Deck 15: Aging and the Elderly

Question 1

Biological changes that accompany growing old include:

A) less keen senses.
B) loss of height and weight.
C) wrinkles in the skin and graying of the hair.
D) All of the above are correct.

Answer 1

D

Question 2

Causes for the increase in the elderly population include:

A) increases in both the birth rate and life expectancy.
B) decreases in both the birth rate and life expectancy.
C) a decreasing birth rate and increasing life expectancy.
D) an increasing birth rate and decreasing life expectancy.

Answer 2

C

Question 3

Assume you have a business that provides products to older people. Looking ahead, you have reason to expect:

A) a bright future, because your target population is increasing in size.
B) a dim future, because your target population is getting smaller.
C) little change, because your target population will remain stable.
D) that your target population will, more and more, be men.

Answer 3

A

Question 4

In general, seniors with higher incomes:

A) have more health problems than people with lower incomes.
B) assess their health in better terms than people with lower incomes.
C) have the same level of health as people with lower incomes.
D) die earlier due to high consumption of rich foods.

Question 5

The median (middle case) age of the U.S. population currently is about:

A) 16 years.
B) 36 years.
C) 56 years.
D) 66 years.

Question 6

The share of the elderly population is increasing quickly in:

A) the world's poorest nations.
B) all the world's nations.
C) the world's high-income nations.
D) the United States, but not elsewhere.

Question 7

Compared to the "young old," the "old old" in the United States:

A) contains a larger share of women.
B) is richer.
C) has better health.
D) All of the above are correct.

Question 8

How does industrialization change patterns of working for income for people over the age of sixty-five?

A) People continue working for as long as they can.
B) People begin to retire from paid work, often by about age sixty-five.
C) People come to see retirement from paid work as a sign of weakness.
D) The peak earning years shift later into the sixties and seventies.

Question 9

The concept "old-age dependency ratio" refers to:

A) the ratio of children to elderly people.
B) the ratio of elderly women to elderly men.
C) the ratio of working-age adults to non-working elderly people.
D) the ratio of people over age sixty-five to those under forty.

Question 10

The concept "gerontology" refers to:

A) estimating people's life expectancy.
B) a medical specialty dealing with old people.
C) the study of aging and the elderly.
D) a treatment that restores vitality to seniors.

Question 11

The concept "gerontocracy" refers to a society in which:

A) there is a pronounced "youth culture."
B) the richest people have most of the power and prestige.
C) religious leaders have the most power.
D) the oldest people have the most wealth, power, and prestige.

Question 12

In global terms, life expectancy is:

A) highest in the lowest-income countries.
B) about the same everywhere, but higher for women than for men.
C) about the same everywhere, but higher for men than for women.
D) highest in the highest-income countries.

Question 13

In the future, Japan's population will:

A) become smaller.
B) grow older, on average.
C) be supported by a smaller labor force.
D) All of the above are correct.

Question 14

The number of senior citizens in the United States:

A) already outnumbers teenagers.
B) increased tenfold over the last century.
C) will double again by 2030.
D) All of the above are correct.

Question 15

In general, industrialization has what effect on the social standing of the elderly relative to younger people?

A) It reduces the social standing of seniors.
B) There is little or no effect.
C) It raises the social standing of seniors.
D) It raises the social standing of older men but reduces it for women.

Question 16

What effect did industrialization have on life expectancy in the United States and Western Europe?

A) Life expectancy went up about thirty years.
B) There was little effect on life expectancy.
C) Life expectancy went down by about ten years.
D) Life expectancy rose for women but fell for men.

Question 17

A majority of people over the age of sixty-five in the United States:

A) consider their health "good" or "excellent."
B) report having trouble walking.
C) are bedridden.
D) require intensive care in a hospital or nursing home.

Question 18

Across the United States, there is a higher percentage of people who are elderly in which region of the country?

A) the East coast
B) the Midwest and Plains states
C) the West coast
D) the Gulf coast

Question 19

With advancing age, older people notice:

A) loss of height and weight.
B) less keen sensory abilities, including taste, sight, and hearing.
C) that minor injuries taker longer to heal.
D) All of the above are correct.

Question 20

Research suggests that, by and large, people reaching old age:

A) become more positive about life.
B) become more negative about life.
C) think and feel much the same about life as they did when they were younger.
D) have high levels of depression.

Question 21

Over the life course, poverty rates in the United States are lowest among those:

A) aged sixty-five and older.
B) aged fifty-five to sixty-four.
C) aged forty-five to fifty-four.
D) aged thirty-five to forty-four.

Question 22

For most U.S. seniors, who is the greatest source of social support?

