Title: Who Are the Elderly? Aging in Society | Introduction to Sociology
Headings: Who Are the Elderly? Aging in Society
Who Are the Elderly? Aging in Society
Learning Objectives
Studying Aging Populations
Phases of Aging: The Young-Old, Middle-Old, and Old-Old
The Graying of the United States
Baby Boomers
Aging around the World
Summary
Question #1
Short Answer
Glossary
Further Research
References

Content: While Native American societies have a strong tradition of revering their elders, they also have a lower life expectancy because of lack of access to healthcare and high levels of mercury in fish, which is a traditional part of their diet. Phases of Aging: The Young-Old, Middle-Old, and Old-Old
In the United States, all people over eighteen years old are considered adults, but there is a large difference between a person who is twenty-one years old and a person who is forty-five years old. More specific breakdowns, such as “young adult” and “middle-aged adult,” are helpful. In the same way, groupings are helpful in understanding the elderly. The elderly are often lumped together to include everyone over the age of sixty-five. But a sixty-five-year-old’s experience of life is much different from a ninety-year-old’s. The United States’ older adult population can be divided into three life-stage subgroups: the young-old (approximately sixty-five to seventy-four years old), the middle-old (ages seventy-five to eighty-four years old), and the old-old (over age eighty-five). Today’s young-old age group is generally happier, healthier, and financially better off than the young-old of previous generations.