Journals of Gerontology, based off of a sample of 319 American and 235 Dutch people between 40 and 85 years old, they found that a youthful age identity and more positive personal experiences of aging were positively related to identity and self-esteem. (Westerhof, G. Whitbourne, S. Freeman, G; The Aging Self in a Cultural Context: The Relation of Conceptions of Aging to Identity Processes and Self-Esteem in the United States and the Netherlands). This being said, it is expected for an elderly person to become depressed when not being able to participate in the occupations they once did, the social stereotypes now placed on them because of their age, and the physical limitations from their age. When in this setting, I saw many examples of
