Unmarried Boomers Confront Old Age: A National Portrait.
Gerontologist. 2012 Jan 31;
Authors: Lin IF, Brown SL
Abstract
Purpose of the Study:Our study provides a national portrait of the Baby Boom generation, paying particular attention to the heterogeneity among unmarried Boomers and whether it operates similarly among women versus men. DESIGN AND METHODS: We used the 1980, 1990, and 2000 Census 5% samples and the 2009 American Community Survey (ACS) to document the trends in the share and marital status composition of the unmarried population during midlife. Using the 2009 ACS, we developed a sociodemographic portrait of Baby Boomers according to marital status. RESULTS: One in three Baby Boomers was unmarried. The vast majority of these unmarried Boomers were either divorced or never-married; just 10% were widowed. Unmarried Boomers faced greater economic, health, and social vulnerabilities compared to married Boomers. Divorced Boomers had more economic resources and better health than widowed and never-married Boomers. Widows appeared to be the most disadvantaged among Boomer women, whereas never-marrieds were the least advantaged among Boomer men. IMPLICATIONS: The rise in unmarrieds at midlife leaves Baby Boomers vulnerable to the vagaries of aging. Health care and social service providers as well as policy makers must recognize the various risk profiles of different unmarried Boomers to ensure that all Boomers age well and that society is able to provide adequate services to all Boomers, regardless of marital status.
PMID: 22298744 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Baby Boom Caregivers: Care in the Age of Individualization.
Gerontologist. 2012 Jan 31;
Authors: Guberman N, Lavoie JP, Blein L, Olazabal I
Abstract
PURPOSE: Many Baby Boomers are faced with the care of aging parents, as well as that of disabled or ill spouses or children. This study examines how Baby Boomers in Quebec, Canada, perceive and play their role as caregivers and how this might differ from their parents’ generation. DESIGN AND METHODS: This was a qualitative and empirical study using an interpretive constructivist design. We interviewed 39 Baby Boomers caring for a family member with a semistructured guide that examined respondents’ identification with their social generation, their relationship to and values regarding caregiving, and the reality of the caregiving they offered. RESULTS: In contrast to our perceptions of previous generations, the majority of interviewees refuse to be confined to the sole identity of caregiver, as they work to juggle caregiving, work, family, and social commitments. To succeed in this juggling act, they have high expectations of support from services. Based on this new approach to caregiving, we advance the idea of a “denaturalization” of care, no longer seen as a “natural” destiny or “normal” family responsibility. IMPLICATIONS: The new conception of caregiving as work that can and should be shared with services is in direct opposition to public policy that is based on the assumption of family care as the cornerstone of long-term care. Can the healthcare system adapt to the new expectations of the Baby Boom generation or will these caregivers be forced to take on elements of caregiving they no longer consider legitimate?
PMID: 22298745 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Out of the Closet and Into the Trenches: Gay Male Baby Boomers, Aging, and HIV/AIDS.
Gerontologist. 2012 Jan 31;
Authors: Rosenfeld D, Bartlam B, Smith RD
Abstract
Regardless of HIV status, all gay male Baby Boomers are aging in a context strongly shaped by HIV/AIDS. For this subcohort within the Baby Boom generation, the disproportionately high volume of AIDS deaths among gay men aged 25-44 years at the epidemic’s peak (1987-1996) created a cohort effect, decimating their social networks and shaping their personal and social lives during the epidemic, throughout their life course, and into later years. But despite these lasting effects on an entire cohort of gay men, relevant scholarship narrowly focuses on older HIV-positive gay men using clinical, psychological, and social network approaches. It thus makes inadequate use of the life course perspective, which, by attention to timing, agency, and interdependence, can uncover the myriad interlocking and longitudinal aspects of the epidemic that affect this group. This article argues for the application of this latter approach to research into the lasting impacts of HIV/AIDS on this cohort of gay men. We examine HIV/AIDS mortality within this cohort at the epidemic’s height, these deaths’ concentration in urban gay communities, and the growing and increasingly diverse population of HIV-positive gay men born in the Baby Boom Years. Our conclusion suggests that a fuller examination of the role of HIV/AIDS in the lives of gay male Baby Boomers, using a life course perspective, is critical to appreciating this generation’s heterogeneity and to expanding knowledge of how later life is shaped by the intersection between historical events, personal biography, and social and community ties.
PMID: 22298746 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Cohort Differences in the Availability of Informal Caregivers: Are the Boomers at Risk?
Gerontologist. 2012 Jan 31;
Authors: Ryan LH, Smith J, Antonucci TC, Jackson JS
Abstract
Purpose of the Study:We compare the close family resources of Baby Boomers (BBs) to previous cohorts of older adults at population level and then examine individual-level cohort comparisons of age-related trajectories of informal care availability from midlife into old age. DESIGN AND METHODS: Population data from the U.S. Census and from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) are used to identify a cohort similar to the BBs on marital status and fertility rates. Using generalized linear mixed models and 10-year longitudinal data from Depression and WWII parents (DWP; n = 1,052) and the parents of BBs (PBB; n = 3,573) in the HRS, we examine cohort differences in the time-varying likelihoods of being married and of having an adult child living within 10 miles. RESULTS: The DWP had similar informal care resources at entry to old age as is expected in the BB. Longitudinal analyses of the DWP and PBB cohorts in HRS reveal that the availability of family changes over time and that the DWP cohort was significantly less likely to have a spouse or a grown child living nearby. IMPLICATIONS: These findings, and future projections based on them, have significant implications for institutions and public policy concerned with the informal caregiving needs of the Boomer cohort as they age.