A) staff at nursing homes
B) other seniors
C) family members
D) neighbors

Question 23

Bernice Neugarten claimed that people who experience old age most successfully are those with:

A) disintegrated and disorganized personalities.
B) passive-dependent personalities.
C) defended personalities.
D) integrated personalities.

Question 24

The median wealth (net worth) of U.S. seniors in 2005 was about:

A) $1,600.
B) $16,000.
C) $200,000.
D) $1,600,000.

Question 25

Most caregiving to older people in the United States is provided by:

A) the staff at nursing homes.
B) hospital staff.
C) women, typically daughters and wives.
D) senior friends and neighbors.

Question 26

The practice of older people retiring from work:

A) is as old as society itself.
B) emerged along with the spread of agriculture.
C) developed about a century ago along with industrialization.
D) emerged only in postindustrial societies.

Question 27

Social isolation is most commonly a problem for:

A) elderly men.
B) elderly women.
C) elderly men and women living with their children.
D) elderly men and women living with spouses.

Question 28

The concept "ageism" refers to:

A) failing to provide necessary care for the elderly.
B) the reality that we all grow old.
C) prejudice and discrimination against the elderly.
D) forcing elderly people to retire from paid work.

Question 29

The concept of "staged retirement" refers to:

A) carefully planning for retirement beginning in early adulthood.
B) requiring people to retire at age sixty-five.
C) working into old age, but at a reduced level.
D) finding other activities to fill the time once spent working.

Question 30

Which of the following statements about the living arrangements of the elderly in the United States is correct?

A) Most men live with spouses women are about equally likely to live with a spouse or to live alone.
B) Most men live in nursing homes or other assisted-living facilities most women live alone.
C) Most women live in nursing homes or other assisted-living facilities most men live alone.
D) Most men and women live in nursing homes or other assisted-living facilities.

Question 31

The type of society that typically operates as a gerontocracy is:

A) hunting and gathering.
B) industrial.
C) pastoral, horticultural, or agrarian.
D) postindustrial.

Question 32

Poverty rates among African American and Hispanic elders in the United States are:

A) about the same as among elderly, non-Hispanic whites.
B) two to three times higher than among elderly, non-Hispanic whites.
C) ten times higher than among elderly, non-Hispanic whites.
D) lower than among elderly, non-Hispanic whites.

Question 33

This chapter's "Seeing Sociology in the News" describes which of the following emerging patterns in U.S. society?

A) the increasing poverty among elderly people
B) the increasing number of grandparents raising their grandchildren
C) the development of private and public pension programs
D) the spread of elder-studies programs at colleges and universities

Question 34

Since 1960, the poverty rate among the U.S. elderly:

A) has dropped sharply.
B) has fluctuated up and down.
C) has remained stable.
D) has gone up.

Question 35

Which of the following situations increases the risk of elder abuse?

A) A caregiver to an older person also has a full-time job.
B) A caregiver to an older person also cares for his or her young children.
C) A caregiver to an older person has little help or support from other people.
D) All of the above are correct.

Question 36

Abuse of the elderly includes:

A) emotional harm.
B) physical neglect.
C) financial harm.
D) All of the above are correct.

Question 37

Gordon Streib concludes that older people:

A) are not a minority as, say, African Americans are.
B) are more disadvantaged than other minorities.
C) are an advantaged segment of the population.
D) have the highest risk of any age category of becoming poor.

Question 38

The poverty rate among people over the age of sixty-five is:

A) above the national average.
B) the same as the national average.
C) below the national average.
D) almost zero, since people receive Social Security.

Question 39

Age stratification is found in which of the following types of societies?

A) hunting and gathering
B) horticultural and pastoral
C) industrial
D) All of the above are correct.

Question 40

Among U.S. seniors, the gender gap in income:

A) does not exist.
B) is much smaller than it is for the population as a whole.
C) is greater than it is for the population as a whole.
D) is the same as it is for the population as a whole.

Question 41

Disengagement theory is guided by which theoretical approach?

A) the social-conflict approach
B) the structural-functional approach
C) the symbolic-interaction approach
D) the sociobiology approach

Question 42

Rising birth rates is a major factor driving up the elderly population.

Question 43

In today's society, most deaths occur in:

A) impersonal settings such as hospitals nursing homes.
B) the homes of people's children.
C) a person's own home.
D) a hospice.

Question 44

Compared to disengagement theory's focus on _____ activity theory has more of a focus on _____.

