Life Span Developmental Psychology

Life-Span Developmental Psychology: Normative Life Crises is a compilation of papers that deals with various points of view between the academic perspective — studies in developmental psychology and applied perspective — and the practical efforts of social workers to help individual clients. Part I discusses normative life crises from the two perspectives that include human behavior theory in social work education. This part also includes an interdisciplinary approach covering developmental, social, sociological, economic, and psychological fields. Part II covers the normative life crises in individual development such as discussions on death, ego development, and a practioner's response on models of ego development. The book also discusses an abstract model versus an actual individual experience in dealing with crises, as well as the meanings of adaptation and survival during old age. Part III presents the normative life crises in the family circle covering topics such as parenthood, sex roles, depression, widowhood, and an example of situational stress. Part IV deals with the normative life crises and the social system, including socialization, life course, changing work cycles, and public policy on death. This book will prove valuable for psychologists, psychiatrists, sociologists, social workers, and behavioral scientists.

Life-Span Development Psychology: Research and Theory covers the issues and problems associated with a life-span conceptualization of developmental psychology. The book discusses the status,issues, and antecedents of life-span developmental psychology; an approach to theory construction in the psychology of development and aging; and models and theories of development. The text also describes the methodology and research strategy in the study of developmental change; the application of multivariate strategies to problems of measuring and structuring long-term change; and the mechanisms required for the operation of perception and recognition. Learning and retention; language; and intellectual abilities are also considered. Developmental psychologists will find the study invaluable.

Life-Span Developmental Psychology: Personality and Socialization presents papers on personality and socialization. The book discusses the history, theory, and psychological approaches of developmental psychology, with focus on socialization and personality development through the life span; personality dimensions; and theories of socialization and sex-role development. The text also describes the life-span perspective of creativity and cognitive styles; continuities in childhood and adult moral development revisited; and issues of intergenerational relations as they affect both individual socialization and continuity of culture. The interactional analysis of family attachments; social-learning theory as a framework for the study of adult personality development; person-perception research; and the perception of life-span development are also considered. The book further tackles the potential usefulness of the life-span developmental perspective in education; the strategies for enhancing human development over the life span through educational intervention; and some ecological implications for the organization of human intervention throughout the life span. Developmental psychologists, sociologists, gerontologists, and people involved in the study of child development will find the book invaluable.

This volume offers a broad coverage of all sub-fields of developmental psychology. After an introduction to the history and systems of developmental psychology, it includes chapters on perceptual/motor development and cognitive development.

Although there has been a significant increase in studies of stress and coping processes in recent years, researchers have often approached these topics from rather narrow and constrained perspectives. Furthermore, little communication has occurred across disciplines and research directions, resulting in the emergence of several relatively isolated literatures. An outgrowth of the Eleventh Biennial West Virginia University Conference on Life-Span Development, this volume emphasizes two major themes: the importance of taking a life-span approach to the study of stress and coping, and the development of new and more complete conceptual models of stress and coping processes. The first to approach these subjects from a life-span perspective, this book includes papers by distinguished researchers from each of the major periods of the life-span, and brings together the cognitive and socioemotional traditions in the study of dealing with pressures. The editors hope that this facilitation of communication among researchers with diverse views will help create a broadening and integration of perspectives.

Life-Span Developmental Psychology: Nonnormative Life Events documents the proceedings of the 7th West Virginia University Life-Span Conference, held in Morgantown, WV, in May 1980. This volume focuses on the effects of nonnormative life crises, those which occur to only certain individuals within a specific culture or group and are for the most part considered to be disruptive to the normal life course. Contributors were invited from a number of orientations and academic disciplines, ranging from traditional life-span psychologists to practicing clinical psychologists. The dynamic interplay of these diverse approaches results in a very exciting level of intellectual and practical stimulation, which is reflected in the chapters of this volume. The chapters are grouped topically to mirror the pairings of the conference presentations. Key topics covered include the dimensionalization of life events; adolescent pregnancy and parenthood; grief and adjustment for families dealing with sudden infant death; family violence; and impact of divorce on children.

Dealing with the methodological and data analytic problems in developmental research, this book presents solutions advanced from the disciplinary perspectives of psychology, behavior analysis and behavioral systems, sociology, and anthropology. Topics addressed include: * the metatheoretical issues about the relationship between data and theory * the identification and analysis of age, cohort, and time-of-measurement effects * the assessment of quantitative and qualitative change * the use of group and single-subject designs for control by systematic variation * the use of systems methodology to investigate the developmental continuity and organization of behavior * the analysis of data from repeated measures designs * the use of structural equations and path analysis to test causal hypotheses * the use of structured relational matrices to study development and change This unique volume offers students an unusually wide range of research tools for identifying and studying specific developmental problems.

What are the changes we see over the life-span? How can we explain them? And how do we account for individual differences? This volume continues to examine these questions and to report advances in empirical research within life-span development increasing its interdisciplinary nature. The relationships between individual development, social context, and historical change are salient issues discussed in this volume, as are nonnormative and atypical events contributing to life-span change.