「老年社会科学」 Vol. 10-2

   

論文名


高齢社会の人口学的考察

著者名

岡崎陽一

雑誌名
巻/号/頁/年
老年社会科学, 10 ( 2 ) : 7-22, 1988
抄録
The age structure lf the population of Japan remained almost unchanged for a long time with a relatively large young population. It has started aging gradually since 1955. The proportion of the aged population (65 years and over) was 5.3% in 1955. It rose to 7.1% in 1960 and 10.3% in 1980. According to an estimate of the future population by the Institute of Population Problems, Ministry of Health and Welfare, the aging process will rapidly proceed in future. After reaching almost the same level of that in the current West European countries in 2000, the proportion of aged population will rise to more than 20% in the next century. And finally, the society of Japan will become an aged society around the second decade of the nest century. Owing to the fact that large cohort born in the past baby-boom years will enter into the aged population, several years in the next century we shall experience an extremely high proportion of aged population, over 24%. But the normal proportion of the aged population in this aged society can be considered to be about 22%.
Aging of the population and becoming an aged society involve a natural course of demographic transition. Behind them lie improvement of the level of living of the general public which leads to fertility and mortality decline. Because of unprecedentedly rapid aging and the difficulty of the public finance after the oil shock in 1973, a gloomy perspective on aging and aged society prevailed in Japan. But the author emphasizes the advantageous aspects of the aged society and recommends positive policies to keep the society stable and comfortable population. Aged society should be maintained basically by the social security system and by a generally accepted idea that every citizen has an opportunity to contribute to society according to his or her ability without age discrimination.

 

論文名


高齢者の再就職とその需要条件;東京都の企業調査結果にもとづく

著者名

小林謙一

雑誌名
巻/号/頁/年
老年社会科学, 10 ( 2 ) : 23-44, 1988
抄録
There are several difficulties for aged workers to get new jobs. This article is an analysis of cases that have been relatively successful from the employers' points of view.
The data used in this article was collected by means of a questionnaire which I took part in planning. The questionnaires were sent to both medium and small sized enterprises throughout Tokyo. A total of about 1500 enterprises responded with significant answers to this investigation held in September of 1987. The questionnaire asked enterprises about their total revenues in the last three to five years as well as their employment conditions. Despite the depression caused by the appreciation of the yen, the employment opportunities for aged persons in Tokyo remained relatively good. Therefore, this thesis can be used to analyze successful cases, which is beneficial in improving the conditions for future career changes among the aged.
515 of the people in their 50's and 248 of the people in their 60's who were employed in 1985 to '87, responded with substancial answers to the questionnaire. However, the coverage rates for the aggregated number of the enterprises were 35% for the people in their 50's and only 17% for those in their 60's. This means that the employment opportunites for those in their 60's was one half of what the people in their 50's were receiving. The largest number of responses was from firms which had a large number of employees of which a high percentage were aged workers. Though not as remarkable as the preciously mentioned data, firms with high growth rates in their total reveaues responded as well. Now-a-days, since we can observe different movements among firms which are engaged in the same industry and have the same scale of employment, this thesis focuses directly on the differences in the movements of total revenues. The results of this analysis are as follows:
(1) STATUS
Even in the cases of those in their 60's, the aged employees usually occupied managerial or common worker's positions. They, however, had relatively fewer chances to receive full-time employment as opposed to part-time employment. The firms with the higher total revenue growth rates tended to employ the aged people as executives or as supervisors.
(2) TYPE OF OCCUPATION
Aged persons were usually employed to do simple labor. In the cases of the employees in their 60's, many of them were hired especially as technical specialists, clerks or security guards. However, due to the lack of significant correspondence between the type of occupation and the growth rate of the total revenues, a conclusion for the employees in their 50's can not be drawn.
(3) RECRUITMENT
In the cases of those in their 60's, many of them were employed not as a result of an introduction by the Public Vocational Security Office, but instead by their former firm employer. Sometimes they were found by scouting managers. This searching done by the managers as well as newspaper advertisements played an important role in recruitment for firms with a high growth rate in total revenues.
(4) CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT
Firms paid a lot of attention to not only the skills, knowledge, and past careers of the aged employees, but also to their health and physical abilities. This included those people who were in their 60's. The firms with the highest total revenue growth rates were the ones which took knowledge, skills, and attitude towards the occupation of the aged workers into the greatest consideration.
(5) MERITS OF HIRING AN AGED PERSON
The management tended to value highly the aged employees, even those Over 60 years old, as good consultants for both management and for younger employees. However the aged workers were considered to be lower payroll employees and were given the positions that the younger workers perfered not to be posted at. Thus the firms with the higher rate in total revenues tended to value greatly the age employees as good consultants for management as well as good role models for the other workers, however, they tended to position them in medial posts.

