The Availability of Care for Late-Middle-Aged Adults With Chronic ...

On average, they had three children who survived past the age of 40 (Glasgow, 2000) and had high rates of marriage and low rates of divorce. They benefited from generous social security pensions and near-universal access to Medicare. These benefits helped to change retirement ages. While in the 1940s half of all men over age 64 worked, by 1997 only 16% of such men worked (Levy, 1998).

A desire for independent living increased in this generation as well, perhaps due to greater financial autonomy or changes in values (Crimmins & Ingegneri, 1990; Kramarow, 1995; Macunovich, Easterlin, Schaeffer, & Crimmons, 1995; Ruggles, 1995). However, even with this desire for independence, a clear pattern of intergenerational exchange in time of need has been evident (Silverstein, 1995). The current older old group members have been able to help their adult children in times of financial and housing needs (Hogan, Eggebeen, & Clogg, 1993; Speare & Avery, 1993). In return, their children have provided them with assistance when they become frail (Stone et al., 1987). In short, they have benefited from the demographic and economic transformations of modernity, but did not participate in the family revolutions that followed (Goldscheider, 1990).

The experiences of individuals in late middle age in 2000 have and will continue to differ from those of older persons. They were at the forefront of the “family revolutions,” experiencing later childbearing and reduced overall fertility. They experienced greater divorce and childlessness than their older counterparts (Goldscheider, 1990; Kreider & Simmons, 2003).They were more racially and ethnically diverse than previous generations (Hobbs & Stoops, 2002). Their households, and especially those of their adult children, relied more heavily upon the earnings of two individuals, as real wages have declined over the past 30 years (Harrison & Bluestone, 1998; Levy, 1998).