Chapter 6, Youth and Aging, analyzes how age is percieved throughtout society as a whole. It looks at how the youth are treated and how the elderly are treated. I am very passionate about section 6.6, Problems of the Elderly, because I think we need to focus on giving support to the elderly. I think it is especially important as the dependency ratio is increasing and as the amount of elderly increase the amount of services they need will also increase.
The eldderly face many challenges as their body gets tired and old. These issues are problems with work, retirement, retirememnt income, poverty, health issues, living arangements, victimization, abuse, and quality of life.
Health Issues
Senescene is the biology of aging (207). This term essentally covers all the science behind aging. There are two type of aging; primary aging and secondary aging. Primary aging enails all the biological changest that once faces when it comes to aging, this being the fact that your hair no longer produces its colour so your hair turns grey, or that you gain wrinkles because your skin is not as tight as it use to be (207). Primary aging can not be prevented, evryone will go through it one day. On the other hand, secondary aging entails the biological changes that go together with not having the energy to make a proper meal, or not having the energy to go to the gym and work out (207). Secondary aging is more easy to control as it is what you do to your body, whole primary aging is nothing
In Josh Barro’s article, he mainly discusses the theme of Social Security. He explains how if we raise the age for people to access Social Security, that will harm poorer Americans who have a lower life expectancy due to the type of work they do or because of lack of other proper benefits. In the video, Coming of Age in and Aging America, they discuss the main theme of aging in America and the difficulties and obstacles these individuals face on a daily basis, especially in terms of Social Security. The video covers a variety of situations that the elderly face and how America can work to make the lives easier especially in a world where our elderly population in growing. One example was in a hospital where they were able to integrate new techniques and systems to make it easier for people to work longer into their lives. The main themes of Sharon Kaufman’s journal article were health care and the reform of current plans, and discussion of life-prolonging procedures. She discusses the three main procedures used in the U.S. which are organ transplantation, cardiac procedures, and cancer treatments. Finally, Segal’s text covers the themes and policies related to aging and elderly population. She discusses the acts and programs that have been put into place such as the Older Americans Act of 1965, social security, pensions, and Medicare/Medicaid, along with a variety of others.
I will be presenting part of what I am thinking to write about in the chapter, at the Aging and Society's 6th Interdisciplinary conference in October. If the presentation would not violate the terms of the chapter submission, I would be very happy to contribute to the book.
The elderly population have challenges that other ages do not have to face. Elderly face some number situations. These issues arise once people reach a certain age and follow them till the day that they pass on. For example, there are certain health issues that come the age. The African American elderly deals with a lot of issues; ranging from health to financial. But the African American elderly have a big influence on their community. But also, it is very important for the health of the elderly. The relationship can keep the elders’ health and mental health in good standing. The elderly can face many issues as their lives and body grow older. The African American elderly population has significant challenges that they must deal with. To begin with, many have health issues. Some that can be very life threatening. As people get older your body just does not want to work the same way it used to when it was younger. Your body goes through changes. As people get older, the body begins to behave differently.
According to the recent studies the older people as compared to the youth are becoming more economically and demographically attractive. However, there are costs of an aging population that the society bears as a whole. (Andrews, 2009)
The elderly population is growing rapidly and now makes up greater than thirteen percent of the United States population. (APA, 1994). With such a record growth, there are different aspects to aging that are still being analyzed. Many may think of reaching late life as a rite of passage, but many face this time with a different view. Through the movie "UP', we are granted an opportunity into view the struggles of an elderly widowed man by the name of Mr. Fredrickson and the challenges in which he faces in his later life. The movie, takes one on a journey through his sorrows and his triumphs until he realizes what the true meaning of happiness is.