 

論文名


高齢者の就労

著者名

和田修一

雑誌名
巻/号/頁/年
老年社会科学, 10 ( 2 ) : 43-63, 1988
抄録
An intercultural comparison leads us to reconsider the meaning of the working role in the later stages of Japanese people's lies. The survey shows, a) Japanese elderly people are strongly motivated to keeping working as long as possible even in the later stages of life, and b) many of those who are keeping work or wish to work again recognize work as the major reason for their good health. The positive influence of the working role on elderly people's physical and mental health was ascertained by survey data showing that elderly people without working roles more frequently suffered from psychosomatic diseases than those who were still active in working roles.
The strong motivation of the Japanese elderly people for work was interpreted. First, in contradiction to the popular notion that many Japanese elderly people are active in jobs because of financial reasons (i.e., to supplement their public pensions) they are in fact, eager to keep working because of noneconomic reasons. Second, however, many of the Japanese elderly people who are still working do no find pleasure in doing their jobs. Third, the reason is surely not instrumental (economical) but expressive. It is rather vague, being expressed as "To work is good for health". This is derived from the Japanese way of life in which social activities other than occupation-related ones are not fully cultivated, and no other activities substitute for the working role even in the later stages of life.
The tendencies of Japanese elderly people should not be devalued , but should be encouraged in the future. The mature structure of the labour force in the near future requires the elderly people's commitment to the labour market.

 

論文名


定年退職―家族と個人への影響

著者名

袖井孝子

雑誌名
巻/号/頁/年
老年社会科学, 10 ( 2 ) : 64-79, 1988
抄録
The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of retirement on families and individuals based on the findings of previous studies.
In Japan, there exists a discrepancy between the retirement age and the pensionable age. Today about 40% of companies with more than 30 employees set the retirement age earlier than the pensionable age. Therefore, most of the retirees have to be re-employed at the same or different companies with lower pay and lower status. According to the survey of the retired couples (two thirds of husbands were still working) in 1979 conducted by the present author, both husbands and wives perceived that there was not much change in their standard of living after retirement. Husbands more than wives felt that their association with friends decreased. With decrease in working hours, time spent at home, chances of participating in housekeeping, and of conversation and going out with their wife increased, which often contributed to promote the marital satisfaction of husbands and wives.
The results of application of the Life Satisfaction Index A (B.L. Neugarten and others) and the Revised Philadelphia Geriatric Center Morale Scale (M.P. Lawton) to the Japanese retirees were quite similar to those of the U.S. samples;that is, the more socially integrated and active, the more they adjusted successfully to old age. However, the result of the Cross-National Study among five countries (Japan, Thailand, the United States, Denmark and Italy) by the Management and Coordination Agency in 1986 showed that the proportion of those who said they were happy compared with others of the same age was the highest among the Japanese old people, though they were more socially isolated than old people in four countries. It seems to be necessary to develop a new scale to measure the different aspect of the subjective well-being of the Japanese old people.

 

論文名


高齢者の労働能力と職務再設計

著者名

松山美保子

雑誌名
巻/号/頁/年
老年社会科学, 10 ( 2 ) : 80-96, 1988
抄録
The main purpose of the paper is to identify and describe the relationship between aging and the work capabilities of older workers. The paper investigates the capabilities of older workers by various kinds of studies done in the past years in both the U.S. and Japan. The method of investigation is divided into four types;that is, 1) relationship between aging and intelligence. 2) relationship between aging and physical capability. 3) relationship between aging and productivity. 4) relationship between aging and motivation.
The results of the investigation indicate that the actual capabilities and potential of older workers are higher that the general belief that these capabilities will decline with aged. Therefore, the capabilities of older workers should be measured by functional age rather than chronological age.
The paper also describes the importance of job redesign and the technique of job redesign which matches older workers to their work through the improvement of the work environment by considering the case studies of two Japanese companies.

