Theories and Issues in Adult Development and Aging

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering concepts, models, biological theories, research methodologies, and health conditions in adult development and aging.

Gerontology

The scientific study of the aging process.

Geriatrics

A medical specialty focused on aging and the care of older adults.

Identity

A composite of how people view themselves in the biological, psychological, and social domains of life.

Biopsychosocial perspective

A view of development that integrates biological factors (genetics, physical changes, disease), psychological factors (emotions, cognition, personality), and sociocultural factors (social context, history, culture).

Continuity principle

The principle of adult development stating that the changes people experience in later adulthood build on what they lived through in their earlier years.

Survivor principle

The idea that people who live to old age outlive the many threats that could have caused their deaths at earlier ages.

Individuality

A principle of adult development and aging asserting that as people age, they become more different from each other.

Interindividual differences

Differences that exist between different people.

Intraindividual differences

Variations in performance or functioning within the same individual.

Multidirectionality

The concept that development can proceed in multiple directions within the same person.

Primary aging

Normal, intrinsic bodily changes that occur over time as part of the aging process.

Secondary aging

Age-related changes that are associated with disease rather than normal aging.

Tertiary aging

The rapid decline in physical and cognitive functioning shortly before death.

Optimal aging

Changes that improve or maximize an individual's functioning in later adulthood.

Young-old

A subgroup of older adults between the ages of 65 and 74.

Old-old

A subgroup of older adults between the ages of 75 and 84.

Oldest-old

A subgroup of older adults who are 85 years of age and older.

Centenarians

Individuals who are 100 years of age.

Supercentenarians

Individuals who are 110 years of age or older.

Functional age

An approach defining age based on an individual's actual performance rather than chronological age.

Psychological age

The performance an individual achieves on measures of qualities such as reaction time, memory, learning ability, and intelligence.

Biological age

The age of an individual's bodily systems.

Social age

Calculated by evaluating where people stand compared to 'typical' ages expected for individuals when they occupy certain positions in life.

Subjective age

The chronological age a person feels internally.

Normative age-graded influences

Experiences that culture and historical period attach to specific ages or points in the life span.

Normative history-graded influences

Events that occur to everyone within a certain culture or geopolitical unit regardless of age.

Nonnormative influences

Random, idiosyncratic events that occur throughout an individual's life.

Gini coefficient

An index of income inequality in a given economy.

Developmental science

A term replacing 'developmental psychology' that expands the focus of life span development to encompass a broader variety of domains.

Organismic model

A developmental model proposing that heredity drives the course of development throughout life.

Mechanistic model

A developmental model proposing that behavior changes gradually over time, shaped by external forces that cause individuals to adapt to their environments.

Interactionist model

The view that genetics and environment interact in complex ways, and that individuals actively shape their own development.

Plasticity in Development

The principle that the course of development may be altered depending on the nature of the individual’s specific interactions within the environment.

Bronfenbrenner Ecological Perspective

A sociocultural model identifying multiple levels of the environment (macrosystem, exosystem, mesosystem, microsystem, chronosystem) as they affect development.

Reciprocity in Development

The principle that people both influence and are influenced by the events in their lives.

Life course perspective

The norms, roles, and attitudes about age that have an impact on the shape of each person’s life.

Social clock

Societal expectations regarding the ages associated with major life events (being 'on-time' or 'off-time').

Activity theory

The view that older adults are most satisfied if they are able to remain involved in their social roles.

Disengagement theory

The view that the normal and natural evolution of life causes older adults to wish to loosen their social ties.

Continuity theory

The proposal that whether disengagement or activity is beneficial to an older adult depends on their personality.

Modernization hypothesis

The proposal that the urbanization and industrialization of Western society causes older adults to be devalued.

Terror management theory

The proposal that people regard with panic and dread the thought of the finitude and mortality of their lives.

Intersectionality

The framework describing how multiple social categories such as ageism, sexism, and racism interact to influence discriminatory treatment.

Multiple jeopardy hypothesis

The proposal that older individuals who fit more than one discriminated-against category are affected by biases against each categorization.

Age-as-leveler view

The proposal that as people become older, age overrides all other forms of discrimination or 'isms.'

Inoculation hypothesis

The belief that older minorities and women have become immune to the effects of ageism through years of exposure to discrimination and stereotyping.

Epigenetic principle

In Erikson's theory, the principle that each stage unfolds from the previous stage according to a predestined order.

Schemas

Mental structures that people use to understand and interpret the world.

Identity process theory

The proposal that identity continues to change in adulthood in a dynamic manner through assimilation, accommodation, and balance.

Identity assimilation

The interpretation of new experiences in terms of a person’s existing identity, often leading to the denial of age-related changes.

Identity accommodation

Changing one's identity in response to experiences that challenge current views of oneself, such as an 'over the hill' response.

