AE Aging, 09/10

Preface

Correlation Guide

Topic Guide

Internet References

Unit 1:: The Phenomenon of Aging

Unit Overview

1. Elderly Americans, Christine L. Himes, Population Bulletin, December 2001

The author points out the ever-growing number and percentage of the American population comprising persons 65 years of age and above. Further, she observes that those over 65 are living longer than previous generations. Currently, those 85 and older are the fastest growing segment of the elderly population.

2. New Age Thinking, John B. Shoven, Foreign Policy, January/February 2008

The author argues that the aging of the world’s baby boomers will not be a crisis that it is expected to be. He contends that changing definitions of what we consider old will dramatically alter the lives of America’s senior citizens, keeping them working longer and making them productive citizens for a greater number of years.

3. Living Longer:: Diet and Exercise, Donna Jackson Nakazawa and Susan Crandell, AARP The Magazine, September/October 2006

These articles point out the current findings in the area of diet and exercise, that if followed, would increase the individual’s life expectancy by a number of years.

4. Living Healthy to 100, Dan Buettner, The Blue Zone, National Geographic Society, 2008

A remarkable group of centenarians living on Costa Rica’s Nicoya Peninsula share their secrets on living healthy to 100.

5. Will You Live to Be 100?, Thomas Perls and Margery Hutter Silver, Living to 100, 1999

After completing a study of 150 centenarians, Harvard Medical School researchers, Thomas Perls and Margery Hutter Silver, developed a quiz to help calculate one’s estimated life expectancy.

6. Faulty Fountains of Youth, Patrick Barry, Science News, Vol. 173, February 9, 2008

The author points out that much of the human body contains self-renewing stem cells. Scientists are now wondering whether changes in the bodies’ stem cells over time contributes to those physical characteristics that we consider to be the signs of aging.

Unit 2:: The Quality of Later Life

Unit Overview

7. Stop Smoking and Benefits Come Quickly, Jan Chait, Terre Haute Tribune-Star, May 10, 2007

The author outlines in detail the number of different ways your health will improve if you quit smoking. These improvements begin within 20 minutes after you have quit and continue for the next 15 years.

8. Life after Death, Bill Newcott, AARP The Magazine, September/October 2007

A large number of persons over 50 were asked what their religious beliefs were and if they believed in life after death. The results offer an intriguing view of America’s spiritual core.

9. Lifetime Achievements, Harvard Health Letter, July 2006

Harvard Medical School has developed a quiz that older persons can take to determine the number of health risks they are experiencing and how these are likely to affect their chances for survival or mortality.

10. We Can Control How We Age, Lou Ann Walker, Parade, September 16, 2001

A Harvard study followed individuals from their teens into their eighties, and as a result gives specific recommendations for what individuals can do to improve their chances of aging well.

Unit 3:: Societal Attitudes toward Old Age

Unit Overview

11. Society Fears the Aging Process, Mary Pipher, An Aging Population, 2002

The author contends that young and healthy adults often avoid spending time with old persons because it reminds them that someday they too are going to get old and die. Moreover, she contends that negative views of the aging process are portrayed in the media and expressed through the use of pejorative words to describe the elderly.

12. A Healthy Mind, a Longer Life, Lea Winerman, Monitor on Psychology, November 2006

The author examines how stereotypes of aging influence the older person’s physical and mental health. She observes how many older persons have internalized negative stereotypes of aging during the younger years and have difficulty discarding these negative views during their later life.

13. The Secret Lives of Single Women, Sarah Mahoney, AARP The Magazine, May/June 2006

The author points out a number of myths and stereotypes that the public holds regarding older single women and discusses the accuracy or inaccuracy of these perceptions.

14. The Under-Reported Impact of Age Discrimination and Its Threat to Business Vitality, Robert J. Grossman, Business Horizons, 2005

The author points out that, in a legal system slanted toward employers, many of the biases and negative stereotypes of older workers still perpetuate. Moreover, society’s lack of concern for this type of discrimination may prove costly as the workforce ages and older workers are more in demand to fill critical work roles.

