Leary and Tangney (2012) stated that “identities are the traits and characteristics, social relations, roles and social group memberships that define who one is”. Identities provide meaning and can make up one’s self-concept which is described as the perception of oneself (p. 69). Moreover, Loue and Sajatovic (2008) added that personal identity is a “set of behavioral or personal traits by which an individual is recognizable” (p. 453). With the various challenges that older people experience such as retirement, less income, empty nest syndrome, loss of social support, health complications, disability and impending death, their sense of identity can be affected as changes in their roles happen (Loue and Sajatovic, 2008, p. 453).
Identity
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In a study conducted by Franak et.al (2015), it was found out that one third of the elderly had a low self-esteem. In relation, Wagner et. al. (2015) revealed that self-esteem declines in very old age and close to death which is associated with health-related constraints and disabilities, lower control beliefs and higher loneliness. This can be supported by the study of Molavi et.al. (2015) who explored the general health related predictors of self esteem and revealed significant relationship between the three predictor variables (somatic signs, anxiety or insomnia and depression) and self esteem which emphasized the role of physical and mental aspects of health on elderlies’ self-esteem. Moreover, Guerrero-Escobedo et. al. (2014) found out that frailty is associated with lower self-esteem. It can be related to the researches of Wagner et.al. (2013) who showed that lower self-esteem was related to lower cognitive abilities and lower perceived control and Dos Santos et. al. (2012) who revealed that elderlies with subjective memory have lower self-esteem. In addition, Orth et. al. (2010) examined the development of self-esteem from young adulthood to old age and found out that self-esteem declines in old age due to changes in socioeconomic status and physical health. These researches highlighted the contributions of various stressful life situations in …show more content…
Various researches which relate self-esteem to different ways of enhancing it were gathered. Raluca et. al. (2015) examined the effects of supportive therapy intervention in developing self-esteem and found better results of therapeutic interventions with respect to both self-esteem and social functioning dimensions. On the other hand, Antunes et.al. (2012) concluded that elderlies practicing physical exercise who perceived their health status as positive had higher self-esteem. This can be supported by the study of Park et.al. (2014) who showed significant effect of exercise in decreasing depressive symptoms and improving quality of life and self-esteem. Moreover, Choi et al. (2011) showed significantly higher self-esteem for older individuals who maintain sexual life than those who were not. On the other hand, Escolar Chua and de Guzman (2014) examined the efficiency of community-based third age learning programs on the life satisfaction, self-esteem and depression level among community dwelling Filipino elderly and found out that active involvement in third age learning programs which include opportunities for cognitive learning, physical activity, recreation, and social interaction can improve the psychological and psychosocial wellbeing of elderly. Even though these researches