Abstract
In the society today, everyone desires to remain young, active, and self-dependent. However, the forces of nature do not allow human beings to survive forever in the environment. People have to die for others to be born (Aldrich, Kiyota, Arnold, & Tanaka, 2015.). Everyone must go through old age if they successfully escape from other fatalities that cause pre-mature deaths. Our society treats senior citizens differently. Some are respected, others are mocked and ridiculed, others are stigmatized, and worse, others go through very difficult life experiences such as taking care of the young(Chapter 14 the Resilience of Elders of Color, 2012). This paper shall discuss the continued resilience of elders of color in our society focusing on the fourteenth chapter of the book called Social Gerontology: A Multidisciplinary Perspective, 9th Edition written by Nancy Hooyman, H. and AsumanKiyak, review the opinion of other scholars, establish the limitations and find out the gaps in the extensive research done on the subject.
Introduction
Many definitions have been used to describe the word resilience. Social scientists have used the term to describe the continued survival of an individual despite the harsh social and environmental conditions they are subjected through (Chee & Whittington, 2012). If you have grandparents, and they are living a comfortable life, then are among the small percentage of senior citizens who enjoy their last days on earth comfortably in the United States. The majority of the elderly populations in the United States are either in nursing homes, neglected in their homes or begging in the streets. The phenomenon is so common that it has become a norm in the United States.
Studies have shown that the elderly among the minority communities undergoes some stigmatization and discrimination when seeking social services such as healthcare. It is also known that due to barriers in health care provisions, a majority of American Indians die before the age of forty-five years (Chapter 14 the Resilience of Elders of Color, 2012). It has been established that also until the age of 65 years there are more American Indian deaths than whites, and past the age of eighty-five years, there are more deaths among the whites than the native population. The same studies have also established that mortality among the minority groups is common due to poor quality of service and delayed treatment. These are just some of the factors that accelerate the death rates of the Native Americans, and other minority groups but other contributing factors are worse than just healthcare. In this paper, when we mention the minority groups it accumulates the American Indians, the African Americans, the Latinos and the Asian/Pacific Islanders.
Scholarly research articles studies described
Several factors promote resilience among the elderly population particularly with regards to the social and cultural environments. The elderly population has utilized these factors in their environments to survive and live well within their communities and societies. According to Aldrichet al., the resilience of the elderly populations develops as they begin to accept the changing social dynamics and accept the fact that even though their environments may not be favorable, they have to continue surviving in it (2015). Several protective factors have helped the older generations to survive (Chee & Whittington, 2012). Some of the factors are protective and are built within individual, protective factors within their families and also the protection of the communities.
The Native Americans and other minority groups are known to have very strong cultures that emphasize that the elderly in the community have to protect and respected (The Resilience of Elders of Color, 2016). However, with the changing cultural dynamics and interactions with the western cultures, these elements of culture are weakening. The social ties of the individuals have also been known to protect the elderly individuals, especially within the family. Again, these norms have faded as the young people in the families move elsewhere to seek employment opportunities and education (The Resilience of Elders of Color, 2016). With time, the community and family protection of the older generations fade and even at some point in their lives they are forced to live alone.
The issues that are common within the elders of color are many, but some of the most common issues include the cumulative structural disadvantages that include low paying jobs, high numbers of single men and women and high poverty rates. It is estimated that about a third of the American elderly population from the minority groups live in poverty (Aldrich et al., 2015). The employment opportunities that are common for the elderly are some of the lowest paying jobs characterized by long working hours and harsh job environments. Most of the jobs are not pensionable and do not have insurance covers. These jobs include supermarket attendants, cooks, security guards, factory workers, plumbers among others (Resilience in a Cross-Cultural Perspective, 2016). The other disadvantage that the elderly populations have is the inability to access insurance covers. It is important to note that their resilience has been contributed by the fact that they live in poor communities and with time, they learn to accept their conditions. For instance, the African Americans and the Latinos are known to live in some of the poorest estates in the American cities.
The insurance agencies in the United States charge very high in insurance and their plans mainly focus on individuals that have jobs with a steady income. They also discriminate against the minority groups for they believe that they cannot afford the plans. The elderly of the minority groups are often disadvantaged because they lack resources to pay for their insurance covers, since, majority of them may not have had pensionable jobs in the past (Chee & Whittington, 2012). Although Medicare and Medicaid have done considerable amounts of work to meet health gaps of the elderly, there is still a lot more to do. The other issue that faces the elderly is the social cultural barriers to basic needs such as access to healthcare. There is a lot of discrimination that takes place in the healthcare facilities in the United States particularly those that target the elderly of the minority groups (Resilience in a Cross-Cultural Perspective, 2016). Studies have shown that the 66% of the healthcare reservations are made to the young adults and children among the native populations. Studies have also shown that other minority groups that live with the European American population face healthcare service discrimination and do not get adequate treatment for other conditions.
