AGING AND THE ELDERLY

Aging is the process of becoming older. Aging is a biological process, but it is of interest to sociologists because it is accompanied by changes in how one is viewed and treated in society.

Why Study Aging?

Recently, the obvious answer to this question has been a demographic one. Following the Second World War, there was a worldwide surge in births (the baby boom). In part, this was because families had postponed childbirth until the war was over. But it was also a result of increased wealth and availability of devices like washing machinesits easier to have kids if you have more money and more time-saving devices! The elevated birth rates lasted into the early 1960s, and the baby boom generation is generally defined as those born between 1946 and 1964. Population change is also occurring as a result of life expectancy. Currently, individuals turning 65 in the United States can expect to live about another 20 years, and that number is increasing all the time. If we treat age 65 as the start of older adulthood, then the oldest baby boomers will enter older adulthood in 2010. They will continue to be a significant influence on the population well into the middle of the 21st century.

Ageing and urbanization: The case of the Philippines

Like many developing countries, the Philippines is experiencing both rapid urbanization and an increasing number of elderly people. The census projected the median age to increase to 19.5 years and life expectancy to increase to 63 years by the year 2000 [16]. About 2.2 million people (3% of the population) are over 65, and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific has projected that this number will increase to 2.8 million by the year 2000. As the elderly population increases, particularly in the urban poor sector, there are several implications in regard to the countrys response to their needs. Paguio [17] has pointed out inadequate provisions for meeting the needs of the elderly, including inadequacies in health facilities, specialized training of health personnel to manage the sick elderly, geriatric clinics in urban centres, homes for the abandoned elderly, social security provisions, implementation of social regulations for the elderly, and recreational facilities. Region and city Year City population Slum dwellers and (thousands) squatters (thousands) 1981 2,000 1970 535 1969 500 1969 2,294 948 177 150 1,376 % of city population who were slum dwellers or squatters 47 33 30 60

Africa Addis Ababa Nairobi Dakar Latin America Bogota

Lima Rio de Janeiro South Asia Calcutta Bombay Delhi East Asia Manila Jakarta

1970 2,877 1970 4,855 1971 8,000 1971 6,000 1970 3,877 1972 4,400 1972 4,576

1,148 1,456 5,328 2,475 1,400 1,540 1,190 600

40 30 67 41 36 35 26 20

Bangkok/Thonburi 1970 3,041 Source: ref. 9

Surveys have shown that the elderly in the Philippines are at risk for malnutrition and specific nutrient deficiency disorders. Nutritional anaemia was found in 25% of the elderly [18]. However, there is still a lack of comprehensive studies of the health and nutritional state and the quality of life of elderly people in the Philippines. The four-country study on ageing in Asia/Oceania, in which the Philippines participated, underscored the need to emphasize policy and programme development that recognizes the positive characteristics of the ageing population- their physical and mental capabilities and their contribution to the family and community.
Retiring In The Philippines

By: Dr. Milarosa Chua-Samson|2010-12-01|Dental The philippines is a great place to retire. It has literally thousands of islands to explore. the country is also elder-friendly. There are lots of retirement homes and health facilities are outstanding if you are financially capable to afford the advanced medical technologies.

[edit] Global Aging Trends

Globally, most countries are seeing the average life expectancy of their populations increase. This translates into a greater percentage of the world's population falling above the age of 65, as illustrated in the figure below.

However, the rate at which the world's population is aging is not uniform across countries, and some countries have actually seen decreasing life expectancies, largely as a result of AIDS. The varied life expectancies and younger populations are illustrated in the map below, which depicts the percentage of each country's population that is over 65. Issues on aging and elderly: What is Financial Abuse? Financial abuse is a diverse genre of mistreatment that encompasses the illegal embezzlement, theft, or misappropriation of funds or possessions of an elderly individual. Often older folks have a difficult time managing their resources, and so depend on others to help them. It is at this time that unscrupulous individuals make attempts at taking property, land, goods, and money through acts of deception, intimidation, etc. Depression is a medical illness in which a person has persistent feelings of sadness,often with discouragement and a lack of self-worth. Depression in the elderly is a widespread problem, but is often not recognized or treated. In the elderly, a number of life changes can increase the risk for depression, or make existing depression worse. Some of these changes are:

y y y y y y

Adapting to a move from home to an apartment or retirement facility Chronic pain Feelings of isolation or loneliness as children move away and their spouse and close friends die Loss of independence (problems getting around, caring for themselves, or driving) Multiple illnesses Struggles with memory loss and problems thinking clearly

