Content area
Full text
Old age is the closing period in the life span of an individual. Like every other period in the life span, old age is characterised by certain physical and psychological changes. They face a change in their previous roles, or positions due to changes in their cognitive, conative, and other abilities. They need to pass through a series of status passages such as retirement, widowhood, and adjustment to death. The present study which aimed at finding out the Gender Differences in Self-Esteem and Quality Of Life among the Elderly was conducted on a sample of 200 Elderly people írom Trivandrum. Two tools namely, the Self-esteem Inventory and Quality of Life Scale were used for the study. The findings of the study indicate that statistically a significant difference exists between the Elderly Men and Women, with regard to their Quality of Life, but no significant difference exists between them in their Self-esteem.
Keywords: gender, self-esteem, quality oflife, elderly
Gender differences in self-esteem and quality of life among the elderly
The Elderly people face numerous physical, psychological and social role changes that challenge their sense of self and capacity to live happily. Many people experience loneliness and depression in old age, either as a result of living alone or due to lack of close family ties and reduced connections with their culture of origin, which results in an inability to actively participate in the community activities. With advancing age, it is inevitable that people lose connection with their friendship networks, and that they find it more difficult to initiate new friendships and to belong to new networks. The effect of these changes determine to a large extent, whether elderly men and women will make good or poor personal and social adjustment (Singh & Misra, 2009).
Old age is considered as the last stage of development, and is associated with multiple problems their mobility is affected, their participation in decision making process, and other activities are reduced, and thus, there may be a sense of loneliness (Reed, 1966).
Self-esteem refers to the evaluation of self-concept namely whether one feels good or bad, generally about one's qualities and attributes. People have a stable self-concept and stable self-esteem and it is important to realize that the self-concept is a...