Aging can be seen as a process where the organisms proceed through a physical deterioration in the body and the process takes place in a very unique manner depending on the individual. It can be said as a multi-dimensional aging process where the individual’s functional and health condition were influenced by many factors such as environmental, genetic or even cultural factors. And these are the factors which will result in emotional, cognitive, social, physical and also psychological changes. Aging process begins as soon as the adulthood is reached and it is as much a part in human’s life as infancy, childhood, and also adolescence are. Elderly are one of the fastest growing fragment in the population. According to the study conducted by Dychtwald (1990), he stated that “One out of every nine individuals in United States of America is now age 65 or older”. In 1900, about 4 percent of the population, which are 3.1 million people were aged 65 years and older. And by 1990, the number of elderly had reached to 31.2 million which are about 12.6 percent of the population and this development is mostly expected to be continued until at least the year of 2040, where the elderly total quota of United States population could reach up to 22.6 percent (Clark & …show more content…
It could affect the elderly from any angles such as mood, attitude, personality and also self-concept. There will be many losses in the old age; for an example, loss of former roles and status such as loss of family, spouse or even friends, a decline in economic security and also loss of familiar surroundings. All those changes could result to poor self-esteem, lack of self-satisfaction and the most worsen is depression. It is very important to assess those elderly individual in light of losses they might be experiencing, as the effect upon her or him, and their ability to cope with those