latency phase
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Related to latency phase: latent stage
la·ten·cy phase
in psychoanalytic personality theory, the period of psychosexual development in children, extending from about age 5 to the beginning of adolescence at age 12, during which the apparent cessation of sexual preoccupation stems from a strong, aggressive blockade of libidinal and sexual impulses in an effort to avoid oedipal relationships; during this phase, boys and girls are inclined to choose friends and join groups of their own sex.
Synonym(s): latency period
Farlex Partner Medical Dictionary © Farlex 2012
la·ten·cy phase
, latency period (lā'tĕn-sē fāz, pēr'ē-ŏd)1. psychiatry According to psychoanalytic personality theory, the period of psychosexual development in children, extending from about age 5 to the beginning of adolescence around age 12, during which the apparent cessation of sexual preoccupation stems from a strong, aggressive blockade of libidinal and sexual impulses in an effort to avoid oedipal relationships; during this phase, boys and girls are inclined to choose friends and join groups of their own sex.
2. biowarfare Interval during which an organism lies dormant.
Medical Dictionary for the Health Professions and Nursing © Farlex 2012