UNIT 5

Question 1

Midlife

Answer 1

is that transitional period of life between young adulthood and old age.

Question 2

Empty-nest syndrome

Answer 2

refers to the grief that many parents feel when their children move out of home.

Question 3

Social clock/ strata

Answer 3

each successive cohort follows the previous one through the socially defined ages. Each cohort faces similar challenges as it progresses through each transition, but the cohorts’ needs may differ.

Members of society are told explicitly and implicitly when it’s “appropriate” to start their first job, get married, have a baby, purchase a home, and retire.

Question 4

Kin-keeper

Answer 4

is the act of maintaining and strengthening familial ties through enabling and assisting in family communication, planning family gatherings, and helping the family keep in touch

Question 5

Phases

Answer 5

periods of change in events, attitudes, and accomplishments; refers to life stages theory.

The first 15 years are spent in progressive growth at home. From 15-25, a period of growth and fertility occurs, and individuals focus on clarifying their individual goals. The years from 25 to 45 are the productive years, when individuals focus on stability and the culmination of their goals. From 45-65, there is a loss of reproductive ability, and individuals begin a self-assessment of the results of their goals. After 65, there is biological decline, and individuals reflect on the fulfillment of their goals or experiences of failure.

Question 6

Stability template model

Answer 6

Assumes that individuals do not change once they achieve adulthood. It is based on the belief that the basic personality is formed in childhood. It accepts recent evidence that personality actually continues to develop into adulthood, and explains that if an individual’s identity is stable over time, they will respond to events and stresses in life in a consistent manner. There may be variations in behaviour, but individual behaviour will be predictable.

Question 7

Generativity

Answer 7

Establishing and guiding the next generation.

Question 8

Orderly Change model

Answer 8

An individual’s identity is formed earlier in life but changes through interaction with the environment in the present.

Question 9

Theory of random change

Answer 9

Fate, or non-normative events, cause change in identity because of how individuals adapt to their new roles. This model asks whether social change affects the behaviour of a cohort, resulting in the cohort effect. Patterns of behaviour exist because cohorts are exposed to the same events. Although the behaviour of individuals within generations might conform to a pattern, it is not possible to predict the behaviour of future generations.

Question 10

Social construction Theory

Answer 10

Related to symbolic interactionism. Suggests that the actions and feelings of individuals have no intrinsic meaning on their own, but are given meaning by the theoretical perspectives that are developed for their explanation. Individuals’ behaviour doesn’t necessarily differ from generation to generation or place to place, but the meaning ascribed to the behaviour changes to reflect the expectations of the society. Therefore, individuals choose an appropriate response to life events based on how they interpret them.

Question 11

Seasons of life

Answer 11

Seasons follow each other in a predictable sequence, but each is different in nature yet equally important for growth. Suggests expectations about what is normal behaviour during each stage of life.

Question 12

John Kotre & generativity

Answer 12

Four kinds of generativity: biological, parental, technical, and cultural.

Biological generativity is parenthood.

Parental generativity is the raising of children.

Technical generativity is the passing on of knowledge.

Cultural generativity is the sharing of culture and tradition.

Question 13

Gerotranscendence

Answer 13

A sense of rising above the difficulties of age. Individuals focus on the here and now. They accept that physical disabilities constrain their mobility and that time is limited. They have no sense of the future. In a sense, they begin to withdraw from the world, knowing the last step must be taken alone.

Question 14

Integrity

Answer 14

living out one’s identity

Question 15

Disengagement Theory

Answer 15

As older people prepared for their own deaths, they became preoccupied with themselves and with thoughts of the past and withdrew from social activity.

From earlier in the twentieth century.

Question 16

Social death theory

Answer 16

A more current explanation.
Argues that there is mutual withdrawing of older people and society. Since death is unfamiliar, the anticipation of it is difficult. Individuals may cope by avoiding the dying and the bereaved.

Question 17

Kubler-Ross Stages of death

Answer 17

Denial
Anger
Bargaining
Depression
Acceptance

A dying person goes through these stages as they come to terms with their own fate. Family, friends, and individuals must also recognize the stages in themselves so that they are ready to enable the dying person to talk about their thoughts and prepare to die.