Deck 15: Aging and the Elderly

Question 1

What is the sociological term for the very high rate of increase in the elderly population of Canada?

A) the aged Canada
B) the greying of Canada
C) the Geritol generation
D) the aging of Canada

Answer 1

B

Question 2

Biological changes that accompany growing old include
a. keener senses.
b. greater mental faculties.
c. wrinkles in the skin and greying of the hair.
d. vigorous physical prowess.

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) are very happy.
C) have the same level of happiness as people with lower incomes.
D) are extremely lonely.

Question 5

A majority of people over the age of 55 in Canada

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 6

One of the most troublesome problems of old age is a group of illnesses called

A) bacterial infections.
B) osteo-arthritic conditions.
C) cardiovascular conditions.
D) dementias.

Question 7

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 8

How well and how long people live depends, first, on

A) a society's values and traditions.
B) global economic trends.
C) a society's technology.
D) individual health habits.

Question 9

With advancing age, older people notice

A) increased weight.
B) less keen sensory abilities, including taste, sight, and hearing.
C) that minor injuries take less time to heal.
D) keener sensory abilities, including taste, sight, and hearing.

Question 10

What effect did industrialization have on life expectancy in high-income countries?

A) Life expectancy went up about 30 years.
B) There was little effect on life expectancy.
C) Life expectancy went down by about 10 years.
D) Life expectancy rose for women but fell for men.

Question 11

Which of the following provinces has the highest portion of the elderly in its population?

A) B.C.
B) Saskatchewan
C) Prince Edward Island
D) Alberta

Question 12

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.

Question 13

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) Canada, but not elsewhere.

Question 14

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 15

In the future, Japan's population will

A) become larger.
B) grow younger, on average.
C) be supported by a smaller labour force.
D) be supported by a larger labour force.

Question 16

Elderly people of the future will tend to have

A) more family responsibilities.
B) less savings.
C) higher levels of education.
D) less real work experience.

Question 17

Compared to the "young old," the "old old" in Canada

A) contains a larger share of women.
B) is richer.
C) has better health.
D) contains a larger share of men.

Question 18

Across Canada, there is a generally higher percentage of people who are elderly in which of the following regions?

A) the parts of Canada where there is a large Aboriginal population
B) the east coast
C) the North
D) Alberta

Question 19

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 65 to those under 40.

Question 20

Who, of the following, died the youngest?

A) Mozart
B) Shakespeare
C) Edgar Allen Poe
D) Oscar Wilde

Question 21

Gordon Streib concludes that older people

A) are not a minority as, say, Aboriginal people 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 22

The type of society that typically operates as a gerontocracy is

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

Question 23

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 24

How does industrialization change patterns of working for income for people over the age of 65?

A) People continue working for as long as they can.
B) People begin to retire from paid work, often by about age 65.
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 25

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 26

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 27

Most caregiving to older people in Canada is provided by

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

Question 28

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 29

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 30

Which of the following appears to be particularly advantageous to maintaining a positive outlook on life for the elderly, according to Nett?

A) marriage
B) wealth
C) place of birth
D) religious affiliation

Question 31

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 32

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 33

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 post-industrial societies.

Question 34

Who argued that ageism is deeply rooted in our culture?

A) Betty Friedan
B) Max Weber
C) Daniel Callahan
D) Sue Rodriguez

Question 35

Causing emotional harm, financial harm, or physical neglect to an elder describes which of the following?

A) elder abuse
B) age stratification
C) gerontocracy
D) ageism

Question 36

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

A) Life expectancy went up about 30 years.
B) There was little effect on life expectancy.
C) Life expectancy went down by about 10 years.
D) Life expectancy rose for women but fell for men.

Question 37

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 38

The poverty rate among people over the age of 65 is

A) above the national average.
B) the same as the national average.
C) below the national average.
D) almost zero, since they receive Old Age Security.

Question 39

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 40

In which type of society is a gerontocracy unlikely to form?

A) hunting and gathering
B) horticultural
C) industrial
D) pastoral

Question 41

Today, in Canada, what share of people die after reaching the age of 55?

A) 20 percent
B) 35 percent
C) 50 percent
D) 85 percent

Question 42

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) people actively sought to discuss death.

Question 43

In today's society, most deaths occur in

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

Question 44

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

Question 45

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 elderly people to this country.
B) Government benefits to the elderly 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 46

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

Question 47

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 48

The elderly population of Canada has been increasing rapidly.

Question 49

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 50

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 51

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 52

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 53

The first province in Canada to pass assisted-dying legislation was

A) British Columbia.
B) Saskatchewan.
C) Nova Scotia.
D) Quebec.

Question 54

Which of the following is FALSE regarding baby boomers in Canada?

A) They are the generation that brought sex out into the open.
B) They have redefined every stage of life as they aged.
C) They are defining sex as part of growing old.
D) They have little interest in politics.

Question 55

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 56

Which of the following terms is NOT one of the stages in the dying process used by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross?

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

Question 57

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 58

Activity theory draws on

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

Question 59

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 wisest.
D) devalue the elderly as less productive.

Question 60

By the year 2050, in Canada,

A) the elderly population will exceed the population of the entire country in 1950.
B) one-half of all seniors will be over the age of 85.
C) one-fourth of all seniors will be over the age of 85.
D) careers in gerontology fields will be taken largely by the elderly members of the work-force.

Question 61

Life expectancy is about 50 years in the lowest-income countries today.

Question 62

In Canada, most elderly men, but not most elderly women, live alone.

Question 63

The "young old" refers to people under the age of 55.

Question 64

Gerontology is the study of aging and the elderly.

Question 65

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

Question 66

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

Question 67

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

Question 68

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

Question 69

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

Question 70

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

Question 71

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

Question 72

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

Question 73

Aging often leads to fear and self-doubt, because our culture places such a high value on youthfulness.

Question 74

The greatest proportion of very happy elderly people fell into the lowest income category.

Question 75

In Canada, males typically outlive females.

Question 76

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

Question 77

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

Question 78

Societies around the world define their oldest members in the same way.

Question 79

Age stratification refers to inequality among elderly people.

Question 80

Social isolation is a greater problem for elderly women than for elderly men.