Chapter 18

• Ego integrity versus despair - According to Erikson, the eighth and final stage of psychosocial development, in which people in late adulthood either achieve a sense of integrity of the self by accepting the lives they have lived, and thus accept death, or yield to despair that their lives cannot be relived.
• socioemotional selectivity theory: as people get older, they tend to seek out activities and people that give them emotional gratification.
• Coping - Adaptive thinking or behavior aimed at reducing or relieving stress that arises from harmful, threatening, or challenging conditions.
• Cognitive-appraisal model - Model of coping, proposed by Lazarus and Folkman that holds that, on the basis of continuous appraisal of their relationship with the environment, people choose appropriate coping strategies to deal with situations that tax their normal resources.
• Problem-focused coping - In the cognitive-appraisal model, coping strategy directed toward eliminating, managing, or improving a stressful situation.
• Emotion-focused coping - In the cognitive-appraisal model, coping strategy directed toward managing the emotional response to a stressful situation so as to lessen its physical or psychological impact.
• Ambiguous loss - A loss that is not clearly defined or does not bring closure
• three main components of successful aging: (1) avoidance of disease or disease-related disability, (2) maintenance of high physical and cognitive functioning, and (3) sustained, active engagement in social and productive activities (activities, paid or unpaid, that create social value).
• Disengagement theory - Theory of aging that holds that successful aging is characterized by mutual withdrawal of the older person and society.
• Activity theory - Theory of aging that holds that to age successfully a person must remain as active as possible.
• Continuity theory - Theory of aging, described by Atchley, that holds that in order to age successfully people must maintain a balance of continuity and change in both the internal and external structures of their lives.
• Selective optimization with compensation (SOC) - SOC involves developing abilities that allow for maximum gain, as well as developing abilities that compensate for decline and could lead to loss.
• Most older adults in industrialized countries prefer, if possible, to stay in their own homes and communities. This option, called aging in place
• social convoy theory, aging adults maintain their level of social support by identifying members of their social network who can help them and avoiding those who are not supportive.