User:RachelJohnson11/sandbox

Article Evaluation
The following are questions and answers to an article on ageing. The article seems to incorporate many different perspectives of the term ageing. The content was relevant to the article topic. It was very interesting how, after describing what ageing was, the article compared the topic to immortality. This allows the reader to put the term ageing into perspective. The part of the article labeled “Effects of Ageing” was not necessarily confusing, however, the different effects of ageing the author chose to include was a little sporadic and unorganized. The article holds a neutral view on ageing. It talks not only about human ageing, but other ageing in animals and other life forms as well. It expresses that ageing is different among various species. When looking at the Sociology section of the article, all of the links worked and were relevant to the section. The citations go to other wikipedia pages explaining the cited words. The cited words in the section included maturity, social science of ageing, and retirement. All of these wikipedia articles go into further depth of the topic linked. The sources cited came from sociological handbooks and journals that talk about the subject of ageing. The sources, although barely explained in the article, do support the claims. Two of the sources were published in 2010, so they are not outdated. However, one of the sources was from 1989. Research has further developed the concept of retirement since 1989, but the reference to the section is irrelevant to the time period it was published. The article simply states that retirement has positive and negative effects on retirement which is true to any time period. Even so, it is important to note the older publication reference. None of the references seemed to have an biases. Although I could not find an conversations about the article, the Talk page did mention that the article was part of the following WikiProjects: Biology, Ageing and culture, Health and fitness, Medicine, and World’s Oldest People. The article is rated as B-Class. This means that the article does not have any major problems, however, it is not flawless.

Article Proposal
"Age Segregation" is a Wikipedia page I am interested in editing and adding information to. I would like to add more content on the segregation between the younger generation now and the older aged generation. I would like to also research if this generation gap could be linked to the advancements in technology. I think some more in depth statistics of relevant studies could be added. Going more in depth about the causes of the generation gap from early modern life to present day would also be beneficial to this page. "Gerontophobia" is a Wikipedia page that has minimal information about the fear of old people and getting old. In this article, I would like to find relevant studies that would improve the understanding of this fear. I would also like to expand on the section of ageism which is discrimination against people due to their age. This can take place at any age which is why this section needs some improvement. Another page I am interested in is "Sexually active life expectancy." This page could go into further depth on how a person's sex life could influence their life quality and expectancy rate. Even though the study used was published in 2010, I think their might be a more recent study that could provide more information about our populations sexual expectancy. Much more could be published about the health benefits of sexual relationships at an older age.

Contributions to "Sexually Active Life Expectancy" article
I have decided to add content to the Wikipedia article "Sexually active life expectancy."

I would like to use content data research from a couple of different peer-reviewed articles on sexually active older adults. Some topics I would be interested in adding to the Wikipedia page include physical and mental health barriers, patterns of sexual expression in later life, and health professionals' attitudes towards older sexually active people. There are other subjects I would like to include, but I need to do further research.

Article Before Editing
My article "Sexually active life expectancy" has very minimal content. It is composed of four small paragraphs that define sexually active life expectancy and explain how it is related to health expectancy. It briefly talks about a study of two large populations in the U.S. The article then goes into little detail about the correlation of sexuality, good health, and quality of life. The article ends with another study explaining how men are more interested in sex than women, and how men are more satisfied with their sex life.

I am interested in adding a "physical and mental health barrier" subtitle. This section would explain some reason older people have lower sexually active life expectancy. I also want to include a section on sexual patterns in later life. Including a section on ageism, discrimination based on age, because the topic can be related to how health professionals view older people who are sexually active. This could lead to older people not receiving the right treatment that they deserve. I also think it would be important to include a section about the producers of the measure of sexually active life expectancy. They are briefly mentioned for credit, but not much else is explained about their creation of this measurement. This might go under barriers, but discussing gender disparity more in depth and how sexually active life expectancy differs from male and female would be useful to include.

Rough Draft Feb 21
Sexually active life expectancy is the average number of years remaining for a person to be sexually active. This population-based indicator extends the concept of health expectancy to the measure of sexuality (via sexual activity). Calculation of sexually active life expectancy uses the age-specific prevalence data on sexual activity in conjunction with life table data on survival probabilities to partition the number of person-years into years with and without sexual activity, which is based on the Sullivan method. The Sullivan method's objective is to understand the change of health in a given population over time. The measure of sexually active life expectancy was introduced by Lindau and Gavrilova. Through their study of two cohorts, researchers Lindau and Gavrilova found that sexual activity, a good quality sex life, and interest in sex were associated with self rated health in a positive way. Their research focused on midlife and later life health. This included the ages 27 to 74 years and 57 to 85 years. In their findings they concluded that a gender difference was present with increasing age. Evidence proved that men were more likely than women to be engaging in sexual activity. Men were also more likely to report that they were having good quality sex and that they were even interested in having sex. Furthermore, their research showed that men in good or excellent health could gain an extra five to seven years for participating in regular sexual activity. Where as women would only gain three to six years given they had substantial health. Even though the gender gap is eveident, the research provides a clear association between health and sexual activity.