A) staying active the value of retirement
B) the operation of society the needs of elders themselves
C) society as a whole patterns of inequality
D) the negative aspects of aging the positive aspects of aging

Question 45

Following the ideas of Karl Marx, Steven Spitzer suggests that capitalist societies:

A) care more about the elderly than about children.
B) ensure that seniors have the most wealth.
C) treat the elderly as being the most wise.
D) devalue the elderly as less productive.

Question 46

Read the four terms below. Which of them is NOT one of the stages in the dying process used by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross?

A) denial
B) rejoicing
C) negotiation
D) acceptance

Question 47

What is the term for a facility that provides care and comfort for people as they approach death?

A) hospital
B) elder hostel
C) nursing home
D) hospice

Question 48

The right-to-die debate is mostly about:

A) whether people should die before their time.
B) whether doctors have the ability to delay death.
C) how much control people have over their own death.
D) whether poor people have the same quality of life as rich people.

Question 49

Today, in the United States, what percentage of people dies after reaching the age of fifty-five?

A) 20 percent
B) 35 percent
C) 50 percent
D) 84 percent

Question 50

By the year 2050 in the United States:

A) the elderly population will exceed the population of the entire country in 1900.
B) one-fourth of all seniors will be over the age of eighty-five.
C) seniors will have a greater voice in U.S. society.
D) All of the above are correct.

Question 51

Activity theory draws on:

A) the social-conflict approach.
B) the structural-functional approach.
C) the symbolic-interaction approach.
D) the sociobiology approach.

Question 52

One criticism of disengagement theory is that:

A) few seniors ever want to disengage.
B) seniors have little to contribute to society.
C) many older people do not have the money to permit disengaging from work.
D) many older people are not physically or mentally able to work.

Question 53

In centuries past:

A) people avoided discussing death.
B) people refused to accept the reality of their own death.
C) people were more familiar with death than they are today.
D) All of the above are correct.

Question 54

Which country has the most permissive law involving physician-assisted suicide in the world?

A) the United States
B) the Netherlands
C) Russia
D) Japan

Question 55

Why can we expect the number of elders in our society to rise to new levels in the years to come?

A) Immigration is bringing more older people to this country.
B) Government benefits to older people are going up.
C) The country's large baby boomer cohort is now entering old age.
D) An increasing number of people are dying at a young age.

Question 56

The main point of disengagement theory is that:

A) seniors want to be independent like everyone else.
B) society remains orderly by disengaging aging people from positions of responsibility.
C) seniors do not require as much care as most people think they do.
D) seniors want to remain active.

Question 57

The elderly population of the United States has been increasing rapidly.

Question 58

Which concept refers to assisting in the death of a person suffering from an incurable disease?

A) Hippocratic assistance
B) euthanasia
C) gerontocracy
D) bereavement

Question 59

What document specifies medical procedures an individual wants and does not want under specific conditions?

A) a living will
B) an insurance policy
C) a death wish
D) a living trust

Question 60

The main point of activity theory is that:

A) a high level of activity enhances personal satisfaction in old age.
B) seniors should not try to do more than they feel they can.
C) seniors should retire knowing they have earned the right to relax.
D) some seniors have far more wealth than others do.

Question 61

The elderly population of Japan is increasing rapidly at the same time, that country's overall population is projected to decline.

Question 62

Age stratification refers to inequality among elderly people.

Question 63

Increasing longevity is a major factor driving up the elderly population.

Question 64

In general, higher-income nations have the largest share of elderly people in their populations.

Question 65

As the elderly population of the United States increases, the physical and social segregation of the elderly will almost certainly decline.

Question 66

The "old-age dependency ratio" refers to the ratio of working adults to elderly people.

Question 67

Industrialization leads more elderly people to move out of the labor force, giving rise to what we call "retirement."

Question 68

The median age of the U.S. population now stands at twenty years.

Question 69

Gerontology is the study of aging and the elderly.

Question 70

In general, industrialization raises the relative social standing of the elderly.

Question 71

In hunting and gathering societies, older members are considered a valuable resource to the group.

Question 72

In horticultural, pastoral, and agrarian societies, the oldest members have the greatest wealth and power.

Question 73

In the United States, males typically outlive females.

Question 74

Life expectancy is about fifty years in the lowest-income countries today.

Question 75

Societies the world over define their oldest members in negative terms.

Question 76

Gerontocracy is a form of social organization in which the oldest members of a society have the greatest wealth and power.

Question 77

Older people typically report a loss of sensory abilities, such as hearing.

Question 78

The "young old" refers to people under the age of fifty-five.

Question 79

Seniors with higher incomes assess their own health as better compared to seniors with lower incomes.

Question 80

As people get older, their personalities change so that people who knew them years before would say they are not the same person.