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What is your Aging I.Q.?
Answer the following questions and find the correct answers at the bottom of the page with an explanation. You could click the number of the question that you are answering to go straight to the answer
NOTE: The terms "old", "elderly", and "aged" refer to persons 65 years and older.
Most people will become "senile" sooner or later if they live long enough.
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 these, some have conditions which 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 which should be discarded in favor of specific description of the cognitive impairment.
Intelligence declines with age.
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.
Most elderly have little interest in or capacity for sexual relations.
False: The majority of older adults continue to have both the interest and capacity for satisfying sexual relations well into their 70's, 80's, and even 90's.
American families, by and large, have abandoned their elderly members.
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 out of 10 older men and 6 out of 10 older women live in family settings.
At least 25% of all elderly live in nursing homes.
False: Only 5% of persons over 65 are living in nursing homes at any given time. Even among those 75+, only 10% are residents in nursing homes.
Aged drivers have more accidents than younger drivers.
False: Drivers over the age of 65 have fewer accidents per person than drivers under age 65.
Depression is one of the most common problems of the elderly population.
False: Depression is one of the most serious mental health problems among older adults. As many as 10% of adults of all ages experience serious depression, but the occurrence is even more frequent among the elderly. An estimated 30-60% experience a episode of depression severe enough to impair their ability to function. Despite the high prevalence rates, few elderly are seen in mental health settings when compared with the young. This is partly attributable to the fact that depression in the elderly often goes undetected or is misdiagnosed as dementia.
Only children need to be concerned about consuming enough calcium.
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.
More men than women survive to old age.
False: Women tend to outlive men by an average of 8 years. There are 150 women for every 100 men over age 65 and nearly 250 women for every 100 men over age 85.
Older people tend to become more religious with age.
False: Older people do not tend to become more religious as they 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.
The majority of the aged are socially isolated and lonely.
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 easy visiting distance and have frequent contact. They also reported fairly high rates of socializing 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.
The life expectancy for Afro-Americans is about the same as for whites.
True & False:In general, the life expectancy for whites is 72 for men and 79 for women; the life expectancy for Afro-Americans is 65 for men and 73 for women. However, the average life expectancy for Afro-Americans begins to exceed that for whites after age 80 for reasons that are not well understood.
The life expectancy of women is four years higher than that of men.
False: The overall life expectancy for women of all races (78 years) exceeds that for men (71.5 years) by seven years.
Personality changes with age, just like hair color and skin texture.
False: Personality doesn't change with age. Therefore, all old people cannot be described as rigid or opinionated, only those who were always rigid or opinionated.
All five senses decline with age.
True: All five senses do tend to decline with age, although the extent of these changes varies greatly among individuals.
The elderly have the highest poverty rate of all adult groups.
True: In 1989, the elderly as a group had a poverty rate of approximately 11.4% as compared with those age 18 to 64 whose poverty rate was 10.2%. However, the near poverty rates are more instructive ("near poverty" means 125% of the poverty level): in 1990, 19% of the elderly were poor/near poor as compared to 14.4% of the 18-64 group. Poverty rates for children exceed those for both the elderly and other adults at 26% poor/near poor in 1990.
Poor/near poor rates for certain elderly subgroups far exceed the average 19% poor/near poor figure for all elderly: elderly minorities are two and three times more likely as non-minority elders to be poor/near poor; 23.4% of elderly women were poor/near poor in 1990; 25% of the elderly aged 75+ were poor/near poor in 1990.
Older adults represent the group at most risk for suicide.
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 age 65 and older have a 50% higher suicide rate than the rest of the population.
Older adults have more acute, short term illnesses than younger persons.
False: Older persons have less acute illnesses than younger persons. Older adults have more chronic illnesses than younger age groups however.
The elderly naturally withdraw from participation in community life in advanced old age.
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 which better explain the variety of aging observed in this heterogeneous population.
Hearing loss is the third most common chronic condition for the elderly.
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 age 65 and older have a 50% higher suicide rate than the rest of the population.