 

論文名


高齢者の身体的健康を保つ方法

著者名

柴田博

雑誌名
巻/号/頁/年
老年社会科学, 10 ( 2 ) : 97-112, 1988
抄録
In light of the growing proportion of the elderly population, concepts and concerns for health in the elderly have been drastically changed in most developed countries. In those days when the proportion of the elderly was still low, attention to the health problems of the elderly was focused on how to detect frail elders, and to take care of them.
Recently, we have become aware that holistic assessment of the elder's needs should be made. The holistic assessment involves productivity and independence of the elderly.
The author feels that the "active life expectancy" developed by Katz is a very innovative concept because it contains both life expectancy and terms of independent life.
This paper stresses the importance of a pertinent nutritional status and physical activities in order to promote the health and to prolong active life expectancy. Useful ideas for the above problems cannot always be derived from the findings obtained in disease−oriented epidemiologic research.

 

論文名


高齢者の運動・スポーツ活動とメンタル・ヘルス

著者名

谷口幸一

雑誌名
巻/号/頁/年
老年社会科学, 10 ( 2 ) : 113-138, 1988
抄録
The object of this article was to consider the psychological conditions which may have an influence on the daily physical activities of the elderly including both Physical ADL (PADL) and Instrumental ADL (IADL) and other physical exercise or sports. Psychological factors related to the physical activities of the elderly, include the feeling of physical strength, needs for doing exercise or sports, the feeling of the effect on their health and the feeling of subjective health. On the other hand, problems include the frequency of carrying out IADL and PADL with no help, the quality and quantity of activities of both labor and leisure times and the frequency or the period of duration for doing physical exercise or sports in their daily lives. The scientific data involved in the problems mentioned above were analyzed and also presented in tables and figures mainly broken down by sex and chronological aged.

 

論文名


高齢者の心の健康

著者名

荒井保男

雑誌名
巻/号/頁/年
老年社会科学, 10 ( 2 ) : 139-158, 1988
抄録
1. The concept of health is more than fact-based natural science;it includes value judgements. We always have to promote our health.
2. It is true that old age is a period of decline, but it is also a period of complete maturity.
3. All humans should aim at developing mature personalities.
I wrote about the mental health of the aged in a positive may from the points of view stated above.
"How to Accept Old Age", "How to Adapt Oneself to It", and "The Problems of Death" were discussed as the central themes.

 

論文名


老人の地域保健医療

著者名

前田信雄

雑誌名
巻/号/頁/年
老年社会科学, 10 ( 2 ) : 159-174, 1988
抄録
For the development of community health care, administrative responsibility of governor in the municipality, peoples' participation, social role of professionals and integration of health and welfare facilities in the community are essential and key factors.
Governors have political and financial responsibility directly for the elderly who need care from different institutions and community organizations.
For the peoples' participation, we should introduce ombudsman programs to assure the level of long-term care in every facilities in the community.
Doctors, public health nurses, social workers and home helpers have to engage in higher technical help for the elderly.
At the same time, they should become facilitators and organizers of community resources to assure continuity of care for elderly.
Teaching nursing home might take important role for the training and educational programs for the every community workers for the frail elderly.
We must implement most efficient alternatives based upon community care for frail elderly from the point of economic view by seeking the integration and coordination of all facilities and staff in the community.

 

論文名


障害からの回復としてのリハビリテーション

著者名

伊東元

雑誌名
巻/号/頁/年
老年社会科学, 10 ( 2 ) : 175-192, 1988
抄録
The predominance of chronic diseases and the increase in the aged population in recent years has led the evaluation of disability to be changed. Disability recognized from the viewpoint of social welfare has expanded its range from "disability to earn money" to "disability to live". The Physically Disabled People's Welfare Law (1949) defined disability as "that with fixed symptoms" or "that without hope or recovery". However in 1954, the word "fixed" was changed into "that which is considered permanent". In addition, researches and studies in the fields of health and medical treatment have been laying emphasis on the consequences of the disease, not on the disease itself.
WHO published the "International Classification of Diseases (ICD)" and released the "International Classification of Impairment, Disability and Handicap (ICIDH)" in 1980 in which disability was classified into three levels:impairment, disability and handicap. Among those three levels, handicap must be centered to developments in disability. Social science is expected to support developments in effective rehabilitation for the aged.

