Research

my questions:
4. at what age do old people become depressed or lonely?

"The reported prevalence of loneliness was 15.6 per cent in 1992 and 29.6 per cent in 2000. We suggest that part of the differential is accounted for by the differences in the methodologies of the two surveys and in the questions used to assess loneliness. The evidence from both surveys suggests that loneliness was relatively prevalent among those aged 65 or more years, females and those living in rural areas, and that these variations had greater amplitude in 2000."

8. What percentage of old people live on their own?

"In 1987, 8.5 million elderly lived alone; by 2020, 13.3 million elderly will live alone.
More than 6.5 million, or 77%, of all elderly living alone are women. The percentage of older women living alone exceeds that of men in each age group, but women become progressively more likely than men to live alone with age.
Among those over 85. 52% of women live alone compared to 29% for men. Widowhood is by far the most common situation for older women who live alone.
Between the ages of 65 and 74, 77% of women living alone are widows, as are 88% of those over 75.
Men who live alone are far more likely to be divorced or never to have married. This phenomenon occurs because women tend to marry men older than themselves, and because women live longer than men. "

http://www.copperwiki.org/index.php/Loneliness
http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=1822784

Other people's questions:
11. How many old people live in poverty?

Seniors’ economic security will only increase in importance as the U.S. population ages. The nation’s health and social services resources will face unprecedented demand as 75 million people in the baby boomer generation reach retirement age—some with eroded savings and retirement accounts...Between 1959 and 1974, the elderly poverty rate fell from 35 percent to 15 percent. This was largely attributable to a set of increases in Social Security benefits. The elderly poverty rate has continued to decline in subsequent decades, reaching 9.4 percent in 2006. Social Security and Supplemental Security Income benefits continue to play a key role in reducing elderly poverty, especially among women and people of color. If Social Security benefits did not exist, an estimated 44 percent of the elderly would be poor today, assuming no changes in behavior."

14. what % of old people are sexually active?

The nationally representative survey of more than 3,000 U.S. adults ages 57 to 85 found that more than half to three-quarters of those questioned remain sexually active, with a significant proportion engaging in frequent and varied sexual behavior...Sexual problems do increase with age, and the rate of sexual activity fades somewhat, the survey found. But interest in sex remains high and the frequency remains surprisingly stable among the physically able who are lucky enough to still have partners.

15. What's the percentage of old people who go to nursing homes?

According to the 1997 National Nursing Home Survey, there were 1,465,000 residents age 65 and older in nursing homes (about 4.3 percent of the US population age 65 and older in 1997). Nearly three-fourths of these residents were women, and about one-half were age 85 and older.

In 1997, about 75 percent of all nursing home residents 65 and older required assistance in three or more activities of daily living, including bathing, dressing, eating, transferring from bed to chair, and using the toilet. About 42 percent of nursing home residents were diagnosed with dementia, and 12 percent had other psychiatric conditions, such as schizophrenia and mood disorders.

16. What's the suicide rate for elderly people?

"While the elderly make up only 12.6% of the population, they account for almost
18.1% of the suicides.
· There is one elderly suicide every one hour thirty-nine minutes.
· The suicide rate for the elderly rose 9% between 1980 and 1992. During that
rime, there were 74, 675 completed suicides of persons over 65. Rates have
declined since that time.
· In 2000, suicide rates ranged from 12.6 per 100,000 among persons aged 65 to
74, to 17.7 per 100,000 persons aged 75 to 84, which is nearly double the overall
U.S. rate.
· White men over the age of 85 are at the greatest risk of all age-gender-race
groups. In 1999, the suicide rate for these men was 59.6 per 100,000. That is
nearly 6 times the current overall rate."


http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2008/07/elderly_poverty.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/22/AR2007082202000.html

http://www.aarp.org/research/longtermcare/nursinghomes/aresearch-import-669-FS10R.html

http://www.211bigbend.org/hotlines/suicide/SuicideandtheElderly.pdf

Researching on the elderly, made me understand them a little better. I was pretty shocked to find out the suicide rates on old people. To know that, "In 2000, suicide rates ranged from 12.6 per 100,000 among persons aged 65 to 74, to 17.7 per 100,000 persons aged 75 to 84, which is nearly double the overall U.S. rate." it's really upseting to know that old people are feeling lonely and depressed. To also know that suicude rates are increasing is really scary. Anyone's grandma or grandpa is feeling alone and that is the reason why I would like things to change between our generations. We should include old people to our society and also include them into our daily lives.

Current feelings on old people

A paragraph about your current feelings about old people - how much you interact with folks that are old, some of your experiences and impressions and reactions to old people. How you think of them and how they think of you.