Unit 4:: Problems and Potentials of Aging

Unit Overview

15. Alzheimer’s—The Case for Prevention, Oliver Tickell, The Ecologist, March 10, 2007

The author reviews current scientific findings that indicate what could be done in the areas of diet, nutrition, and lifestyle to reduce the individual’s risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease.

16. Trust and Betrayal in the Golden Years, Kyle G. Brown, The Globe and Mail, January 27, 2007

Kyle Brown points out the problems confronted by many older persons when they turn over the control of their finances and property to their children. Exploitation and abuse of elders by their children has become more widespread than ever imagined. Moreover, there are numerous and often insurmountable difficulties confronted by older persons attempting to resolve these problems.

17. Elderly Americans at Highest Risk for Suicide:: Few Prevention Programs Target Their Needs, Sarah Skidmore, Tribune-Star, Wednesday, September 18, 2007

The article indicates that a significantly higher number and percentage of the older population actually commit suicide. A number of possible causes of this problem as well as what prevention measures might be adopted by the federal government are presented here.

18. The Extent and Frequency of Abuse in the Lives of Older Women and Their Relationship with Health Outcomes, Bonnie S. Fisher and Saundra L. Regan, The Gerontologist, vol. 46, no. 2, 2006

The authors point out that nearly half of the women had experienced at least one type of abuse—psychological/emotional, control, threat, physical or sexual—since turning 55 years old. Many women experienced multiple types of abuse and experienced abuse often.

Unit 5:: Retirement:: American Dream or Dilemma?

Unit Overview

19. Retire Right, Consumer Reports, February 2008

The findings of a survey of 6,700 retirees, who answered questions about their retirement decisions and what did and didn’t work for them, are reported in this article.

20. Money for Life, Jane Bryant Quinn, AARP Bulletin, October 2007

The author lists and explains the five steps that a person should take throughout their adult life to ensure an adequate retirement income.

21. Old. Smart. Productive., Peter Coy, BusinessWeek, June 27, 2005

The baby boom generation is now approaching the age when most Americans choose to retire. The author points out the reasons for why he believes a significant number and percentage of this generation will work beyond age 65.

22. Low-Cost Retirement, Paul J. Lim and Emily Brandon, U.S. News & World Report, April 9, 2007

The authors point out that many retirees have smaller savings accounts than is necessary to live comfortably. The different means utilized by retirees to increase their monthly incomes to an acceptable level are presented in this article.

23. Work/Retirement Choices and Lifestyle Patterns of Older Americans, Harold Cox et al., Journal of Applied Sociology, Number 1, 2001

This article reviews six different patterns of work, retirement, and leisure from which people of retirement age may choose. Measures of life satisfaction are given to participants in each of the six groups to determine who are most satisfied with their lives.

Unit 6:: The Experience of Dying

Unit Overview

24. Development of Hospice and Palliative Care in the United States, Stephen R. Connor, Omega, Vol. 56(1), 2007–2008

The article outlines the history of palliative care in the United States. Many of the current problems of palliative care are presented including the need for regulatory changes, workforce issues, improving access to care, and improving the quality of palliative care.

25. The Grieving Process, Michael R. Leming and George E. Dickinson, Understanding Dying, Death, and Bereavement, 2007

The authors outline and describe the stages of grief that the individual goes through after experiencing the death of a loved one.

26. Moving toward Peace:: An Analysis of the Concept of a Good Death, Karen A. Kehl, American Journal of Hospice & Palliative Medicine, Vol. 23(4), August/September 2006

The author analyzed 42 articles related to the subject of a good death. She lists and describes the attributes of a good death that were presented in these articles.

27. Mind Frames towards Dying and Factors Motivating Their Adoption by Terminally Ill Elders, Tracy A. Schroepfer, Journals of Gerontology, vol. 61B, no. 3, 2006

The author lists and describes six mind frames the person can hold regarding their own death once they recognize that they are terminally ill. These range from neither ready nor accepting of their own death to considering a hastened death with a specific plan in mind.

