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CHAPTER V

USEFUL ACTIVITY IN RETIREMENT

TREND TOWARD RETIREMENT AND LONELINESS

Few images are more clearly implanted in the minds of this subcommittee than that of lonely old people with little or nothing to do, waiting out their last years. This is a terrifying picture, especially when it is multiplied literally by millions. Today, there are more than 12 million people over 65 who are fully retired. Within 40 years, this may swell to beyond 30 million. Today, the average person at age 65 can expect to live 13.7 more years. Medical science and practice within a decade or so may double the length of time the average person can expect to live.

Some have found retirement enjoyable and have used this leisure time to create a satisfying way of life. Some manage to "get along." But large numbers of senior citizens are most unhappy in retirement, isolated, and a burden to society in every way. In the future many millions of older people could spend their time wandering around our cities and our parks or sitting at home with nothing to do and contributing little.

THE EFFECTS OF INACTIVITY UPON THE OLDER PERSON

The retired person usually has about 80 hours a week of free time or double the normal workweek. Many retired persons find this time hanging heavy on their hands.

As part of the White House Conference on Aging, four States made surveys of attitudes and activities of older people. These were Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, and North Dakota. The studies revealed that problems relating to the use of their free time and the lack of social contacts were high in importance. For example, in Iowa, the major problems listed in order of their importance were

1. Health difficulties and physical discomforts;

2. Problems of finances;

3. Loneliness; and

4. A lack of satisfying activities.

The survey in Missouri indicated that, in general, "boredom" was the most difficult thing about retirement for those interviewed. These studies emphasized the same points that experts in the field of aging and leaders of senior citizen groups have been saying for some time. Today, one out of every three mental patients is over age 65. Since 1939, the ratio of persons hospitalized for mental illness to the total

1 The 1960 report "The Aged and the Aging in the United States: A National Problem." The tables from the U.S. Census Bureau indicate that in 1959, there were about 24.7 percent of those over 65 who were fully retired and about 6.7 percent who were still employed full time.

The 1957 Actuarial Study, No. 49," Social Security Administration, U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. It is projected that there will be somewhere between 29 and 35 million over age 65 by the year 2000.

These reports are being prepared for publication by the Governor's Committees on Aging in each of the States early in 1961.

population in each age group has decreased progressively. However, among persons 65 and older, the ratio has increased over the 20-year period by almost 40 percent.

At the present rate of increase, there will be a 34-percent increase in the number of aged persons in public mental hospitals by 1970.* This is a serious enough problem to warrant national attention and action.

In 1953, the World Health Organization estimated that between 10 and 20 percent of all older people are isolated, and estimated that in the United States this percentage was approximately 20 percent.5 The studies by the Governor's Committees on Aging in the four States mentioned earlier tend to bear out these estimates. WHO also indicated that there appeared to be a close relationship between social isolation and mental health. Recent, and as yet, unpublished reports of NIMH studies indicate that there is a direct relationship between isolation and mental illness. Similarly, research in Great Britain indicates a high correlation between isolation and hospitalization in a general hospital.

The Mayor's Advisory Committee on the Aged of New York City reported a high correlation between membership in senior citizen activity programs and physical and mental health. In a study of 300 members of the Sirovich and Hodson Centers made by the Welfare Department of New York City, it indicated that after 6 months' membership in the center there was an 87.9 percent decline in clinic (medical) attendance. There were also proportionately fewer hospital and nursing home admissions. In the first 7 years of operation of the Hodson Center, Dr. Howard Rusk estimated that there should have been between 40 and 60 admissions to mental hospitals. There was only one. Ben Grossman, executive director of Drexel Home of the Aged in Chicago found a substantial reduction in sick call reports when activity programs were started in the home.

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In retirement and particularly after age 70, many people begin to lessen their social contacts with others and to lose motivation and drive. Gerontologists have begun to call this the "disengagement process" and have observed its close relationship to mental and physical deterioration. While not a necessary process in old age, it is all too common today.

INDIVIDUAL AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY TO BE ACTIVE IN RETIREMENT

The subcommittee believes the time has come to change our fundamental concept of retirement. There should be no longer a feeling that retirement is only a long-desired rest, a time when responsibilities end and contributions to society are unexpected. Retirement should only be from regular employment, not from the activity of life.

While increased productivity may require fewer workers in our economy, our Nation cannot afford to waste what the older person can contribute in other ways. An increasing proportion of older per

"The Aged in Mental Hospitals," a report by the Senate Subcommittee on Problems of the Aged and Aging, 1960, pp. 1-3.

"The Aged and Mental Illness," World Health Technical Report No. 110, Geneva, 1953.

"Mental Health and Aging," Harry Levine, a paper presented at the 1955 annual meeting of the Health and Welfare Council of New York City, mimeographed, 1955.

1 Elain Cummings, Lois Dean, and David Newell, "A Disengagement Theory of Aging," a paper presented to the 1958 Gerontological Society in Philadelphia.

sons now look forward to retirement and to a change in their productive activity. In the decades ahead, with adequate social legislation, this proportion will increase.

The subcommittee is convinced that retirement should be a time when older persons can, on a voluntary basis, both enjoy life and, at their own pace and in their own way, contribute to the society. But our ideas of what a contribution is must change. For many who are able, it may mean volunteer work in community services, their churches, or organizations. It may mean being an enlightened and well-informed citizen through continuing education.

For the less fortunate, it could mean being just a little less of a burden to others, and helping make the lives of those around them more enjoyable. For most older people, however, the potential contribution they can make is limited only by their means and their imagination.

In the testimony given to the subcommittee, we learned what some retired persons are doing to contribute to their communities while still enjoying their retirement. In the next decade, we must develop more ways through which older people can both enjoy life and make a contribution to the Nation.

