Introduction
The American society of today strongly values and caters to Generation X with advertising, product development and societal norms perpetuating the idea and values of a youthful society; however, a revolution may be around the corner. Just as the baby boomers “caused a social revolution in the late ‘60s” (Barr, 1999, par. 2), they may cause a millennium social revolution that embraces aging and generates changes in geriatric services.
Baby boomers account for a significant number of our population. During the post World War II era, sociologists noted a significant rise in “number and rate of births to women aged 15-44” (Morgan, 1998, p. 10) from 1946 until 1964. Baby boomers are now reaching middle age, and will over the next few decades reach old age causing a demographic shift with the potential to influence and change the societal norms and beliefs about the aging and the elderly. The United States population aged 65 and over was 33.2 million in 1994 with forecasts from the Census Bureau that this demographic group will more than double to 80 million elderly in 2050 (Economics and Statistics Administration, 1995).
Medical advances, a decline in birth rates, increased wealth and improved public awareness of wellness and prevention have also affected the increased number of elderly, according to Peter G. Peterson (1999) in the book Gray Dawn: How the Coming Age Wave will Transform America– and the World. These factors have contributed to an aging society by increasing the average life expectancy in the United States “by twenty-eight years since the year 1900” (Butler, Lewis, and Sunderland, 1998, p. 3).
The impact of the baby boom demographic group has the potential to revolut...
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Butler, R. N., Lewis, M. I., and Sunderland, T. (Eds.). (1998). Aging and mental health: positive psychosocial and biomedical approaches (5th ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Takamura, J.C. (1999). Getting ready for the 21st Century: The aging of America and the older
Jacobsen, L. A., Kent, M., Lee, M., & Mather, M. (2001). America's aging population. Population Bulletin, 66(1).
An aging population is indeed a problem for the society and will possibly cause many social and economic difficulties in the future. According to David Foot (2003), professor of Economics at University of Toronto, an effective birth rate of 2.2% against current 1.75% will be necessary to replace the current work force in the near future and the government’s policy of bringing in more immigrants will eventually fail (Foot, 2003, 2). However some people predict that the increased size of an aging population will drive growth in the home, health care, and many other industries resulting in job creation and economic growth (Marketwire, 2013, 1). Majority of the people are of the opinion that the issue will be mainly in the health care and economic activity. As humans age, they start to develop health problems, leading to more visits to a medical clinic putting extra burden on health care system.
boomers take their knowledge and skills with them as they face retirement. As of now
Hiller, S. M., & Barrow, G. M. (2011). Aging, the individual, and society. (9th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.
The Baby Boomer Generation (Born between 1946 and 1964) was born into the post-World War II economic prosperity and opportunity (Weston, 2006). Baby Boomers were members in smaller families and were doted on by parents, schools, and society as a whole (Weston, 2006). For the most part, they grew up in two-parent households where the father earned the family income and the mother was the home caretaker (Weston, 2006). News became more visual and dramatic as world-changing events such as men landing on the moon and the shooting of a president were seen on television (Weston,
Hooyman, N., & Kiyak, H. A. (2011). Social gerontology: A multidisciplinary perspective (9th ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon. (Original work published 2005)
In today’s society, what was once said to be true and taken as fact regarding older people is no longer the whole story. As Laslett states, “At all times before the middle of the twentieth century and all over the globe the greater part of human life potential has been wasted, by people dying before their allotted time was up.” (1989a), and to a great extent a lot
Aging and old age for a long time presented as dominated by negative traits and states such as sickness, depression and isolation. The aging process is not simply senescence most people over the age of 65 are not Senile, bedridden, isolated, or suicidal (Aldwin & Levenson, 1994). This change in perspective led the investigation of the other side of the coin. Ageing is seen as health, maturity and personal Royal growth, self-acceptance, happiness, generatively, coping and acceptance of age-related constraints (Birren & Fisher, 1995). Psychological und...
Darby, S. Marr, J. Crump, A Scurfield, M (1999) Older People, Nursing & Mental Health. Oxford: Buterworth-Heinemann.
As the population of the United States ages and lifespan increases, the U.S. is being faced with challenges that could either hurt the country or benefit it if plans are executed correctly. By the year 2050, more than thirty-two million Americans will be over the age eighty and the share of the 80-plus generation will have doubled to 7.4 percent. Health care and aging population has become a great deal considering the impact it is having on the U.S. The United States is heading into another century with an outstanding percentage of people within the aging population. Today’s challenges involving health care and the aging populations are the employees of health professions being a major percentage of the aging population, the drive into debt, and prevention and postponement of disease and disability.
Today, the world’s population is aging at a very fast pace and the United States is no exception to this demographic change. According to the U.S Census Bureau, senior citizens will account for 21% of the American population in 2050 (Older Americans, 2012). Although living longer lives may not seem like a negative sign, living longer does not necessarily mean living healthier. Older adults of today are in need of long-term health care services more than any generation before them (Older Americans, 2012). Because of the growing need for senior care, millions of families are facing critical decisions on how to provide care for their parents.
Uhlenberg, Peter. 1992. “Population Aging and Social Policy.” Annual Review, Sociology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
Aging and being old was dominated by negative characteristics and conditions such as illness, depression, and isolation for a long time (Eibach, Mock, & Courtney, 2010). At first glance the terms “success” and “aging” seem to be in conflict to each other. When asking people about aging, their answers have many facets that are also found in psychological definitions: successful aging is seen as health, maturity and personal growth, self-acceptance, happiness, generativity, coping, and acceptance of age-related limitations. In the psychological sense successful aging is also often seen as the absence of age-associated characteristics (Strawbridge, Wallhagen, & Cohen, 2002). It seems that successful aging means is not aging.
Loue, S. and Sajatovic, M. 2007. Encyclopedia of aging and public health. New York: Springer.