Chapter 16

Question 1

generativity vs. stagnation

Answer 1

Erikson’s seventh stage of psychosocial development, in which the life crisis is the dichotomy between generativity (as in rearing children or contributing to society) and stagnation (a state characterized by lack of development, growth, or achievement)

Question 2

midlife transition

Answer 2

a psychological shift into muddle adulthood that is theorized to occur between the ages of 40 and 45 as people begin to believe they have more to look back upon than forward to.

Question 3

Empty nest syndrome

Answer 3

a feeling of loneliness or loss of purpose that parents, and especially the mother, are theorized to experience when the youngest child leaves home.

Question 4

“Big five” personality traits

Answer 4

Basic personality traits derived from contemporary statistical methods: extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism (emotional instability) and openness to experience.

Question 5

midlife crisis

Answer 5

a time of dramatic self-doubt and anxiety during which people sense the passing of their youth and become concerned with their own aging and mortality

Question 6

sandwich generation

Answer 6

the term given to middle-aged people who need to meet the demands of their own children and of aging parents