Difficult Dialogues 1: "Aging in the 21st Century"

The first forum in the Difficult Dialogues series was titled, "Aging in the 21st Century." Discussions about aging in America are typically framed as burgeoning crises. Individuals worry about increasingly long periods of frailty. Policy-makers worry about the dramatically changed distribution of age in our population as a whole.

But here's the often overlooked good news: Due to cultural changes and biomedical advances, Americans are not only living longer, they are coming to old age healthier and better educated than ever before in history. Just as important (and as promising) is indisputable new evidence of links among physical health, socioeconomic status and mental sharpness in later life, underscoring the potential modifiability of aging outcomes. And here are the caveats: These same associations lead to differential aging outcomes for different groups of Americans. So, to the extent that social policies are based on the hypothetical "average" person, they often fail to serve the variable needs of a country characterized by diversity.

This inaugural forum focused on key issues often missed in public discussions of aging - particularly, how these aging outcomes are systematically related to gender and race. These key issues were presented to a distinguished, interdisciplinary group of scholars. The charge to the panel was to come to a consensus about ways to optimize the aging process to the mutual benefit of older individuals and the societies in which they live. The panel findings were published as a consensus report and disseminated to local, state and national policy makers, as well as to the general public. Unlike many reports, this report does not propose or endorse specific policies. Rather, it aims to assist policy makers and individuals to understand the broader context within which their decisions are made. This expert panel was comprised of Stanford University faculty and faculty from other U.S. institutions, representing the fields of economics, bioethics, medicine, psychology, sociology, political science and demography engaged in a series of discussions throughout the year.

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Home People News Events Fellowships Programs and Research Gendered Innovations Dual-Career Academic Couples Women in Technology Clayman Institute/ The OpEd Project Grants and Prizes Publications and Podcasts Art at the Institute Links Support our Work	Difficult Dialogues 1: "Aging in the 21st Century" The first forum in the Difficult Dialogues series was titled, "Aging in the 21st Century." Discussions about aging in America are typically framed as burgeoning crises. Individuals worry about increasingly long periods of frailty. Policy-makers worry about the dramatically changed distribution of age in our population as a whole. But here's the often overlooked good news: Due to cultural changes and biomedical advances, Americans are not only living longer, they are coming to old age healthier and better educated than ever before in history. Just as important (and as promising) is indisputable new evidence of links among physical health, socioeconomic status and mental sharpness in later life, underscoring the potential modifiability of aging outcomes. And here are the caveats: These same associations lead to differential aging outcomes for different groups of Americans. So, to the extent that social policies are based on the hypothetical "average" person, they often fail to serve the variable needs of a country characterized by diversity. This inaugural forum focused on key issues often missed in public discussions of aging - particularly, how these aging outcomes are systematically related to gender and race. These key issues were presented to a distinguished, interdisciplinary group of scholars. The charge to the panel was to come to a consensus about ways to optimize the aging process to the mutual benefit of older individuals and the societies in which they live. The panel findings were published as a consensus report and disseminated to local, state and national policy makers, as well as to the general public. Unlike many reports, this report does not propose or endorse specific policies. Rather, it aims to assist policy makers and individuals to understand the broader context within which their decisions are made. This expert panel was comprised of Stanford University faculty and faculty from other U.S. institutions, representing the fields of economics, bioethics, medicine, psychology, sociology, political science and demography engaged in a series of discussions throughout the year.
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