1. Later Life: Development

2. Understanding Later Life  The median age of the population (the cutoff age at which half of the population is older and half is younger) is now middle age in Europe and Asia.  In Europe, 1 in 4 people will be over 65.  In America, 1 in 5 will be over 65.

3. Why is the population changing?  Baby boomers entering later life  Longevity  Low fertility

4. Exploring Two Elderly Stages  Young-old (sixties and seventies)  Typically healthy, relatively wealthy  Old-old (80 and older)  More likely to be physically frail and poor

5. Erikson’s psychosocial stage in later life  Integrity vs. Despair  According to Erikson, reaching integrity means reviewing one’s life and making peace with it.  Having a sense of usefulness and meaning in present life  Having a sense of self-efficacy; feeling in control  Using emotion regulation is key – making the most of difficult situations such as chronic disease.

6. Examining Retirement  Most think of the U.S. retirement age as 65. Actually, the average age for collecting full Social Security benefits is now 66. It will be 67 for people born after 1970.  True age of retirement is 60 rather than 65.  Because, on average, we live another 20 years after retirement, it is now a full stage of life.  Retirement depends on governments offering programs enabling their citizens to live without working.  Therefore, in countries without government-sponsored programs (mainly in the developing world), people must stay on the job until they physically cannot work.

7. Life as a retiree  Are retirees depressed or pleased about retirement? “It depends.”  Positive  Physical and mental health  Focus on “bucket list”; leisure activities  Married  Financial stability  Consider retirement as a challenge; a new phase of life  Volunteering  Negative  Not leaving work by choice – forced retirement  Financial concerns  Health concerns

8. Summing up retirement  Retirement is an at-risk stage of life.  Declining pensions plans  Strain on Social Security  Older workers are an at-risk group of employees.  Age discrimination  Older people may be more at risk of being poor.  High rates of poverty in the old-old (and among people who enter retirement relying just on Social Security)  Intergenerational equity – balancing the needs of the young and the old  Abandoning the entitlement programs (i.e., Social Security) would hurt the young because they would be responsible for providing for the older family members.