Older people that live below the poverty line cannot evade its wrath and consequences.  Poverty among aging is an issue that has contributed to various debates. After spending all their time working, the aging are left uncertain of the finances they possess. The main risk of elderly plunging into poverty is their fixed income. It is imperative to know the probable causes of poverty among the elderly as a solid foundation before exploring how poverty affects them (Lumpkins, 2016). The goal of this paper is to focus on the effects of living below the poverty line among the elderly.

After retirement with huge sums of money, the aging tends to lose a lot of money to criminal and scams especially online related fraud activities. Their finances are vulnerable to abuse, and the family members should closely monitor how the aged spend and report any suspicious activity targeting their finances. The aged also are tempted to move into expensive houses which with time become unaffordable to cater for (Lacour, 2011). It is common for the aged to have frequent health complications. The health care bills of the aged tend to increase as their age advances (Guo, 2000). They mostly focus on healthy living lifestyles to prevent long term health problems such as diabetes. It is common for a person to accumulate debts within their life. The aged find themselves with loans with different banks and groups. Probably these were loans borrowed to bail out a project from a financial crisis and extend to the declining years before it is completed. Additionally, misfortunes of life such a loss of a spouse or the caretaker would affect the elderly financially.

There are a couple of articles and statistical data that document about the impact of poverty on the aged. Poverty affects the ability of an individual to access medical care, food and other basic needs of life. In as much as these effects are impulsive, there is an internal effect on a person that is linked to their health when their finances go down the drain. At this juncture, poverty becomes multidimensional. The internal effect of debt on an individual makes it easier to categorize it as a physical and a psychological condition. It has been revealed in research that an individual with limited resources tends to have increased stress hormones, mental issues, and physical complaints. This gradually affects their logical thinking, decision making and when trying to reach out for help. That individual may still manage to reach out for help, but their communication is never ironed out since a person under stress cannot speak out the way as a person who is not under stress. The stress automatically develops to the individual since poverty reduces the person’s worlds to survival, fear and even hunger.

According to Abraham Maslow, his theory of the Hierarchy of Needs describes the basic human beings that must be met for the person to pursue higher goals. From the study of Maslow, he concluded that a robust emotional system could cover up for the unmet needs of survival and safety while the lack of that support system gives little hope for any higher demand to be met. Therefore, poverty is a worse condition from the psychology point of view, and it could lead to unmanageable stress. For the elderly, it is inevitable to avoid that stress whenever they find themselves below the poverty line since they live on the fixed income; there are more health complications with few options and little energy to increase their resources. With the increased stress due to loneliness and inability to meet the needs of life, the elderly tend to suffer from other terminal diseases such as high blood pressure and increased diabetes from which some of the succumb. Therefore, poverty has a direct effect on the health of the aged. The elderly commonly have health-related problems but poverty fuels the issues as well as adding others to them. In order to live healthy, it is recommended for the elderly to ensure balanced diets and regular medical checks (Lee, 2016). Whenever they find themselves below the poverty line, it not only becomes difficult to access quality medical care but also they are unable to locate the right kinds of foods. Since they are less energetic, they deteriorate health wise due to poor nutrition and medical support.

It is also common that poverty could lead to homelessness. Whenever an older adult finds themselves in the financial crisis, they may end up losing the housing conditions of their desire. In some instances, even they have nobody to take care of them and maybe homeless literary (Johnson, 2000). For example, in the United States, the poor, older adults are sometimes homeless people.

It is also common that whenever a person cannot meet their needs, they go out to seek for help. For the elderly without the energy to work to earn their living end up as beggars. Such people sit by the roadside or even streets to borrow for a penny from the well-wishers.

Lastly, wealth and poverty are viewed from different angles by society. The wealthy are valued and given a higher socials status. On the other hand, the poor are segregated, blamed for their poverty and look down upon. Poverty makes an older adult lose value in the eyes of the community (Petterson et al., 2001). They are viewed as the problem to the society and therefore, most of the times people run away from them. This makes a person feel lonely, unloved and segregated. It is evident that the older adults that are poor are never recognized in society. They succumb to death without anybody to turn to since nobody wants their association (Bhattacharya et al., 2004). Under such circumstances, stress and depression are inevitable to older adults. Anxiety and depression give birth to other health complications leading to a devastating end of one’s life.

From the above discussion, it has been revealed that poverty is one of the most significant problems the world is facing (Brady, 2004). Especially the elderly, the issues associated with it are worse. Being weak in health and body vigor, many emerging health issues related to old age makes it easy for the elder to find themselves below the poverty line. It is more frightening as when poverty strikes, the elderly tend to be less energetic (Donini et al., 2013) and ambitious to fight back. Therefore, they end in the misery of lack of basic needs, stress, and isolation by the neighbors. Consequently, it is essential for nations across the globe to take measure to ensure that the elderly are taken care of. It could be possible through the introduction of financial support system and stabilization of the pension systems.

References

Anzick, M., & Weaver, D. A. (2001). Reducing poverty among elderly women (No. 87). Social Security Administration, Office of Research, Evaluation and Statistics.

Bhattacharya, J., Currie, J., & Haider, S. (2004). Poverty, food insecurity, and nutritional outcomes in children and adults. Journal of health economics, 23(4), 839-862.

Brady, D. (2004). Reconsidering the divergence between elderly, child, and overall poverty. Research on Aging, 26(5), 487-510.

Donini, L. M., Scardella, P., Piombo, L., Neri, B., Asprino, R., Proietti, A. R., … & Di Bella, G. (2013). Malnutrition in elderly: social and economic determinants. The journal of nutrition, health & aging, 17(1), 9-15.

Guo, G., & Harris, K. M. (2000). The mechanisms mediating the effects of poverty on children’s intellectual development. Demography, 37(4), 431-447.

Johnson, D. S., & Smeeding, T. M. (2000). Who are the poor elderly? An examination using alternative poverty measures. Center for Retirement Research Working Papers, 32.

Lacour, M., & Tissington, L. D. (2011). The effects of poverty on academic achievement. Educational Research and Reviews, 6(7), 522-527.

Lee, E. (2016). How effective is social media activism?. Retrieved from http://www.thedartmouth.com/article/2016/02/how-effective-is-social-media-activism

Lumpkins, B. (2016). Aging Conference Reveals Poverty’s Impact on Older Adults. Retrieved from https://www.aarp.org/politics-society/advocacy/info-2016/effect-of-poverty-on-older-adults.html

Petterson, S. M., & Albers, A. B. (2001). Effects of poverty and maternal depression on early child development. Child development, 72(6), 1794-1813.

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