Soc of Aging Exam 1 Review

What is disclosure management and how does it relate to the elderly?

"As they transition to assisted-living facilities, LGBT people have the added burden of disclosure management: the way they share their sexual and relationship identity. In one case study, a 78- year-old lesbian lived alone in a long-term care facility. She had been in a long-term relationship of 32 years and had been visibly active in the gay community earlier in her life. However, in the longterm care setting, she was much quieter about her sexual orientation. She selectively disclosed her sexual identity, feeling safer with anonymity and silence (Jenkins et al. 2010). A study from the National Senior Citizens Law Center reports that only 22 percent of LGBT older adults expect they could be open about their sexual orientation or gender identity in a long-term care facility. Even more telling is the finding that only 16 percent of non-LGBT older adults expected that LGBT people could be open with facility staff (National Senior Citizens Law Center 2011)."

What are almshouses?

"Many of the elderly poor were sent to live in almshouses, or public old-age homes (Cole 1993)."

What is the exchange theory?

(Dowd 1975), a rational choice approach, suggests 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. Indeed, inasmuch as relationships are based on mutual exchanges, as the elderly become less able to exchange resources, they will see their social circles diminish. In this model, the only means to avoid being discarded is to engage in resource management, like maintaining a large inheritance or participating in social exchange systems via child care.

Give an example of why we should begin saving for retirement sooner rather than later.

A 40-year-old worker who begins to save $10,000 per year will accumulate $700,000 by the time he is 70 years old, assuming an interest rate of 5 percent per year. If he had begun saving when he was 30 years old, he would only have needed to save $5,500 per year to accumulate the same amount by age 70.

What is many people's first experience with grief as a result of longer life expectancies?

A grandparent or great-grandparent.

Define life course

A life course is the period from birth to death, including a sequence of predictable life events such as physical maturation.

What important ADEA Amendment passed in 1967?

ADEA provided protection against a broad range of age discrimination and specifically addressed termination of employment due to age, age specific layoffs, advertised positions specifying age limits or preferences, and denial of health care benefits to those over 65. Later amendments made it so that U.S. workers no longer must retire upon reaching a specified age.

What is a criticism of the activity theory?

Access to social opportunities and activity are not equally available to all. Moreover, not everyone finds fulfillment in the presence of others or participation in activities. Reformulations of this theory suggest that participation in informal activities, such as hobbies, are what most eect later life satisfaction (Lemon, Bengtson, and Petersen 1972).

What is the continuity theory?

According to continuity theory, 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. This is an attempt to maintain social equilibrium and stability by making future decisions on the basis of already developed social roles (Atchley 1971; Atchley 1989).

What does the activity theory assert?

Activity levels and social involvement are they keys to happiness in older age.

How does ageism affect memory performance?

Ageist individuals will see negative effects on memory. Individuals facing stereotypes or rewards for remembering items will better remember things.

What is secondary aging?

Aging that occurs due to controllable factors such as lack of physical exercise and poor diet is called secondary aging.

What are the most frequently reported health issues for those over age 65?

Arthritis (50 percent), hypertension (38 percent), heart disease (32 percent), and cancer (22 percent). Additionally, about 27 percent of people age 60 and older are considered obese by current medical standards.

What is the selective optimization with compensation theory?

Baltes and Baltes (1990) based their theory 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. Though this happens at all stages in the life course, in the eld of gerontology, researchers focus attention on balancing the losses associated with aging with the gains stemming from the same. Here, aging is a process and not an outcome, and the goals (compensation) are specific to the individual.

What is the age stratification theory?

Because age serves as a basis of social control, different age groups will have varying access to social resources such as political and economic power. Within societies, behavioral age norms, including norms about roles and appropriate behavior, dictate what members of age cohorts may reasonably do.

What is primary aging?

Biological factors such as molecular and cellular changes are called primary aging.

What is a major criticism of the disengagement theory?

Criticisms typically focus on the application of the idea that seniors universally naturally withdraw from society as they age, and that it does not allow for a wide variation in the way people experience aging.

What is the cumulative inequality theory?

