Aging in Today's Environment (1987) / Chapter Skim
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2 The Aging Population and the Psychosocial Implications of Aging
2 The Aging Population and the Psychosocial Implications of Aging
Pages 15-27
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From page 15... ...
In contrast, the aging of a population refers to whether a population as a whole is getting older or younger and is a function of changes in rates of mortality, migration, and birth. Population aging in this sense is measured ~ terms of such units as median or mean age, proportion of persons 65 years old and over, ratio of persons 65 years old and over to persons under 15, or some other summary unit of the age structure of the whole population.
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From page 16... ...
The increased survival or aging of individuals in a population is measured principally, however, by an increase in average expectancy of life at birth, reductions in mortality rates, increases in proportions of the population that ~ ~ e e survive to various ages, or increases m average years o; : remammg life.
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From page 17... ...
1965 1970 1975 ~ 980 1985 YEAR Black Female White Male Black Male FIGURE 2-1 Life expectancy at birth by race and sex, United States, 1950-1983. Source: National Center for Health Statistics (1986a)
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From page 18... ...
Although life expectancy at birth has not yet reached 100 years, it has been rising almost steadily in the United States during this century. A logical extension of the present trend might be depicted by either a theoretical nearly rectangular curve (assuming a 90° angle and a steep fall just before or at the age suggested for the specified maximal life span)
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From page 19... ...
At the crux of the clebate Is the nonutility of cross-sectional mortality data, as used in a demographic life table, for examining the question of an increase in life span that results from environmental changes of the twentieth century changes that have had a remarkable impact on mortality rates and life expectancy. True longitudinal mortality (cohort-survival)
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From page 20... ...
A cohort life table based on the longitudinal age-specific mortality experience of cohorts born in the twentieth century is needed to assess the question of an increase in maximal life span. Although these data are not available on people over 86, among whom 1~20%o of all deaths occur, the data that are available for the United States (Vandenbroucke, 1985)
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From page 21... ...
The relatively favorable mortality position of blacks and people of other races above the age of 80 the "crossover effects suggests that socioeconomic differences are weaker determinants of mortality at ages above 65 than at ages below. An alternative hypothesis is that the blacks who have survived the excessive environmental stresses of their earlier years might be a selected subpopulation that is genetically endowed with the ability to live an especially long life.
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From page 22... ...
In our example then, those who are robust make up a larger proportion of the surviving black population than of the surviving white population as they age. The elderly population of the United States is growing much more rapidly than the population as a whole (Siege} and Taeuber, 1986~.
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From page 23... ...
On the basis of comparisons with countries having the lowest overall mortality (Table 2-3) , the prospects for future increases in life expectancy in the United States seem modest (U.S.
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From page 24... ...
Activities of daily living include bathing, dressing, using toilet room, mobility, continence, and eating. TABLE 2-2 Dependence of Nursinga-Home Residents in Activities of Daily Living, United States, 1977 Age Population People with Activities Limited Number Percentage All 1,303,100 1,178,700 90.4 < 65 177,100 135,600 76.6 65-74 211,400 181,900 86.0 75-84 464,700 431,100 92.8 > 85 449,900 43D,100 95.6 aData from National Center for Health Statistics (1981a)
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From page 25... ...
a Country Life Expectancy at Birth Male Female Japan, 1984 74.8 80.7 Norway, 1983 72.8 79.8 Australia, 1983 72.2 79.0 United States, 1982 70.9 78.4 West Germany, 1984 70.5 77.1 Venezuela, 1980 65.8 71.4 Mauritius, 1982 63.6 71.1 aMost recent data available at time of publication from the World Health Organization (1985~; United Nations (1984~.
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From page 26... ...
They are more likely to need assistance with tasks they once performed independently and to require more extensive medical care and contact with a health-care system, which often encourages obedient, "manageable" behavior (Lorber, 1975; Wills, 1978~. In addition, the psychosocial environment might actually worsen naturally declining health; interpersonal relationships are related to a variety of physical health indexes (Kiecolt-Glaser et al., 1985~.
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From page 27... ...
(1985) found that geriatric residents of independent-living facilities who learned relaxation techniques had improved immune-cell activity and reduced production of antibodies in response to ax introduced Herpes simplex virus (presumably reflecting improved control of virus replication and latency by the cellular immune response)
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