replaces the parents in raising the grandchildren). There are three types of ways that grandparents can be surrogates:

· custodial grandparents: grandparents have legal relationship with their grandchildren through adoption, guardianship, or custody.

· living-with grandparents: grandparents typically have the grandchild in their own home or, less commonly, live in the home of the grandchild’s parents; they take on child rearing responsibilities

· day-care grandparents: grandparents assume responsibility for the physical care of the grandchildren until the parent comes home from work

As people get older not only will they have relationship with their children, and grandchildren, but if they have sibling they will have some type of relationship with them too. The author describes five types of relationships that siblings can have:

1. intimate siblings: close and consider each other to be best friends and close confidants
2. congenial siblings: feel close and see each other as good friends, but they feel closer to a spouse or an adult child
3. loyal siblings: are available because of family bonds rather than affection or closeness
4. apathetic siblings: are indifferent, rarely think about each other, and have little contact with each other
5. hostile siblings: are angry and resentful and have had negative ties for a long time

As people get older and start to have trouble caring for themselves, they begin to rely on caregivers (a person, paid or unpaid, who attends to the needs of someone who is old, sick, or disabled). Sometimes adult children act as caregivers to their parents, and there are different styles an adult child can go about caring for their parent:

• routine help: the backbone of caring for older parents
• backups: one person gives routine care to an aging parent, but a brother or sister may step in when needed
• circumscribed: participation is limited but predictable and agreed upon
• sporadic: adult children who provide services to parents at their own convenience
• disassociated: this is when adult children disassociate from responsibility altogether

New Things:

I found it interesting that older men (over the age of 75) have the highest suicide rates in the country, and white men over the age of 65 commit suicide at triple the national rate.

Discussion:

Why do you think that people fear aging and growing old? Why is it that we will buy just about every anti-aging cream and hair die, just to prolong our youth?

Do you think that physician-assisted suicide should be illegal or legal?