 

論文名


高齢者とボランティア活動

著者名

竹村祥子

雑誌名
巻/号/頁/年
老年社会科学, 10 ( 2 ) : 193-205, 1988
抄録
Looking at the positive attitude of senior citizens in Japan toward volunteer work, we would expect to find a greater incidence of participation;unfortunately this is not the case. Volunteer work, vis a vis senior citizens, can be carried out in two ways−work done for them and/or by them. With respect to the former, the most serious problem that confronts us is the so called home help services for a household comprised of senior citizens only. This problem goes beyond the scope of volunteer work and is one of welfare policy proportions. With reference to volunteer to volunteer work done by senior citizens, we should consider what is reasonably within their power and the factors that would contribute to facilitate and expand their usefulness. I would like to take a further look at these problems in this paper.

 

論文名


高齢期の学習活動;その現状と課題

著者名

西下彰俊

雑誌名
巻/号/頁/年
老年社会科学, 10 ( 2 ) : 206-224, 1988
抄録
The purpose of this study is;(1) to find out actual needs in learning activities of the aged students at classes for the aged and broadcasting programs have, and (2) to explore the problems remaining in these educational systems.
Two survey were conducted in 1986 and in 1987. In the surveys in 1986, subjects were 471 elderly students aged 60 and over in a class for the aged sponsored by Chiba Prefecture and another held in Kishiwada City, a suburb of Osaka. For the survey in 1987, respondents were 433 elderly (aged 60 and older) who were attending a broadcasting course for the aged sponsored by Hyogo Prefecture.
As for the major findings, the most frequent requests for programs by the students were "health care and health maintenance", "current sociopolitical topics" and "enrichment of hobbies" in the 1986 survey result, while "how to live a longer life", "health care", "mental health", "current socio-political topics", and "enrichment of hobbies" were most frequent in the 1987 survey. There were some differences by sex in the requests for curriculi by the subjects in both surveys. The male students preferred global and social topics whereas females expressed preference for topics related to daily living.
Some points for the improvement of the system of life long education and the learning activities of aged students were also presented in this study. For the class at Chiba Prefecture, improvement of the curriculum of the advanced sourse was the main issue. Extension of the amount of hours of class and frequency of the class meetings were the main issues for the broadcasting program in Hyogo.

 

論文名


日本の大学における高齢者教育の実証的研究

著者名

大橋綾子

雑誌名
巻/号/頁/年
老年社会科学, 10 ( 2 ) : 225-242, 1988
抄録
Education for older people in universities is one of the unexplored fields in Japan not only as a theoretical study but also as the subject of a fact-finding survey. In this paper, I try to shed light on the actual situation, based on a survey, of education for older people in Japanese universities and to compare it with the situation in the United States. I also point out the problems which need to be solved in the future.
In Japan, a total of 626 departments in 248 universities, which open the door for adults and which responded to our inquiry, have a special selection/admission system for adults and a system of university extension lectures.
Study programs in which older people can participate consist mainly of classwork in regular university courses (either as regular students or as auditors) and extension lectures. Only a few universities have special services to help older people study at their facilities. Older people who are enrolled as regular students consist at the moment of only 2 persons.
As for university extension lectures, we identified at least 724 such lectures being held in 1987 with a participation of about 140 thousand auditors, of which about 10,000 were older people.
Older people attended a total of 270 courses, and they mostly favoured general culture programs. The next most popular lectures are concerning health and medical care issues.
However, problems in implementing these programs;such as a "lack of specialized staff and teachers", "difficulty of recruiting many participants" and so on, are pointed out by people concerned with the programs.
On the other hand, universities in the United States lave been recognizing the importance of education for older people. These universities take special measures including special admission systems, in order to facilitate older people's participation in higher education.
Considering the future of the aging society and the necessity of life-long education, universities in Japan should further endeavour to develop and facilitate opportunities for older people to engage to study systematically, methodically and actively.