Dr. Halbert Dunn, Chief of the Office of Vital Statistics, has written:

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In general, the older person is still respected for what he was but not for what he is today. Yet respect for what one is, is the foundation upon which personal dignity rests. person must feel that he is useful to those about him. Personal dignity requires one to live in the present and for the future and not in the past. Dignity departs when one is tucked into a niche of inactivity until he dies.3

THE GROWTH OF SENIOR CITIZEN PROGRAMS

One of the fastest growing indigenous movements in America today is the senior citizen program. In every section and type of community, the subcommittee found that older people have banded together to gain fellowship and to participate in the variety of activities which such programs provided. The number of clubs established during the last 2 years has increased considerably, partly because of the activity at the State level in connection with the White House Conference on Aging. This activity was stimulated by Federal grants.

Because of the rapid growth of senior citizen programs and the lack of assistance or organization at the National or State level, except in a few States, only an estimate can be made of the total number of such programs. A rapid, informal survey by the subcommittee indicates that there are more than 2,000 individual senior citizen clubs. But it is likely that this represents less than half of the total number.

In a survey of over 1,000 senior citizen type programs, it was found that 218 were centers and 803 were clubs. A center was defined to include social, education, recreational, and/or counseling services for older people available 2 or more days per week, with paid leadership.

8"High Level of Wellness for the Older Person and Its Relation to Community Health," Dr. Halbert Dunn, Public Health Service, mimeographed 18 pages.

• National Committee on Aging, Survey of Senior Citizens Clubs and Centers, 1959.

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Of the 218 centers, 19 were open 7 days a week and 123 were open 5 days a week. All indicated that they had volunteer staff in addition to paid staff.

În various communities, senior citizen programs are sponsored by a wide variety of agencies and organizations. They include adult education agencies, churches, social agencies, community centers, recreation departments, welfare departments, libraries, schools, men's and women's service clubs, nursing homes, labor unions, hospitals, universities, and industrial companies. Few clubs have no sponsors. Most of the public recreation departments in the medium and largesized cities have senior citizen programs.

REENTRY INTO COMMUNITY LIFE

One serious problem is that of reentry of a retired person into community activities. How does the older person indicate that he is available to join in community activities? How does the community know that he is available and what kind of activity he is able and willing to do? New links must be made which will enable the older person to find the place where he can make a contribution to society.

The subcommittee believes that a major function of a multipurpose senior citizen center should be to provide this community reentry point for senior citizens. Centers cannot be an end in themselves. Rather they must be focal points for people to start or continue their participation in community life. Otherwise, they only perpetuate the social segregation of the older segment of the population from the community.

The activities of senior citizen centers are highly varied, as might be expected, considering the wide diversity of the individuals participating. All are trying to help their members to get more out of life through creative, meaningful activities. In general, most senior citizen center programs try to provide the following:

(a) A variety of recreational, educational, cultural, and community service activities during the day, planned by the participants with the assistance of trained staff.

(b) An emphasis in the programs and in the individual contacts upon continued individual development to meet the challenges and the problems of later years.

(c) Opportunities to open new vistas in the retirement years, reduce rigidity and narrowness in old age, and enjoy creative meaningful experiences.

(d) A supportive environment of friends who can help the individual during periods of difficulty or stress.

(e) A reentry point where the individual can choose how and when he wants to participate in community life.

(f) Activity programs which contribute, directly or indirectly, to the individual's physical or mental well-being.

As indicated earlier, research by the New York City Welfare Department showed that active membership in their senior citizen programs reduces physical and mental illness. In a statement to the subcommittee, Dr. Harry Levine who has been the consultant to that program said:"

Meaningful use of free time is as important as an adequate diet. When older people are active, their muscle tone is

better, they stand erect, they are more flexible. Activity
tends to increase circulation, restore confidence in the ability
to control one's body. Often older people overconserve and
overrestrict their activities to their own detriment. Time
without meaningful activities acts as a corrosive element
destroying not only initiative, desire, self-respect, but also
the mental and physical well-being of the individual.

Today's generation of senior citizens is poorly prepared for participating in activity programs. Most had little or nothing in their early schooling to help them. Much of adult education was vocationally oriented or limited to basic academic studies.

Many of the present generation of senior citizens left school early and have worked long hours most of their lives. Studies of post retirement activities indicate that older persons generally do things they learned earlier in life. However, in a study of people participating in the Senior Citizen Hobby Show in San Francisco, it was revealed that many had learned their activities or hobbies after retirement. Similarly, most older people active in community life were active throughout their lives. However, in those communities where special efforts are made, an increasing number of older people have turned to community activities for creative and meaningful outlet. For many, this is the first time they have done so because of the pressures of raising their families.

Increasingly, senior citizen programs are including both formal and informal education activities. Older individuals are finding that they not only enjoy these programs, but are enabled to meet the challenges and problems of old age in a changing world.

With declining physical strength and coordination, senior citizens must increasingly rely upon mature minds and accumulated experience to solve problems. It is fortunate that the mind does not necessarily decline with age. Recent research indicates that while the speed of learning may decline somewhat, the basic ability to learn new things is not a function of the aging process.10 Even the older adults with the poorest learning results in this study were about equal in learning ability as the teenagers.

Educational and Recreational Activities

Many senior citizen programs receive assistance from public schools, colleges, and other educational organizations in developing the educational aspects of their programs. Often senior citizens first hear about various community educational programs through club meetings. While over one-half million people over age 65 participate in formal adult education programs (U.S. Census and Office of Education Study in 1957), it is not possible to determine how many of these came about through activities of senior citizen programs.

10 Edmund de S. Brunner, Adult Hearing, Adult Education Association, 1959.

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