16: Social and Personality Development in Middle Adulthood

agreeableness

the ease with which a person gets along with others

bridge job

a job that allows a worker to transition from full-time work to full-time retirement over several years

burnout

lack of energy, exhaustion, and pessimism that results from chronic stress

career consolidation

- Vaillant's model

- involves the creation of a new social network for which the middle-aged adult's primary work serves as a hub

caregiver burden

the cumulative negative effects of caring for an elderly or disabled person

conscientiousness

a need for order in the environment

demands-resources model

theoretical perspective that hypothesizes that job-related stress results from an imbalance between job demands and the resource available to employees to meet the

generativity

a sense that one is making a valuable contribution to society by bringing up children or mentoring younger people in some way

honeymoon-hangover effect

people who experience high levels of satisfaction immediately after changing jobs, closely followed by feelings of regret over having left behind the parts of their former jobs that they enjoyed

involuntary career changers

people who are in transition for external reasons

keeper of the meaning

- stage in Vaillant's model

- focus on preserving the institutions and values of their culture that they believe will benefit future generations

life events approach

theoretical perspective that focuses on normative and nonnormative events, and how adults respond to them

multigenerational caregivers

middle-aged adults who provide assistance to their parents and adult children at the same time

neuroticism

emotional negativity, pessimism, and irritbility

openness

a willingness to try new things

positivity resonance

partners' shared positive emotional states

revolving door

pattern in which young adults leave home and return one or more times before becoming fully independent

role conflict

any situation in which two or more roles are at least partially incompatible, either because they call for different behaviors or because their separate demands add up to more hours than there are in the day

role strain

what a person experiences when their own qualities or skills do not measure up to the demands of some role

socioemotional selectivity theory

perspective that proposes individuals' perceptions of time influence their selection of social goals

subjective age

the age with which an individual identifies

time perspective

the idea that adults view their lives as a timeline and the current realities of their lives as a point on that line

voluntary career changers

persons who leave one career to pursue another for a variety of internal reasons