Cumulative inequality theory specifies that social systems generate inequality, which is manifest-ed over the life course via demographic and developmental processes, and that personal trajectories are shaped by the accumulation of risk, available resources, perceived trajectories, and human agency. Recognizing that CI may lead to pre-mature mortality, the theory also emphasizes the use of cohort-inclusive and longitudinal studies to discern how selection processes shape inequality.

Death and dying were fields that had received little attention until a psychologist named ___ began observing people who were in the process of dying in the ___ (decade.)

Elisabeth Ku¨bler-Ross, 1960s. Publushed her findings in 1969 in "On Death and Dying."

What is the subculture of aging theory?

Focuses on the shared community created by the elderly when they are excluded (due to age), voluntarily or involuntarily, from participating in other groups. This theory suggests that elders will disengage from society and develop new patterns of interaction with peers who share common backgrounds and interests.

Why is the age stratification theory criticized?

For its broadness and its inattention to other sources of stratication and how these might intersect with age. For example, one might argue that an older white male occupies a more powerful role, and is far less limited in his choices, compared to an older white female based on his historical access to political and economic power.

What is the functionalism perspective on aging?

Functionalists nd that people with better resources who stay active in other roles adjust better to old age.

What is symbolic interactionism?

Generally, theories within the symbolic interactionist perspective focus on how society is created through the day-to-day interaction of individuals, as well as the way people perceive themselves and others based on cultural symbols. This microanalytic perspective assumes that if people develop a sense of identity through their social interactions, their sense of self is dependent on those interactions.

How will societal aging affect the GDP of the EU?

Given current policies, the pension, health, and long-term care costs associated with an aging population will lead to significant increases in public spending in most member states over the next half century. Gross domestic product growth rates are projected to fall across the EU, and in the absence of policy changes, the potential EU economic growth rate will be cut in half by 2030.

What freedom does the disengagement theory promote?

Greater freedom from the pressure to conform.

What is the fifth stage of dealing with one's own death, and what does it look like?

In the final stage, a person adjusts to the idea of death and reaches acceptance. At this point, the person can face death honestly, regarding it as a natural and inevitable part of life, and can make the most of their remaining time.

How is social withdrawal gendered in the disengagement theory?

Men and women will adopt roles focused on either work (men,) and family (women.)

What is a criticism of the continuity theory?

One criticism of this theory is its emphasis on so-called normal aging, which marginalizes those with chronic diseases such as Alzheimer's.

What two factors drive population aging?

Population aging is driven by declines in fertility and improvements in health and longevity.

How does societal aging affect economic growth?

Societal aging may affect economic growth and many other issues, including the sustainability of families, the ability of states and communities to provide resources for older citizens, and international relations.

What is the disengagement theory?

Suggests that withdrawing from society and social relationships is a natural part of growing old.

What is the role of grandparents on Anglo-American culture?

The Anglo-American pattern is seen as moving beyond cares of child-raising with subtle boundaries between generational households, and the Apache pattern is depicted as cross-generational reciprocity.

What are the three social theories that fit within the functional perspective of aging?

The disengagement theory, the activity theory, and the continuity theory.

In traditional Apache culture, is the grandmother or grandfather more important?

The grandmother. She is responsible for teaching the children and rearing them, while the grandfather "spoils" them.

What is the role of grandparents in Apache culture?

The initial focus was on the place of the grandmother in transmitting traditional values and teaching family work skills. Also explored is the role of grandmothers as being a responsible for the physical support of their children and grandchildren.

What three classic theories of aging fit into the conflict perspective?

The modernization theory, age stratification theory, and the exchange theory.

What is the second stage of dealing with one's own death, and what does it look like?

The second stage is anger, when loss of life is seen as unfair and unjust.

What does the activity theory address that the disengagement theory neglected?

The social withdrawal that Cummings and Henry recognized (1961), and its notion that elderly people need to find replacement roles for those they've lost

Which theories fall under symbolic interactionism?

The subculture of aging theory, selective optimization with compensation theory, and the gerotranscendence theory.

What is a criticism of the exchange theory ?

