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RON HAMMOND AND PAUL CHENEY-UTAH VALLEY UNIVERSITY

Gerontology

The United States of America is inhabited by many diverse people, including distinguishable generations of society’s members based on age. Gerontology is the scientific study of the processes and phenomena of aging and growing old. Depending on the definition of being elderly, the government typically sets 65 to be the elderly years, the American Association of Retired Persons finds 50 to be the eligible age of membership, and many elderly define their 70’s or 80’s as the time they begin to feel elderly. Gerontology is multi-disciplinary with medical and biological scientists, social scientists, and even financial and economic scientists all studying the processes of aging from their disciplines point of view.

Social gerontology is the sociological subfield of gerontology which focuses on the social aspects of aging. Sociology focuses on the broad understanding of the elderly experience, their health, their emotional and social wellness, and their quality of life just to mention a few. Family Gerontology is the subfield that focuses on the family experiences of elderly persons. As of 2008, 12.7% of the U.S. population was 65 years and older.1 It is projected to grow to 20% by the year 2050.2

Figure 1 illustrates the growth in the proportion of the elderly to the non-elderly from 2000 and projecting to 2050. Figure 2 compares the younger elderly (65-84) to the oldest old (85 years and older) population which is expected to more than double between 2010 and 2050. This means that in general more people are living longer. In fact there are more Centenarians than ever before. A centenarian is a living person who has had her 100th birthday. U.S. Census counts indicated about 37,000 centenarians in 1990 and about 50,000 in 2000.3

In many societies the elderly are revered (especially in Asian societies). Filial piety is the value, respect, and reverence of one’s elderly which is often accompanied by caregiving and support of the elderly. Grandparents and even great-grandparents are valued and included in the home of the mother, father, and their children. These families are enriched by three and sometimes four generations of family members supporting the socialization of the younger members of the family. In Western countries, the elderly and their extended

family are considered co-equals and mutually independent until circumstances necessitate assistance from children and other family members.

Figure 1. Estimated Percentage of U.S. Population that will be Elderly 65+, and Non-elderly, 2000-2050.4

Figure 2. Estimated Percentage of U.S. Population that will be 65-84, and 85+, 2000-20505

Understanding the Generations of Life

Life course is an ideal sequence of events and positions the average person is expected to experience as he/she matures and moves through life. Dependence and independence levels change over the life course. From birth to the pre-teen years, children’s levels of dependence are relatively high and adults’ levels of dependence are relatively low. Newborns have little ability to nurture others, but as they are socialized and grow into their later-teen roles things change. By young adulthood, independence is a prime value in the U.S. which leads many to move out on their own and gain their own experiences. A young adult’s ability to nurture is moderate, but often dormant since most pursue avenues of preparation for their adult lives rather than immediately beginning their own families. Married and cohabiting couples are much more independent and capable of nurturing and remain so throughout the grand-parenting years. As the life course progresses into later life, the oldest elderly begin to lose their independence as their health declines to the point that their resources lag behind the daily demands placed upon them. Senescence is the social, emotional, biological, intellectual, and spiritual processes associated with aging.6

For many in our modern societies, aging is feared, vilified, and surgically and cosmetically repaired. We do not like being “off our game” and senescence is viewed as a weakness. Yet many elderly find their lives very satisfying and they tend to report higher levels of selfesteem than do younger members of society. Because we tend to value youth, youthful appearance, and youthful-centered entertainment, biases appear in the U.S. Ageism is the prejudice and discrimination against a person based on his/her chronological age.

Ageism is a unique form of bias. One may be prejudiced against another racial, ethnic, or religious group while never being at risk of becoming a member of that group but ageist people are aging right now and will be until the day they die—they are essentially biased against their own future status.

