13.1 Who Are the Elderly? Aging in Society
In most countries, elderly women ______ than elderly men.
- are mistreated less
- live a few years longer
- suffer fewer health problems
- deal with issues of aging better
America’s baby boomer generation has contributed to all of the following except:
- Social Security’s vulnerability
- improved medical technology
- Medicaid being in danger of going bankrupt
- rising Medicare budgets
The measure that compares the number of men to women in a population is ______.
- sex ratio
- baby boomer
The “graying of the United States” refers to ________.
- the increasing percentage of the population over sixty-five years old
- faster aging due to stress
- dissatisfaction with retirement plans
- increased health problems such as Alzheimer’s
What is the approximate median age of the United States?
13.2 The Process of Aging
Thanatology is the study of _____.
- life expectancy
- biological aging
- death and dying
In Erik Erikson’s developmental stages of life, with which challenge must older people struggle?
- Overcoming despair to achieve integrity
- Overcoming role confusion to achieve identity
- Overcoming isolation to achieve intimacy
- Overcoming shame to achieve autonomy
Who wrote the book On Death and Dying, outlining the five stages of grief?
- Ignatz Nascher
- Erik Erikson
- Elisabeth Kübler-Ross
- Carol Gilligan
For individual people of a certain culture, the life course is ________.
- the average age they will die
- the lessons they must learn
- the length of a typical bereavement period
- the typical sequence of events in their lives
In the United States, life expectancy rates in recent decades have ______.
- continued to gradually rise
- gone up and down due to global issues such as military conflicts
- lowered as healthcare improves
- stayed the same since the mid-1960s
13.3 Challenges Facing the Elderly
Today in the United States the poverty rate of the elderly is ______.
- lower than at any point in history
- the same as that of the general population
Which action reflects ageism?
- Enabling WWII veterans to visit war memorials
- Speaking slowly and loudly when talking to someone over age sixty-five years old
- Believing that older people drive too slowly
- Living in a culture where elders are respected
Which factor most increases the risk of an elderly person suffering mistreatment?
- Bereavement due to widowhood
- Having been abusive as a younger adult
- Being frail to the point of dependency on care
- The ability to bestow a large inheritance on survivors
If elderly people suffer abuse, it is most often perpetrated by ______.
Veterans are two to four times more likely to ______ as people who did not serve in the military.
- be a victim of elder abuse
- commit suicide
- be concerned about financial stresses
- be abusive toward care providers
13.4 Theoretical Perspectives on Aging
Which assertion about aging in men would be made by a sociologist following the functionalist perspective?
- Men view balding as representative of a loss of strength.
- Men tend to have better retirement plans than women.
- Men have life expectancies three to five years shorter than women.
- Men who remain active after retirement play supportive community roles.
An older woman retires and completely changes her life. She is no longer raising children or working. However, she joins the YWCA to swim every day. She serves on the Friends of the Library board. She is part of a neighborhood group that plays Bunco on Saturday nights. Her situation most closely illustrates the ______ theory.
An older man retires from his job, stops golfing, and cancels his newspaper subscription. After his wife dies, he lives alone, loses touch with his children, and stops seeing old friends. His situation most closely illustrates the _______ theory.
What is the primary driver of modernization theory?
The Age Discrimination in Employment Act counteracts which theory?
- Age stratification