How the Patterns of Marital Status, Living Arrangements, Health Care Affect Elderly Minority's Aging - Research Paper Example

? Elderly Minority Report The aim of this report is to analyze the minority elderly persons and how the patterns of marital status, living arrangements, health status and care affect their aging. The paper will generally outline various factors that affect aging of the elderly minority who falls under the age of 65 and above from three different races in America. The paper will show how sex difference and ethnicity plays a major role in determining the aging process of these individuals. Lastly, the report will interview two individuals who fall under this bracket to explain the difference between their old age and the current age in terms of living conditions, health facilities and other developments. Introduction The demographers identify the minority elderly people as members of four non- European populations who comprise of African America, Native Americans, Hispanic, and the Asian/Pacific Islander. Ideally, the elderly people contribute to a wider population in the US and the 1990 US census estimated that 3.6 million people fell under the age bracket of 65 and above (Scharlach, 2002). This means that there was one elderly person in eight Americans. The same census estimated that the population of the elderly persons would double to 5million by the year 2020, which means that there will be one elderly person in five Americans. The sex ratio also differs in the elderly minority because in the African American, there are 63 men for every 100 women, while in the whites there are 67 men for every 100 women (Scharlach, 2002). Analysts claim that the minority elderly face vast challenges in the American society concerning economic status, health and vast other aspects. Marital status The marriage status of the elderly minority is tied into levels of social support, which are availability of caregivers and economic well being. Since 1960, there have been significant changes in family structure and marriage patterns because divorce rates have risen, fertility levels have dropped, and life expectancy especially for men has risen (Berkman & Harootyan, 2003). This means that the marriage status varied among ethnic groups and sexes because statistics claim that the African American elderly women had higher rates of divorce and widows than the white elder women did (Jacobsen, 2011). More so, the white elderly women remarried more often than the African American or the Hispanic. The same case applies to the widowed men who are said to remarry than their female counterparts. Nevertheless, analysts claim that marriage status does not have a bigger impact on aging compared to the living arrangement because living arrangements is the overall determiner of the elderly minority. Living arrangements Living arrangements face vast factors that include marital status, health status, financial stability, family size, and structure among other factors. More so, living arrangements depend on whom an individual is living with as well as the community within. To begin with, US is a developed country meaning that the living condition of the elderly black Americans is above average but the living arrangements vary between ethnicities (Jacobsen, 2011). This is the case because, one fifth of American African elderly persons live in metropolitan areas, which is a lower promotion compared to the white elderly persons who hold about one -forth who live in the southeastern states (Berkman and Harootyan, 2003). The remainder classification of the elderly people lives in north central and northeastern regions. The outcomes of living arrangements affect health and satisfaction, which means that these outcomes could improve or deteriorate depending on various dynamics (Hooyman and Kiyak, 2010). Ideally, the living arrangements of the elderly people are affected by vast aspects that include fertility decline leading to decline in kin availability because the elderly will have fewer children to rely on. More so, the increasing rate of divorce is changing the shape of family structure because it increases the rate of stepchildren who might not offer the needed support to the elderly. The living arrangements go beyond the usual family settings because part of the elderly in the US live in-group quarters and Medicare. For instance in 2007, the elderly minority enrolled in long-term Medicare were 4%, while two percent lived in community housing services while the majority of the elderly people lived in the traditional community house. The living arrangements also vary between the ethnicity of elderly minority because African American elderly women live with their spouses compared with the other ethnicity of the whites’ and Hispanic whose percentage is 44. More so, one third of elderly African American live with relatives while 13% of the white and Hispanic women live with their relatives. Additionally, the statistics of women living alone in African Americans range at two fifths unlike 22 % of Hispanic women (Scharlach, 2002). This depicts that the African Americans value family values Family. This family value is triggered by patterns of roles and responsibilities. This means that the elderly African Americans frequently interacts with their families whereby they receive more social and emotional support. However, the African American women tend to fall for this setup than men because men usually, remarry: hence, having spouses to take care of them. In most cases, the daughters or daughters in-law take up the burden of taking care of the elderly women especially in African American ethnicity. However, when these daughters are tied up and cannot beat their schedule, they hirer formal living arrangements for their elderly individuals, but in most cases these groups of elderly women live with their daughters or daughters in law (Ham, 2007). Nevertheless, the case is different in other ethnicities especially the white elderly who live alone end up in formal care giving facilities. Life Expectancy rate The US hosts approximately 2 million African Americans aged 65 and above, a rate that contributes to 8% of the African American population. Researchers claim that the elderly African American could multiply to 9 million by the year 2050. The reason why the rate of the elderly Americans is increasing is because there is a decrease in death rate. However, the life expectancy of the African Americans is shorter compared to that of the other race because African Americans life expectancy rate ranges between 67 to 75 years, while the whites life expectancy ranges between 72 to 79 years (Hooyman and Kiyak, 2010). Analysts claim that the reason why the African American short span is contributed by aspects like poverty, health, and poor living condition. Income African Americans elderly are poorer compared to their white counterparts simply because the Africans Americans are marginalized and discriminated in education, hiring, lower payments and other factors. Poverty through poor income is generated by lack of education or the needed skills. Ideally, the majority of the elder minority especially of the African American origin never had formal education due to ethnicity discrimination (Wacker, 2002). Statistics show that the elderly white has 56% individuals who completed high school, compared to the elderly African Americans who completed high school ranged at 7%. This marginalization led to informal education and informal employment; for instance, the meridian income for the urban African American elderly men in 1990 was $7078, while the urban white elderly men netted $137435. On the other hand, the white elderly woman earned $ 9, 827, while the African