Chapter 16: Family Life and Aging

1. Chapter 16: Family Life and Aging

2. The Portrait of Age in the United States • 2005 – 35 million adults over age 65 • 12% of America’s population • 13% are between ages 74 and 85 • 5 million Americans over the age of 85

3. Gender Differences Among the Elderly • Age 40 – 65: there are 141 women for every 100 men • Age 65- 69: there are 116 women for every 100 men • Age 85 and over: there are 230 women for every 100 men

4. Figure 16.1: Percent of Total Population Who are 65 and Over, 2007

5. Education Among the Elderly In 2003 • 17% of those 65 and over had a college degree • Nearly 72% had a high school diploma By 2030 • The Census Bureau predicts that 85% will have graduated from high school and 75% will have a college degree

6. Life Expectancy • Children born in 2001 have an average life expectancy of 77.4 years • For those who reached the age of 65 in 2001, they had a life expectancy of 18 more years

7. Centenarians In 2005 • There were over 50,000 centenarians • This group is .02 % of the population • This represents an increase of 35% since 1990 • Over 80% of the centenarians are women • The majority of them live in metropolitan areas

8. Developmental Forces in Aging • Lifespan Perspective • Human beings are in constant state of growth • Just because a person is older does not mean they are no longer developing and growing • Nature – Nurture: influence aging process • Nature – hereditary characteristics • Nurture – environmental experiences

9. Interactive Forces of Development • Biological forces • Genetic and health related factors • Psychological forces • Cognitive, emotional and perceptual factors • Sociocultural forces • Cultural, ethnic, societal, relational and interpersonal factors • Life-cycle forces • Interaction of all of the above forces

10. Interactive Forces of Development • Normative age-graded influences • Developmental changes caused by biological, psychological and socio-cultural forces • Signal major transitions in people’s lives • Normative history-graded influences • History related may be biological in nature • Non-normative influences • Uncommon, rare or unanticipated events

11. What is Aging? Primary aging • Refers to the basic biological processes that are genetically programmed and that take place with the passage of time • Anatomical and functional changes – vision, joints, memory • Progressive changes – loss of brain neurons • Inevitable changes – decline in memory, hearing, vision, balance, reaction time

12. What is Aging? continued • Universal changes – loss of brain weight • Irreversible changes – all of the previous changes • Changes that lead to death

13. Secondary Aging • Declines related to behavior and socioeconomic status • Physiological declines that are the result of environmental and behavioral influences

14. Table 16.1: Primary Aging: Biological Changes Associated with Aging

15. Ageism • Ageist – those who have a predetermined, negative mindset about older people • Ageism • Limits what older people can do • Results in unfair housing • Results in unfair employment • Results in unfair educational opportunities • Interferes with proper medical diagnoses

16. Figure 16.3: Family Life Cycle by Length of Time in Each of the Eight Stages

17. Marital Satisfaction • Characteristics of relational quality in older couples • Fewer sources of conflict • Greater potential for pleasure • Tend to be more affectionate • Sources of conflict change – recreation activities, money issues, sex, adult children

18. Sexuality • An active sex life is an important aspect of marital satisfaction • Half of all Americans over 60 report they are sexually active • Those over 60 are more sexually active than those in their 70s • The gap between 60s and 70s may be due to women living longer than their partners

19. Figure 16.4: Marital Status of those Age 65 and Older , 2007

20. Older Women and Sexuality • Menopause results in decline in estrogen levels • Vaginal lubrication takes longer and may cause intercourse to be painful • Vaginal atrophy resulting in irritation and tears • Clitoral size decreases in women over 75

21. Older Men and Sexuality • Erections take longer to attain • Testes may become smaller • Lubrication from the Cowper’s glands declines • Orgasm takes longer to achieve • Frequency of sexual experience declines

22. Keys to Later-life Sexuality • A healthy lifestyle is the key to enjoying everything including sexuality • Eat a well-balanced diet • Stop smoking • Consume alcohol in moderation • Exercise regularly • Regular medical check-ups • Reduce stress

23. Divorce • Relatively infrequent among the elderly population but it does happen • It is more traumatic • Financial burdens are greater • Significantly impacts parent-child relationship

24. Remarriage • Less likely to remarry than younger adults • Unique challenges of remarriage • Grown children are concerned about inheritance issues • Older adults report less conflict • Older adults develop more effective communication and interaction patterns

25. Intergenerational Ties • Intergenerational ties are offshoots of the parent-child relationship • May include relationships with • Parents and children • Grandparents and grandchildren • Daughters and sons-in-law • Nieces and nephews • Grandchildren and step-grandchildren