A study of two large population-based U.S. surveys found that, on average, women expect fewer years of sexual activity, mainly due to prevalent widowhood among older women. This gender disparity is attenuated for people with a spouse or other intimate partner. The study also found that men tend to lose more years of sexually active life due to poor health.

Sexually active life expectancy is associated with self-reports of good health in both men and women. Sexuality has been identified as an important attribute to overall health and a marker of quality of life. Physicians may find that sexually active life expectancy can be used as an incentive for patients to become (and stay) healthy.

A study investigating the relationship between years of sexually active life and health, showed that men tend to be more interested in sex compared to women, both in midlife and later life. In addition, the research demonstrated that only 51.8% of women in a later stage of life reported being satisfied by their sexual life compared to 71.1% of men.

First Draft
Sexually active life expectancy is the average number of years remaining for a person to be sexually active. This population-based indicator extends the concept of health expectancy to the measure of sexuality (via sexual activity). Calculation of sexually active life expectancy uses the age-specific prevalence data on sexual activity in conjunction with life table data on survival probabilities to partition the number of person-years into years with and without sexual activity, which is based on the Sullivan method. The Sullivan method's objective is to understand the change of health in a given population over time. The measure of sexually active life expectancy was introduced by Lindau and Gavrilova. Through their study of two cohorts, researchers Lindau and Gavrilova found that sexual activity, a good quality sex life, and interest in sex were associated with self rated health in a positive way. Their research focused on midlife and later life health. This included ages 27 to 74 years and 57 to 85 years. In their findings they concluded that a gender difference was present with increasing age. Evidence proved that men were more likely than women to be engaging in sexual activity. Men were also more likely to report that they were even interested in having sex and that they were having good quality sex. In addition, the research demonstrated that only 51.8% of women in a later stage of life reported being satisfied by their sexual life compared to 71.1% of men. Furthermore, their research showed that men in good or excellent health could gain an extra five to seven years for participating in regular sexual activity. Where as women would only gain three to six years given they had substantial health. Even though the gender gap is evident, the research provides a clear association between health and sexual activity.

A study of two large population-based U.S. surveys found that, on average, women expect fewer years of sexual activity, mainly due to prevalent widowhood among older women. This gender disparity is attenuated for people with a spouse or other intimate partner. The study also found that men tend to lose more years of sexually active life due to poor health.

Sexually active life expectancy is associated with self-reports of good health in both men and women. Sexuality has been identified as an important attribute to overall health and a marker of quality of life. Physicians may find that sexually active life expectancy can be used as an incentive for patients to become (and stay) healthy.

Importance of Sexuality on Health
An older person's quality of life can rely heavily on their sexual life.

Barriers Preventing Sex
Although people generalize that older adults do not participate in sex often, research shows that older people enjoy participating in a variety of sexual activities. Barriers, both physically and mentally, is an important factor that influences older adults' sexual activities. These barriers can be seen at the individual, societal, and structural level. Some barriers include: lack of privacy, availability of sexual partner, mental health, and the impact of prescriptions on sexual desires.

Age-related Barriers
Age-related factors can be identified due to decline health. This can include declining fitness and mobility levels. Biological changes, such as menopause for women, can cause an unpleasant experience during sex. This can include painful intercourse and lack of sex drive,however, many women have reported that not having to worry about becoming pregnant made them enjoy sexual activity more. The presence of diseases such as arthritis, can also greatly affect a person's sexual activities, however, this is evident for any age range.

Psychological Barriers
Factors such as a decrease in self esteem, confidence, and cognitive function can prohibit an older person from participating in sex or romantic partnerships.

Importance of Intimate Relationships within Institutional Settings (Residential Care)
Due to the increasing ageist attitudes towards older people being sexually active, there is not many programs advocating for older people's sexuality. Employers of residential facilities see many problems with allowing older people to participate in sexual activities. Withing institutional settings, segregation was the main boundary between older people, assuming they were heterosexual, achieving sexual activities. Many buildings were designed to ensure that males and females were separated, usually by floors or specific wings of the building. Married couples usually were not able to stay with each other. It is important for residential facilities to create a "home" environment because this facility may be the last place an older person resides in.

Legal and Ethical Issues
One of the main reasons residential homes do not care to facilitate intimate relationships is because employees may have a hard time distinguishing a desired sexual partnership from an undesired one. The residential care faces possible issues if a resident is being taken advantage of especially if they are incapable physically or mentally to protect them self. Facilities usually have a safeguarding and protection policy which monitors any relationship to prevent abuse.