The Field of Gerontology

The Field of Gerontology

Introduction

Gerontology is the study of social, cultural, psychological, and cognitive aspects of aging. This field deals more with the various factors that revolve around the aging process. The name was firstly gotten in 1903, from a Greek word Geron, which meant older adult and logia, which means the study of. Some gerologists are professionally trained to handle older adults in all fields. These gerologists are from various fields such as psychology, nursing, medicine, anthropology, housing, public health, among many other things. The number of older adults that is over the age of 65 years has dramatically been increasing each day. This, therefore, calls for serious attention to these people. Meaning that there should be an increase in the resources as well.

The United States has documented a very high growth in gerontology over the past 20 years. This number has been said to keep on increasing as the decades going by. Researchers have proven that by the year 2065, the total population of an older adult will rise from the current 16percent to a 23percent. Some of these documented reasons as to why the aging process is rapidly growing. One of these factors is the choice of lifestyle that one chooses to live as well as the diet people feed on. Aging is not only associated with the number of years one has. This is because it is possible to be over 65yrs yet very strong and to look thirty. However, for someone else, they can still have a similar age but cannot even stand without support. It all matters with how people choose to live their lives. Research has also shown that physical appearance in identical twins can also be attributed to aging (Feng, Jones, Wang, 2015, pp181-189). The most notable factor causing aging is smoking, alcohol consumptions, and sun exposure, among many other factors. Logically, the genetic factors attributed to aging can be abit overrated since most of the external factors associated with aging are the real reason why there has been a high rise in older adults.

Most people in the united states tend to value a young age more than older adults. Old people are often mistreated and are negatively misjudged. This explains why there are so many homes for the elderly in the united states. Recent research was carried out in Southern California to examine the various attitudes that people have towards these older adults. The participants were 154 respondents living in this area. They gave their views on the multiple perspectives that people have on older adults and the way they are treated. Data collected showed that there is a lot of indecisions when it comes to old age; the data showed that the young people were the most people who had a negative attitude towards aging. Native Americans and the Middle Eastern respondents indicated abit of positivity to growing old. Most people tend to view aging as a social problem and that people still have mixed feelings about growing old. People do not want to be associated with old age, especially the women who reported not wanting to grow old. Even though there is this negative attitude towards aging, Americans still care for them. This is by bringing them into homes for the elderly where they will be taken care for. The federal government has also come up with long term cares systems for the elderly. These systems are meant to help the elderly for medical and non-medical support.

China also has a rapid growth in aging, just like in the United States. Even though there is still a prevalence of social negativity when it comes to aging, they tend to value it more than the United States. This is characterized by the fact that China even has parties and festivals that are meant to celebrate the elderly and make them feel at home. In China, they believe that getting old is one of those times one has to enjoy the individual they have become after spending all these years hassling for a better life (Li, Fan, Leng, 2018, pp 146-1468). Most men also tend to retire at the age of 65years but do not have a lot of retirement benefits to enjoy. The Chinese government should make a point of ensuring that the elderly are well catered for, including the health and the retirement benefits as well (Schulz et al., 2015, pp724-734). China should copy the system from the Americans. The eastern Asian countries have a lot of changes when it comes to older adults. There have been recent changes in the perception of people of all ages. This perception has been seen to be advantageous since people are acknowledging all ages. Americans should learn from these Asian countries how they can respect and have a favorable view of these older adults.

Conclusion

In summary, it would be unethical to have negative views and attitudes toward older adults. Everybody is going to grow old at one point in their life, and therefore, one would not want to receive the treatment they are giving these older adults.

References

Schulz, R., Wahl, H. W., Matthews, J. T., De Vito Dabbs, A., Beach, S. R., & Czaja, S. J. (2015). Advancing the aging and technology agenda in gerontology. The Gerontologist, 55(5), 724-734.

Li, X., Fan, L., & Leng, S. X. (2018). The aging tsunami and senior healthcare development in China. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 66(8), 1462-1468.

Feng, Z., Jones, K., & Wang, W. W. (2015). An exploratory discrete-time multilevel analysis of the effect of social support on the survival of older adults in China. Social Science & Medicine, 130, 181-189.