Developmental tasks of adulthood: Losses of opportunity.

Author(s):  
Janet Jaffe ◽  
Martha O. Diamond
Keyword(s):  
1999 ◽  
Vol 58 (4) ◽  
pp. 273-286 ◽  
Author(s):  
Regula P. Berger ◽  
Alexander Grob ◽  
August Flammer

This study focuses on the importance of social developmental expectations, assessed as emotional and cognitive evaluations regarding the timing and the gender-role conformity of normative developmental tasks. Two central questions were raised. First, to what degree do the timing and the gender-role conformity affect the adults' expectations? Second, how much does the adults' own gender-role orientation (GRO), classified as traditional vs. liberal, affect their expectations? A 4 (timing modus) × 2 (developmental task) × 2 (gender-role conformity)-factorial design was administered to a sample of 140 adults of both sexes, 20 to 81 years old. Coping in time and with gender-role typical career received the most approval. Typical developmental tasks were more approved by persons with a traditional than with a liberal GRO. However, the evaluation of non-typical developmental tasks was not affected by the GRO. The possibility of a shift in normative expectations toward more liberal, diverse, and self-defined female gender-roles is discussed.


2005 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 320-329 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ursula M. Staudinger ◽  
Ute Kunzmann

Abstract. Does personality stay stable after young adulthood or is there continued change throughout middle and later adulthood? For decades, this question has caused heated debate. Over the last couple of years, a consensus has emerged based on recent cross-cultural as well as longitudinal evidence. This consensus confirms that indeed there is personality change in middle and later adulthood. Many authors have labeled this change personality maturation or growth. In somewhat simplified terms the observed pattern is as follows: neuroticism declines, conscientiousness and agreeableness increase. At the same time it has been argued that this pattern of personality change is the result of coping with the developmental tasks of adulthood and, thus, increased adjustment. We would like to examine this practice of equating developmental adjustment with growth and ask how to define personality growth. To answer this question, we consult theories of personality development as well as lifespan theory.


2011 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 6-21
Author(s):  
Andreas Hirschi

Exploring one’s occupational possibilities is one of the major developmental tasks in adolescent career development and a lack of exploration is considered especially troublesome. This longitudinal study explored antecedents of foreclosure in career decision-making, i.e. the tendency to prematurely commit to a career choice without prior throughout exploration of the available possibilities. Participants were 334 Swiss students in eighth grade. The results show that social-cognitive variables of generalized self-efficacy (GSE) , externality of control beliefs, and perceived barriers and vocational interest variables of interest profile differentiation, consistency, and elevation significantly predicted foreclosure compared to achievement or diffusion. Specifically, male gender, less GSE, and less elevation predicted foreclosure compared to achievement. Male gender, less perceived barriers, less differentiation, and less consistency predicted foreclosure compared to diffusion. The initial developmental status was the strongest single predictor of later status. Implications for counseling practice are discussed.


Author(s):  
Dante Cicchetti ◽  
Fred A. Rogosch

In this chapter, a developmental psychopathology conceptualization of child maltreatment is presented as an overarching heuristic with relevance for understanding the development of alcohol and substance use and abuse. This chapter also provides illustrations from research on how child maltreatment contributes to problem substance use in adolescence. Child maltreatment represents an extreme failure of the caregiving environment to provide many of the expectable experiences necessary to facilitate normal developmental processes. Maltreatment ushers in a probabilistic epigenesis for children characterized by an increased likelihood of failure and disruption in the successful resolution of major developmental tasks. These repeated disruptions lead to compromised developmental organizations of diverse developmental systems that increase the probability of the emergence of maladaptation, psychopathology, and substance abuse as negative transactions between the child and the environment ensue. Person-centered personality organizations and genetic moderation of maltreatment risk on substance use outcomes are also highlighted.


Author(s):  
Esther F. Akinsola ◽  
Anne C. Petersen

This chapter describes adolescent development within the context of capacity building, reviews the global adolescent capacity-building initiatives, and provides a link between developmental tasks of adolescence and capacity building. It highlights the importance of incorporating assessment of adolescents’ capacity-building needs at individual, community, and organizational levels into global policy and programs and suggests effective approaches to building adolescent development capacity that include adopting the “stage–environment–fit,” in which stage represents the developmental stages (early, middle, late stages) of adolescents and emphasizes developmental tasks of adolescence, while environment represents the social and cultural contexts in which the adolescents live. That adolescents need to be engaged as planners, decision-makers, and participants in programs that build their capacity and translation of global policies into policies of governments is emphasized.


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