This irrational fear or hatred of older adults can be associated with the expectation that someday all young people including oneself will be old inevitably and suffer from the irreversible health decline that comes with old age, which is associated with disability, disease, and death.
The sight of aged people could be a possible reminder of death (memento mori) and inevitable biological vulnerability.
This unwillingness to accept these can manifest in feelings of hostility and discriminatory acts towards older adults.
[6] Gerontophobia is heavily portrayed in literature and the media starting as early as Anglo-Saxon poetry[7] but is also found in common literary classics such as William Shakespeare's King Lear, Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels, and Jane Austen's Persuasion.
[9] Treatment for gerontophobia can include better education about the elderly and aging as well as an increase in exposure and insight therapy.