Aging I.Q. Questionnaire Answers

1. False: Even among those who live to be 80 or older, only 20-25% develop Alzheimer's disease or some other incurable form of brain disease. Among the overall elderly population, it is estimated that less than 10% are disoriented or demented' of thse, some have conditions that are reversible through treatment. In either case, dementia or memory loss is not a normal part of aging, but typically indicates some organic condition. Further, the word "senility" is a meaningless term that should be discarded in favor of a specific description of the cognitive impairment.

2. False: Intelligence per se does not decline with age. Most people maintain their intellect or improve as they grow older. While studies have shown that the elderly typically take somewhat longer to learn something new and have somewhat slower reaction times than younger people, this does not impair their ability to reason and function well.

3. False: The majority of older adults continue to have both the interest and capacity for satisfying sexual relations well into their 70s, 80s and even 90s.

4. False: The American family is still the number one caretaker of older Americans. Most older persons live close to their children with their spouses' 8 of 10 older men and 6 out of 10 older women live in family settings.

5. False: Only 5%% of persons over 65 are living in nursing homes t any given time. Even among those 75+, only 10% are residents in nursing homes.

6. False: Drivers over the age of 65 have fewer accidents per person than drivers under the age of 65.

7. False: There are more than 3 million Americans over the age of 85. That number is expected to quadruple by the year 2040, when there will be more than 12 million people in that age group. The population age 85 and older is the fastest growing age group in the U.S.

8. False: Older people require fewer calories, but adequate intake of calcium for strong bones is important as we age. This is particularly true for women, whose risk of osteoporosis increases after menopause' men also develop osteoporosis, but in fewer numbers than women.

9. False: Women tend to outlive men by an average of 8 years. There are 150 women for ever 100 men over age 65 and nearly 250 women for every 100 men over age 85.

10. False: older people. do not tend to become more religious with age. While it is true that the present generation of older persons tend to be more religious than younger generations, this appears to be a generational difference rather than a characteristic of aging. In other words, the present older generation has been more religious all of their lives rather than becoming more so in older age.

11. False: The majority of the elderly are not socially isolated and lonely. According to one study, about two-thirds of the aged reported that they are never or hardly ever lonely or identify loneliness as a serious problem. Most elderly have close relatives within east visiting distance and have frequent contact. They also reported fairly high rates of socialization with friends and participation in church activities and/or voluntary organizations. This level of activity does tend to decline somewhat with advanced age and/or disability, but contact with relatives remained fairly constant or increased.

12. True and False: In general, the life expectancy for whites is 72 for men and 79 for women; the life expectancy for African Americans is 65 for men and 73 for women. However, after age 80 the average life expectancy for African Americans begins to exceed that for whites, for reasons that are not well understood.

13. False: Personality doesn't change with age. Therefore, all old people cannot be descried as rigid or opinionated, only those who were always rigid or opinionated.

14. True: All five senses do tend to decline with age, although the extent of these changes varies greatly among individuals.

15. True: The body's thermostat tends to function less efficiently with age, making the older person's body less able to adapt to heat or cold.

16. True: Suicide is a more frequent cause of death among the elderly than among any other age group, primarily due to the high suicide rate among older men, especially older white men age 85+. People 65 and older have a 50% higher suicide rate than the rest of the population.

17. False: Older persons have fewer acute illnesses than younger persons. Older adults have more chronic illnesses than younger age groups, however.

18. False: Although the "disengagement" theory was once accepted to explain the relative decrease in activity for some older adults, it has generally been discredited as a valid explanation. More current research has explored the vast diversity among the elderly, and many new theories have been developed that better explain the variety of aging observed I this heterogeneous population.

19. True: After arthritis and heart disease, hearing loss is the most common chronic disorder reported in the elderly population.