| Course | MSW 531 Introduction to Gerontology and Aging |
|---|---|
| Week | 2 |
| Paper type | Aging demographics profile |
| Length | About 510 words, 5 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Chamberlain University |
| Program | Master of Social Work (MSW) |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for MSW 531 Week 2
Aging Demographics Profile of Aroostook County, Maine, From the 2024 American Community Survey: Older Residents by Decade, Both Halves of the Dependency Ratio, Who Lives Alone, Who Lives Outside Households and What the Age Structure Suggests
Student Name
Chamberlain University
MSW 531: Introduction to Gerontology and Aging
Instructor Name
Month Day, Year
Aging Demographics Profile of Aroostook County, Maine, From the 2024 American Community Survey: Older Residents by Decade, Both Halves of the Dependency Ratio, Who Lives Alone, Who Lives Outside Households and What the Age Structure Suggests
The County in One Line
Aroostook County, Maine's northernmost county, had an estimated 66,776 residents in 2024, with a median age of 48.2 years, against 44.9 for Maine and 39.2 for the United States (U.S. Census Bureau, 2025).
Decades, Not a Bloc
Table 1
Older Residents of Aroostook County by Age Band, 2024
| Age band | Men | Women | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60 to 69 | 5,411 | 5,671 | 11,082 |
| 70 to 79 | 4,097 | 3,881 | 7,978 |
| 80 to 84 | 968 | 1,113 | 2,081 |
| 85 and over | 740 | 1,292 | 2,032 |
Note. Note. American Community Survey 2024 one-year estimates, Table B01001; estimates carry margins of error not shown.
The row for 65 and over, 17,597 people, would hide the most important shift: at 85 and over there are about 57 men for every 100 women, while in the 60s the numbers are close to even. Services for people in their late 80s are services mostly for women.
Both Halves of the Ratio
Taking 65 and over as the numerator and 18 to 64 as the denominator, the old-age dependency ratio is about 48: 17,597 older residents for every 36,950 residents of working age. The working-age half includes many people who are not working, and the older half includes people still employed, so the ratio is a count of ages, not of who supports whom.
Who Lives Alone
Of the 16,554 residents aged 65 and over living in households, 5,315 live alone, about 32 percent. Women make up two-thirds of them: 3,503 women and 1,812 men.
The Residents Not in Households
1,043 residents aged 65 and over live in group quarters. The one-year table does not separate nursing facilities from other group quarters, so this profile does not claim how many are in nursing homes.
A county planner would want this number split by type, because nursing facility residents need different services from residents of group homes or other settings. The five-year estimates may allow that split.
Aged in Place or Left Behind
The age structure has a dent: about 10,175 residents are aged 20 to 34, against 14,799 aged 50 to 64. A one-year snapshot cannot say whether the county's older median comes from long-time residents growing old in place or from younger adults leaving. Both are consistent with the dent. Answering it would require migration data by age across several years.
What the Profile Suggests for Practice
The county's older population is large, increasingly female at the oldest ages and often living alone. Services built around a spouse at home will miss a third of older households.
References
U.S. Census Bureau. (2025). Sex by age (Table B01001), median age by sex (Table B01002) and relationship by household type for the population 65 years and over (Table B09020), Aroostook County, Maine: 2024 American Community Survey 1-year estimates. U.S. Department of Commerce.
What the MSW 531 Week 2 assignment asks for
The demographics profile puts figures in tables and argument in prose. Cut older ages into decades or narrower bands rather than leaving a single 65-and-over row, which describes nobody. Give the median age of the geography with a comparison for orientation. If you report a dependency ratio, name both halves: which ages are counted as dependent and which as working age. Count residents who live alone and those not in households, such as people in nursing facilities, and say what your table can and cannot separate. Read the age structure for dents and bulges, and say what they could mean without claiming more than one year of data supports. Close with what the profile suggests for practice.
Inside the MSW 531 Week 2 example
The opening gives 66,776 residents and a median age of 48.2 against 44.9 for Maine and 39.2 for the nation, from U.S. Census Bureau (2025). Table 1 splits older residents into four bands by sex, from 60 to 69 through 85 and over, and the text notes how few men remain among residents aged 85 and over. The ratio section divides 17,597 older residents by 36,950 aged 18 to 64 for a ratio of about 48 and notes that ages are not employment. The living alone section counts 5,315, two-thirds women. Group quarters residents are counted with a caution about types. The age structure section compares 10,175 residents aged 20 to 34 with 14,799 aged 50 to 64.
MSW 531 Week 2 rubric: what full points look like
The 65-and-over row left whole does the most damage, since one band holding a person of 66 and one of 96 describes nobody. A ratio quoted with neither half named costs almost as much. Faculty credit decade bands, sex splits at the oldest ages, both halves of any ratio and counts of people living alone and outside households. Reading the age structure with appropriate caution earns marks; overclaiming migration from one year of data loses them. Figures need their table, release and year, cited in APA. Margins of error should be acknowledged. The profile should end with what the numbers suggest for services. Sex ratios at the oldest ages are worth a sentence of their own.
Common MSW 531 Week 2 mistakes, and how to avoid them
Profiles most often lose points by reporting a single percentage aged 65 and over and moving on. Another common problem is a dependency ratio with no definition, which readers interpret in different ways. Some profiles say a county is aging because young people leave, using a single year's data that cannot show migration. Others leave out people in group quarters. If your geography is small, use five-year estimates and say so; if it is large, split it. A profile that serves your county will let a reader see how many people over 85 live alone, and whether most are women.
Get a MSW-531 Week 2 example written to your instructions
Send the Week 2 instructions with any table or heading list your classroom supplies, plus the state, county or tract you were assigned, and a custom profile built on it comes back inside 24 to 48 hours, the first one free. Say what level you need the figures at, since what a state publishes is not always published for a tract.
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MSW 531 Week 2 questions, answered
Does the profile need a population pyramid?
Check what your section requires, since some ask for a chart and others accept tables with commentary. Where a chart is used it earns its place by showing something the table did not, which is usually the shape of a birth cohort moving through the bands. A pyramid reproduced with no sentence reading it is decoration, and a well built table with three paragraphs of analysis will outscore it.
What if my geography is too small for stable figures?
Say so on the page and handle it. Small areas produce wide margins of error and some cells get suppressed entirely, and a profile that reports a figure without noting the width around it is claiming more precision than exists. The usual repairs are to move up a level, to pool several years, or to keep the small area and state plainly which of its numbers cannot bear weight.
Should the profile say anything about the future?
Only if the assignment asks, and then carefully. A projection is somebody's assumption about births, deaths and migration carried forward, and the assumptions differ between the agencies that publish them. A profile using one names whose projection it is and what it assumed. What loses points is a forecast presented in the same voice as a count, so a reader cannot tell an estimate from a measurement.
Where can I find a free MSW 531 Week 2 sample paper?
The full MSW 531 Week 2 aging profile of Aroostook County, Maine, from 2024 census estimates sits below in full, annotated where bands and ratios are explained.
What does the MSW 531 Week 2 sample find about who lives alone?
About a third of older residents in households live alone, 5,315 people, and two-thirds of them are women, which services built around a spouse at home would miss.