Gerontology
The Growth of the
Older Population
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HESC 4443
• This growth is due to:
Dr. M. Jean Turner
– Changes in Life Expectancy
– Increased Maximum Life Span
– Increase in Number Reaching Later Life
Age groups of Older Americans
____________________________________________________________________________
• Oldest-Old- ages eighty-five and
older
• Old-Old- ages seventy-five to
eighty-four
• Young-Old- ages sixty-five to
seventy-four
• defining characteristics of each
group
The Youngest-Old
• Portion of seniors age 65 to 74 in 1990: 6 in
10
• Number of youngest-old in 1990: 18.4 million
• Projected portion of the youngest-old in the
total population in 2030: 1 in 8—the same
share of the population that the entire 65-plus
population occupies today
Old-Old
• Portion of seniors who are age 75-84 in
1990: 3 in 10
• Number of the old-old in 1990: 9.9
million
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Oldest-Old
Life Expectancy at 85
• Portion of seniors who are 85+ in 1990:
1 in 10
• Number of oldest-old in 1990: 3.3
million
• Fastest growing senior age group
• Oldest-old is six times larger today than
in 1950
• Current life expectancy at age 85: 6
years
• Percent increase in life expectancy at
age 85 since 1960: 24 percent
• Projected increase in life expectancy at
age 85 by 2040: 44 percent
Odds of Making it to 100
• Odds of living to be 100 for a baby born
– in 1879: 400 to 1
– In 1980: 87 to 1
Shared Experiences
___________________________
• Social Clock
– Defines a sequence of normal adult-life
experiences
• Age Strata
– Periods in the life span that have shared
demands, expectations, or privileges
• Ageism
– Attitudes (typically negative) toward individuals
based on their age
• Age Norms
– Expectations set for a specific age group
Normative,
AgeGraded
Events
NonNormative
Events
Historical
Events
Explaining Change
in Adulthood
___________________________________________
• Shared, Age Graded Changes
– the concept based on normative,
age associated development
– Three processes that contribute:
• Biologically Influenced Changes
• Shared Experiences
• Internal Change Processes
2
Cultural and Cohort Effects
________________________
Explaining Change
in Adulthood
___________________________________________
History Graded
cultural influences, generation differences
• Shared, Age Graded Changes
The Great Depression (Elder’s Research)
– the concept based on normative, age
associated development
WW II
– Three processes that contribute:
Examples of Cohorts:
Persian Gulf War
Why do we need to understand cohorts?
can explain how/why individuals are alike in values,
attitudes, skills, etc.
Explaining Continuity
in Adulthood
Nature vs. Nurture
_________________________________
___
• Biological Explanations
– Genetics
– Twin Study
• Environmental Sources
– What impacts us throughout life?
Gains in Life Expectancy
since Ancient Times
• Life expectancy at birth in ancient Rome &
Greece: 20 years
• In medieval Europe: 30 years
• In Massachusetts in 1850: 38 years
• In the United States in 1900: 47 years
• Current life expectancy in the U.S.: 75 years
• Number of years life expectancy has
advanced so far in this century: 28 years
• Biologically Influenced Changes
• Shared Experiences
• Internal Change Processes
Unique, Non-Shared Events
___________________________________
Non-Normative
Includes any event that is not universal or agegraded:
Which of these are unique events?
1. Divorce
2. Death of a Parent
3. Birth of a Child
What role does timing of experience play in the
above examples?
White/Nonwhite
Longevity Gap
• Gap in life expectancy at birth by race in
1900: whites lived an average of 4.6
years longer than nonwhites
• Current gap has changed slightly:
whites live an average of 4.3 years
longer than nonwhites
• Current life expectancy at birth for
whites and nonwhites: 76 years for
whites and 71 years for nonwhites
3
White/Nonwhite
Longevity Gap
• Current life expectancy at age 65 for
whites: 17 years; for nonwhites: 16
years
• Largest gain in life expectancy since
1970: nonwhite females with a 6 year
increase
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Modernization Theory
Demographics
• View that nations can be placed on a
continuum from least to most developed,
with those exhibiting certain qualities of
social structure termed modern
• Basic premise- aged were revered in the
past & modernization has caused the
status of the aged to decline
Effects of Modernization
Three Classes of Elders
_______________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
• Health Technology
1) Those still working full-time, fully active
2.) Physically and mentally able to meet
• Scientific Technology
• Urbanization
daily needs, but are not fully productive
economically
3.) Totally dependent, require custodial care
• Literacy and Mass Education
Demographic
Characteristics
Men living in Harlem
______________________________________________________________________________________
• Percentage of males living in Harlem
who survive to age 65 compared with
males living in Bangladesh: 40 versus
55 percent
5
Description & Explanation
_________________________________________
Research Methods
• Descriptive Tasks:
– the first task of any scientific endeavor
– What happens? What changes occur?
• Explanatory Tasks
– Next, the search for causes
– How? Why?
– Looking for shared patterns & individual change
Methods for Studying Aging
Ch. 1 pgs. 25-32
Cross-Sectional Design
_________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
• Cross-Sectional Studies
• Compares characteristics of people at a
• Longitudinal Studies
given point in time
• Sequential Research Designs
– Cohort-sequential
• Attempts to identify age-related
– Time-sequential
differences
– Cross-sequential
Cross-Sectional
Longitudinal Designs
_______________________________
___________________________________________________________________
– subjects are tested only once
• Follows the same individual over time
– subjects are from different ages & groups
– would tell us about age differences but not
• Eliminates cohort effects
change over time
– EXAMPLE - 100 people
1/
• measures changes in specific variables
(1/
4
are 20,
1/
4
are
30,
1
4 are 40, /4 are 50) are given a one time
survey, about education.
6
Longitudinal Design
______________________________
• Follow the same subjects over time
• Allowing change or consistency to be
evaluated within the same group
• Issues specific to Longitudinal Design:
– Selective Attrition & Drop-out
– Time of Measurement Effect
Age/Period/Cohort Problem
____________________________________________________________________________________
• Age differences- ways that generations
differ
• Age changes-ways that people
normally change over time
• Period- effects of the specific historical
Sequential Research Designs
___________________________________________________________________________
• Research that combine features of
cross-sectional and longitudinal
research designs
• attempts to overcome problems
encountered in using the crosssectional and longitudinal designs
Sequential Design
____________________________
• A combination of Cross-sectional &
Longitudinal
• Five types of Sequential Design:
– Cohort-sequential
– Time-sequential
– Cross-sequential
period involved
Types of Sequential Research
Designs
_____________________________________________________________________________
• Cohort-sequential- two or more cohorts
followed for a period of time, testing different
age groups and at different points of time
• Time-sequential- comparing two or more
cross-sectional samples at two or more
measurement periods
• Cross-sequential-combination of crosssectional and longitudinal designs
Examples
________________________
• Michigan Panel Study of Income
Dynamics
– began with 5,000 families in 1968
– has followed each family in addition to new
families that have emerged from the original
families
• Seattle Longitudinal Study
– Schaie used a combination of sequential
designs, resulting in rich data.
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Choosing Subjects,
Collecting Information
________________________________
• Generalization of results
• What group can the results be
generalized to?
________________________________________________________
•
•
•
•
Observation
Interviews
Questionnaire
Other Standardized Tests
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