Much has been discussed about the increasing life expectancy in Singapore as well as the increasingly ageing population in Singapore... and the various causes have also been discussed at length.
If life expectancy is increasing, than perhaps, the dynamics of normal life stages may have to be re-examined too.
a case in point is in lifespan development jargon, where there are now terms such as young-old and old-old to describe the elderly.
back to the changing dynamics of the different life stages...
increased life expectancy is not the only issue facing Singapore, which is considered as part of the developed world.
there is increased life expectancy, late marriages and consequently, late births, early maturation...
for example, the above issues mean that Singaporeans will reach puberty earlier... yet marry later...
hence, one stage of life which has been extended as a result of this increased life expectancy is the age from the onset of sexual maturation and marriage... this means shorter childhood periods, and consequently, also a longer period allowed for sexual experimentation among individuals within our society...
on a different note, late marriages may also result in late childbirths, and hence, parents may be rather old when they engage in child-rearing activities... would they need assistance if they cannot keep up?
it would also be critical that these parents keep updating themselves in order to keep up with the ever-increasing high-technologies which will dominate their children's lives...
more parents would have to keep working well into their 60s, not because they are bored or cannot support themselves during retirement, but because they have to support several school-going children...
marriages would also occur during later phases of people's lives... which may mean that menopause and andropause may occur at an earlier period during a marriage...
illnesses associated with ageing may also occur at an earlier stage of marriage... these may change the dynamics of stressors within marriages...
wow...! that's a lot of assumptions, but quite plausible, aren't they?we may have to start thinking about them soon...
cheers! ;p
Thursday, November 1, 2007
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