Unit 7:: Living Environment in Later Life

Unit Overview

28. Making Your House Work, Cathie Gandel, AARP Bulletin, January/February 2008

The author outlines and discusses the advantages and disadvantages for older couples who choose to remain in their current home by taking a reverse mortgage.

29. The Nursing Home Culture-Change Movement:: Recent Past, Present, and Future Directions for Research, Anna N. Rahman and John F. Schnelle, The Gerontologist, Vol. 48, No. 2, 2008

The article is a critique of the research base underlying the nursing home culture- change movement, which involved the nation’s nursing homes in offering resident-directed care and empowering staff to make many of the work-related decisions.

30. The Place of Assisted Living in Long-Term Care and Related Service Systems, Robyn I. Stone and Susan C. Reinhard, The Gerontologist, Vol. 47, Special Issue III, 2007

The article outlines the multitude of assisted-living options made available in different states throughout the country. Included among these are independent senior housing with services, freestanding assisted-living facilities, nursing home expansion, and continuing care retirement communities.

31. Declaration of Independents:: Home Is Where You Want to Live Forever. Here’s How, Barbara Basler, AARP Bulletin, December 2005

Boston’s Beacon Hill was a residential neighborhood that the residents have now turned into a non-profit association, which helps its 320 members with virtually any service they need on a 24-hour basis for a discounted fee. The goal for establishing the nonprofit association was to allow people to live in their current homes for the rest of their lives.

Unit 8:: Social Policies, Programs, and Services for Older Americans

Unit Overview

32. The Economic Conundrum of an Aging Population, Robert Ayres, World Watch Magazine, September/October 2004

The drop in the crude birth rate and an increase in life expectancy have resulted in the aging of the population in a large number of industrialized, affluent countries throughout the world. The author examines the effect of a smaller labor force and a larger older, retired population on these nations’ economies and productivity.

33. Social Security’s 70th Anniversary:: Surviving 20 Years of Reform, L. Randall Wray, The Levy Economics Institute, Policy Note 2005/2006

The author points out that Social Security is among the nation’s most long-lived and successful programs. He disputes some of the major criticisms of the program and argues that the program will remain solvent and continue to provide a measure of security for aged persons, survivors, and disabled persons well into the future.

34. Age Wave, Gov. Janet Napolitano, Blueprint, 2007

The author points out what is being done to the state of Arizona’s service delivery system to prepare for the new demands of an aging population.

35. Coverage for All, Patricia Barry, AARP Bulletin, July/August 2006

The author points out the advantages that a universal health care program would offer for Americans. The recently approved universal health care programs in the states of Massachusetts and Vermont, are seen as moves in the direction of universal coverage and may well be a predictor of the future direction of and change in health care coverage and costs.

36. Riding into the Sunset:: The Geezer Threat, William Greider, The Nation, June 27, 2005

Given the problems of the demise of many pension and retirement programs, the author proposes a universal savings system that is mandatory and could prove to be as durable as Social Security.

37. Paying for It, Sylvester J. Schieber, The Wilson Quarterly, Spring 2006

The author examines how a number of different countries divide the benefits of their universal retirement programs between income redistribution systems that give low income workers larger returns and those that base the individual recipient’s returns on his income and how much he paid into the program during his working years.

38. As Good as It Gets, Mike Edwards, AARP The Magazine, November/December 2004

The author compares 16 nations from around the world for how well they provided retirement incomes, home care, health care, prescription drugs, and related services to their senior citizens. The Netherlands ranked at the top in terms of government benefits provided to its older citizens.

39. Population Aging, Entitlement Growth, and the Economy, Prepared by John Gist, AARP Public Policy Institute, January 2007

The article points out what would have to be done in terms of current social service programs and federal taxation to maintain the programs and to hold the government deficit to a level that is no larger than it is today in the year 2050.

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