Elderly people often use alcohol to self-treat depression, but this may make symptoms worse. Depression can be a sign of a physical illness. It can be a psychological reaction to the illness, or directly caused by the physical illness.
y y y

Physical illnesses that increase the risk for depression include: thyroid disorders, Parkinson's disease, heart disease, cancer, and stroke. Symptoms of depression may occur as part of dementia ( Alzheimer's disease). Symptoms of depression are also a side effect of many drugs commonly prescribed for the elderly.

Many older people will not admit to feeling depressed, for fear that they will be seen as "weak" or "crazy." Some older people will not report their depression because they believe that feeling sad is "normal," or that nothing can be done about it.
Theories:

Modernization theory examines the ways in which societal changes influence the place of older people. Specifically, theorists in this tradition argue that more modern societies (think big cities and suburbs,Wal-Mart, computers) have led to a more peripheral position for older adults in society. Evidence for this can be seen in some traditional cultures where traditionally older adults live with their family members.With a move to city living, there is less space in the childrens homes, and the extended family living structure has broken down. However, some question the assumptions underlying this theory, particularly as even in very modern societies, children continue to provide extensive support for aging parents, albeit perhaps of a different nature from in the past. Others also question whether there ever really was a time when older people were fully integrated. Social stratification theory concerns itself with the ways in which age, like gender and race, serves as an organizing principle for social life.Theorists
Perspectives on Aging 15
01-Harwood.qxd 4/10/2007 7:27 PM Page 15

from this perspective would be interested in examining the extent to which societies are segregated by age. For instance, if you look around a university campus, you tend to find a large number of people in their late teens and early 20s, and not many people much older than that (except for the occasional professor, perhaps). In contrast, if you drive through certain neighborhoods, you may find them almost exclusively inhabited by families with young children,or in other cases by retired people.How this happens and its implications for the

organization of social behavior would be of interest to stratification theorists. Is this extent of age segregation functional for society, or does it cause problems? Some sociologists advocate higher levels of age integration and experimental concepts like multigenerational living environments and schools. Sociologists have also been at the forefront of criticizing how we think about aging as a society. In particular, those who focus on the political economy of aging are concerned with how social and economic structures maintain negative life circumstances for older people. Estes and Binney (1989) describe what they call the biomedicalization of aging. They discuss how we have come to see aging as an exclusively medical and biological phenomenonit is something to be treated medically. This occurs because of the focus of the medical community on profit rather than health: For many medical institutions, it is in their interest to encourage older adults dependence on the medical system, rather than encouraging older people toward health and independence.Thus, ill health and decline in old age can be understood as socially constructed phenomena: As a society we create the conditions in which it is easy for older people to buy into their own decline, and very difficult for them to maintain independence and health.Political economy theorists criticize spiraling health care costs and declining quality of care, and point to the ways in which government and private industry sometimes appear to collaborate to achieve goals that are in their mutual interest, but perhaps not in the interest of older adults.

Subculture Theory of Aging (Rose and Petersen) The subculture theory, first proposed by Rose in the early 1960s, states that old people, as a group, have their own norms, expectations, beliefs, and habits; therefore they have their own subculture. The theory also highlights that older people are generally less integrated in the larger society and interact in the bigger extent among themselves, in comparison with people representing other age groups. Moreover, the theory holds that the formation of the aged subculture is primary a response to the eventual loss of established status in the society resulting from old age, which is so negatively defined in the United States that people by all means do not want to be perceived as old.