Chapter 16

 Into the Future - Notes

Return to Chapter Index

Return to Main Index

1. Explain how a survival curves is produced and what it means.

     - graph showing the percentages of a newly born population still alive as the age of members of the population increase
     - shows death rates at different times of the life span
     - suggests degree of mortality factors at different ages of the population

2. Describe changes in survival curves and intensity of mortality factors for U.S. populations during the twentieth century.

     - dramatic decrease in childhood mortality factors and childhood death rates early in the century
     - gradual decline in mortality factors and death rates for elders in the later half of the century

3. Describe possible changes in survival curves and their effects on the total population if there are increases in mean longevity, in maximal longevity, or in both parameters.

     - increase in ML -> shift in last part of curve (survival of adult population) to the right; results in large increase in number of elders, in percentage of elders, and in total population
     - increase in XL -> shift only the tail of curve (survival of oldest elders) to the right; results in small increase in number of elders, percentage of elders, and in total population
     - increase in ML and in XL -> very great shift in last part of curve (survival of adult population) to the right; results in very large increase in number of elders, in percentage of elders, and in total population
     - increase in ML or in ML plus XL would lead to very rapid increase in population, and possibly overpopulation

4. Discuss implications from the current increases in elders and possible additional increases if ML or if ML plus XL increase.

     - examples include all aspects of individual and societal conditions (e.g., housing, food, health care, need for gerontology education, employment opportunities, career opportunities, economic conditions, political conditions, lifestyles, ecological conditions, etc.)

Return to Top of Page

Return to Chapter Index

Return to Main Index
 
 

©  Copyright 2020: Augustine G. DiGiovanna, Ph.D., Salisbury University, Maryland
The materials on this site are licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
This license requires that reusers give credit to the creator. It allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, for noncommercial purposes only. If others modify or adapt the material, they must license the modified material under identical terms.
Previous print editions of the text Human Aging: Biological Perspectives are © Copyright 2000, 1994 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. and 2020 by Augustine DiGiovanna.
View License Deed | View Legal Code