Families in Later Life

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Families in Later Life

• Husband and Wife
• Demographic Profile in Families in Later Life
• The Empty Nest
• Marital Quality in Later Life
• New Family Roles and Other Changes
• Sexuality in Later Life
• The Older Couple and Their Family
• Older Parents and Adult Children
• Older Parents and Grandchildren
• Older Parents and Siblings
• Family Disorganization in Later Life
• Widowhood
• Divorce

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Demographics of the Older Population 2000-2003

• Among the population 75 years and older, 67 of
  men were living with their spouses in 2003
  compared with 29 of women in this same age
  group.
• By the time men and women are 85 years of age,
  more than 2 for every one is female.
• The percent of married couples declines with age.
  Among those 65 to 74 years of age, 2/3s were
  married but that decreases to less than 1/3 for
  those 85 and older.
• By age 84, over 40 percent of that population is
  widowed.
• By age 75, 45 percent of women are widowed as
  compared to 14 percent of men.
• 10 percent of the general population lives alone.
  However, 28 percent of the 65 population lives
  alone.

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Grandparents and Children

• There are substantial increases in the number of
  children living in households maintained by their
  grandparents regardless of the presence of the
  grandchildrens parents.
• In 1970, a little over 3 percent of all children
  under age 18 lived in a home maintained by their
  grandparents.
• By 1997 5.5 percent of all children under 18
  lived in a household maintained by their
  grandparents.
• 63 percent of these grandparents in 1997 were
  widowed grandmothers.
• Grandparents maintaining homes for their
  grandchildren are younger, in better health,
  better educated and more likely to work outside
  of the home.
• Source Ken Bryson and Lynne Casper, Coresident
  Grandparents and Grandchildren.

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Family Life across the Life Course

• Middle Course Diminished marital satisfaction at
  adolescence may be due to changes in patterns of
  husband-wife interaction, changes in the division
  of labor in the family and/or changes in
  individuals perceptions of marital quality.
• Because mothers relate to their children and
  adolescence is a time of withdrawal from that
  relationship, wives express more dissatisfaction
  with marriage than do husbands.
• During the middle course, the satisfaction
  measure of the wife predicts the satisfaction
  measure of the husband.
• In the Empty Nest period, husbands tend to relate
  more dissatisfaction with marriage than do wives.
• Decline in work and parental responsibilities
  explain a large portion of the increase in
  marital satisfaction as the couple ages.
• Longer marital duration is equated with increased
  marital quality.
• Source Laurence Steinberg and Susan Silverberg
  Influences on Marital Satisfaction during the
  Middle Stages of the Family Life Cycle and
  Orbach, et al, Marital Quality Over the Life
  Course

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Study Men's Sex Lives Better at 50 Than 30
Wednesday, February 22, 2006By Miranda Hitti

• Men in their 50s are more satisfied with their
  sex lives than men in their 30s, a new study
  shows.
•  
• Findings from the study, published in BJU
  International, include
• --Mens sexual function (sex drive, erection,
  ejaculation) tends to fade with age.
• --Mens sexual satisfaction peaks when men are in
  their 20s.
• --Men in their 50s are a close second in sexual
  satisfaction.
• In short, men reported sexual satisfaction long
  after the heyday of their youth had passed.
• Our results show that although men experience
  more problems and less sexual function as they
  get older, it doesnt necessarily follow that
  they are less satisfied with their sex lives as a
  result, says researcher Sophie Fossa, MD, PhD,
  in a news release.
• Fossa is a professor at Norways University of
  Oslo.

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Fossa and colleagues got their data from
anonymous surveys taken by 1,185 men aged 20-79
in Norway. Here is some background information on
those men

• --Most (86 percent) were married or in an
  intimate relationship.
• --More than half (57 percent) reported being
  sexually active in the 30 days before the study.
  Few (6 percent) reported having a new sexual
  partner in the previous six months.
• --A quarter of the men were on medication to
  treat high blood pressure.
• --Five percent were taking diabetes medication.
• -- Six percent were taking antidepressants.
• -- Five percent were taking drugs to treat
  erectile dysfunction.

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The men reported problems with sexual function.
They also rated their sexual satisfaction.

• Here are the results for sexual satisfaction by
  decade, from most to least satisfied
• 1.)    Men in their 20s
• 2.)    Men in their 50s
• 3.)    Men in their 40s
• 4.)    Men in their 30s
• 5.)    Men in their 60s
• 6.) Men in their 70s
• The results showed a very strong correlation
  between men getting older and reduced sexual
  functioning, but not between age and sexual
  satisfaction, Fossa says.
• By Miranda Hitti, reviewed by Louise Chang, MD
• SOURCES Mykletun, A. BJU International, February
  2006 vol 97 pp 316-323. News release, Wizard
  Communications.

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Number of Men per 100 women by Age, for the 65
population 1990 and 2000
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Proportion of Older Population, US 2005
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Widowhood 2003

• 41.1 of women 65 were married.
• 71.2 of men 65 were married.
• For the 75 age range, men were twice as likely
  to be married as women.
• For the 65 age group, women are 3 times as
  likely as men to be widowed.

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Negative Shock Experiences for the Elderly

• Over a 10-year period more than 3/4s of adults
  age 51 to 61 at baseline experience negative
  shocks including widowhood, divorce, job layoffs,
  health problems or the onset of frailty among
  parents or in-laws.
• 41.3 experience major new medical conditions.
• 33.7 develop health-related work limitations.
• 18.7 are laid off from their jobs
• 9/8 of married adults become widowed, and only
  3 become divorced.
• More than 2/3s of adults age 70 and older
  experience at least one negative shock over a
  nine-year period.
• 29 of single adults develop sever disabilities.
• 31.8 of single adults enter nursing homes.
• 29.1 of married adults become widowed, including
  44.3 of women

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