Chapter 13 Aging and the Elderly

What is the approximate median age of the United States?

37

The Age Discrimination in Employment Act counteracts which theory?

Age stratification

Which factor most increases the risk of an elderly person suffering mistreatment?

Being frail to the point of dependency on care

If elderly people suffer abuse, it is most often perpetrated by ______.

Caregivers

Who wrote the book On Death and Dying, outlining the five stages of grief?

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

In most countries, elderly women ______ than elderly men.

Live a few years longer

America's baby boomer generation has contributed to all of the following except:

Medicaid being in danger of going bankrupt.

Which assertion about aging in men would be made by a sociologist following the functionalist perspective?

Men who remain active after retirement play supportive community roles.

In Erik Erikson's developmental stages of life, with which challenge must older people struggle?

Overcoming despair to achieve integrity

The measure that compares the number of men to women in a population is ______.

Sex ratio

Which action reflects ageism?

Speaking slowly and loudly when talking to someone over age sixty-five years old

gerontology

a field of science that seeks to understand the process of aging and the challenges encountered as seniors grow older

cohort

a group of people who share a statistical or demographic trait

geriatrics

a medical specialty focusing on the elderly

grief

a psychological, emotional, and social response to the feelings of loss that accompanies death or a similar event

social gerontology

a specialized field of gerontology that examines the social (and sociological) aspects of aging

selective optimization with compensation theory

a theory based on the idea that successful personal development throughout the life course and subsequent mastery of the challenges associated with everyday life are based on the components of selection, optimization, and compensation

subculture of aging theory

a theory that focuses on the shared community created by the elderly when they are excluded (due to age), voluntarily or involuntarily, from participating in other groups

age stratification theory

a theory which states that members of society are stratified by age, just as they are stratified by race, class, and gender

continuity theory

a theory which states that the elderly make specific choices to maintain consistency in internal (personality structure, beliefs) and external structures (relationships), remaining active and involved throughout their elder years

activity theory

a theory which suggests that for individuals to enjoy old age and feel satisfied, they must maintain activities and find a replacement for the statuses and associated roles they have left behind as they aged

modernization theory

a theory which suggests that the primary cause of the elderly losing power and influence in society are the parallel forces of industrialization and modernization

exchange theory

a theory which suggests that we experience an increased dependence as we age and must increasingly submit to the will of others, because we have fewer ways of compelling others to submit to us

disengagement theory

a theory which suggests that withdrawing from society and social relationships is a natural part of growing old

gerontocracy

a type of social structure wherein the power is held by a society's oldest members

An older woman retires and completely changes her life. She is no longer raising children or working. However, she joins the YWCA to swim every day. She serves on the Friends of the Library board. She is part of a neighborhood group that plays Bunco on Saturday nights. Her situation most closely illustrates the ______ theory.

activity

secondary aging

aging that occurs due to controllable factors like exercise and diet

primary aging

biological factors such as molecular and cellular changes

Veterans are two to four times more likely to ______ as people who did not serve in the military

commit suicide

In the United States, life expectancy rates in recent decades have ______.

continued to gradually rise

Thanatology is the study of _____.

death and dying

filial piety

deference and respect to one's parents and ancestors in all things

ageism

discrimination based on age

An older man retires from his job, stops golfing, and cancels his newspaper subscription. After his wife dies, he lives alone, loses touch with his children, and stops seeing old friends. His situation most closely illustrates the _______ theory.

disengagement

hospice

healthcare that treats terminally ill people by providing comfort during the dying process

Today in the United States the poverty rate of the elderly is ______.

increasing

What is the primary driver of modernization theory?

industrialization

centenarians

people 100 years old or older

supercentenarians

people 110 of age or older

baby boomers

people in the United States born between approximately 1946 and 1964

elder abuse

the act of a caretaker intentionally depriving an older person of care or harming the person in their charge

senescence

the aging process, including biological, intellectual, emotional, social, and spiritual changes

gerotranscendence

the idea that as people age, they transcend limited views of life they held in earlier times

The "graying of the United States" refers to ________.

the increasing percentage of the population over 65

dependency ratio

the number of nonproductive citizens (young, disabled, elderly) to productive working citizens

life expectancy

the number of years a newborn is expected to live

life course

the period from birth to death, including a sequence of predictable life events

thanatology

the systematic study of death and dying

For individual people of a certain culture, the life course is ________.

the typical sequence of events in their lives

physician-assisted suicide

the voluntary use of lethal medication provided by a medical doctor to end one's life