The same studies show that minority groups of the American elderly populations suffer from diseases that are preventable and treatable only that they have limited access to the health care plans for those diseases including diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure, and cancer(Grandbois & Sanders, 2012). The majority of the native caregivers lack adequate resources to provide health services for the older population while other minority groups are discriminated or sometimes given low quality healthcare service in healthcare facilities. The other key issue is weakening social ties within the minority groups because the younger and stronger individuals leave their homes seeking for employment opportunities to meet basic needs to meet their basic needs. The older generations are often left on their own or sometimes with their grandchildren who might be too weak to do basic chores including providing food for the family (Grandbois& Sanders, 2012). It forces the elder to find means necessary to ensure that the mouths of the young are fed, and they access basic needs.
Strengths and limitations of literature summary
The studies that have been having some strengths as discussed below:
They are all based on actual research that has been carried out in the field and also utilization of secondary data. The studies reflect what is happening in real life, especially among the elderly minority populations. The studies also explain in detail how the elderly have learned to cope with their environments hence ensuring continue survival within their environments (Cohen et al., 2016). The studies are also not biased and discriminatory because it is known to many American populations that during the development of the American Constitution there was less consideration of the native populations, and the minority groups despite being citizens of America (Chee & Whittington, 2012). The Constitution is not very clear on the provisions that protect the minority groups including the elder populations. Until recently, Medicare increased their health coverage to include the elderly in the population, but it is not clear if it covers the special needs of the elderly native populations, the Latinos, African Americans and other minority groups.
The limitations of the studies that have been conducted are not yet clear on factors such as barriers that isolate the elders from the minority groups. According to Grandbois & Sanders, studies have also not given sufficient prove that the Resilience of the Elders of power if it is a personal choice, or the environmental and social dynamics have pushed them to those levels (2012). It is also not clear whether the individuals that do these studies are biased or not(Cohen et al., 2016). For instance, if it is a Native American or a member of any other minority group such as African American carrying out the study, it is apparent that he might be twisted to focus on one side that the other (Aldrich et al., 2015). If it is the ordinary European American carrying out the study, he/she might miss the cultural elements of the native populations, and the lifestyles adopted by other minority groups that make them unique especially the elderly groups. Studies have also drawn more focus on health issues rather than the overall factors that make the subject on Resilience of Elders of Color a subject worth researching about.
Recommendations for future research
According to Grandbois & Sanders, the future scholars must ensure that they are more articulate to the subject matter other than focusing on several factors that sometimes create confusion during the analysis (2012). The minority group elderly populations must be included in the studies and ensure that they contribute their opinions on various subjects and the dynamics of their lifestyles other than drawing conclusions from observations (Cohen et al., 2016). It is also mandatory to find out more why for instance the native population, the Asians and the Latinos tends to live longer when they are older compared to the general white populations and other minority groups. Research has also never focused on studies that entail the resilience of the elderly when they face wear and tear in their bodies, and studies have mainly focused on European Americans leaving the minority groups behind. It is also important to establish clear comparisons based on historical events, cultural dynamics and policy changes that have affected the American minority groups.
In conclusion, the studies that have been carried out should be used to improve the lives of the elderly populations other than just identifying issues among them that can never be changed. It is the role of the policy makers to influence change to ensure that the issues that make the lives of the older populations harder are addressed. Among the policies that should be focused on are healthcare and culture. The white Americans should learn to live with the native populations and treat them equally because they too are human beings and American citizens who deserve to be protected by the constitution. The states, which harbor the native populations, should ensure that they have access to adequate basic needs such as healthcare, education, and equal employment activities to avoid interstate migrations and neglect of the older populations.
References
Aldrich, D., Kiyota, E., Arnold, M., & Tanaka, Y (2015). Elders Leading the Way to Resilience. SSRN Electronic Journal. http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2575382
Chapter 14 the Resilience of Elders of Color. (2012). Aging. Retrieved 22 April 2016, from https://soc431cib.wordpress.com/chapter-14-the-resilienc-of-elders-of-color/
Chee, K. & Whittington, F. (2012). For the Aging Multicultural World: Gerontology "Texting". The Gerontologist, 52(5), 726-731. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/geront/gns115
Cohen, O., Geva, D., Lahad, M., Bolotin, A., Leykin, D., Goldberg, A., &Aharonson-Daniel, L. (2016). Community Resilience throughout the Lifespan – The Potential Contribution of Healthy Elders. PLOS ONE, 11(2), e0148125. http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0148125
Grandbois, D. & Sanders, G. (2012). Resilience and Stereotyping: The Experiences of Native American Elders. Journal Of Transcultural Nursing, 23(4), 389-396. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1043659612451614
Resilience in a Cross-Cultural Perspective:How resilience is generated in different cultures.. (2016). Immi.se. Retrieved 22 April 2016, from http://www.immi.se/intercultural/nr11/gunnestad.htm
The Resilience of Elders of Color. (2016). prezi.com. Retrieved 22 April 2016, from https://prezi.com/kruelyfssoik/the-resilience-of-elders-of-color/
