DUE DATE: March 31, 2003 by 9:30pm NO EXCEPTION

Instructions: Answer FOUR of the FIVE questions. Each of the questions is to be no more than THREE pages, typed and double-spaced. Some answers require more elaboration than others. All questions are to be written in a question and answer format. Answers are to be graded on content, organization, clarity, and grammar. Answers should be based on both your reading and personal opinion. Express yourself clearly, succinctly, and in your own words to show that you truly understand what you read and write. Give examples or evidence to support your answers. Please specify source if you use reference from your textbook.

Question #1: How does population aging influence societal aging? Give examples of the

impact our growing older population has had on social structure and institution.

Question #2: Describe the relationship between demographic transition theory and the

shape of a country’s population pyramid. How do population pyramids give us a sense of a country’s past, present, and future? Which pyramid do you think is most “desirable” for a nation?

Question#3: How is life expectancy—in particular, differences in life expectancy

between women and men and between African Americans and European Americans—affected by social factors? What causes convergence and reversal at the older ages for African and European American men?

Question#4: Take a few minutes and plan out your own life course. Think about your

plans to occupy (or not occupy) some of the major roles often connected with the life course (education, career, marriage, raising a family, retirement). What has influenced your timing (or the prediction of your timing) of these roles? To what extent have age norms played a role in your decision?

Question#5: Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of dependency ratios as

measures of population aging. How can they inform (or mislead) policy makers? What are the implications of higher aged dependency ratios?