Practical research on consumption behavior in old age

As in the rest of the world, the number of old people increases daily in Turkey. This situation demands attention because it brings many socio-cultural, economic, and political changes. The increase of the elderly population has become problematic due to expectations and preferences of the older population which differ from the general society. The consumption behavior of older people and preferences as consumers can be assessed in this context, especially in developed countries where research in consumption behaviors and preferences of the growing elderly population has been conducted frequently. However, the handling of this issue in our country is quite new. The study is a descriptive research conducted to determine the consumption behaviors of elderly people living in the city centre of Gümüşhane. The study aims to contribute to research in gerontosociology. In the scope of the study, face-to-face interviews were performed with 212 people who were determined via the basic random sampler method from the provincial center of Gümüşhane and who are 65 years old and higher. We accept this age group as old age and conducted statistical evaluations with the SPSS16.0 program. It has been identified that parallel to the increase of age, the consumption behavior and preferences of elderly people living in the city center of Gümüşhane have more traditional consumption patterns