Gerontology – Literature Exam Questions and
Answers 100% Pass
Gerontology - ✔✔discipline that studies human ageing. Is interdisciplinary, with disciplines like
economy, sociology, psychology, and epidemiology and of course, biology. Origin in Greek. 'Geron' in
Greek means old man and 'gerh' means growing up or aging. The word refers to being old and also to the
process of ageing. The word 'gerontology' was first used in the 19th century, but throughout the history,
people have been interested in gerontology (Cicero, Roman Empire).
There are many gerontological discussions - ✔✔that stress the diversity of old age. Some gerontologists
state that people become old when they turn 50, others state that people become old once they reach 75
years. Researchers did find a solution for the differences of opinion and that solution is to see old age as a
sequence of two separate and distinct periods of life. These periods are called the young-old age and the
old-old age or the third age and the fourth age.
The third age - ✔✔is a period in which people have a relative freedom and good health. People in this age
period don't have the responsibility for the upbringing of their children and they also don't have to work.
The fourth age - ✔✔is a period in which there is an accelerated decline of mental and physical health.
People in this period have also losses in social relationships. Every understanding of old age has its
advantages and disadvantages. Also, the usefulness of the understanding depends on the context.
One of the biggest differences between older Europeans is their gender - ✔✔There are about as many
women as men in Europe, different in older age groups. There are a bit more women aged 65 years and
older in Europe than men. In some countries, this difference is marginal (Iceland and Macedonia), while
in others two out of three older people are female (the Ukraine and Latvia).
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,That gender difference - ✔✔results from two factors. The first, Women live longer than men do. Over-
represented in the older age-groups. The second factor is that mostly men fight as soldiers in wars, so
war-related deaths are particularly common among men.
Another difference between old Europeans is in their social networks differences - ✔✔These are
connections with friends and kin. Important for older people, because they enhance their wellbeing and
health. These days' kinships are looser than in the decades before, but there are differences between
countries. In Norway, Sweden and Finland there is extended de-familiarization. In Eastern Europe and in
South Europe, family ties are still very important.
Another big difference between older Europeans is their socio-economic status differences - ✔✔tells us
the position a person has in society. Is determined from wealth, occupation and educational level. The
wealth of older Europeans is relatively low in Eastern European and relatively high in continental
European countries. The educational level is also higher in Continental Europe and Northern Europe,
than in Southern Europe, like Spain and Greece. Also, the occupational prestige of older people is higher
in Continental and Northern Europe than in Southern Europe.
Health differences in Europe - ✔✔(Men have higher self-perceived health) Level of resources for health
care is the lowest and the people from those countries have the highest prevalence of smoking and
obesity. By contrast, in Northern and Western Europe, people have the best health care and the lowest
level of risk factors for diseases. There are variations within the regions. The highest proportion of obese
men can be found in the Czech Republic (31%), but the lowest proportion of obese men can also be found
in Eastern Europe, in Moldova (10%).
Gerontology - ✔✔The study of these components and their interrelations. Components are biological,
social, spiritual, environmental and psychological in nature. The sub-discipline of gerontology which
focuses on physical processes, is called bio- and health gerontology.
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,Bio-gerontology - ✔✔biologists and biochemists study the process of ageing on a molecular level and
they try to figure out how the ageing process affects organs and the entire body. Some of the questions
answered by biogerontologists are why human cells die and how organs stay stable over time. These
scientists see biological ageing of the body as the result of the appearance and disappearance of the cells
of organs.
Biological aging - ✔✔Organs have cells that die and that are replaced by new cells. De Grey is a
biogerontologist, concluded that ageing can be seen as a disease. However, some gerontologists think that
he is being too optimistic. This is because biogerontologists use animals like rats and flies for their studies
and it is not clear whether these results can be generalized to humans.
Health gerontology - ✔✔Doctors who do clinical research and epidemiologists. Is linked to the
environmental and social aspects of human ageing. How biological changes affect daily lives and how
health care services have to adapt. Questions with which health gerontologists are concerned with are
how one can help people to live longer and how one can increase the healthy life expectancy. Looks at
social inequalities when trying to answer the questions. This can be between different educational levels
or income groups. two levels of health-related intervention are underlined. These levels are the
individual level and the population level. The individual level might focus on health promotion and
prevention and the population level might focus on housing conditions and organization of social care
systems.
Looking at the traditional definition of health - ✔✔health is the absence of disease. When people age,
their health deteriorates and people develop diseases. Old age and good health were therefore seen as
mutually exclusive states.
This opposition can be explained with senescence - ✔✔describes biological ageing. Bodies react to
changes more slowly with senescence and as a consequence, they recover from illnesses with more
difficulty. Because of this, health declines in old age and disease become more common. There are two
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, different reasons why older people have more health problems. The first reason is that ageing itself
causes health to decline (coronary heart diseases). The second reason is that diseases require a long time
to develop and they will therefore only manifest in older ages (certain types of cancer). Need to differ
what bodily changes are normal, and which signal diseases.
The World Health Organization (WHO) sees health - ✔✔In 1948, they proposed that health is not only a
physical state, but also a social well-being state include the subjective aspect of social well-being in the
terminology of health. But the question that arose because of this, is what social well-being actually is.
Gerontologists say that social well-being is a good quality of life.
According to them, quality of life - ✔✔has two dimensions. The first dimension is health related, like pain
and discomfort. The second dimension is not health-related. This second dimension refers to personal
resources.
Personal resources - ✔✔Some of these might be the capability to find spiritual satisfaction or the
capability to form friendships. Because of this dual nature, good health in old age can be maintained by
preventing diseases and enhancing personal resources. Strategies for promoting healthy ageing need to
look at both ways to be healthy.
Active ageing - ✔✔is optimizing opportunities for health, participation of security and with this,
enhancing quality of life.
Successful ageing - ✔✔looks a bit like active ageing, but it has been received a more critical reception, is a
combination of three elements: absence of diseases and of risk for disease, engagement in productive
activities and maintenance of cognitive and physical abilities. Both active ageing and successful ageing
underline the activities of older people. Successful ageing does not draw attention to quality of life,
implies that people age successfully if they do not age at all, thus active aging term is preferred.
The three important approaches for reaching healthy ageing - ✔✔are learning from health promotion
strategies, slowing down the ageing process and utilizing the potentials of preventive medicine.
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