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CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

 1.1    Background to the Study

Aging is both a ‘natural’ and ‘universal’ process; but growing old can be as peaceful as it can be traumatic, especially in a transitional society. The perception of the younger generation towards the aged is a global phenomenon. How the aged are perceived goes a long way in determining how they are treated or cared for. These perceptions are often informed by ideas and their manifestations are embedded in a culture of a given society across the globe (Atchley and Barusch, 2004). Perception of the aged is therefore culture bound. The increasing numbers of older people, especially in Africa, unfortunately is taking place in a situation where the society is least prepared for challenges that older people are presenting and shall present as the demand to meet their needs grow (Adedokun, 2010). This increasing nature of the older people has been greatly attributed to improvement in education and healthcare services. The range of problems that older people in Africa are facing is constantly increasing as societies are locked up in conflicts, experience economic recession and hardship, natural disasters, diseases and deterioration in family relationships. The negative attitudes that society has towards older people has meant that solutions are being sought for all other population groups except older people (Nhongo, 2006). Like many developing countries in the world, Nigeria is currently witnessing rapid ageing of its population (Asiazobor, 2015). This growth has brought with it many social, political and economic challenges and those problems associated with health in older ages. This makes old age to be perceived as ‘problematic’ phase of life. As people live longer and begin to have health challenges, provision of care and support by the younger generation becomes more important. According to the Nigeria Population Commission (NPC), 2006 census showed that the Nigerian population was 140,003,542 out of which 6.8 million were aged 65 years and above, which is a significant increase compared with the figures of 1963 and 1991 respectively. With this significant increase in the population of the aged, they are no longer valued, cared for, the way they were valued, treasured and cared for when they were few (Gowri, 2003). Another available data indicates that in Africa and especially Nigeria, 80% of the elderly reside in the rural areas while 20% live in the urban centres. This worsened the conditions of the elderly in rural areas; as a result of modernization and urbanization which enhanced mass migration of the younger population to urban areas in search of better living conditions, thereby making the elderly to suffer neglect from the younger generation who should have provided support for them (Alanana, 2005). It has also been observed that media and informal learning influence adolescents’ perception of the aged. Adolescents through what they learn informally by interacting and watching movies that portray negative images of the aged have come to develop large ageing stereotypes. Images of old age might stem from problems associated with old age such as low socioeconomic status, poor health, loneliness, senility and death. Peterson and Eden (1977) opined that literature can be a very important source of misinformation for the adolescent people about the elderly. These factors above which includes culture, population growth of the aged, urbanization, modernization, the media, literature and many more, showed that the manner in which the younger generation view the aged is not innate in them. For instance, adolescents are being misinformed through the media by portraying negative and ugly images of the aged and constantly using the elderly people in the role of witches or wizards or as people with diabolical powers in a play or drama. The aged or the elderly are chronologically defined as people that have attained the age of 65 years and above (World Health Organisation, 2009). In addition to chronological age, the age of a person can be defined in many ways encompassing biological, psychological and socio-cultural processes (Cohen, 2002). Old age can be defined by the social roles one occupy, by person’s level of physical ability, by subjective assessment of how old one feels as well as their chronological years (Barret and Cantwell, 2007). Physical factors such as facial looks, hair colour, and body image have been highlighted in the literature as defining characteristics of ageing. Low mental alertness and poor mobility have also been considered particularly important criteria in defining an older person (Musaiger and D’Souza, 2009). However, there is no consensus reached as to what constitutes being ‘old’ across countries and centuries. According to World Health Organisation (WHO), adolescent is the period in human growth and development that occurs after childhood and before adulthood, from ages 10 – 19. The biological determinants of adolescent are fairly universal; however, the duration and defining characteristics of this period may vary across time, cultures and socioeconomic situations. Every age comes with wisdom and its challenges. One society may treat older people with great reverence, while another sees them as a burden. Like gender stratification, age stratification varies across cultures. Societies world over, have some methods of age stratification that accompanies certain cultural roles and privileges with distinct periods in life. In the traditional African society, the aged people were highly esteemed because of the important roles they played by helping to integrate the society, preserve its cultural values, transmit knowledge and skills, settle disputes and educate the young. People in traditional African society and in Nigeria for instance, hold positive perception about elderly people. They got the best available food, drinks and their judgements were highly valued and respected. Anthropologists, sociologists and political scientists classified such societies as ‘gerontocracy’ – a system of government ruled by the elderly people. Mboto (2002) claims that the word ‘senator’ is a Latin word for older people. In traditional societies, older people were often accorded a great deal of respect. Among cultures that include age-grades and adolescents, the elders had major and often the final say over matters of importance to the community. Within families, the authority of both men and women mostly increased with age. In traditional African society, family and friends cared for older people at home until their dying days. There was an atmosphere (attitude) that parents make supreme sacrifices for their children and in turn, their grown children have to sacrifice for their elderly parents (Abanyam, 2011). However, changes in the structure of African society neutralized such privileges enjoyed by older people in African society; these changes brought about evolution of many challenges such as socioeconomic hardships, widespread poverty and rapid transformation of family structure, which older people did not experience. Ageing in Nigeria is occurring against the background of social and economic hardship, widespread poverty, the HIV/AIDS pandemic and rapid transformation of traditional extended family structure. Care for the elderly has always been taken for granted to be a filial responsibility with little or no government support, however, current social and economic changes have put into doubt the continued viability of such traditional arrangement for the elderly (Osayi, 2012). This study is therefore designed to examine the perception and care of the aged among the adolescents in Ikwo Local Government Area, Ebonyi State.