Theories About Aging

There are several social theories that help to understand the experiences of the elderly. In the 1960s Cumming and Henry developed Disengagement Theory which claims that as elderly people realize the inevitability of death they begin to systematically disengage from their previous youthful roles while society simultaneously prepares the pre-elderly and elderly to disengage from their roles. This was the first formal aging theory that fell short of credibility because the scientific data did not support its assumptions.7

Activity Theory (1970s) claims that the elderly benefit from high levels of activities, especially meaningful activities that help to replace lost life roles after retirement. The key to success in later life is staying active and by doing so resist the social pressures that limit an older person’s world.8

Continuity Theory claims that older adults maintain patterns in their later years which they had in their younger years. The elderly adapt to the many changes which accompany aging using a variety of effective personal strategies they developed earlier in their life. For example, those who participated in outdoor activities in their younger years tend to continue to do so as older adults—although they tend to accommodate their health and fitness limitations as they deem appropriate.9

To really understand the elderly today, you have to understand the larger social changes that have transpired over the last century. In 1900, elderly people in the U.S. held a more cherished place in the hearts of younger family members. Most homes were intergenerational with grandparents, parents, and children all living in the same home and more often with kin on the wife’s side being the social connection around which three generations would live.10

In 2000, the U.S. Census Bureau reported that there were 105.5 million households in the country.11 Only 3.7% or nearly four million households were multigenerational. It probably feels normal to you to not have older relatives live in your home. In years past, elderly family members were considered a valuable asset with their wisdom and support of their children and grandchildren while today with a greater focus on independence, elderly family members are not as valued.

Modernization Theory claims that industrialization and modernization have lowered the power and influence which the elderly once had which has lead to much exclusion of the elderly from community roles. Even though this theory is not well established and is somewhat controversial, it has made a place in science for understanding how large-scale social forces have impacted the individual and collective lives of the elderly. In modern societies the economy has grown to a state that has created new levels of prosperity for most; new technologies have outpaced the ability of the elderly to understand and use them; and the elderly are living much longer and are not essential to the economic survival of the family as was the case for millennia. Modernization can help us to understand why the elderly have become stigmatized and devalued over the last century.

What Do the Generations Look Like?

Who makes up the generations of our day? Figure 3 shows birth rates for each of the four most recent generations in the U.S. Notice the red and blue lines (blue is the top line and red is the bottom line). The red line represents the Crude Birth Rate (CBR) which is the number of births per 1,000 population in a given year. The Blue line represents the General Fertility Rate (GFR) which is the number of live births per 1,000 women aged 15-44. Both the CBR and GFR show a pattern of birth rates that were relatively high when the WorldAt- War Generation was first being born. Birth rates declined with the Great Depression until 1946 (the commencement of the Baby Boom). The Baby Boom represented a surge in birth rates from 1946 to 1964 and declined to pre-Boom rates in 1965. Generation X or “Gen X” represents the children of the Baby Boomers which spilled into Generation Y or the “Millennials.”

It is interesting to note that there is no universally agreed upon definition of generations other than the Baby Boomers. The World-At-War Generation is slowly disappearing from the U.S. population landscape. On 18th of June, 2008 the last living Veteran of World War I was honored by the White House and Congress. Frank W. Buckles fought in WWI and was held prisoner in Manila during World War II.11 The U.S. Veterans Bureau reported that there were 2,911,900 WWII veterans as of 30 September 2007 with about 900 WWII veterans passing away each day. They also reported that 39.1% of all U.S. veterans were aged 65 and older.12

The majority of the elderly today are women. If you consider the elderly as being divided into three life stages you can discern just how the elderly are comprised comparing males to females. The Young-old are 65-74 years; the Middle-old are 75-84 years; and the Old-old are 85+ years. In 2005 there were more females in all three age groups. This is because women, in most countries of the world, have a higher life expectancy than men. Life expectancy is the average numbers of years a person born today may expect to live.

Figure 3. United States General Fertility Rates (GFR), Crude Birth Rates (CBR) from 1909 to 2005 with Generation Markers for Baby Boomers; and Generations X, and Y.13

The U.S. Life expectancy today is about 80 years for females and 75 years for males. Worldwide it is 70 years for females and 66 years for males.14 Life expectancies have increased dramatically over the last 50 years in the Western nations of Canada, United States, Australia, Japan, and Western Europe.

The sex ratio is the number of males per 100 females in a population. Table 1 shows selected sex ratios as of the 2000 census. A ratio of 105 means that there were 105 males aged 15-24 in the U.S. for every 100 females in that group. This didn’t change much from 1990 when the ratio was 104.3. As you can see in the 85+ group there were only 40.7 males for every 100 females. This is up from 38.6 in 1990.

