Aging Demographic Characteristics

There are many potential problems associated with the use of elderspeak. One of the major problems relates to the potential of negatively impacting the self-esteem of those to whom it is being directed towards. It has also been reported that through the use of elderspeak, “staff may unknowingly reinforce dependency and engender isolation and depression… contributing to the spiral of decline in physical, cognitive, and functional status” (Williams et al, 2003). Healthcare providers who engage in elderspeak can actually contribute to the decline of their patients, representing the total opposite of good healthcare practice for which most healthcare workers strive to achieve. It has also been reported that the stereotyping of older adults can have an impact on the quality of information being relayed to the patient. For example, “providers have been found to provide more information, offer more support, and share more decision-making with clients who are younger compared to older adults” (Williams et al, 2004).

The demographic characteristics of the senior population has been changing over time. The rise in diversity and the geographic placement of seniors can provide an opportunity to examine their use of the social program SNAP. Characteristics of food insecurity such a geography and race correlate with higher rates of food insecurity and as these same characteristics continue to grow in the senior population. Since seniors have the lowest rates of SNAP participation versus other age groups, and their rates of food insecurity continue to grow it is important to examine what characteristics impact the likelihood of SNAP take up among this population.

Workforces are diverse, not only with respect to gender, racio-ethnicity, culture and work styles, but also with respect to age. Workplaces have always had numerous generations working together. There 's the bright-eyed and bushy-tailed younger generation of newcomers, the established middle generation that holds most of the management roles and the older generation of senior executives who are 30 or 40 years of valuable experience. Each of these distinct age groups comes with their own set generational differences, which can cause some friction among colleagues and superiors. These differences exist throughout organisations, from entry to executive level.

Over the past 100 years, many analysts can see evident a rise and decline of the United States population. Looking further into the demographics there are currently 73 million millennials aging from 18 to 34 that will soon account for one in three adults by 2020 (Catalyst, 2012). However, despite the increase of millennials, the overall U.S population continues to grow older. Retirement is a subject of the past in this decade and many over the age of 65 are living and working longer thanks to better health and stability in jobs. In fact, the population of older Americans is expected to more than double by 2060 (Catalyst, 2012). Looking at these statistics overall, we are seeing an increase in both generations meaning they are most likely going to have meet face to face within the workplace. This in result, has made it possible to have five generations in the workplace simultaneously. This is truly remarkable and can have a great effect on a business. Looking in the past at how much has changed in the few years, there was only 10.8% of the 65 year old crowd still working in 1985. Presently, thanks to the U.S Bureau Labor Statistics predicts for the year 2020 will comprise of 22.6% of 65 year olds still working (Ganett Company, 2014).

One of the challenges of organizations having diverse working environment is gerontology. Managers concerns with workers being older is that they do not have ability to learn and adjust to new policies and methods. In the public organizations, age is a challenge because

When it come to the demographics of the aging population on the marketing needs and service, patient access to care and satisfaction sometimes suffers. Providing refined services to the patients brought on new pressure for advancement. Unlike health care, the cost of production decreased with technology improvements in other industries. Health care organization has been faced with large capital expenditures in order to keep up with technology to provide better health care services. Physicians and hospitals have had to find ways to provide services and technologies that is more cost effective. There have been times that a patient has been handed off from department to another and from one specialist to another with little regards to the patient’s understanding. Patients have had to wait longer to see the doctor.

Population ageing is currently one of the most significant demographic trends and becoming a worldwide problem especially among the elderly who are often the most recognized and forgotten group in this analysis. Significant demographic trends concerning the aging population of U.S. from 1950 to 2050 (JACOBSEN). They are recognized as the ’elder’ the wisest, and perhaps the most knowledgeable about life and its experiences. This population however, is forgotten in terms of the respect and value it once contributed to society. And in today’s world this group is often marginalized because of age. The older they get, the more useless they become in the eyes of society and thus this attitude viewed towards the elderly leads to neglect and abuse. They are therefore excluded from the active participation, and decision making in society. This isolated group is thus discriminated against on the basis of age and gender which can be referred to factors such as ageism and sexism. Nevertheless, these factors not only attribute to elder abuse but are viewed differently within subcultures. Therefore, it is important to examine why elder abuse occurs and what are its consequences in the context of human rights agenda.

