Title: Role Theory - an overview | ScienceDirect Topics
Headings: Role Theory
Role Theory
Social Participation in the Second Half of Life
Role theory
Family and Culture
5 Family Roles and Power
Data Collection: Interviewing
4 Role Theory
Animal-assisted interventions in mental health
Role theory
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NEUROSEMANTICS AND CATEGORIES
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Goffman, Erving (1921–82)
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2 Role Theory
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Role Theory

Content: Roles tend to carry certain risks and benefits which may vary by individual characteristics, historical time, and cultural context. Roles can provide connection to other people and access to resources, which in turn may promote feelings of security, status enhancement, and ego gratification. Roles also provide directions for behavior in otherwise uncertain situations ( Hogg, 2000 ), which may serve to reduce stress and improve well-being. People often fulfill a set of roles at the same time (e.g., mother, director, and child), and this set may change over the life course ( Riley and Riley, 1994; Rotolo, 2000 ). With aging an increasing imbalance occurs between the number of roles gained and lost ( Baltes, 1997 ). Older people tend to lose more roles than they gain, for example losing roles such as parent, spouse, worker, and active member of society. Volunteering and helping others can act as substitutes for roles lost over the life course, For example, becoming a volunteer after retirement may alleviate any negative consequences associated with losing the worker role, such as a loss of a sense of personal value and identity ( Greenfield and Marks, 2004 ). View chapter Purchase book
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URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780128012383113510
Family and Culture
James Georgas, in Encyclopedia of Applied Psychology, 2004
5 Family Roles and Power
Role theory refers to the cultural norms regarding psychological and interactional aspects of members of society, such as mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, and grandparents.