Group	Sex Ratio
US total	96.3
15-24	105.1
55-64	92.2
85+	40.7

Table 1. Sex Ratio for U.S. Selected Age Groups and Total, 2000.15

The Baby Boomers represent 78.2 million U.S. citizens as of 1 July 2005.16 This large cohort of society is moving en masse into the ranks of the elderly. A cohort is a group of people who share a statistical or demographic trait. The Baby Boomers are the largest birth cohort. Nearly 8,000 Baby Boomers turned 60 each day in 2006. The U.S. Census estimates that 57.8 million Baby Boomers will be retired in 2030. One issue for gerontologists is the financial strain the Baby Boomers will place on the rest of society once they are retired. Most speculate that Baby Boomers will not receive the same benefits from the Social Security Administration that their parents and grandparents enjoyed.

The children of the Baby Boomers are called Generation X or the “Baby Bust” because they were born in post-boom low fertility rate years. They were different from their parents.

They grew up with the computer age and came to computer technology much like an immigrant comes to a new country. This cohort grew up in an economic state of greater posterity than did previous generations.

Generation Y or Millennials are also called the “Internet Generation or Screenagers” because they grew up with TV, video games, cell phones, and PDAs. Each generation is culturally distinct compared to the previous ones even though much still remains in common. There is a good chance that the children of Generation Y parents will be better skilled than their parents with a technology that has not yet been invented. Such has been the case comparing the last three generations.

In Tables 2 and 3 you see increasing life expectancies in the U.S. and the world. Being born in the U.S. affords the average member of society a longer life. North American children are born with higher life expectancies than other children around the world.

Table 2. United States Life Expectancies.17

Table 3. 2007 World and Regional Life Expectancies.18

Over the past half-century, both the worldwide drop in fertility and concurrent rise in life expectancy have led to the gradual aging of the world’s population. Table 4 gives projected percentages of persons over 65 for selected regions of the world while figure 4 displays a map of the world illustrating the percentage of older members of each country’s population in 2008. Most of Africa, with its high fertility rate and young life expectancies, has less than five percent of its population aged 65 and older. A good portion of Europe has 15% or greater older population. The U.S. is at 10-14%. Since 1950, the share of persons ages 65 and older has risen from five to seven percent worldwide. As the map shows, Europe and Japan have led the way, with North America, Australia, and New Zealand close behind.

However, older persons are now more than five percent of the inhabitants in many developing countries and by 2050 are expected to be 19% of Latin America’s population and 18% of Asia’s. Notice that the developing countries have the lowest percentages of over 65 populations. This is due to continued high fertility rates (births) and high mortality rates (deaths).

Dying

Elderly women outlive elderly men. Widowhood occurs when one’s spouse dies. Widows are surviving wives and widowers are surviving husbands. One sub-discipline of gerontology is thanatology. Thanatology is the scientific study of death and dying.

Thanatology informs those who provide support and counsel to the dying.

How we define death, both our own and the death of others is very much influenced by the cultural definition of death we incorporated into our own values while growing up. It’s very common for young college students to have lost a great aunt/uncle, great grandparent, or even a grand parent. It’s not so common to have lost a parent, sibling, or child. Grief is the feeling of loss we experience after a death, disappointment, or tragedy. When people experience grief they are said to be in bereavement. Bereavement is the circumstances and conditions that accompany grief.

Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross has published work on the stages of grief as it relates to death. She found that people who are dying or those who have loved ones dying go through a series of stages in the grieving process. The first stage is denial, a sense that it didn’t happen. The second stage is anger. Grievers ask “Why me?” or state that they hate God for what has happened. Bargaining is the third stage. Grievers say they will be better people if they are healed. Depression is a sense that all is lost or why even try. The last stage is acceptance. This is the stage where grievers have processed the loss and are ready to move on.19 Everyone grieves and we all grieve in our own ways. Most people experience all the stages of denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance, but there exists some variability in how individuals cycle through Kübler-Ross’ stages.