An aging population calls for a changing nation. The number of older adults continues to grow, soon to be the fastest growing age group. When one overrides the other, the goods and services change to those needed by that particular age group. Many advantages come with a large elderly population, yet several disadvantages come in tow as well. If that population begins to live exceeding the average lifespan of past records, then numerous accommodations will need to be made. These arrangements will ultimately have an effect on surrounding age groups.

There are many key factors that have contributed to the aging of the U.S population. Some of these factors include the size and composition of the population 27 years and over in 2012 (The U.S Census Bureau, 2014). Fertility and mortality rates are also determinants of the aging of the U.S population (The U.S Census Bureau, 2014). This means that the mortality rates will determine the size of the population and the rate at which population at the older age declines. Immigration is also another factor, but it has less impact on increasing the population over age 65 as it is shown that most immigrants are projected to be under age of 40 when they arrive in the United States (The U.S Census Bureau, 2014). Age and sex composition have also impact

The age of 65 is usually considered a senior citizen which is usually formally known as the aging population. The aging population is consisted of ages 65 and older, this population appears to be more at risk for utilizing nursing home services. This particular population faces various discrimination and oppression. Often time’s society looks at the elderly as being useless, not technology savvy, mentally ill, physically ill and unattractive due to wrinkles. There was an issue of elderly abuse in nursing homes due to some of the elderly not being strong enough to fight back or mentally capable of speaking up for themselves. Over the years the aging population suffered from elderly abuse, working discrimination, and age discrimination. From numerous accounts of elderly abuse and discrimination over the years various laws have been placed to protect the aging population.

The aging population has increasing and decreasing effects on health care today. Some effects are minor and some are major. They all are transforming, or eventually going to transform, health care. Some increasing effects that the aging population has made on health care today are obesity, falls, financial demands caused by the baby boomer era, and life expectancy. A decreasing effect that the aging population has made on health care today is the prevalence of disability. There are many other diseases and conditions also that can cause health care to change or cause health care costs, rates, etc. increase over time.

The older population is categorized into three distinct classes: young-old, old-old, and oldest-old. As presented by Hooyman and Kiyak (2011) on page 18, in figure 1.5, the young-old is from the ages of 65-74, the old-old is from the ages of 75-84, and the oldest-old are from the ages of 85 and older. The figure on page 18, shows us how much more the older population will grow between 2008 and 2050, each group is significantly growing, but the oldest-old seems to be growing the fastest among the three groups. According to Hooyman and Kiyak (2011) this is due primarily to the development in medicine, public hygiene, and health care. While further investigating the growth of the older population we will examine changing life expectancies between

The issues I chose to discuss throughout this paper will reference my experience in formal communication dealing with older peers and younger peers. Throughout my seven years within the automotive field I have dealt with employees ranging from as elder as seventy two years old to as young as eighteen years old. In my seven years I have struggled on both ends to connect and communicate with both, some situation more difficult than others. The lessons I’ve learned in dealing with both have proven to be invaluable from both a communication and management stand point.

The demographics of the workforce is changing, and companies are scrambling for a succession plan for an aging workforce with vast amounts of knowledge and experience. According to HR professionals, older workers are more professional, more productive with stronger work ethics, reliable, and loyal than their younger counterparts (Coombs, 2018).

Employees are increasingly pushing back retirement leading to an older and higher proportion of older employees in the workplace. In fact, the SHRM Workplace Forecast (2013) released by The Society for Human Resource’s listed the generation gap as a top future workplace trend. In addition, women are to becoming more and more a part of today’s workforce. However, both older individuals and women remain highly stereotyped groups.