| A | B |
|---|
| self theories | Theories of late adulthood that emphasize the core self, or the search to maintain one's integrity and identity. |
| integrity versus despair | The final stage of Erik Erikson's developmental sequence, in which older adults seek to integrate their unique experiences with their vision of community. |
| continuity theory | The theory that each person experiences the changes of late adulthood and behaves toward others in a way that is consistent with his or her behavior in earlier periods of life. |
| positivity effect | The tendency for elderly people to perceive, prefer, and remember positive images and experiences more than negative ones. |
| stratification theories | Theories that emphasize that social forces, particularly those related to a person's social stratum, or social category, limit individual choices and affect a person's ability to function in late adulthood as past stratification continues to limit life in various ways. |
| disengagement theory | The view that aging makes a person's social sphere increasingly narrow, resulting in role relinquishment, withdrawal, and passivity. |
| activity theory | The view that elderly people want and need to remain active in a variety of social spheres--with relatives, friends, and community groups--and become withdrawn only unwillingly, as a result of ageism. |
| aging in place | Remaining in the same home and community in later life, adjusting but not leaving when health fades. |
| naturally occurring retirement community (NORC) | A neighborhood or apartment complex whose population is mostly retired people who moved to the location as younger adults and never left. |
| AARP | A U.S. organization of people aged 50 and older that advocates for the elderly. |
| filial responsibility | The obligation of adult children to care for their aging parents. |
| frail elderly | People over age 65, and often over age 85, who are physically infirm, very ill, or cognitively disabled. |
| activities of daily life (ADLs) | Actions that are important to indpendent living, typically identified as five tasks of self-care: eating, bathing, toileting, dressing, and transferring from a bed to a chair. |
| instrumental activities of daily life (IADLs) | Actions (for example, paying bills and driving a car) that are important to independent living and that require some initellectual competence and forethought. |
| assisted living | A living arrangement for elderly people that combines privacy and independence with medical supervision. |
