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Gender, Public Policy and the Oldest Old*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 November 2008

Jane Sprague Zones ,
Carroll L. Estes  and
Elizabeth A. Binney*
Jane Sprague Zones
Affiliation:
Assistant Professor in Residence in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, University of California, San Francisco, California 94143.
Carroll L. Estes
Affiliation:
Professor and Chair, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences and Director, Institute for Health and Aging, UCSF.
Elizabeth A. Binney*
Affiliation:
Research Staff, Institute for Health and Aging, and Graduate Student in the Medical Anthropology Program, UCSF.
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Abstract

Those 85 years of age and older are the fastest growing subpopulation in the United States. Because they represent a very small proportion of the population (just 1% in 1980), the oldest old have not been studied until recently. Much of the interest in this group is related to their growth (over 50% per decade in the past 50 years) coupled with their disproportionate use of public resources, particularly health and social services. Women are strikingly overrepresented among the oldest old, with a gender ratio of approximately 44 males for every 100 females age 85 and older.

Type
Research Article
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 7 , Issue 3 , September 1987 , pp. 275 - 302
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1987

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References

NOTES

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