New terminology for a new year: “Late Adulthood”

Last updated on: August 16, 2016 at 9:50 am by Jane the Actuary

New terminology for a new year: “Late Adulthood” 2016-08-16T09:50:35-06:00 Jane the Actuary

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

So, look, I’m reinventing the wheel, and maybe even suggesting utter nonsense in light of literature on the subject that I haven’t read, both by lack of time and lack of access to the genuinely scholarly stuff that doesn’t show up on the library New Book shelf.

But here goes:

One of my pet peeves is the fact that we are continually coming up with new euphemisms for individuals who have reached the later stages of their lives: when “elderly” as a no-go, it became “senior citizen.” Older workers are “experienced workers.” Sun City-like communities are for people “age 55 or better.” And a book I’m reading now talks about “working in retirement” due to lack of a better word.

So here’s my try:

Divide a middle-class human life in the developed world into stages by simple 20-year intervals. You get:

Youth
Young adulthood
Middle age
Late adulthood
Old age

Youth, is, of course, everyone up to age 20. Sure, age 18 is the legal onset of “adulthood” — but let’s be serious here.

Young adults are the 20s and 30s, establishing their careers, their families, their lives in general.

The middle aged are the 40s and 50s. Yes, there are people who insist that middle-age doesn’t start until age 60 or so, but that’s preposterous. To be middle aged means you mostly have all this stuff figured out — you’re settled in a career (or, if you’ve had a string of careers, you have acquired a reasonable amount of experience), you’ve got some experience at this whole parenthood thing (yes, if you’re poor, you’re more likely to be a grandparent by now, but we’re talking about the middle class, and typical life experiences), you (ought to) have some savings built up by the end of this period. At the same time, you know middle age sets in when you need to buy your first pair of reading glasses, even if you tell yourself that they’re your sewing glasses because it just gets a bit difficult to thread the needle sometimes. And women, of course, see the end of their fertility and experience menopause.

The late adulthood (or “later adulthood”) years are your 60s and 70s. That’s when things start to go downhill. The trick is that the downhill is more gently sloped for some people than others, physically and mentally. At different points during this time span for different people, even without our traditional concept of “retirement age,” it becomes necessary to slow down, to phase out of full-time work, especially out of heavy manual labor or high-stress, complex tasks. At the same time, a new phase of life has begun for the typical parent, now an empty nester and freed from childcare responsibilities and (most of the time) college costs.

And old age is anything age 80 and up. Yes, of course, many people don’t make it this far, but, for the typical person who does hit this age, life has slowed down quite a bit, and enjoyment is found in family and friends rather than travel and excitement.

What’s the point of this?

We have our definition fixed by mileposts coming from Social Security and Medicare, and an all-or-nothing in our work lives. Maybe if we used concepts that don’t presume this, we can think more effectively about the best way to spend our late adult years, and the best policies to adopt.

Actuarial/Retirement Issues

late adulthood

Previous Post

January 2, 2015

stray thought: why is the price of gas so low?

Next Post

January 3, 2015 Parking a link: the empty churches of Europe

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Actuarial/Retirement Issues Politics Uncategorized

Select a Month September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 December 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 August 2021 June 2021 April 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What did God write the Ten Commandments with?

Select your answer to see how you score.

A chisel A pen His finger A sword