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• Quiz Answers • Family Emergency Preparedness! • Personal Care Home Safety Tips • Housing Options for Older Adults • Selecting a Home Care Agency
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1. Not smoking or drinking is the single most important contributor to successful aging False. Exercise, physical fitness is at the crux of successful aging regardless of other factors, according to Rowe and Kahn, authors of the book Successful Aging (Dell, 1998). However, other very important factors include maintaining disease and disability prevention strategies, maintaining mental functioning, and active engagement in life through friends and productive activities. 2. The majority of people age 75 and over have poor health. False. 66 percent of individuals aged 75 and older self report that their health is either good or very good. Only 34 percent report fair or poor health, according to the National Council on Aging 2002 update on American Perceptions of Aging in the 21st Century (NCOA, 409 Third St., SW, Washington, D.C.; www.ncoa.org.) 3. Twenty percent of senior adults currently live in nursing homes. False. Between 4 and 5 percent of all senior adults aged 65 and older are currently living in nursing homes. However, with increasing age, the chances that an older adult will need the services of a nursing facility increase, sometimes for only a short period of recuperation after an illness, other times for long-term care. 4. Older adults have more acute (short-term) illnesses than do younger persons. False. The incidence of acute or temporary conditions, such as infections or the common cold, decreases with age, although those that do occur can be more debilitating and require more care. Older people are much more likely than the young to suffer from chronic conditions. These are long-term (more than three months), often permanent, and leave a residual disability that may require long-term management or care rather than cure. More than 80 percent of persons age 65 and over have at least one chronic condition, with multiple health problems being common. Arthritis is the most commonly occurring chronic condition. 5. Most older people are set in their ways and unable to change. False. The majority of older people are not "set in their ways and unable to change." There is some evidence that older people tend to become more stable in their attitudes, but it is clear that most older people do change. To survive, they must adapt to many events of later life such as retirement, children leaving home, widowhood, moving to new homes, and serious illness. Their political and social attitudes also tend to shift with those of the rest of society, although at a somewhat slower rate than for younger people. 6. Older workers have less absenteeism than do younger workers. True. Negative perceptions of older workers persist because of health issues, diminished energy, discomfort with technology, closeness to retirement, and reaction to change in the work place -- all associated with older adults. To the contrary, research identified characteristics of low turnover, less voluntary absenteeism and fewer injuries in older workers. Recent high ratings of older workers from employers cite loyalty, dependability, emotional stability, and congeniality with co-workers, and consistent and accurate work outcomes. While more are retiring earlier and spending fewer years working, older workers will be in greater demand with dwindling entrants into the work force. 7. The modern family takes care of its elderly. True. Evidence from several studies and national surveys indicates that families are the major care providers for impaired older adults. Families provide 70 to 80 percent of the in-home care for older relatives with chronic impairments. Family members have cared for the typical older adult who reaches a long-term care setting for a significant amount of time first. Research has shown that adult children are the primary caregivers for older widowed women and older unmarried men, and they are the secondary caregivers in situations where the spouse of an older person is still alive. Parent care has become a predictable and nearly universal experience across the life course, although most people are not adequately prepared for it. 8. Participation in voluntary organizations (churches and clubs) tends to decline among the healthy aged. False. Women in their 30s and 40s comprise the greatest number of volunteers. However, forty percent of older adults volunteer. Older adults may be less likely to belong to organizations than younger persons, but more consistent in their activities and loyal to groups from middle age until their 60s. Volunteerism is correlated with life satisfaction, usefulness, physical and mental well being and a sense of accomplishment. Persons with higher education and income levels, histories of volunteerism and broad interests are more likely to volunteer. Health problems, lack of transportation and limited income may limit volunteer activities. 9. Older people adapt as well as younger people when they relocate to a new environment. True. While some older people may experience a period of prolonged adjustment, there is no evidence that there is special harmfulness in elderly relocation. Studies of community residents and of institutional movers have found an approximately normal distribution of outcomes -- some positive, some negative, mostly neutral or mixed and small in degree. For many relocation brings a better fit between personal needs and the demands of the physical and social environment. Research generally has demonstrated that adjustment to residential relocation is determined, at least in part, by perceived predictability and controllability and by the similarity between the originating and receiving environments. 10. As people grow older their intelligence declines significantly. False. Although there are some circumstances where the statement may hold true, current research evidence suggests that intellectual performance in healthy individuals holds up well into old age. The average magnitude of intellectual decline is typically small in the 60s and 70s and is probably of little significance for competent behavior. There is more average decline for most abilities observed once the 80s are reached, although even in this age range there are substantial individual differences. Little or no decline appears to be associated with being free of cardiovascular disease, little decline in perceptual speed, at least average socioeconomic status, a stimulating and engaged lifestyle, and having flexible attitudes and behaviors at mid-life. The good news is that research data now indicate that intellectual decline can be modified by modest interventions.
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. . . . . . . . . . . . Facts of Aging Quiz |
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