26. Fictive kin – people who are not biologically related to someone • Are important sources of emotional support • No relationship is as important as that of parent and child

27. Parent – Child Relationships • Marital satisfaction increases as children enter adolescence • Parents acquire sense of generativity – leaving something to next generation • Relationships with children begin to transition

28. Empty Nest Issues • Changes in roles/loss of roles – parents feel a void when children leave home • Marital issues – parents need to re-examine their goals as children leave nest • Career changes often occur with empty nest • Caregiving shifts – lessen or change generation • Relationships with children changes as children become adults

29. Parent-Adult Child Relationship • Four Primary Factors Influence Relationship • Gender – elderly mothers and daughters have more intimate relationships than fathers and sons • Geographic distance – having a child living within an hour’s commute

30. Parent’s marital status – widowed or single parents turn to children for support • Culture – involvement in aging parent’s daily life is not supported by American culture to the extent it is in Asian and other cultures

31. Becoming a Grandparent • Styles of Grandparenting • Formal: traditional in that they babysit occasionally, childrearing and discipline are hands-off • Companionate: grandparents are warm, loving, nurturing, but happy to send grandchildren home

32. Styles of Grandparenting continued • Fun seeker – grandparents relationship with grandchildren is playful and informal • Distant – grandparent has little or no contact with their grandchildren, only involved on holidays and birthdays, is a remote relationship

33. Styles of grandparenting continued • Surrogate – occurs when grandparents assume the role of parents, are involved in the everyday rearing of their grandchildren • Dispenser of wisdom – authoritarian figure, usually a patriarch or prominent male figure

34. Figure 16.6: Percent of Grandparents Responsible for their Grandchildren, 2007

35. Figure 16.7: The Phases of Retirement

36. Figure 16.7 (Continued): The Phases of Retirement

37. Retirement and Leisure • Retirement is a developmental process • Phase 1: Pre-retirement – people begin to consider retirement, begin to disengage from workplace • Phase 2: Retirement – retire from the paid workforce, usually has three possible routes to take

38. Phase 2: Retirement Routes • Honeymoon – taking it easy, sense of euphoria, permanent vacation • Immediate retirement routine – ability to establish a comfortable schedule • Rest and relaxation – low activity initially but activity levels increase after a few years of R and R

39. Phase 3: Disenchantment experience a period of disappointment and uncertainty • Phase 4: Reorientation – retirees start making the adjustments that will improve their lives

40. Phase 5: Retirement Routine – ability to master a comfortable, rewarding and satisfying retirement routine • Phase 6: decline physically, becoming dependent on their partner or spouse, or elder care

41. Figure 16.5: Percentage of Widows and Widowers, Aged 65-85+

42. Marital Life After Retirement • Relationships from the workplace dissolve • Emphasis placed on family relationships • Life orientation – emphasis retirees place on various aspects of life, retired men attach greater significance on marital and family relationships

43. Life after Retirement • Gender role ideology – retired husbands have more conservative, traditional gender roles, husbands of working women were more liberal towards gender roles • Marital Satisfaction – many older couples enjoy a second honeymoon without the responsibilities of work

44. Marital Intimacy – 3 Types • Reciprocity – both spouses confide in one another and self-disclose • Nonreciprocity – one spouse confides and the other does not • Segregative – neither spouse shares with the other but rather with someone outside the marriage

45. Family Caregiving • Caring for aging parents or a dependent spouse involves multiple tasks • Emotional support • Personal care • Instrumental help • Financial management • Making decisions about care and arranging required care

46. Stressors of Caregiving • Transformation of a cherished relationship – when caregiver is a spouse, an all consuming role • Problematic physical behaviors – caregiver is responsible for all daily personal care and feels the stress • Cognitive impairments – taking care of a cognitively impaired parent suffering from dementia or Alzheimer’s

47. Stressors of Adult Child Caregivers • Receiving complaints and criticisms from parents • Uncooperative and demanding parents • Agitated parents • Forgetful or unresponsive parents • Helping with personal needs • Managing a parent’s financial and legal affairs • Receiving little help from family or friends

48. Rewards of Caregiving • Knowing a parent is well cared for • Spending quality time with parent • Enjoying parents affection and appreciation • Seeing parent derive pleasure from small things • Seeing a parent calm and content • Experiencing a closer relationship with parent

49. Parents Losses Independence Financial stability Social network Adult Children’s Losses time and freedom additional stressors The Sandwich Generation • Being in the middle between two generations • Parenting young children • Caring for aging parents

50. Parent’s Needs • physical • financial • emotional • business • spiritual • Adult Children’s Needs • nurture their own relationship • guard their own health • parenting out of love • being realistic