The New York Times Sunday edition includes a feature article about a trend, “more older Americans living by themselves than ever before.”
Using graphs, interviews and research results, the article makes a clear argument, that “‘while many people in their 50s and 60s thrive living solo, research is unequivocal that people aging alone experience worse physical and mental health outcomes and shorter life spans.”
Plus, the article implies that evidence that shows a growing share of older adults (age 55 plus) do not have children, means there is a public policy concern “about how elder care will be managed in the coming decades.”
For me, this article crystalizes two legal concepts I write about frequently: “filial support” laws that can be used to compel adult children to care for or maintain their elders, and “continuing care retirement communities,” that permit people with sufficient — make that significantly sufficient — financial resources to plan for how their care needs may be handled in a planned community.
Law professors can probably use the article to stimulate waves of student projects about personal and collective responsibilities in American societies and beyond.
For more, see “As Gen X and Boomers Age, They Confront Living Alone,” by Dana Goldstein and Robert Gebeloff.