Figure 4.Population Aging Worldwide.20

Roles

The study of aging would not be complete without focusing on family relationships and roles. Of the over 40 million elderly in the U.S., about 6 million still work for pay. About 7 million take adult education courses. About 21 million are married and about 13 million are widowed. Only about 1.4 million live in nursing homes. About 32 million own their homes. In the 65 plus age group there are only 73 men per 100 women.21

Just how the future of elderly family relationships will be in coming decades is very difficult to predict. Many elderly live alone (regardless of any wishes to the contrary). The

U.S. Census Bureau reported that among those 65+ there were about 3.5 million elderly single men with no spouse or partner and over 10 million elderly women with no spouse or partner.22 Although many single older people might enjoy an intimate relationship with a partner or spouse, the rewards and costs are different for men and women in these age ranges. Combining retirement incomes and sharing living expenses might be appealing to both men and women but elderly women are faced with a biological truth that makes the possibility of another long-term intimate relationship less appealing—that is that men die younger than women. To marry a 65 year old man is to take on a potential caregiver role which may place the women in a stressful, very demanding, and perhaps overwhelming role. Some women have already been through something like this with a first, now deceased, husband. Many divorcees and never marrieds have found their life patterns to be established and difficult if not impossible to change. Thus, many elderly remain single and have friendships and intimacies without the long-term commitments that come with cohabiting or marrying.

	2007	2025	2050
World	7	10	16
Industrialized countries	16	21	26
Developing countries	6	9	15
Europe	16	21	28
North America	12	18	21
Oceania	10	15	19
Latin America & Caribbean	6	10	19
Asia	6	10	18
Africa	3	4	7

Table 4. Worldwide Percent of Persons Ages 65 and Older 23

What do trends for the unmarried in later life suggest to us? Quite simply more divorced and separated elderly are predicted. There are higher proportions of divorced and separated elderly now than in the past. This trend is not the same for widowhood. There is only a slight increase in widowhood compared to a dramatic increase in being divorced or separated. Another trend is the increasing numbers of those in the pre-elderly stages of life (ages 30-64). Among them we see increased rates of divorcing and remaining single. The Baby Boomers, born between 1946 and 1964, turn 65 starting in 2011 and continuing until 2029. This cohort has the highest documented divorce rates of any age related cohort ever studied in the United States.24

The number of elderly will nearly double by the time all the Baby Boomers reach 65 years in 2029. This leads to the conclusion that when the Baby Boomers reach age 65, the prevalence of divorced elderly will rise to an even higher level because of the sheer volume of divorced Baby Boomers who will also, for whatever reason, remain divorced into their later years.

Not all retirement years are created equally. Income comparisons of married versus divorced elderly males and females show that the highest median income levels are for married males. Married females have the lowest income level in part because this generation of elderly had a relatively high rate of traditional homemakers who have fewer Social Security retirement benefits than their husbands.

Quality of life differences were investigated in the National Longitudinal Surveys-Mature Women data set. Elderly divorced and widowed women were more likely to still be in the labour force than married ones. Married women had the lowest levels of reported unhappiness and rarely enjoying life. Feeling sad was similar among all categories.

Grandparenting

The role of grandparent is a socially acceptable one in the U.S. It is admired by others, bragged about by grandparents, and more often than not, appreciated by grandchildren. Grandparents are given social approval by peers and society in general for being in that role. Grandparents also can be as actively or inactively involved as they desire. There are varying types of grandparental involvement and Ron Hammond has developed a few types. Most U.S. grandparents live in another household from their grandchildren, but economic uncertainties and demographic changes with lower birth rates may contribute to the U.S. returning to three or four generational households.25

The Disneyland Grandparent is one who entertains and distracts their grandchildren from the mundane aspects of their daily lives at home. These grandparents provide a certain entertainment option that is missing from their not-yet established parents.

Grandchildren come to have high expectations of indulgence when spending time with these grandparents.

The Assistant Parent Grandparent is the one who takes the grandchildren to school functions, practices, and doctors appointments or waits for their grandchildren to come to their house after school and before the parents return home from work. Because the parents are typically both employed, these grandparents sometimes become an integral part of their grandchild’s daily life and have an ongoing supportive role in the grandchild’s busy schedule. Many young dual-employed couples could not afford the cost of formal daycare and many grandparents feel rewarded by the meaningful contribution they make in this role.

