The Role of Seniors in Canada

1. The Role of Seniors in Canada

2. “A Typical Senior in Canada” • Old age is “defined” as beginning as age 65 • The majority of seniors are financially independent • Many are dependent on government pensions as well as their own RRSPs etc • Seniors are also still helping out their children and grandchildren get ‘established’

3. Most Seniors are living independently in their own homes – their preference • There is a higher trend in immigrant families to have older parents living with their children (particularly if there is a health concern) • Health-wise, seniors are healthier for longer than in previous generations

4. Bereavement • Marriage is more likely to end because of the death of a spouse, rather than by divorce • Women are more likely to be widowed then men, since women tend to marry men older than themselves • Men have more difficulty adjusting to the death of a spouse than women

5. Men’s Dependence • Men have a greater dependency on their wives – they tend to have a smaller ‘social group’ and depend on their wives for companionship • Women, who have been the “kin-keepers’ have more actively maintained relationships with friends and other family members

6. Men also have not had as much experience with household chores, such as cooking, so, when their spouse dies, they are more severely affected • Men are more likely to remarry when they are widowed

7. Women • The older a woman is when her husband dies, the more likely she is to live alone • ¾ of Canada's older widows are living on their own • They are less likely to marry after their husband dies – because they still have a ‘life’

8. Adult Life and Theories of Aging (Chapter 13) • People do not stop ‘developing’ or ‘growing’ even through middle age and older

9. Stability Template Model • Personality actually continues to develop into adulthood • Individual's identity is stable over time – they will respond to events and stresses in life in a consistent manner • Individual behaviour will be predictable

10. Generativity • Erik Erikson – identity formation is the focus of life and continues to be even through later stages of lie • The central task in middle life is generativity – establishing and guiding the next generation • In later life, individuals seek out the integrity that results from living out one’s identity

11. Social Construction Theory( Symbolic Interactionism) • Individuals behaviour does not necessarily differ from place to place or generation to generation, but the meaning ascribed to the behaviour changes to reflect the expectations of the society • Individuals choose an appropriate response to life events based on how they interpret them • Eg. In the 1960s the ‘empty nest’ syndrome, but now is doesn’t appear to exist

12. The Challenges of Later Life (Chapter 14) • Of the normative events of later adult life in Canada, aging and death are the least understood • Many Canadians have little contact with seniors • Death usually happens away from home,

13. Individuals’ social, economic, and spiritual environment determines the attitudes of aging Canadians and their families • Do we, as God instructs us to, honor our ‘elders’ in our society – or are we ‘dishonoring them’ in how they are dealt with?

14. Death and Mourning • Death is a natural life event – as we age we begin to think more and more about our own lives • We, as a society, don’t have much experience with it – • Do people ‘accept’ the inevitability of their own death and become increasingly ‘ready’ to die?

15. Disengagement Theory • Older people do prepare for their own deaths • They begin to withdraw from society, and begin to think more about their own lives • Research doesn’t back this up

16. Social Death Theory • There is a mutual withdrawing of older people and society • Since death is unfamiliar, the anticipation of it is difficult • Individuals cope by avoiding the dying and the bereaved -

17. Dr. Kubler-Ross • There is significant emotional pain – fear of unknown, loss of time, guilt of things not done • 5 stages of death and grieving • 1. Denial of diagnosis • 2. Anger at the fact of death • 3. bargaining • 4. Depression – no hope • 5. Accpetance

18. Both the patient and the family must go through this process • Greiving takes time = we have funerals etc to provide a framework for social behaviour so that others can support bereaved people

19. Elder Abuse • Conscious and unconscious acts involving physical, psychological, medical, material/financial and legal harm • Elder neglect – failure to provide care • Rates of elder abuse and neglect is relatively low, but it still exist

20. Read point of view on p. 456 and answer questions on p 458 • Read point of view on p. 463