Introduction
The main focus since the Second World War period, in aging, had two main areas of interest. These were the process of getting old, and the state of being aged. From the early years, aging resulted from social problems, orientation, and losses which were likely to be experienced in late life. Several types of research have been carried out to find out issues such as poverty at the late-life of an individual, and the status of life which one is living at this level.
Viewing old age as a marginalized status, majority of people being poor at this age, and social integration problems, was as a result of the negative side of lack of quality long term care from the people, and discrimination of aged from the population (Hawkes, 2001). This makes aging to be a status that is looked at as a population that depends on the working population. An increase in aging demographics results in an increase in dependency ratios which pull down the overall development progress.
Later, some other research was carried out using funds provided by the National Institute of Aging. These have tried to analyze the good side of aging from a different perspective. Though aging is associated with a social orientation such as illness and lack of availability, the majority of the aged people can live independent lives since they are competent. According to Riley, the aging population is entitled to involuntary separation from their professionals (Rirey, 1989). This is true because these people are in a position to meet their needs from what they get as pension and retirement benefits.
The changing role of older adults
The role of aging individuals has been changing over the past few decades. One of the fields where there has been a change is retirement perception. People who have been working are faced with problems whereby they do not know what is next in their lives. This is because they are not aware of the means to end one day after another. Recently people have been going for early retirement benefits and opting to do something of their interest (eduLearnsochi.Org, 2010). This is because, unlike in the past, people are prepared for old age and the aging periods as well. Planning what one is going to do after retirement has made people change their perception of aging.
Despite the late stages of life, old people are choosing to get married for the second time consequently from the death of their spouses or divorced situations. Even the old are humans who need intimacy and companion as well thus, they are entitled to remarrying if they feel like doing so. Since this has got some side effects, they should seek some advice from an attorney before remarriage.
Some aging people may choose to relocate from where they used to live to new apartments where they live alone. Though this has been associated with some disadvantages, some feel that they are a burden to others. This makes them relocate to new places and change the perception of being, or feeling like they are burdens to others.
The Differences in Perspectives on Aging and Their Causes of Change
Over the past few decades, different perspectives have drawn each with its cause. Currently, people are using cosmetics that make them look a little bit younger than they are. But this does not affect aging since it is the cause of time. Physically, people may look younger but not much as you would think they are. Trends have been shown by population table showing a pyramid-like diagram where the old is represented by the topmost part showing that they are in small numbers compared to younger people. Aging has all cause of action because the 80 years old may make to become a president of a state yet the years have passed. This may be as a result of the diversity of ideas in the mind (eduLearnsoci.Org, 2010). As one approaches the aging period, one has a greater diversity of how things should be.
Different approaches have been used to describe aging. One of these approaches is the biological approach. This shows that biological results of growing old are generally negative. Illness and death are the main causes of action for the reason that the cells which are being reproduced are at this time few in numbers as compared to the cells which are dying. This results in the DNA not being reproduced, hence, the body is weak than how it used to be in the early stages. The other cause is the crisscross of protein at old age (Hawkes, 2001).
Physiological perspectives link old age with continued loss of memory which has been witnessed in the majority of aged people. At old age memory deficit is a problem and has been linked with these people being less active than they used to be. The sociological approach or perspective is involved in finding out why the numbers of the aged vary from one gender to another. Males are usually less in numbers at old age as compared to females. This is argued out that women tend to marry men who are a little bit older than them. This leads to men aging quite earlier than women in the same families. These are different approaches to aging and the causes attributed to them.
References
eduLearn soci.Org. (2010). Aging and the Life Course. Web.
Hawkes, K. (2001). American Journal of Human Biology. American Journal of Human Biology, 15(44), 380–400.
Rirey, J. W. (1989). The Fives of the Older and Changin Role. Web.