Activities in Late Adulthood
Home Sweet Home
Political Activity
Religious Involvement
One of the favorite activities of many retirees is caring for their own homes and taking care of their own needs.
Both men and women do more housework and meal preparation (less fast food, more fresh ingredients) after retirement
It correlates with physical and emotional health for several reasons:
Religious identity and institutions ate especially important for older members of minority groups.
Attendance to religious services is less for older adults than it is for middle-aged adults.
Praying increases
Faith communities promote caring relationships.
Beliefs give meaning for life and death, thus reducing stress.
Religious prohibitions encourage good habits.
A nearby house of worship, with familiar words, music, and rituals, is one reason American elders prefer to age in place.
Religious faith seems to increase with age.
They often identify more strongly with their religious heritage than with national or ethnic background.
In every religious group the elderly members are usually the most devout.
Faith increases
Both sexes do yard work, redecorate, build shelves, hang pictures, rearrange furniture.
One study found that husbands did much more housework and yard work when they retired, but wives did not reduce their work proportionally when husbands became more helpful around the house
Gardening is particularly popular: More than half the elderly in the United States do it
Political scientists believe the idea of “gray power” (that the elderly vote as a bloc) is a myth, promulgated to reduce support for programs that benefit the old.
Many government policies affect the elderly, especially those regarding housing, pensions, prescription drugs, and medical costs.
The elderly are very political more than any other age group, they write letters to their representatives, identify with a political party, and vote.
Tending flowers, herbs, and vegetables is productive because it involves both exercise and social interaction
Almost all older people- about 90 percent, even when they are frail—prefer to age in place rather than move
Most Tea Party supporters are middle-aged (40-65), and only a fourth are over age 65.
The exception is immigrants, who sometimes move back to their original nation.
Except for those immigrants, most of those who move do not go far.
Many of the elderly continue working, because work provides social support.
A lot of them that reluctantly give up. Others retire from their paid jobs but nonetheless remain productive.
Retirement
If quitting work leads to disengagement, it results in mental decline but that is far from inevitable.
Adequate income and poor health are the two primary reasons some people retire before age 60.
Many retirees hope to work part time or become self-employed, with small businesses or consulting work
Adults try to balance family and work needs, and therefore parenthood and grand-parenthood affect retirement age.
Volunteer Work
People in the United States are more likely to volunteer than people in Germany.
Volunteer work attracts older people who always were strongly committed to their community and had more social contacts.
If volunteering is defined as devoting unpaid time to an organization.
A meta-analysis found that volunteering cut the death rate in half.
Paid Work
In the United States, full Social Security benefits begin at age 65 for those born before 1938, but now those born after 1959 must be age 67 to receive their full benefits.
History of employment for older adults can affect their health in either a positive or negative way.
Especially for low-wage workers, worries about retirement income are increasing: 41 percent of U.S. workers ages 45 to 65 fear post-retirement income will be inadequate.
About one in three older adults keeps working after age 65.
They may find a smaller apartment with an elevator and less upkeep, but Americans rarely uproot themselves to another city or state unless they already know people there.
Faith may explain an oddity in mortality statistics, specifically in suicide data.
Elders fare best surrounded by long-term friends and acquaintances. Gerontologists believe that “interrupting social connections . . . might be harmful, especially for women and the frailest”
Working
Fortunately, aging in place has become easier. One successful project sent a team (a nurse, occupational therapist, and handyman) to vulnerable aged adults, most of whom became better able to take care of themselves at home, avoiding institutions
Elders themselves use selective optimization with compensation as they envision staying in their homes despite age-related problems.
About 4,000 consultants are now certified by the National Association of Homebuilders to advise about universal design, which includes making a home livable for people who find it hard to reach the top shelves, to climb stairs, to respond to the doorbell.
Non-design aspects of housing also allow aging in place, such as bright lights without dangling cords, carpets affixed to the floor, and seats and grab bars in the shower.
Assistance to allow a person to age in place is particularly needed in rural areas, where isolation may become dangerous. A better setting is a neighborhood or an apartment complex that has become a naturally occurring retirement community (NORC).
A NORC develops when young adults move into a new suburb or large building and then stay for decades as they age.