American woman earned $ 5, 555. This brought forth a big margin in the poverty rate because the poverty rate of the older African American was 30% while the poverty rate of the white African American was 9.6 %. Nevertheless, the trends of marginalization are changing for the better because research show that African American individuals who lack formal education decreased from 6% to 3.5% in 2005. Social security The social security aim is to reduce poverty especially to the older minority who no longer work at old age. The main reason social security is a vital tool is because it helps the lower paid minorities, their dependants and survivors out of poverty (Wacker, 2002). However, not all elderly people in the US accessed social security funds, especially the African Americans who worked as manual workers compared to the other counterparts who had formal jobs. This means that the African American elderly people languish in poverty even in old age unlike the white elder. Health According to the world health organization, health is a state of complex physical, mental, and social well being, and not just the absence of disease. This means that, health may depend on vast aspects that include economic issues of pay equity, expanded health insurance coverage, flexible working hours among many others (Velkoff, 2012). Therefore, an older African American is more prone to diseases like cerebrovascular and diabetes, while the other group is prone to accidents influenza and pneumonia. Among all the named diseases, heart disease was the number one killer in the black community and statistics depict that the death through heart disease stood at1, 799.1 per 100, 000 compared to white old women at 1671.9 per 100,000, and Hispanic old women ranged at 959.8 per 100,000. Past exposure to unhealthy working conditions contribute to the African American frequent ill health, and lack of medical coverage in combination with poverty leave many of these elderly people reluctant to seek medical attention. Health care Health care depends on the marital status and living arrangements of the elderly minority. For instance, most women of all ethnicities tend to be divorced while men live with their spouses because they remarry. This means that the elderly men acquire care from their spouses compared to women who will rely on their daughters and daughters in law (Ham, 2007). However, the daughters who are tied up elsewhere opt for formal caregivers in the society. This is a fact because statistics claim that only 35 % of elderly African Americans live in nursing homes compared to 6% elderly whites. More so, the reason why the African American tends to register a lower percentage in formal health care facilities is due to social isolation and cultural perception that the elderly should be taken care of by blood kin. [Part 2] - Interviews Interview 1 Below is ethnography derived from reviews offered by an elderly African American woman aged 67. The ethnographic research took place in a mall situated in the New York City where I found two appropriate candidates to interview. The first was a 67-year-old African American woman. Through our intensive conversation, I found out that some questioned fostered emotions that depicted through the woman’s facial expression. Nevertheless, I found out many hidden facts concerning the daily life experience of the elderly minority. To begin with, the advancement in technology is not an extremely new phenomenon of the African Americans elderly people because they developed along as these individuals grew. Though they did not exist during their time, the emergence of vast technological devices and the progress that they have fostered are indeed evident. Nevertheless, I realized that a certain percentage of these elderly individuals have never accessed a computer or the internet. Concerning luxuries like air travel, not all elderly African Americans can afford it due to their past history life discrimination did not allow them to work on paying jobs. On another perspective, I noticed that a percentage of the African American elderly were born during or immediately after World War 2; hence know nothing much about past war events. The emotional part came up when I indulged on racial issues and discrimination in the U.S. the facial expression depicted the pain because almost all African Americans have experienced discrimination in various fields and aspects. The elderly are much affected because during their old days, racial discrimination was intense unlike in the current times where the act is slowly diminishing. I also found out discrimination minimized the ability of black Americans to access education as well as posses homes. This was the case because lack of education resulted to lack of well paying job; hence, poor living conditions. More so, the African culture in the African Americans still exists because many of them live with their older children. Interview 2 Below is ethnography derived from reviews offered by an elderly African American man aged 80. The ethnography took part in the same neighborhood, but the reviews were derived from an elderly African American man, who is much older. In spite his age, I found out that the man was more exposed concerning vast issues like education, technology and other vast aspects because he claimed to have accessed them subsequently. This could be triggered by the fact that this individual was privileged to access formal education that keeps him informed on the current updates. Prior to my first interviewee, the second interviewee had not only accessed education but also paying jobs that enabled him to own a home. Nevertheless, the exposure in terms of education and employment seemed to create the difference because other similarities exist. This includes racial discrimination and the way of life because the 80-year-old man lives with his older children. Conclusion The elderly minority in the U.S faces similar challenges in their daily life but is slightly differs on gender and racial backgrounds. This is because their historic experiences fostered their current way of life. This means that the privileged few enjoy their privileges to date which is contrary to the other unprivileged group. The African American group is the most hit compared to the other three races encompassed in the minority elderly because our analytical depicts so. Nevertheless, the current government is putting up measures of implementing policies that protect the rights of the elderly irrespective of their race. This means that the minority elderly will live better lives in the future especially when considered that their number is increasing by the day. References Berkman, B., & Harootyan, L. K. (2003). Social work and health care in an aging society: Education, policy, practice, and research. New York: Springer. Ham, R. J. (2007). Primary care geriatrics: A case-based approach. Philadelphia, Pa: Mosby Elsevier. Hooyman, N. and Kiyak, A. (2010). Social gerontology : a multidisciplinary perspective(9th edition). Pearson. Print. Amazon.com Jacobsen, L., Kent, M., Lee, M., and Mather, M (2011). Americas aging population. Population Reference Bureau ,66 (1),1-15. Scharlach, A., Thomson, E., and Kramer, J. (2002). Curriculum module on aging and ethnicity. School of social welfare, Berkeley. Velkoff, A. (2012). Living Arrangements and Well-Being of the Older Population: Future Research Directions. UN Organization Publication. Retrieved 8th November, 2013 from http://www.un.org/esa/population/publications/bulletin42_43/velkoff.pdf Wacker, R. R., Roberto, K. A., & Piper, L. E. (2002). Community resources for older adults: Programs and services in an era of change. Thousand Oaks, Calif: Sage Publications. Read More