Gold years ahead for our optimistic older generation

Older Australians are overwhelmingly positive about their lives.

Figure skater Maxine Gray, 75, at Lake Burley Griffin, Canberra. Picture: Sean Davey

Older Australians are overwhelmingly positive about their lives, with more than 90 per cent of people older than 70 considering themselves healthy and 85 per cent feeling they can do all things in life they want to.

More than 75 per cent of older Australians say they have enough money to live comfortably, a study commissioned by the Aged Care Royal Commission reveals.

The research finds younger people’s expectations of their own older age is less optimistic. Fewer than 70 per cent expect to be healthy and able to look after themselves in their 70s and 80s, and only six in 10 think they will be financially comfortable.

The study, which includes a Roy Morgan survey of more than 10,000 people, also finds older Australians are set against moving into residential aged care, preferring to live independently in their own home until they die, with care services brought in.

The commission, currently investigating Australia’s aged care system with a view to recommending sweeping changes to how care is funded, supported and delivered, sought a better understanding of how ageing and aged care was viewed.

The Roy Morgan survey, conducted pre-COVID between October and January, was supported by 30 focus group interviews.

 

“Older Australians generally had a very positive view of their lives,’’ it said.

‘‘Over 90 per cent saw themselves as healthy and able to take care of themselves and almost all said they make lifestyle choices to keep themselves that way,’’ the report found.

“Around 85 per cent felt they were still physically able to do the things in life they like to do and have the freedom to spend time doing those things. Over three-quarters thought they had enough money to live comfortably.

“But younger Australians had a less positive outlook on older age (with) under 70 per cent expected to be healthy and able to look after themselves or be physically able to do what they want. Younger people were also less likely than older people to be making healthy lifestyle choices.”

Maxine Gray counts herself among those over-70s who are healthy and travelling well, and puts it down to staying active and having a sense of purpose. The 75 year-old still competes in her great passion, figure-skating.

Last year she laced up the skates for the Australian Masters Games in Adelaide, and hopes to do the same for the 2021 event in Perth.

“I do see older people that want to just sit in a chair and stop doing anything, but there are so many more who are enthusiastic and have a positive attitude to life,” Mrs Gray said.

“We definitely outnumber the couch potatoes.”

Mrs Gray said she went to an ice-skating rink for the first time at 38, and after a time away from the sport rediscovered it at age 60.

“I just love the feel of it, the flow,” she said.

Mrs Gray has a message for worried younger Australians: “Don’t worry, when you get here it will be fine,” she said.

“But I do think it is harder for young people now than it was for us. We could walk into jobs, but finding jobs is much harder now, which I think leads to stress, which leads to unhealthy lifestyle choices.”

The research also examined people’s accommodation preferences as they age.

“(They) have a strong preference to stay living in their own home should they ever need support (80 per cent) or care (60 per cent),” it said. “The level of commitment to remaining in place increases as people approach their 70s and is much lower among the youngest cohorts.”

The report finds a negative perception of residential aged care.

“They think the residents are often lonely, do not have control over their lives and are not happy, but have access to medical care and are safe in comfortable, well maintained accommodation.”

Commissioners Tony Pagone and Lynelle Briggs said the research confirmed the nation’s aged care system needed comprehensive reform so it matched community expectations.

“Australians want the government and community to assist older people to live well in their own homes for as long as possible,” the commissioners said.

The research found descriptions of older Australians tended to be negative, with words such as vulnerable, frail, close-minded, lonely and scared often used.

“Negative perceptions are seen by many as contributing to older people being overlooked or ‘invisible’ within our society,” it said.

“The absence of older people from the workplace, combined with the limited ways in which many younger adults encounter them in their day-to-day lives, means that many people have little exposure to older Australians.

The wider population are seen by some as affording older people less respect and value than given to previous generations.”