Old age is an immersion in decline and suffering: you experience major and minor illnesses, physical and cognitive deterioration, and lose people you love and abilities you relied upon. The psychology of old age? Greater fear, unwelcome intimations of mortality, and amorphous feelings of alienation. The world you knew is gone, and you feel less at home in the one that has replaced it. It is tempting to embrace a risk-averse geriatric identity, shuffle toward inevitable extinction, and lead a diminished life.
Jeffrey Rubin (Wed,) studied this question.