The demography of aging Young old ages 55 85 Oldest old ages 85 and older Centenarians age 100 and older Chronological age your calendar age Perceived age the age you view yourself as Biological age the age of your functioning virtual systems Psychological age how well you function in your social roles o o o o Increased life expectancy due to reduction in acute disease reduction in infant mortality reduction in female mortality at child birth treatment advances in chronic disease Cohort group of people born in the same year Population aging shifts in age distribution of the population toward older ages Change in age structure of population the structure has gone from a pyramid to a rectangle this meaning we have gone from having more younger than older to now having more older than younger Change in age structure is due to o o o increase in average life expectancy change in immigration patterns change in fertility patterns across cohorts Implications of changing age structure o Transportation has changed making cats that fit the needs of the older generations o Marketing ads are more geared toward the older generation o Family structure changes in divorce population fewer children fewer caregivers childlessness majority of oldest old are female o Work retirement increase in the years spent retired baby boomers are expected to work longer increase in retirement age retraining o Social insurance systems increase in age eligible for social security used o Healthcare use most long term care 1 5 of the population is using to be 62 65 and is now 67 16 1 of Medicare Ageism Ageism stereotyping discriminating against people because of their age o Attitudinal stereotypes and beliefs all old people are o Behavioral discrimination inappropriate negative treatment Theoretical basis of ageism o Fear of death in western society o Emphasis on the youth culture o Emphasis on productivity o Manner in which aging was originally researched New ageism tendency to help older adults because older people must need help Outcomes of ageism Isolation from community o Inadequate housing and income o o Unnecessary institutionalization o Untreated mental and physical disease Examples of ageism o Media older adults underrepresented in tv and films pressure women about appearance men about performance o Relationships interactions with family can be demoralizing to older adults too much care promotes excessive dependency and often excuse patronizing behavior of family o Medical doctors invest less time in older people mental health prescription vs therapy geriatrics poorly reimbursed long term care options funding Combating Ageism o Formal education o Continuing education o Needs based vs age based programs o Build intergenerational programs coalitions Life Span Development and research methods in Gerontology Life span development theory o Multidirectionality characterized by both growth and loss o Plasticity development is modifiable o Historical context historical events trends influence development o Multiple causation biology cognition social relationships and interactions Age graded influences Occurs in a similar way to most people in a particular age group o Ex menopause graduating History graded influences occurs in a similar way to most people in a particular cohort o WWII o 9 11 Non normative influences events unique to an individual o Ex winning the lottery Experimental studies a study done on a random group of people that contains a control group and an experimental group These types of studies are only done in gerontology for interventions Cross sectional studies a study done on several groups of different aged people studied at one point in time This allows us to study age differences o Advantages Representative sample and is less costly o Disadvantages cannot tell us about age changes cofound age cohort Longitudinal studies one group of the same people studied at different points in time Allows us to study age changes o Advantages can assess age change and considers cohort effects o Disadvantages takes a long time very expensive and subject attrition Observation allows us to get information from people who cannot self report o Naturalistic and laboratory Self reports Done to gather information on people because people best represent themselves and their opinions o Surveys and Questionnaires Physiological measures recordings of physiological characteristics or responses Correlations examines relations between variables o Positive correlation high high or low low same direction o Negative correlation high low or low high different direction
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