The Parental Substitute Grandparent is the one who lives in the home with the grandchild (or the grandchild lives in the grandparent’s home). These grandparents have a great deal of stress that often reminds them of the original parental stresses they faced when they were raising their own children. Parental Substitute Grandparents often express fatigue and feeling overburdened. Raising grandchildren is not what most grandparents anticipated to happen in their later lives. Grandparents in the U.S. often have direct daily interaction with their grandchildren. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates over 6 million grandparents have their grandchildren living in their home.26 This type of grandparent is common when unwed teen mothers keep their babies, when an adult child is divorced or widowed, or when a child or son/daughter-in-law becomes disabled.

Finally there is the Distant Relative Grandparent. These grandparents visit at times and live at a geographic or emotional distance from their grandchildren. They typically can’t, or will not, have a close relationship with the grandchildren. Telephones and the Internet allow these grandparents to consult with the parents and be intermittently involved in the lives of their children and grandchildren. But many grandchildren experiencing this type of grandparenting often report a disconnect to these grandparents.

Grandparents can have a positive and nurturing impact on their grandchildren or they can have a shameful and negative one. Some grandparents work diligently to reinforce the value of each individual grandchild, often trying not to repeat the same mistakes they made when raising their own children. These grandparents find ways to show and express their love and support of the grandchild.

Elder Abuse

Elder abuse is the mistreatment of, violence against, and otherwise harmful manipulation of elderly persons. It includes physical, the willful infliction of pain or injury (such as beating, choking, burning, inappropriate medication, tying up or locking up, or sexual assault); psychological, threats, intimidation, and verbal abuse; financial or material, taking financial advantage, misuse of elder’s money (such as theft, deception, diverting income, or mismanagement of funds); violations of rights such as not permitting the elder to exercise her rights (such as the right to vote or the right to due process); neglect, a failure to provide food, shelter, clothing, or medical and dental care (this is the most common form of abuse, especially for single older people); and self-abuse and self-neglect. Marlene Lee (2009) reported that elderly abuse is too common.27 She also found that non-family persons accounted for more than half of all elderly abuse. When family members verbally abused it was more likely to be perpetrated by a spouse, however financial and physical abuse was more likely to be at the hands of a child.

Most states sponsor programs that intervene when elder abuse or neglect is suspected. Several programs have been developed to assist older adults who do not wish to leave their neighborhoods and companions to move in with children. Home-bound elders may benefit from the attention of gatekeepers, service people such as letter carriers or neighbors who keep an eye on them and can intervene when they suspect a problem.

Elders are abused by strangers, medical professionals, paid caregivers, family members, and themselves. Studies report that from 1.5 to 4% of older people are victims of abuse in a given year. Women make up 60-76% of abuse victims, depending on the type of abuse, and those over 80 are at an increased risk of abuse. Researchers estimate that only about one-sixth of incidents are reported. Elder mistreatment includes any knowing, intentional, or neglectful act that harms or causes risk of harm to a vulnerable adult. Up to 90% of cases are committed by family members, most commonly men. All 50 states have domestic abuse reporting procedures such as toll free hotlines. Adult Protective Services (APS) is the state or county agency that investigates elder abuse.

Every 83 minutes an elderly American commits suicide. One in every five suicides in the

U.S. is of a person over 65. White males over 85 are the most at risk. About three-quarters of men choose a gun. Women are more likely to try to overdose and are often found before it is too late. Suicide, at any age, is more common in males; female actually attempt it more often, but males are more successful at it, and older people are more successful than younger people. Depression and suicide can be prompted by chronic illness and pain, multiple losses (spouse, friends, children), social isolation, and alcoholism (which can be caused by the previous three). Some elderly couples engage in double suicide for fear of being left by each other, and some spouses will kill their mate and then themselves. As the baby boomers become old, experts expect to see even higher rates of suicide.

