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10.7: Roles

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    The study of aging would not be complete without focusing on family relationships and roles. Of the over 40 million elderly in the U.S., about 6 million still work for pay. About 7 million take adult education courses. About 21 million are married and about 13 million are widowed. Only about 1.4 million live in nursing homes. About 32 million own their homes. In the 65 plus age group there are only 73 men per 100 women (www.prb.org).

    Just how the future of elderly family relationships will be in coming decades is very difficult to predict. Many elderly live alone (regardless of any wishes to the contrary). The U.S. Census Bureau reported that among those 65+ there were about 3.5 million elderly single men with no spouse or partner and over 10 million elderly women with no spouse or partner (Kubler-Ross, 1973). Although many single older people might enjoy an intimate relationship with a partner or spouse, the rewards and costs are different for men and women in these age ranges. Combining retirement incomes and sharing living expenses might be appealing to both men and women but elderly women are faced with a biological truth that makes the possibility of another long-term intimate relationship less appealing-that is that men die younger than women. To marry a 65 year old man is to take on a potential caregiver role which may place the women in a stressful, very demanding, and perhaps overwhelming role. Some women have already been through something like this with a first, now deceased, husband. Many divorcees and never marrieds have found their life patterns to be established and difficult if not impossible to change. Thus, many elderly remain single and have friendships and intimacies without the long-term commitments that come with cohabiting or marrying.

    Table \(\PageIndex{1}\): Worldwide Percent of Persons Ages 65 and Older 7
    Year 2007 2025 2050
    World 7 10 16
    Industrialized Countries 16 21 26
    Developing Countries 6 9 15
    Europe 16 21 28
    North America 12 18 21
    Oceania 10 15 19
    Latin Am. and Caribbean 6 10 19
    Asia 6 10 18
    Africa 3 4 7
    Map of the world showing aging population percentage see Table below for details.
    Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\). Population Aging Worldwide 8

    What do trends for the unmarried in later life suggest to us? Quite simply more divorced and separated elderly are predicted. There are higher proportions of divorced and separated elderly now than in the past. This trend is not the same for widowhood. There is only a slight increase in widowhood compared to a dramatic increase in being divorced or separated. Another trend is the increasing numbers of those in the pre-elderly stages of life (ages 30-64). Among them we see increased rates of divorcing and remaining single. The Baby Boomers, born between 1946 and 1964, turn 65 starting in 2011 and continuing until 2029. This cohort has the highest documented divorce rates of any age-related cohort ever studied in the United States (from WWW.PRB.org).

    The number of elderly will nearly double by the time the last of the Baby Boomers reach 65 years in 2029. This leads to the conclusion that when the Baby Boomers reach age 65, the prevalence of divorced elderly will rise to an even higher level because of the sheer volume of divorced Baby Boomers who will also, for whatever reason, remain divorced into their later years. The loss of a lifetime career role-retirement-is a major life transition. Research finds that those who replace those roles with volunteerism and subsequent paid work seem to age more successfully than those who do not (Gasiorek \& Giles, 2013). About \(80 \%\) of older adults participate in formal and informal volunteerism (MorrowHawell, 2010). Volunteer roles become salient in later life as they replace career roles (Gasiorek \& Giles, 2013).

    Not all retirement years are created equally. Income comparisons of married versus divorced elderly males and females show that the highest median income levels are for married males. Married females have the lowest income level in part because this generation of elderly had a relatively high rate of traditional homemakers who have fewer Social Security retirement benefits than their husbands.

    Quality of life differences were investigated in the National Longitudinal Surveys-Mature Women data set. Elderly divorced and widowed women were more likely to still be in the labour force than married ones. Married women had the lowest levels of reported unhappiness and rarely enjoying life. Feeling sad was similar among all categories.

    Footnotes

    7. (www.census.org/ population/age/data/2008.html.

    8. (www.census.gov/compendia/statab/tables/08s0098.pdf).

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