This week, the lecture and additional articles were about the growing number of people reaching late adulthood and the problems that will be created for society. Society is not ready for the influx of elderly individuals needing assistance. In addition to discussing the amount of people reaching late adulthood, this week also touched on several models and theories in regards to aging. This week provided sufficient background information and vital knowledge for the introduction
Growth and development is an essential part of the life cycle, which leads to the occurrence of different phases like childhood, teenage and late adulthood. Aging is the period which is characterized by the onset of personal, cognitive and social changes. They feel hard to adjust the changes. Like rest of the world, the US also falls in the list of countries which have the highest population of elderly people. According to the Population Reference Bureau report, Americans ages 65 and older has projected to increase more than double from 46 million today to over 98 million by 2060, and the 65-and-older age group’s share of the total population will rise to nearly 24 percent from 15 percent (Mark Mather). The
The term “aging” refers to a complex process of biological, physical, psychological and social changes in a person as he/ she ages over their lifetime. Typically, the term refers to older adults and takes on the meaning of the process of “getting old” and “being old”. It relates not only to how individuals live, act and perceive themselves, but also to society’s culture and perceptions, society’s policies and support systems designed for their needs - be it health care, social,
According to (Zastrow & Kirst-Ashman, 2016) there is a myriad of challenges facing older adults throughout their later years of life. The issues range from failing eyesight to aching joints, but the good news is that the aging process is an individual process. The bad news is that it is a process no human being can escape this process in the genetic makeup of every human on planet earth. Our voice weakens, our skin wrinkles, our gums in our mouth
Over years, longevity increases with the help of medicine and medical treatments. However, society haven’t planned for this yet. This is creating many problems to elderly themselves and people who are responsible to take care of them. This process of an aging society occur in every places around the world, specifically United States in this essay.
This paper will discuss the relationship between the aging process and key diseases associated with aging. Examples of aging-associated diseases include cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and neurodegenerative diseases (López-Otín, Blasco, Partridge, Serrano, & Kroemer, 2013, p. 1194). Of these, we will discuss in-depth recent studies that have linked aging with Alzheimer’s disease, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes. These diseases affect a significant proportion of the population over the age of 65 and place a considerable burden on the American health care system. Therefore, a better understanding of how they are related to aging and each other can result in the adoption of innovative treatments and declined risk for older adults.
From the moment of conception, people face an array of changes both physically and psychologically until death. Lifespan development is the name psychologists have given to the physical and cognitive changes that occur throughout a person’s life and one important issue in the field of Life-Span Development is the topic of the elderly and the struggles that they face. This following issue affects me personally because I see it every day at an acute care hospital where I work. I have observed how their family members treat some of them. How they ultimately become a heavy responsibility to their family members, making them feel melancholy about their age and life. Some families are caring to their elderly family member while others begin to
The opinion brings to the forefront statistical data from the Department of Health and Human Services Administration on Aging and US Census Bureau, information on how the nation’s population is exceedingly growing older. The article also highlights a comparison of how the oldest (85 and older), has exploded (10x) from the 1950’s to the staggering number of over 6M today.
Aging! We all do it every day, but have you ever thought how it is going to affect the rest of your life or more importantly your career? Aging isn’t something that we get to choose if we participate in, however working is, and aging may affect that choice. Right now, I want you to think about the age of sixty-five. What words pop into your head when you think of someone sixty-five? I’d imagine some of the words you thought of were retired, old, fragile, slow, as well as many others. Those words right there all help to explain the many concerns that one’s employer may have when hiring someone that is of the older population. When we think of the older population in the work force we don’t necessarily think of positive things, instead we think of things. When we think of this population in the workforce we generally think of lower production rates and higher costs. These can create issues among the older population, as employers must consider all the possibilities when hiring someone. We know that more people in the older population are continuing to try to continue their careers, but why? How hard is it for them to continue? What changes have made it easier? How are the younger and middle aged populations perceiving them in the work place? This are only some of the many question surrounding the increase of aged workers.
Also spelled as ageing, this is generally the process of becoming old. It is the in a way the opposite of immortality. In a broader aspect, it may occur to single cells in an organism also called cellular senescence or the population of a species, known as population ageing. This process primarily affects human beings and fungi. In humans, it signifies the accumulation of various changes which occur over time. The changes include physical, social and psychological changes.