| A | B |
|---|
| social clock | A developmental timetable based not on biological maturation but on social norms, which set the stages of life and the behaviors considered appropriate to each of them. |
| midlife crisis | A period of unusual anxiety, radical self-reexamination, and sudden transformation that is widely associated with middle age but that actually has more to do with developmental history than with chronological age. |
| ecological niche | The particular lifestyle and social context that adults settle into because it is compatible with their individual personality needs and interests. |
| gender convergence | A tendency for men and women to become more similar as they move through middle age. |
| social convoy | Collectively, the family members, friends, acquaintances, and even strangers who move through life with an individual. |
| familism | The belief that family members should support one another, sacrificing individual freedom and success, if necessary, in order to preserve family unity. |
| fictive kin | A term used to describe someone who becomes accepted as part of a family to which he or she has no blood relation. |
| empty nest | The time in the lives of parents when their children have left the family home to pursue their own lives. |
| kinkeeper | A caregiver who takes responsibility for maintaining communication among family members. |
| sandwich generation | The generation of middle-aged people who are supposedly "squeezed" by the needs of the younger and older members of their families. |
| relative deprivation | The idea that people compare themselves to others in their group and are satisifed if they are no worse off than the group norm. |
| extrinsic rewards of work | The tangible benefits, usually in the form of compensation (e.g., salary, health insurance, pension), that one receives for doing a job. |
| intrinsic rewards of work | The intangible gratifications (e.g., job satisfacation, self-esteem, pride) that come from within oneself as a result of doing a job. |
| mentor | A skilled and knowledgeable person who advises or guides an inexperienced person. |
| flextime | An arrangement in which work schedules are flexible so that employees can balance personal and occupational responsiblities. |
| telecommuting | Working at home and keeping in touch with the office via computer, telephone and fax. |
| stressor | Any situation, event, experience, or other stimulus that causes a person to feel stressed. |
| allostatic load | The total, combined burden of stress and disease that an individual must cope with. |
| organ reserve | The capacity of human organs to allow the body to cope with unusual stress. |
| problem-focused coping | A strategy often used by younger adults to deal with stress in which they tackle a stressful issue directly. |
| emotion-focused coping | A strategy often used by older adults to deal with stress in which they change their feelings about the stressor rather than changing the stressor itself. |
