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Introduction to aging and the elderly Read Online
13.1 Who are the elderly? aging in society Read Online
13.2 The process of aging Read Online
Madame Jeanne Calment of France was the world's oldest living person until she died at 122 years old; there are currently six women in the world whose ages are well documented as 115 years or older (Diebel 2014).
Supercentenarians are people living to 110 years or more. In August 2014, there were seventy-five verified supercentenarians worldwide—seventy-three women and two men. These are people whose age has been carefully documented, but there are almost certainly others who have not been identified. The Gerontology Research Group (2014) estimates there are between 300 and 450 people worldwide who are at least 110 years of age.
Centenarians are people living to be 100 years old, and they are approximately 1,000 times more common than supercentenarians. In 2010, there were about 80,000 centenarians in the United States alone. They make up one of the fastest-growing segments of the population (Boston University School of Medicine 2014).
People over ninety years of age now account for 4.7 percent of the older population, defined as age sixty-five or above; this percentage is expected to reach 10 percent by the year 2050 (U.S. Census Bureau 2011). As of 2013, the U.S. Census Bureau reports that 14.1 percent of the total U.S. population is sixty-five years old or older.
The aging of the U.S. population has significant ramifications for institutions such as business, education, the healthcare industry, and the family, as well as for the many cultural norms and traditions that focus on interactions with and social roles for older people. “Old” is a socially defined concept, and the way we think about aging is likely to change as the population ages.
Boston University School of Medicine. 2014. “New England Centenarian Study Overview.” Retrieved November 2, 2014 (http://www.bumc.bu.edu/centenarian/overview/).
Diebel, Matthew. 2014. “Yes, Six People Born in the 19th Century Are Still With Us.” USA Today . Retrieved November 2, 2014 (http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/09/05/six-people-still-alive-who-were-born-in-the-19th-century/15122367/).
Gerontology Research Group. 2014. “Current Validated Living Supercentenarians.” Retrieved November 2, 2014 (http://www.grg.org/Adams/E.HTM).
United States Census Bureau. 2011. “Census Bureau Releases Comprehensive Analysis of Fast-Growing 90-and0Older Population.” Newsroom Archive , November 17. Retrieved November 1, 2014 (https://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/aging_population/cb11-194.html).
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Download MCQ Quiz PDF eBook
Question: Same-sex couple households account for _____ percent of American households.
Choices:
1
10
15
30
Question: The median age of first marriage has ______ in the last 50 years.
Choices:
increased for men but not women
decreased for men but not women
increased for both men and women
decreased for both men and women
Question: A woman being married to two men would be an example of:
Choices:
monogamy
polygyny
polyandry
cohabitation
Question: Couples who cohabitate before marriage are ______ couples who did not cohabitate before marriage to be married at least 10 years.
Choices:
far more likely than
far less likely than
slightly less likely than
equally as likely as
Question: Research suggests that people generally feel that their current family is _______ than the family they grew up with.
Choices:
less close
more close
at least as close
none of the above
Question: Sociologists tend to define family in terms of
Choices:
how a given society sanctions the relationships of people who are connected through blood, marriage, or adoption
the connection of bloodlines
the status roles that exist in a family structure
how closely members adhere to social norms
Question: Current divorce rates are:
Choices:
at an all-time high
at an all-time low
steadily increasing
steadily declining
Question: Which of the following is a criticism of the family life cycle model?
Choices:
It is too broad and accounts for too many aspects of family.
It is too narrowly focused on a sequence of stages.
It does not serve a practical purpose for studying family behavior.
It is not based on comprehensive research.
Question: The majority of American children live in:
Choices:
two-parent households
one-parent households
no-parent households
multigenerational households
Question: A child who associates his line of descent with his father's side only is part of a _____ society.
Choices:
matrilocal
bilateral
matrilineal
patrilineal
Question: According to the study cited from the U.S. Census Bureau, children who live with ______ grow up with more advantages than children who live with ______.
Choices:
one unwed parent; one divorced parent
one divorced parent; two married parents
one grandparent; two married parents
one divorced parent; one unwed parent
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