Bowling Alone: Chapters 1-7 - Essay Example

The Demography of the Aging Population Demographics is the scientific study of the growth, decline, and other facts of the population. This is especially important since population projection affects a nation economically and socially. In the United States, the aging population is the most affected group in the mobility of family trends, where the problem is centered in the long-term care and economic stability. The general point made by Linda Waite in her article “The Changing Family and Aging Population” shows the changing family structures and its subsequent effects on the elderly population.

According to Waite, there are external factors which caused the changes in the family systems. The lure of work opportunities caused several families, mostly nuclear, to relocate and find jobs near their residence, leaving the elderly with a choice of having professional care (care giving homes) or to live alone in the common household. Economy and the social scene are also suspected reasons why there is a decline of birth rates among families and its change of structure. The competitiveness, the rise of single parenthood and the inception of other social trends such as cohabitation of the same sex increased the disproportionate population of age groups, with the elderly having a higher population.

Social conditions have definitely redefined the family structures which have an effect of the future of the recent population. I believe that the economy is the largest contributing factor in these changes followed by the changing social perspectives of intimate relationships. Legal aspects may have also caused the decreased quality of lives among the elderly, especially for cohabiting couples; however, it is for moral and for government’s practical purposes of having limitations when it comes to the benefits of the widow or the widower.

If such laws were not implemented, a dramatic rise of cohabiting couples is expected, followed by either rise or fall of the population.