I don't usually interact with old people or hang out with them so it's difficult to describe the way I look at them. I dont have the best impressions of old people but I usually picture them as old, cranky,smelly people. Everytime I spot an old person I get so angry because they are either walking too slow and delaying my time or they are yelling at some young person about how rude and disrespectful they are. I don't spend a lot of time with my grandmas just because it's a little awkward. There's never a conversation that lasts more than five minutes. I feel like it's like this with every young person. There has been such generation gap between us, and we've gotten so used to this, it doesnt bother us anymore. I would like things to change between all ages and I always wonder how it would be if all generations communicated and got along. I think that old people have the same thoughts of us young people. They usually think of young people as rude, disrespectful, and loud people. We both have negative images of one another, the reason for this is because we never get the chance to get to know one another.

Questions

Social interactions/Old People

1. Who do you mostly interact with, people of your age or all ages?
2. Do you consider yourself very social?
3. Do you have many friends?
4. Would you say you are a lonely person? Why?
5. Do you have a family?
6. Do you go out often?
7. Are you married?
8. Do you live by yourself?
9. Do you take care of yourself or do you have others who take care of you? (my opinion:old people do not want to be a burden to others so they tend to be very grumpy and anti-social)
10. Do you have a best friend? If so what do you talk about when yoo're together?
11. How close are you to those you communicate with?
12. How much of the day do you spend on your own?
13. Do you travel a lot? If so, with whom? Family? friends?
14. How would you describe yourself?
15. If you have kids, how often do they check on you?
16. Who is the most imporant person in your life? Why?
17. Do you feel like you're invited into the multi-generation society?
18. Would you say that people like you as the person you are?
19. Do you consider yourself a nice person? Why or why not?

The Elderly

My definition of an old person would be when they hit a certain age such as 65 years old, they are out of tune with the current generation, or just rely on life as they live on. My opinion on old people is that they are grumpy, smelly, old, etc. This is the stereotypical answer you may get from young people regarding the topic on old people. The young generation is less likely to spend time with old people which makes us only create negative images of them. It isn't likely to see young people today spending time with their grandma or grandpa. We have been separated through age groups and to stick by that rule. Teenagers stick with people their own age and old people with people their own age. What if this was to change and we were united and mixed together?? There wouldn't be no seclusion between one another.

Some theories on why we don't know many old people were,
1. they live in homes
2. they don't like us (anyone younger than them)
3. we don't like them
4. Generation gap

LDH2BM Interviews

1. What would you like to accomplish in the future/before you die?
2. If you were to die right now, can you say you've lived a good and meaningful life?


Person 1

In the future I would like to travel to places I have never been to, I want to see new things that are out there, I've been stuck in the city for so long I want to be somewhere new. I want to live on my own and not have to bother others who have to take care of me and watch my every move. If I were to die now, I wouldn't be happy. I wouldn't feel like I lived a good and meaningful life because I never accomplished everything I wanted to, I haven't seen the good things in life.

Person 2

I don't have anything I would like to accomplish, I feel like my life has gone through good and bad times but I am grateful for everything that has happened. I've learned a lot as I have grown old so I would have to say if I were to die right now I can say my life has been very meaningful. I have a great family who love me and care for me so I have nothing to regret or feel bad for.


Person 3

I don't have anything I want to accomplish its more of what I would like to see in the future, I want there to be peace and tranquility in this world. I want to live my life without no worries. I don't want to rely on anyone for help, I would like to just take care of myself. If I were to doe now, I would die peacefully and happy. My life has been good to me I have nothing to complain about.

Interview

I didn't get to get an interview with my grandma due to health issues but I interviewed my father and mother who thought as an elderly person would in their eyes...

Questions:
1. What do you want to accomplish before you die?
My dad: "I would like to see my children and their future children be successful people in life. I want to make sure that they never need to depend on anyone but themselves. Its not really what I want to accomplish its what I want to see happen. I want to see the ones I care about succeed in life before anything else."

My mom: "I just want to live a peaceful life without any hatred and violence. Although I never finished my education which would have took me farther in any profession I wanted, I feel like I have accomplished a lot. I have two great kids, a home, a job, and I'm living, that's all I can ask for."

2. Have you done everything you wanted in life?
No, I haven't but I can still say I am proud of what I have achieved in life. I am happy with my life so far, I can't complain."

3. If you were to die right now, can you say you have lived a good life?
Yes, I enjoyed my childhood and now all I want to do is watch my children do the same.

As we learned in class today, "in our culture, people treat old people as relics of the past" this is so true. Every time we see or look at the elderly we think of their past never their future. We ask them questions in the past tense. We never really think about them in a positive way and some might feel that there is no reason for "old people" to live, I mean all we see is that they can't walk, they can't take care of themselves...Sometimes I feel that when you get old you really start to live you're wiser and you know your right from wrong, you catch yourself looking at the young generation and watch as they make the same mistakes you made when you were younger. Personally, we should take a deeper look into how we view things in life other than to judge people directly.

Questions (5)

1. What would you like to accomplish in the future/before you die?
2. What is the most important thing in your life?
3. What has been the most meaningful time in your life so far?
4. If you were to die right now, can you say you've lived a good and meaningful life?
5. Has there ever been a time that you have thought that your life was meaningless? How so...