Identity balance

A dynamic equilibrium achieved when people view themselves consistently but can make changes when called for by experiences.

Selective optimization with compensation model (SOC)

A model proposing that adults attempt to preserve and maximize abilities of central importance while reducing effort toward maintaining less important ones.

Epigenetics

Changes in a gene as a result of environmental influences rather than alterations in the DNA code.

Programmed aging theories

The proposal that aging and death are built into the hardwiring of all organisms and are part of the genetic code.

Gompertz function

A plot showing the relationship between age and death rates for a given species.

Replicative senescence

The loss of the ability of cells to reproduce.

Telomere theory

The theory that aging occurs as telomeres shorten until they can no longer protect chromosomes, causing adjacent chromosomes to fuse, halting cell division, and causing cell death.

FOXO genes

A group of genes involved in crucial cellular processes regulating stress resistance, metabolism, the cell cycle, and cell death.

Cross-linking theory

The theory that aging causes deleterious changes in cells that make up connective tissue, notably through collagen stiffening.

Free radical theory

The theory that aging occurs due to the formation of unstable compounds produced when certain molecules react with oxygen.

Error catastrophe theory

The theory that errors that accumulate with aging are ones that are vital to life itself.

Autoimmune theory

The theory proposing that faulty immune system functioning leads the immune system to attack the body's own cells.

Epidemiology

The study of the distribution and determinants of health-related states or events, including disease.

Prevalence statistics

Estimates of the percentage of people who have ever had symptoms of a condition in a given period.

Incidence statistics

Estimates of the percentage of people who first develop symptoms of a condition in a given period.

Quasi-experimental design

A research design where groups are compared on predetermined characteristics rather than randomly assigned.

Daily diaries

A research method in which data are collected at least once a day from participants (experience sampling).

Meta-analysis

A research method for combining and comparing results across multiple studies to evaluate effect size.

Cohort effects

Social, historical, and cultural influences that affect people relative to their period or year of birth.

Time of testing effects

Social, historical, and cultural influences that affect all people alive during a given time period of measurement.

Longitudinal design

A research design in which the same group of people is followed repeatedly across multiple testing occasions over time.

Selective attrition

A phenomenon where participants who drop out of a longitudinal study are not representative of the original sample.

Terminal decline

The gradual loss of cognitive abilities as an individual draws closer to death.

Most Efficient Design

A set of three sequential designs that manipulate the variables of age, cohort, and time of testing.

Activities of daily living (ADL)

An individual's ability to complete basic personal tasks: bathing, dressing, ambulating, transferring, using the toilet, and eating.

Instrumental activities of daily living (IADL)

An individual's ability to complete complex tasks: using the phone, shopping, meal preparation, housekeeping, laundry, transportation, taking medications, and managing finances.

Healthy life expectancy

The number of years a person at a given age can expect to live in good health, taking disability and mortality into account.

Compression of morbidity

The concept that the burden of illness to a society can be reduced if people become disabled closer to the time of their death.

Atherosclerosis

The narrowing of arteries due to the accumulation of plaque.

Arteriosclerosis

A general term for the thickening and hardening of the arteries.

Myocardial infarction

An acute condition in which the blood supply to part of the heart muscle (the myocardium) is severely reduced or blocked.

Congestive heart failure

A chronic condition in which the heart is unable to pump enough blood to meet the needs of the body’s other organs.

Cerebrovascular accident

An acute condition in which an artery leading to the brain bursts or is blocked by a clot or other particle; also known as a stroke or brain attack.

Transient ischemic attack (TIA)

A condition caused by the development of temporary clots in cerebral arteries; also called a ministroke.

Osteoporosis

A painful, degenerative joint and bone disease characterized by bone loss, leading to greater fragility and risk of fracture.

Metabolic syndrome (MetS)

A cluster of symptoms associated with chronic disease, including abdominal obesity, high blood fats, abnormal cholesterol, hypertension, and high glucose.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)

A group of respiratory diseases that involves obstruction of airflow into the respiratory system, primarily chronic bronchitis and chronic emphysema.

Elastase

An enzyme that breaks down the elastin found in lung tissue.

Neurocognitive disorders (NCD)

A group of diseases in which an individual experiences a decline in cognitive or other psychological functions associated with alterations in the brain.

Amyloid plaque

Abnormal deposits of protein fragments found outside neurons in Alzheimer’s disease.

Neurofibrillary tangles

Abnormal twisted fibers made of tau protein found within neurons in Alzheimer’s disease.

Multi-infarct dementia (MID)

The most common form of vascular neurocognitive disorder, caused by repeated transient ischemic attacks.

Parkinson’s disease

A motor disorder characterized by tremors, speech impediments, slowing of movement, muscular rigidity, shuffling gait, and postural instability.

Pick’s disease

A specific neurocognitive disorder that involves severe atrophy of the frontal and temporal lobes.