# data[].attributes.headline
Rebecca views aging negatively because of cultural and societal assumptions about the elderly

# data[].attributes.subject
Rebecca views aging negatively because of cultural and societal assumptions about the elderly

# data[].attributes.body
Tornstam, L. (2005). The Need for New Theories in Social Gerontology. In Gerotranscendence: A developmental theory of positive aging (pp. 6–30). essay, Springer.

# data[].attributes.headline
Biological frameworks for understanding aging often portray this natural process negatively. 

# data[].attributes.subject
Biological frameworks for understanding aging often portray this natural process negatively. 

# data[].attributes.headline
Biological frameworks of aging fail to consider the strengths inherent in aging and offer a bleak perspective to the elderly. 

# data[].attributes.subject
Biological frameworks of aging fail to consider the strengths inherent in aging and offer a bleak perspective to the elderly. 

# data[].attributes.headline
When aging is viewed negatively, elderly people are less likely to seek help for medical concerns. 

# data[].attributes.subject
When aging is viewed negatively, elderly people are less likely to seek help for medical concerns. 

# data[].attributes.headline
The pathological perspective views her cognitive impairment as inevitable and offers a bleak view that aging will only increase the acquisition of mental and physical impairment. 

# data[].attributes.subject
The pathological perspective views her cognitive impairment as inevitable and offers a bleak view that aging will only increase the acquisition of mental and physical impairment. 

# data[].attributes.headline
Rebecca's defensiveness mirrors the masquerading perspective as she attempts to mask or hide her cognitive impairment. 

# data[].attributes.subject
Rebecca's defensiveness mirrors the masquerading perspective as she attempts to mask or hide her cognitive impairment. 

# data[].attributes.body
a perspective that frequently characterizes aging as the acquisition of mental and physical impairments. Through this perspective, aging adds problems to the body and mind and subtracts vitality, health, independence, and competence.

# data[].attributes.body
a perspective that characterizes aging as a masquerade through which an individual hides or masks their impairments in order to keep up with how they view themselves.

# data[].attributes.body
After Jack's death, Rebecca became a single mother and had to work hard and exercise inner strength and resilience in order to raise all three children. This spirit of independence likely influenced her unwillingness to accept Randall's help, especially because we know he has helped her out in the past. In Season 4, Episode 8, she highlights that because she is the parent and Randall is the child she does not want to burden him with her worries or circumstances.

# data[].attributes.body
Although it can be natural to resist seeking medical attention, I believe Rebecca's initial defensiveness about seeing a doctor stems from a fear of aging and the stigmatization of elderly people as incompetent, weak, and diseased. Her insistence that her behavior is a natural side effect of aging implies that she holds a pathological perspective of aging through which it is normal and expected to acquire health problems as one ages. However, this pathological perspective of aging can often be scary for the elderly due to the stigmatization of aging. Ultimately, this inhibits her ability to function because she is hesitant to receive medical care.

# data[].attributes.body
The culture of aging in the west often frames the elderly as incompetent, frail, diseased, and cognitively impaired. As a result, Rebecca likely felt societal pressure to appear mentally sound and capable of taking care of herself without medical intervention.

# data[].attributes.body
The infrastructure in place to help the elderly (such as nursing homes) can be frightening for a variety of reasons: elder abuse, forced dependence on nurses and caregivers, inability to live independently and care for one's self, etc. For Rebecca, admitting that there might be something medically wrong might remind her of how her life could drastically change causing her to lose her independence.