Chapter 16

Question 1

Generativity vs Stagnation

Answer 1

Key psychological struggle in middle adulthood, according to Erickson

Question 2

Generativity

Answer 2

Desire to contribute to one’s family, community, and society by nurturing and guiding the next generation

Question 3

Stagnation

Answer 3

Sense of self-absorption and lack of meaning that results when adults focus only on their own needs

Question 4

Elective Selection

Answer 4

Process of selection that is directed toward choosing among alternative goals that are attractive and that seem attainable

Question 5

Less-based Selection

Answer 5

Process of selection directed toward scaling back or relinquishing goals that are no longer attainable because of declines in one’s resources for goal persuit

Question 6

Biological Clock

Answer 6

Woman’s awareness that there is a finite period of time during her life when she can have kids

Question 7

Blended Family

Answer 7

Family with kids from a current marriage as well as stepkids from a prior marriage

Question 8

Marriage Market

Answer 8

Idea that prospects for marriage or remarriage may differ for men and women due to sex differences in longevity and to social norms regarding the suitable age of a partner

Question 9

Empty Nest

Answer 9

Transition experienced by parents when their last child leaves home

Question 10

Boomerang Children

Answer 10

Young adults who return home to live with their parents after a period of living on their own

Question 11

Skipped Generation Family

Answer 11

A family comprised of grandparents and their grandchildren without the children’s parents being present

Question 12

Sandwich Generation

Answer 12

Idea that middle-aged adults may be squeezed between the needs of the older and younger generations in their families or between work responsibilities and needs of older generations

Question 13

Glass Ceiling

Answer 13

Invisible barrier that, because of discrimination, keeps an employee from being promoted at work beyond a particular level of responsibility or pay

Question 14

Regular Career Pattern

Answer 14

Pattern of career development in which women enter and stay in the workforce continuously after finishing school

Question 15

Interrupted Career Pattern

Answer 15

Pattern of career development in which women leave the workforce when they have children, returning to the workforce later when their children are older

Question 16

Second Career Pattern

Answer 16

Pattern of career development in which women defer their professional training and entry into the workforce until after their children are grown

Question 17

Modified Second Career pattern

Answer 17

Pattern of career development in which women work part-time when their children are young and then move to full-time work after their children are grown

Question 18

Age Discrimination

Answer 18

Involves unfair practices regarding hiring, firing, compensation, or working conditions based on a person’s age

Question 19

Big Five

Answer 19

Five basic personality clusters:

1. Openness to experience
2. Consciousness
3. Agreeableness
4. Extraversion
5. Neuroticism

Question 20

Anticipatory Coping

Answer 20

Ability to anticipate and prevent stressful life events from happening in the first place

Question 21

Midlife Crisis

Answer 21

Stressful period of doubt and uncertainty believed to be triggered by the reevaluation of one’s life in middle adulthood