8.18: Glossary
- Page ID
- 384911
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Key Terms
- Andropause: A term sometimes used to describe age-related changes in male hormones, including a gradual decline in testosterone.
- Crystallized Intelligence: Knowledge and skills accumulated over time, such as vocabulary and general information, which tend to remain stable or increase during middle adulthood.
- Fluid Intelligence: The ability to reason quickly and abstractly, which tends to decline during middle adulthood.
- Generativity versus Stagnation: Erikson’s seventh stage of psychosocial development, where adults strive to create or nurture things that will outlast them, contributing to society and guiding the next generation.
- Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT): The use of medications containing female hormones to replace the ones the body no longer makes after menopause.
- Menopause: The time in middle adulthood when menstruation ends, marking the end of a woman’s reproductive capacity.
- Osteoporosis: A condition characterized by weakened bones and increased risk of fractures, common in middle and later adulthood.
- Perimenopause: The transitional period before menopause when hormonal changes begin, often accompanied by symptoms such as irregular periods and hot flashes.
- Presbycusis: Age-related hearing loss, particularly for high-pitched sounds, common in middle adulthood.
- Presbyopia: Age-related difficulty in seeing objects up close due to loss of elasticity in the lens of the eye.
- Sandwich Generation: Middle-aged adults who are caring for both their aging parents and their own children.
- Stress Hardiness: A personality characteristic that includes commitment, control, and viewing stressors as challenges rather than threats, associated with better coping in middle adulthood.