 

論文名


老年期と生きがい

著者名

井上勝也

雑誌名
巻/号/頁/年
老年社会科学, 10 ( 2 ) : 243-254, 1988
抄録
The percentage of the elderly in the total population has increased at an accelerated rate in Japan, giving rise to various problems. These include problems primarily psychological in nature. One of them is related with the meaning of life of the elderly.
In order to live a meaningful senescence, it is necessary to have a sense of meaning in one's life. This is because senescence is the period of loss and only the sense of meaning in one's life could reclaim the aged from this sense of lose. A sense of meaning in one's life could be defined as that which gives value and meaning to one's life, whatever that value and meaning may be. However, granted this definition, a sense of meaning could be obtained through the enactment of antisocial' behaviour. This induces a paradox since an important implication of the meaning in one's life is to give good satisfaction of one's life.

 

論文名


老人パワー;日米の違いとその可能性を探る

著者名

皆川靭

雑誌名
巻/号/頁/年
老年社会科学, 10 ( 2 ) : 255-270, 1988
抄録
The purpose of this paper is to make clear the differences in the political and social activities of the so-called -senior citizens' power- in Japan and the U.S. and to examine whether it is possible for aging Japanese to develop the kind of power that really counts in society.
Clearly, there exist differences in the political and social activities of these people in the two countries. In the U.S., for instance, senior citizens have come to exert a powerful influence in part because of their growing numbers. There are many senior citizens- organizations and groups. One of them is the Gray Panthers, the most radical group in the U.S. that is spear-heading a movement now engulfing the entire U.S. to abolish discrimination on the basis of age.
Individual U.S. senior citizens are also active. Their movement is backed by their acute awareness of the weight of one vote or high consciousness of their rights and involvement in politics.
What about the situation in Japan? How keenly are Japanese senior citizens aware of the importance of the part they play in politics, or their responses and reactions to what is occurring in society? How active is the National Federation of Senior Citizens Clubs, the biggest such organization in Japan with 130,000 clubs throughout the country and with its membership exceeding 8 million?
Regretably, we have to say the answers to these questions are not entirely encouraging. We have to conclude that there is no senior citizens power in Japan in the real political sense of the word. Nevertheless, I am convinced of the potentiality of development in Japan of senior citizens into the kind of power that makes a difference in society.

 

論文名


高齢者の社会参加活動

著者名

須藤緑

雑誌名
巻/号/頁/年
老年社会科学, 10 ( 2 ) : 271-289, 1988
抄録
In recent years we have many old people in Japan. Most of them are "milled class". The have enough income to live good life by pension. And they have enough medical service by medical insurance. They are free from fearing poverty. But they have one problem. They loose their role in society.
In agricultural society we had only 30 years ago, old people had to work till they died. But industrial society we have now, old people loose their role in society after retiring work. Their life were "work". So, they don't know what they do except work.
We have some national programs that old people can find their role in society. Then I study "What is the background of the programs" and "How the programs developed".
In the 1970's, despite financial troubles, the Japanese government realized the increasing amount of old people and began programs to help them became self-sufficient and independent. So some national programs were started for control social dependent of old people and make them self-help life. The programs were in force by 4 stages. First stage was from 1963 to 1972. Some programs for old people's amusement were started. And test program of education for old people was started, too. Second stage was from 1973 to 1979. We had some social problems of retired persons from company. They couldn't spend their free" time useful. Some programs to associate old people in community. Third stage was 1980 to 1985. For keeping social vitality some programs were started. They were expected of economic effect in society. The last stage began in 1986. Those programs are changed. They are required to match for "long-life" society. They are necessary for Japan's goal of a "long-life" society.

 

論文名


高齢者と余暇

著者名

瀬沼克彰

雑誌名
巻/号/頁/年
老年社会科学, 10 ( 2 ) : 290-306, 1988
抄録
The leisure time for retired people in Japan has been increasing in recent years because of their long average life spans. In general, those people had attached importance to their work rather than spending time for leisure. Therefore, they don't know how to spend their spare time except watching television. Today, there is a little change in their sense of leisure.
In this article, we analyze the realities of this change and try to understand its relationship with situation, environment, and society. We refer to the arrangement of their second life after they retired.
Japanese public administration and local governments have been starting to cope with the society composed of aged people and leisure. Also, individuals reconsider their own lies worth living. It seems that Japanese lifestyles for aged people are getting better with high recognition of leisure knowledge and technology.