1. Estimates retrieved 17 June 2008 from https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the–world–factbook/print/us.html
2. Estimates retrieved 18 June 2008 from http://www.census.gov/ipc/www/usinterimproj/natprojtab02a.pdf Table 2a. Projected Population of the United States, by Age and Sex, 2000 to 2050
3. See Kestenbaum and Reneé, 2006 Retrieved from the Internet 19 July, 2008 from http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa4030/is_200607/ai_n17183322
4. Estimates retrieved 18 June 2008 from http://www.census.gov/ipc/www/usinterimproj
5. Table 2a. Projected Population of the United States, by Age and Sex, 2000 to 2050
6. Estimates retrieved 18 June 2008 from http://www.census.gov/ipc/www/usinterimproj
7. Table 2a. Projected Population of the United States, by Age and Sex, 2000 to 2050
8. http://www.senescence.info/
9. The Encyclopedia of Aging online at http://www.medrounds.org/encyclopedia– ofaging/2005/12/index.html
10. http://www.medrounds.org/encyclopedia–of–aging/2005/12/activity–theory.html and Google Robert Havighurst and Aging.
11. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continuity_Theory and Google Robert Atchley and Aging.
12. Dorian Apple Sweetser, 1984 “Love and Work: Intergenerational Household Composition in the U. S. in 1900” Journal of Marriage and the Family, Vol. 46, No. 2 (May, 1984), pp. 289-293 retrieved on 18 June 2008 from http://www.jstor.org/stable/352460?seq=1
13. report C2KBR/01-8retrieved on 18 June 2008 from http://www.census.gov/prod/2001pubs/c2kbr01–8.pdf
14. see CNN, retrieved on 19 June, 2008 from http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/03/07/war.veteran/
15. See data sheet retrieved 19 June 2008 from http://www1.va.gov/vetdata/docs/4X6_spring08_sharepoint.pdf
16. Retrieved 19 June, 2008 from Table 77: Live Births, Deaths, Marriages, and Divorces1960-2006 http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/tables/08s0077.pdf and Table 1: Live births, birth rates, and Fertility Rates by Race: United States Specified Years, 1940-1955 and Each year 1960-2005 http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr56/nvsr56_06.pdf and from Table 1-1: Live births, birth rates, and Fertility Rates by Race of Child 1909-1980 http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/statab/t1x0197.pdf. Wikipedia offers a concise article on today’s generations and these data here were extracted in part from it and the references included therein. Data extrapolated from U.S. Census Taken from Internet 11 Feb. 2008 from http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/STTable?_bm=y&geo_id=01000US&– qr_name=ACS_2007_3YR_G00_S0101&ds_name=ACS_2007_3YR_G00_
17. see www.prb.org, 2007 Population Data Sheet , retrieved 19 June 2008
18. http://www.census.gov/prod/2001pubs/c2kbr01–9.pdf
19. see http://www.census.gov/Press– Release/www/releases/archives/facts_for_features_special_editions/006105.html
20. Retrieved 19 June 2008 Table 98: Expectations of Life at Birth, 1970-2004, and Projections, 2010 and 2015; http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/tables/08s0098.pdf
21. www.prb.org, 2007 Population Data Sheet , retrieved 19 June 2008
22. “On Death and Dying,” 1973; Routledge Press
23. Retrieved 19 June 2008 from WWW.PRB.org Population Data Sheet 2007: Sources: C. Haub, 2007 World Population Data Sheet, and United Nations Population Division
24. Data retrieved from U.S. Census on 9 February, 2010 from http://www.census.gov/Press– Release/www/releases/archives/facts_for_features_special_editions/013384.html
25. retrieved 10 Feb. 2010 from http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/age/older_2008.html Table14. Households by Type and Age of Householder 55 Years and Over: 2008
26. Retrieved 19 June 2008 from WWW.PRB.org Population Data Sheet 2007: Sources: C. Haub, 2007 World Population Data Sheet, and United Nations Population Division
27. See Kreider, R.M., “Number, Timing, and Duration of Marriages and Divorces.” Figures 1a & 1b: Percent of Men and Women Ever Divorced, Among Those Ever Married by Selected Ages, for Selected Birth Cohorts:2001. U.S. Bureau of the Census, Current Population Reports: P70-97 (Washington D.C.)
28. Pew Research Center: Social and demographic Trends Monday Feb. 11, 2008 “US Pop. Projections: 2005-2050 by Passel and Cohn
29. retrieved 9 Feb., 2010 from http://www.census.gov/Press– Release/www/releases/archives/facts_for_features_special_editions/012095.html
30. Retrieved 10 Feb, 2010 from http://www.prb.org/Articles/2009/familyandhealth.aspx