The Wall Street Journal - USA (2020-11-16)

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. Monday, November 16, 2020 |R5

JOURNAL REPORT|ENCORE

ROBERT NEUBECKER

hours and the gig economy expand-

ing, it’s easier for many older people

to remain employed, says Jack Rowe,

a professor of public health at Colum-

bia University.

Of course, not everyone has the

ability to work into their 70s or beyond.

Some are in poor health, have jobs they

can no longer perform or are victims of

age discrimination.

“As a society, we will have to provide

ways for people who cannot work to re-

ceive support,” says Prof. Carstensen.

Our views on

aging will change

Coronavirus has, at least in the short term,

reinforced ageist stereotypes, including the

notion that older people are frail and

should be “segregated and isolated,” says

Dr. Thomas.

The virus and the economic downturn

are also inflaming intergenerational con-

flict.

Some “younger people see older people

as the reason they have to sacrifice,” says

Prof. Carstensen. At the same time, Ms.

Goodman notes, “younger people are being

blamed for being irresponsible” with re-

gard to social distancing.

Still, Prof. Carstensen says the pandemic

has also unleashed countervailing trends

that may ultimately change our views of

aging for the better.

It helped fuel the election of Joe Biden,

who, at 77, is poised to become the oldest

president in U.S. history, a development

that contradicts the notion that older

adults are weak or frail.

Adding to that view are surveys and

studies that show what many are noticing

in their own lives: that older adults are

psychologically more resilient in the face of

the disease than younger people are, says

Prof. Carstensen.

As with past crises, including Sept. 11,

psychologists are finding that people

across generations are focusing on what

matters most to them, including relation-

ships, she says.

Amid Covid, Ms. Goodman says, “there

are some signs of a deeper understanding

of how we need each other.”

Ms. Tergesenis a reporter for The Wall

Street Journal in New York. She can be

reached [email protected].

In a Pandemic,

The Advantage

Of Age

BYCAROLHYMOWITZ

The 401(k) will

morph into a

multipurpose account

The economic crisis has shown that for

many people, the priority should be to

build an emergency fund before putting

money into a 401(k), where savings can

be hard to access before retirement.

David John, a senior policy adviser

at AARP, says employers are already

starting to use a new kind of flexible

savings account that lets workers fun-

nel salary deferrals to more than one

goal, including emergencies and retire-

ment. Other future uses could include

health-care and college expenses. Mr.

John predicts that once the accounts

become popular the government will

apply the current tax advantage for re-

tirement savings to them.

Lifespans will decline

With so many people dying of Covid,

virus-related deaths are projected to

reduce the aggregate life expectancy of

Americans age 65 today by nearly a

year, according to researchers at

Princeton University and the University

of Southern California.

But Covid-related lockdowns also are

likely to reduce the life expectancies of

those who avoid or survive the virus,

says Philip Pizzo, former dean of Stan-

ford University’s medical school and

the founding director of Stanford’s Dis-

tinguished Careers Institute, a program

for midcareer professionals transition-

ing to new acts.

In addition to the long-term physical

damage some Covid survivors suffer, the

pandemic is undermining our ability to

engage in activities associated with bet-

ter health and longer lives, including so-

cializing, exercising and helping others.

“These variables are important at all

stages of life and particularly for those

in midlife and older,” says Dr. Pizzo.

Studies indicate that loneliness may

be linked to a greater risk of death,

cognitive decline, depression and

heart disease.

According to a survey of 365 nurs-

ing-home residents conducted by Al-

tarum this summer, only 5% reported

having visitors three or more times a

week, versus 56% before the pandemic,

and 76% said they felt lonelier.

Technology can help overcome some

of these problems. But online platforms

like Zoom are far from a perfect substi-

tute for the human contact we need,

says Dr. Pizzo.

“We are social beings, and we need

human contact,” he says.

We will

work longer

Since the 1990s, the

percentage of

people 55 and older

in the labor force has

risen steadily, to 40%

in 2019 from 29% in

1993, according to the

U.S. Bureau of Labor

Statistics.

With bond yields

low, stock values high

and Social Security in

precarious shape, the

trend will accelerate.

“There’s so much

uncertainty about the

future...most people

are going to continue

to work as long as

they can,” says Prof.

Carstensen.

With companies

embracing remote

work and flexible

Under 1 yr.1–4 5–14 15–24 25–34 35–44 45–54 55–64 65–74 75–84 85+

AGE GROUPS

Deaths involving COVID-19 as a percentage of all deaths in the U.S. by age

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Note: From Feb. 1 to Oct.31, 2020

10

0

2

4

6

8

%

At the start ofthe Covid-19 pan-

demic, being over 65 felt like a curse.

Public-health doctors warned that any-

body of that age faced a higher risk

than younger people of suffering seri-

ous complications or dying if they con-

tracted the virus. Then came the

hashtag #boomerremover and angry

tweets from some millennials blaming

baby boomers for disrupting their lives

and livelihoods.

As a boomer, I faced both the fear

and the opprobrium. My daughter cau-

tioned me to stay in my apartment

with my husband and retreat almost

entirely from the outside world.

We’ve pretty much done that. I’ve

remained vigilant even as lockdowns

have lifted. I’ve met a handful of

friends outdoors—just one at a time,

masked and at a safe distance. I’m still

relying on deliveries of groceries, and I

haven’t returned to my gym, eaten at a

restaurant indoors or taken public

transportation as most middle-aged

and young people I know are doing.

