- activity theory
- a theory which suggests that for individuals to enjoy old age and feel satisfied, they must maintain activities and find a replacement for the statuses and associated roles they have left behind as they aged
- age stratification theory
- a theory which states that members of society are stratified by age, just as they are stratified by race, class, and gender
- ageism
- discrimination based on age
- baby boomers
- people in the United States born between approximately 1946 and 1964
- centenarians
- people 100 years old or older
- cohort
- a group of people who share a statistical or demographic trait
- continuity theory
- a theory which states that the elderly make specific choices to maintain consistency in internal (personality structure, beliefs) and external structures (relationships), remaining active and involved throughout their elder years
- dependency ratio
- the number of nonproductive citizens (young, disabled, elderly) to productive working citizens
- disengagement theory
- a theory which suggests that withdrawing from society and social relationships is a natural part of growing old
- elder abuse
- the act of a caretaker intentionally depriving an older person of care or harming the person in their charge
- exchange theory
- a theory which suggests that we experience an increased dependence as we age and must increasingly submit to the will of others, because we have fewer ways of compelling others to submit to us
- filial piety
- deference and respect to one’s parents and ancestors in all things
- geriatrics
- a medical specialty focusing on the elderly
- gerontocracy
- a type of social structure wherein the power is held by a society’s oldest members
- gerontology
- a field of science that seeks to understand the process of aging and the challenges encountered as seniors grow older
- gerotranscendence
- the idea that as people age, they transcend limited views of life they held in earlier times
- grief
- a psychological, emotional, and social response to the feelings of loss that accompanies death or a similar event
- hospice
- healthcare that treats terminally ill people by providing comfort during the dying process
- life course
- the period from birth to death, including a sequence of predictable life events
- life expectancy
- the number of years a newborn is expected to live
- modernization theory
- a theory which suggests that the primary cause of the elderly losing power and influence in society are the parallel forces of industrialization and modernization
- physician-assisted suicide
- the voluntary use of lethal medication provided by a medical doctor to end one’s life
- primary aging
- biological factors such as molecular and cellular changes
- secondary aging
- aging that occurs due to controllable factors like exercise and diet
- selective optimization with compensation theory
- a theory based on the idea that successful personal development throughout the life course and subsequent mastery of the challenges associated with everyday life are based on the components of selection, optimization, and compensation
- senescence
- the aging process, including biological, intellectual, emotional, social, and spiritual changes
- social gerontology
- a specialized field of gerontology that examines the social (and sociological) aspects of aging
- subculture of aging theory
- a theory that focuses on the shared community created by the elderly when they are excluded (due to age), voluntarily or involuntarily, from participating in other groups
- supercentenarians
- people 110 of age or older
- thanatology
- the systematic study of death and dying