Chapter 5: Social Theories of Aging Flashcards
How is median age and dependency ratios related?
The higher the median age, the higher the old-age dependency ratio
What countries have the highest dependency ratios
Developed countries
Factors that influence dependency ratios
Longer life expectancies, higher birth rates, lower death rates
due to healthcare, education, sanitation, hygiene, conflict, socio-economic disparities, immigration, emigration
Why is US’s life expectancy not as long as other developed countries?
Diet, lifestyle, unequal access to healthcare, wealth inequality, sedentary behaviour
Life expectancy and per capita healthcare spending
US spends the most amount on healthcare, but have the lowest life expectancy
Active life expectancy
number of years spent in good health
Dependent life expectancy
number of years spent in poor health
Earth’s capacity
10 billion people
Does work help people live longer?
allows financial capability to live longer
but often associated with sedentary behaviour, physically demanding, chronic stress etc…so could be detrimental
having to work vs. wanting to work
work-life balance
4 Theories of Aging
Cellular aging (stem cell exhaustion, telomere shortening, proteins become less functional, mitochondrial malfunction, inefficient cell communication, imbalanced metabolism)
Wear and Tear
Free-radical/Oxidative stress
Immunological (cardiovascular, respiratory, nervous, immune, digestive, reproductive)
Metastatic aging
the spread of aging
all affect each other, which what causes aging
leads to biological aging, then death
What happens to the senses in aging
Sight: declines with age (presbyopia)
Hearing: declines with age (Presbycusis)
Taste: declines with age
Touch: declines with age
Smell: declines with age
Brain: slower with age, but not “dumber”
The scientific approach to theory development
A systematic attempt to explain why and how an age-associated change or event occurs
represents the core of the foundation of scientific inquiry and knowledge
Can a theory be entirely proven or disproven?
No, instead, through both quantitative and qualitative research, they gather evidence that may strengthen their confidence in the theory, or move them closer to rejecting the theory by demonstrating that parts of it are not supported
What is the reason for recent development of social theories?
began 1950-60s
- early social gerontological research tended to be applied rather than theoretical - it attempted to solve problems facing older people or help them adjust to problems that could not be solved rather than explain social phenomena
Role theory
Because roles define us and our self-concept and shape our behaviour, role loss in old age can negatively affect elders’ self-esteem and life satisfaction
such roles identify and describe us as social beings
typically organized sequentially, so that each role is associated with a certain age or stage of life
Age alters the role anticipated of people, and the manner in which they are expected to play them
Age norms
open up or close off the roles that people of a given chronological age can play
assumptions that we all make about age-related capacities and limitations
may be expressed through social policies and laws
individuals hold norms about the appropriateness of their own behaviour at any particular age
Society conveys age norms through socialization
Socialization
Refers to a lifelong process by which individuals learn to perform new roles, adjust to changing roles, relinquish old ones, learn a “social clock” to what is age appropriate
Role discontinuity
what someone learned at one age may be useless or conflict with role expectations at a later age
T/F: Older adults often display considerable flexibility in creating or substituting roles
True
Barriers to moving into new roles
Low-income
elders of colour
Few positive role models for elders
Activity Theory
Posits that an older person’s self-concept is validated through participation in roles characteristics of middle and elders who are active are more satisfied and better adjusted than those who are not active
Ability to maintain roles, relationships, and status they enjoyed in middle age
Values paid work, individual responsibility, and productivity
Limitation: does not take account of how personality, social class, gender, race, and lifestyle may be more salient than age in whether activity is associated with life satisfaction and health
challenged by disengagement theory
Disengagement Theory
Older people, because of the inevitable decline with age, become less active with the outer world and increasingly preoccupied with their inner lives, thereby shifting an orderly transfer of power from older to younger people
Primary mechanism is retirement
Disengagement is inevitable and adaptive, which allows older people to maintain self-worth
Limitations: Not an ideal adaptation to aging, Fails to account for variability in individual preferences, personality, culture, opportunities, Cannot be assumed that older people’s withdrawal from useful roles is necessarily good for society, Been proven that successful aging is more likely to be achieved by people who remain socially involved and integrated
Continuity Theory
Central personality characteristics become more pronounced with age, or are retained through life with little change; people age successfully if they maintain their lifelong roles and adaptation techniques
Challenges both activity and disengagement theory
Limitations: Has face validity because it seems reasonable but difficult to test empirically, Focuses on individual; overlooks role of external social, economic, historical, and political factors that influence aging
