Aging Perceptions of the Elderly Living in Rural Areas: The Case of Osmaniye Province Kadirli District

Abstract

With the Industrial Revolution, the changing living conditions both in the world and in our country accelerated the migration from the village to the city. The change in family structure with the effect of migration has significantly changed the status of the elderly in the family. In addition to these changes in the social structure, the prolongation of human life due to scientific developments has been effective in increasing the elderly population numerically and proportionally. This situation, which is stated as Demographic Transformation; necessitated concentrating on the concepts of elderly and aging. Because the transformation into modern society has changed the conditions of aging and created a new elderly identity and perception of aging. Therefore, in the study it was aimed to enable the elderly living in rural areas to make sense of their old age, in other words, to specify their perception of old age in the Demographic Transfomation process. For this purpose, individual interviews were conducted with 622 people aged 65 and over (41.0% male, 59.0% female) living in 10 villages of Kadirli district. According to the research findings, the old age perception of the elderly is generally negative. On the other hand, the old age perception of these elderly people depends on gender, age groups, health problem, income and education level, marital status, age at first marriage, etc. and it varies according to several factors. The perception of aging was found to be more negative for women than men, those who have health problems than who do not have health problems, and those who have less income and education levels than who have more income and higher education levels. Therefore, in the study, it was determined that the negativities in life also changed the old age perception of the elderly.