The theory may depend too much on the assumption that individuals are calculating. It is often criticized for affording too much emphasis to material exchange and devaluing nonmaterial assets such as love and friendship

What is the conflict perspective on aging?

Theorists working the conflict perspective view society as inherently unstable, an institution that privileges the powerful wealthy few while marginalizing everyone else. According to the guiding principle of conflict theory, social groups compete with other groups for power and scarce resources. Applied to society's aging population, the principle means that the elderly struggle with other groupsfor example, younger society membersto retain a certain share of resources.

T or F: Almost half of older women (45%) age 75 and over live alone.

True.

T or F: Research suggests that as many as one in five new cases of AIDS occur in adults over 65

True.

T or F: New research indicates that being ageist could harm your health.

True. Having negative stereotypes of older adults was associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease years later, Levy and her colleagues reported in 2009 in Psychological Science. In the study, 25 percent of people who held negative stereotypes had a heart attack 30 years later, and only 13 percent of people with positive views of the elderly suffered the same fate.

T or F: A person's belief about being old is also associated with how well they recover from disability.

True. In a study, participants with positive age stereotypes were 44 percent more likely to fully recover from a severe disability than were those with negative age stereotypes, that study showed.

Define grief

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

What is hospice?

a type of health care that treats terminally ill people when cure-oriented treatments are no longer an option (Hospice Foundation of America 2012b). Hospice doctors, nurses, and therapists receive special training in the care of the dying. The focus is not on getting better or curing the illness, but on passing out of this life in comfort and peace.

The prescriptive stereotypes (of the elderly,) fall into three categories:

active, envied resource **succession** or "Move aside, it's my turn"; passive, shared resource **consumption**, or "Don't spend our limited healthcare dollars on old people"; and one that is less concrete, called **symbolic identity avoidance**. We expect older adults to essentially act their age and not steal the identity of younger people, North and Fiske report in 2013 in Psychological Assessment.

What is the third stage of dealing with one's own death, and what does it look like?

bargaining: trying to negotiate with a higher power to postpone the inevitable by reforming or changing the way he or she lives.

What is geriatrics?

branch of health care thats concerned with old people

What is a person's first reaction to death and what does it look like?

denial: This is characterized by not wanting to believe that he or she is dying, with common thoughts such as I feel ne or This is not really happening to me.

Ku¨bler-Ross observed that people deal with death in ___ stages.

five

What is the fourth stage of dealing with one's own death, and what does it look like?

psychological depression, allows for resignation as the situation begins to seem hopeless.

What is the modernization theory?

suggests that the primary cause of the elderly losing power and influence in society are the parallel forces of industrialization and modernization. As societies modernize, the status of elders decreases, and they are increasingly likely to experience social exclusion. Before industrialization, strong social norms bound the younger generation to care for the older. Now, as societies industrialize, the nuclear family replaces the extended family.

What is gerotranscendence?

the idea that as people age, they transcend the limited views of life they held in earlier times. Tornstam believes that throughout the aging process, the elderly become less self-centered and feel more peaceful and connected to the natural world. Wisdom comes to the elderly, Tornstam's theory states, and as the elderly tolerate ambiguities and seeming contradictions, they let go of conflict, and develop softer views of right and wrong (Tornstam 2005). Tornstam does not claim that everyone will achieve wisdom in aging. Some elderly people might still grow bitter and isolated, feel ignored and left out, or become grumpy and judgmental. Symbolic interactionists believe that, just as in other phases of life, individuals must struggle to overcome their own failings and turn them into strengths.

. In 1997, Oregon instituted the Death with Dignity Act, which required...

the presence of two physicians for a legal assisted suicide. This law was successfully challenged by U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft in 2001, but the appeals process ultimately upheld the Oregon law. Subsequently, both Montana and Washington have passed similar laws

What is thanatology?

the systematic study of death and dying.

What is physician-assisted suicide?

the voluntary or physician-assisted use of lethal medication provided by a medical doctor to end one's life.

According to the modernization theory, in an individualistic industrial society, caring for an elderly relative is seen as a...

voluntary obligation that may be ignored without fear of social censure. (As opposed to societies that face pressures to care for their elders.)