PMID: 22298747 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
The Salience of Family Worldview in Mourning an Elderly Husband and Father.
Gerontologist. 2012 Jan 11;
Authors: Black HK, Santanello HR
Abstract
Objective: The purpose of this study was to qualitatively explore family reaction to the death of the elderly husband and father in the family. Methods: We qualitatively interviewed 34 families (a family included a widow and 2 adult biological children) approximately 6-15 months after the death. In private, one-on-one in-depth interviews, we discussed how the death affected each family member as an individual and how each member perceived that the death altered the family as a unit. RESULTS: An individual’s worldview, embedded in the smaller culture of the family and the larger culture of society, offers a template for appropriate grief reactions. Discussion: Our article builds on the constructs of worldview, grief for the husband and father, and narrative at the juncture of self-evaluation, as family members reflected on where they stood in their own journey through life.
PMID: 22241808 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Baby Boomers and the Shifting Political Construction of Old Age.
Gerontologist. 2012 Jan 11;
Authors: Hudson RB, Gonyea JG
Abstract
Employing the political construct of “target” populations, we suggest that the Boomers in old age will constitute a conceptually distinct population from that represented by either their parents or grandparents. A fourfold typology organized along the dimensions posited by Schneider and Ingram (1993) yields categorizations of target populations as Dependent, Deviant, Advantaged, or Contender. Although these authors labeled the aged as Advantaged, categorizations of target populations can and do change over time. Using historical analysis, we explore, first, the transformation of the aged from Dependent to Advantaged and the more recent transformation to Contender status. This latest shift is reinforced by the perceived characteristics of the Boomer cohort itself now entering old age and by economic and political circumstances severely constraining policy agendas and options. We argue that the combination of weakened legitimacy in the face of pressing needs among many of the Boomer population may result in a fracturing of elders’ longstanding singular political imagery. More affluent Boomers will continue to fight for their benefits as Contenders, whereas vulnerable Boomers may be relegated back to the Dependent categorization.
PMID: 22241809 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Outcomes of a Telehealth Intervention for Homebound Older Adults With Heart or Chronic Respiratory Failure: A Randomized Controlled Trial.
Gerontologist. 2012 Jan 11;
Authors: Gellis ZD, Kenaley B, McGinty J, Bardelli E, Davitt J, Ten Have T
Abstract
PURPOSE: Telehealth care is emerging as a viable intervention model to treat complex chronic conditions, such as heart failure (HF) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and to engage older adults in self-care disease management. DESIGN AND METHODS: We report on a randomized controlled trial examining the impact of a multifaceted telehealth intervention on health, mental health, and service utilization outcomes among homebound medically ill older adults diagnosed with HF or COPD. Random effects regression modeling was used, and we hypothesized that older adults in the telehealth intervention (n = 51) would receive significantly better quality of care resulting in improved scores in health-related quality of life, mental health, and satisfaction with care at 3 months follow-up as compared with controls (n = 51) and service utilization outcomes at 12 months follow-up. RESULTS: At follow-up, the telehealth intervention group reported greater increases in general health and social functioning, and improved in depression symptom scores as compared with usual care plus education group. The control group had significantly more visits to the emergency department than the telehealth group. There was an observed trend toward fewer hospital days for telehealth participants, but it did not reach significance at 12 months. IMPLICATIONS: Telehealth may be an efficient and effective method of systematically delivering integrated care in the home health sector. The use of telehealth technology may benefit homebound older adults who have difficulty accessing care due to disability, transportation, or isolation.
PMID: 22241810 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
PURPOSE: This essay examines the human experience of aging in the distant past by investigating a group of aging men during the 14th century in an Italian city, Bergamo, using notarial “documents of practice” from that community. Studying the aging process and its effects on the lives of people in the medieval era has three-fold significance: it broadens our understanding of aging as a human construct and a human experience, challenges an antihistorical theory of aging, and reinforces the importance of studying the specific experiences of aging individuals in both the past and the present. Design of the study: A qualitative study. Methods of analysis include nominative linkage and an investigation of the physical effects of aging on an individual, as seen in the documents of 1 long-lived notary. RESULTS: Aging clerics and notaries in Bergamo took on positions of increasing authority in the church and related institutions in the last decades of their lives. IMPLICATIONS: The documented activities of a group of affluent men in 14th-century Bergamo suggest that although there was little recorded discussion of “old age” as a life stage in that community, for these men, aging was a real social process with both positive and negative impacts on their lives. Giving a human face to these aging men of the distant past models an approach to the study of the aging process that has relevance for both historians and gerontologists alike.
PMID: 22241811 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
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