Key terms are important vocabulary for understanding the content of the chapters. They will be bolded and defined via an in-text glossary the first time that they appear in the chapter.

Key terms for this chapter are:

Ageism: a set of fixed beliefs about a specific age group, usually referring to negative beliefs about older adults.

Baby Boomers: the cohort of people born in the years after World War II, generally including those born between 1946 and 1964.

Beanpole family structure: the modern family structure of having fewer children in each generation, as well as each generation living longer, resulting in a chronologically long but narrow structure

Caregiving, formal: a professional who is paid to assist with activities of daily living.

Caregiving, informal: an unpaid layperson (often a family member) who assists with a wide variety of daily needs.

Cumulative advantage/disadvantage: the processes by which the effects of early economic, educational, and other deficiencies or resources can accumulate over the life course with these becoming magnified over the life span.

Gerontology: the interdisciplinary study of aging, including biological, psychological, social, economic, and spiritual perspectives among others.

Medicaid: the joint federal and state-sponsored program aimed at providing medical care to lower income individuals.

Medicare: the federal health care program in the United States provided to adults 65 and older as well as disabled citizens.

Older Americans Act: the federal legislation, originally authorized in 1965, that authorizes a majority of community services for older adults, including community centers and nutrition programs.

Social Security: a federal program established in 1935 to provide protection against poverty to older Americans.

Silver Tsunami: a term used to describe the skewing of the population toward older ages.