PYC 4805 – Developmental
Psychology
Chapter 14 –
Healthy Aging
, 1.Demographic Trends and Social Policy:
1.1. Demographic Trends - 2030:
• Changes in the composition of the older adult population contributes to potentially critical
issues that will emerge over the next few decades.
• One especially important effect concerns the potential for intergenerational conflict.
- Because the resources and roles in a society are never divided equally among different
age groups, the potential for conflict always exists.
• Between now and 2030, the following changes will have set in:
1) The proportion of older adults in the United States will nearly double.
2) Older adults will be more educated, politically sophisticated, and organized than past
generations. They will be familiar with life in a highly complex society where one
must learn to deal with bureaucracies, and they will be proficient users of the Internet
and technology in general.
3) Older adults will expect to keep their affluent lifestyle, Social Security benefits,
Medicare or health care benefits, and other benefits accrued throughout their adult
life. A comfortable retirement will be viewed as a right, not a privilege. However, they
will not, on average, have the financial savings necessary to support those
expectations.
4) The dependency ratio will change. The dependency ratio reflects the number of
people under age 15 and over age 64 in a country. The dependency ratio provides
insights into the relative number of people who have to provide the financial support
for others not as able to do so. The lower the number, the more workers are needed
to pay taxes to provide the revenue for social support programs.
5) The increase in divorce that has occurred over the past few decades may result in a
lowered sense of obligation on the part of middle-aged adults toward parents or
stepparents who are not involved in their upbringing, or who the adult child feels
disrespected the other parent. Should this lowered sense of obligation result, it is
likely fewer older adults will have family members available to care for them, placing
a significantly greater burden on society.
6) The rapid increase in the number of ethnic minority older adults compared to
European American older adults will force a reconsideration of issues such as health
care disparities and access to goods and services, on one hand, as well as provide a
much richer and broader understanding of the aging process on the other hand.
1.2. Social Security and Medicare:
• Unprecedented gains for the average older person have occurred in nearly every aspect of
life, changing the way they are viewed and the roles they play in society.
- When it comes to income, those gains have stopped since the Great Recession.
Psychology
Chapter 14 –
Healthy Aging
, 1.Demographic Trends and Social Policy:
1.1. Demographic Trends - 2030:
• Changes in the composition of the older adult population contributes to potentially critical
issues that will emerge over the next few decades.
• One especially important effect concerns the potential for intergenerational conflict.
- Because the resources and roles in a society are never divided equally among different
age groups, the potential for conflict always exists.
• Between now and 2030, the following changes will have set in:
1) The proportion of older adults in the United States will nearly double.
2) Older adults will be more educated, politically sophisticated, and organized than past
generations. They will be familiar with life in a highly complex society where one
must learn to deal with bureaucracies, and they will be proficient users of the Internet
and technology in general.
3) Older adults will expect to keep their affluent lifestyle, Social Security benefits,
Medicare or health care benefits, and other benefits accrued throughout their adult
life. A comfortable retirement will be viewed as a right, not a privilege. However, they
will not, on average, have the financial savings necessary to support those
expectations.
4) The dependency ratio will change. The dependency ratio reflects the number of
people under age 15 and over age 64 in a country. The dependency ratio provides
insights into the relative number of people who have to provide the financial support
for others not as able to do so. The lower the number, the more workers are needed
to pay taxes to provide the revenue for social support programs.
5) The increase in divorce that has occurred over the past few decades may result in a
lowered sense of obligation on the part of middle-aged adults toward parents or
stepparents who are not involved in their upbringing, or who the adult child feels
disrespected the other parent. Should this lowered sense of obligation result, it is
likely fewer older adults will have family members available to care for them, placing
a significantly greater burden on society.
6) The rapid increase in the number of ethnic minority older adults compared to
European American older adults will force a reconsideration of issues such as health
care disparities and access to goods and services, on one hand, as well as provide a
much richer and broader understanding of the aging process on the other hand.
1.2. Social Security and Medicare:
• Unprecedented gains for the average older person have occurred in nearly every aspect of
life, changing the way they are viewed and the roles they play in society.
- When it comes to income, those gains have stopped since the Great Recession.
