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10.1: Gerontology

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    308843
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    The United States of America is inhabited by many diverse people, including distinguishable generations of society's members based on age. Gerontology is the scientific study of the processes and phenomena of aging and growing old. Depending on the definition of being elderly, the government typically sets 65 to be the elderly years, the American Association of Retired Persons finds 50 to be the eligible age of membership, and many elderly define their 70 's or 80 's as the time they begin to feel elderly.
    Gerontology is multi-disciplinary with medical and biological scientists, social scientists, and even financial and economic scientists all studying the processes of aging from their disciplines point of view.

    Social gerontology is the sociological subfield of gerontology which focuses on the social aspects of aging. Sociology focuses on the broad understanding of the elderly experience, their health, their emotional and social wellness, and their quality of life just to mention a few. Family Gerontology is the subfield that focuses on the family experiences of elderly persons. As of 2008, 12.7\% of the U.S. population was 65 years and older www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/print/us.html). It is projected to grow to 20\% by the year 2050 (www.census.gov/ipc/www/usinterimproj/natprojtab02a.pdf).

    Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\) illustrates the growth in the proportion of the elderly to the non-elderly from 2000 and projecting to 2050 . Figure \(\PageIndex{2}\) compares the younger elderly (65-84) to the oldest old (85 years and older) population which is expected to more than double between 2010 and 2050. This means that in general more people are living longer. In fact there are more Centenarians than ever before. A centenarian is \(a\) living person who has had her \(100^{\text {th }}\) birthday. U.S. Census counts indicated about 37,000 centenarians in 1990 and about 50,000 in 2000 (Kestenbaum \& Reneé, 2006).

    In many societies the elderly are revered (especially in Asian societies). Filial piety is the value, respect, and reverence of one's elderly which is often accompanied by caregiving and support of the elderly. Grandparents and even great-grandparents are valued and included in the home of the mother, father, and their children. These families are enriched by three and sometimes four generations of family members supporting the socialization of the younger members of the family. In Western countries, the elderly and their extended family are considered co-equals and mutually independent until circumstances necessitate assistance from children and other family members.

    Bar graph comparing two datasets, with blue bars for "E-04" and orange bars for "E-01," showing varying heights.
    Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\): . Estimated Percentage of U.S. Population that will be Elderly 65+, and Non-elderly, 2000-2050. 1
    Bar chart comparing two age groups: 18-34 (blue) and 35+ (orange) across several categories, showing varying heights.
    Figure \(\PageIndex{2}\): Estimated Percentage of U.S. Population that will be 65-84, and 85+, 2000-2050 2

    Footnotes

    1. (www.census.gov/ipc/www/usinterimproj)

    2. (www.census.gov/ipc)


    10.1: Gerontology is shared under a CC BY 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by LibreTexts.