Yet after more than seven months

of constraints, I’ve realized there also

are advantages to being older during

this time of Covid. Because I’m retired

from full-time employment, I haven’t

worried about how I’d cope if I was laid

off, or protect myself from contagion if

I worked in a crowded factory or gro-

cery store. I haven’t felt stressed and

exhausted juggling Zoom work meet-

ings from my bedroom while supervis-

ing remote learning for kids who aren’t

back to school full time. And unlike col-

lege students, I haven’t had to choose

between taking all my courses online

or taking a gap year.

My husband and I have only our-

selves to look after, and we know how

fortunate we are to have sufficient

savings to live comfortably, especially

now when so many don’t have enough.

But it’s more than good fortune that

keeps us less stressed than those of

younger generations that we know.

We’ve lived through difficult times be-

fore, including illnesses that required

hospitalizations, the deaths of our par-

ents and close friends, job losses, and

tumultuous political and financial

events. We recall these times, and we

tell ourselves we’ll get through the

pandemic, too.

“People have better emotional experi-

ences and manage their emotions bet-

ter as they get older, and that’s continu-

ing now even in a time of prolonged

stress,” says Laura Carstensen, a psy-

chology professor at Stanford University

and founding director of Stanford Cen-

ter on Longevity. “Study after study

shows that as we age and our future

time horizons grow shorter, we savor

the good times in life and have more

perspective about the bad times.”

In a study of 945 men and women

ages 18 to 76 conducted in April at the

initial height of the pandemic in the

U.S., Dr. Carstensen and researchers in

her lab found that despite “grave risks

to physical health, uncertainties about

contagion and restricted social con-

tacts,” older adults had less frequent

and less intense periods of anxiety, an-

ger, stress, boredom and other negative

emotions than younger people.

This doesn’t mean older people deny

their difficult emotions. In fact, they

are more likely than younger people to

experience mixed feelings, such as sad-

ness and happiness at the same time,

and to be more accepting of sadness,

which may be helping them weather

the pandemic, says Dr. Carstensen.

I’ve certainly felt frightened about

the possibility of having to be intu-

bated on a ventilator because of

Covid-19, especially this spring when I

awoke every day to the sound of am-

bulance sirens. I felt sad when I

couldn’t visit with my daughter, sisters

and other relatives, and when friends

in my New York neighborhood vacated

their apartments for second homes in

less crowded rural areas.

Yet overall, I’ve been more content

and calmer than I would have pre-

dicted. Instead of dwelling on what I

can’tdo,IfocusonwhatIcanenjoy. I

relish the long, daily walks I take in a

park that I’velived half a block away

from for 15 years, yet never before ex-

plored so much. My walks spurred me

to spend several weeks this summer

and fall in western Massachusetts,

where my husband and I hiked trails

and marveled at the foliage changing

colors with the seasons.

I not only cook dinner every night,

but cooking has become more fun as I

constantly try new recipes. I’ve finally

mastered flourless chocolate cake,

roasted vegetables and a dozen new

fish and chicken dishes. I’ve also over-

come my tech-phobic tendencies and

learned to use Zoom, Crowdcast, An-

chor and other apps so I can join webi-

nars, continue to mentor a high-school

student and create podcasts.

Before the pandemic, my husband

and I were busy with work and volun-

teer activities that kept us apart sev-

eral hours each day. We also spent a

lot of time as a couple socializing with

others. Now it’s just the two of us all

the time—in a 1,000-square-foot apart-

ment. Have we gotten on each other’s

nerves and argued? Of course. We’ve

had to negotiate and renegotiate sepa-

rate space to work and exercise.

But with fewer distractions, we’ve

also talked more about how we want

to spend our time together after the

pandemic. We’ve gotten closer and

more patient with one another as

we’ve observed each other’s daily rou-

tines and moods.

I’ve spoken with others my age who,

like me, welcome the chance to slow

down, cherish what we have and re-

connect with the most important peo-

ple in our lives. And we’re more accus-

tomed to being less on the go than

millennials or Gen Xers.

“I like eating dinner out at restau-

rants and going to the theater, but not

constantly, so being home most of the

time is comfortable—and not very dif-

ferent than what I’m used to,” says

Joan Goldsmith, a psychoanalyst in

New York who is now working virtually

with patients.

Dr. Carstensen says there is another

reason seniors have been resilient dur-

ing the pandemic.

“As people recognize they won’t live

forever, they are more attuned to what’s

good in life in the present,” she says.

I’m not ready to concede that I notice

happy faces more than sad ones, or that

I focus on smiles more than frowns. But

one thing is for sure: Instead of seeing

my age as a liability, I’ve come to appre-

ciate it as an asset. I couldn’t ask for a

better gift at the moment.

Ms. HymowitzisawriterinNewYork.

Email:[email protected].

*Represents people's predicted score if all that is known about them is their age.

Note: There was an online sample of 974 adult participants ranging in age of 18-76 years-old. Frequency of emotions was rated

on a scale of 0 (never) to 4 (all or nearly all the time); intensity was rated from 0 (not at all [emotion]) to 4 (extremely

[emotion]). Ratings were averaged across positive and negative emotions separately. Data from all participants were collected

April 23-24, 2020.

Source: Laura L. Carstensen, Yochai Z. Shavit, and Jessica T. Barnes Department of Psychology, Stanford University

Gauging Emotional Strength During Covid

Results from a study early in the pandemic suggest there are emotional advantages

that increase as we age, even in times of crisis. The study shows more positive

emotions overall, and negative emotions of less intensity, for older respondents

compared with those younger.

= Emotional experience rating = Predicted value by age*

2.5

2

1.5

1

0.5

0

Age: 20 40 60

2.5

2

1.5

1

0.5

0

Age: 20 40 60 20 40 60

Positive

emotions

Negative

emotions

Frequency

Intensity

20 40 60