The Current Status of the Development of Developmental Psychology as Reflected by the 1971 West Virginia Conference on Life-Span Developmental Psychology

1972 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 70-72
Author(s):  
W.R. Looft
Keyword(s):  
West Virginia ◽  
Life Span ◽  
Developmental Psychology ◽  
Current Status ◽  
Virginia Conference

Developmental Perspectives on Parenting

2021 ◽  
pp. 25-49
Author(s):  
Rochelle F. Hentges ◽  
Meredith J. Martin
Keyword(s):  
Child Development ◽  
Life Span ◽  
Attachment Theory ◽  
Reproductive Strategies ◽  
Life History Theory ◽  
Developmental Psychology ◽  
Psychological Needs ◽  
Middle Level ◽  
Secure Base ◽  
Parenting Influences

This chapter discusses two leading middle-level theories within evolutionary psychology, which attempt to explain both how and why parenting influences child development across the life span. First, it presents an overview of one of the most influential evolutionary theories in developmental psychology: John Bowlby’s attachment theory. Attachment theory revolutionized the way people understand the nature of the parent–child bond, framing the parent as not just a provider of physical needs but also as a secure base for emotional and psychological needs. These early-life bonds between the caregiver and infant are further proposed to form the basis for relationship attachments across the life span. Next, the chapter addresses how competing strategies toward resource allocation can influence individual differences in parental investment and sensitivity. According to life history theory, differences in the caregiving environment, in turn, promote the formation of distinct reproductive strategies, resulting in behavioral, social, and physiological differences across child development.

Life-span Developmental Psychology and Education

1980 ◽  
Vol 9 (10) ◽  
pp. 3-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
ROBERT J. HAVIGHURST
Keyword(s):  
Life Span ◽  
Developmental Psychology

Life Span Developmental Psychology

2017 ◽  
pp. 1397-1408 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine A. Riffin ◽  
Corinna E. Lӧckenhoff
Keyword(s):  
Life Span ◽  
Developmental Psychology

Development of the Life Story in Early Adolescence

2016 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 125-138 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristina L. Steiner ◽  
David B. Pillemer
Keyword(s):  
Life Span ◽  
Early Adolescence ◽  
Life Stories ◽  
Developmental Psychology ◽  
Life Story ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Single Event ◽  
Life Narrative ◽  
Novel Method ◽  
Causal Coherence

Life span developmental psychology proposes that the ability to create a coherent life narrative does not develop until early adolescence. Using a novel methodology, 10-, 12-, and 14-year-old participants were asked to tell their life stories aloud to a researcher. Later, participants separated their transcribed narratives into self-identified chapters. When life stories were assessed with measures of temporal and causal coherence, most participants in all age groups were able to tell a linear and coherent narrative. The 10-year-olds were more likely to start their narratives after birth and to use single event chapters in their stories, but they did not differ significantly from older participants in terms of the coherence or chronology of their chapters. This novel method for analyzing life narratives both supports and extends prior research on the development of life stories in adolescence.

Older people with incurable cancer: Existential meaning-making from a life-span perspective

2015 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 20-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sigrid Helene Kjørven Haug ◽  
Lars J. Danbolt ◽  
Kari Kvigne ◽  
Valerie DeMarinis
Keyword(s):  
Palliative Care ◽  
Older People ◽  
Life Span ◽  
Daily Living ◽  
Developmental Psychology ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Adaptive Strategies ◽  
Growth Potential ◽  
Incurable Cancer ◽  
Existential Meaning

ABSTRACTObjective:An increasing number of older people in Western countries are living with incurable cancer, receiving palliative care from specialized healthcare contexts. The aim of our article was to understand how they experience the existential meaning-making function in daily living from a life-span perspective.Method:Some 21 participants (12 men and 9 women), aged 70–88, were interviewed in a semistructured framework. They were recruited from somatic hospitals in southeastern Norway. We applied the model of selective optimization with compensation (SOC) from life-span developmental psychology in a deductive manner to explore the participants' life-oriented adaptive strategies. A meaning component was added to the SOC model.Results:The participants experienced the existential meaning-making function on two levels. On a superordinate level, it was an important component for interpreting and coordinating the adaptive strategies of SOC for reaching the most important goals in daily living. The existential meaning-making framework provided for a comprehensive understanding of resilience, allowing for both restoration and growth components to be identified. The second level was related to strategy, in that the existential meaning-making function was involved in a complex interaction with behavioral resources and resilience, leading to continuation of goals and more realistic goal adjustments. A few experienced existential meaning-making dysfunction.Significance of results:The modified SOC model was seen as applicable for palliative care in specialized healthcare contexts. Employing the existential meaning-making framework with its complementary understanding of resilience as growth potential to the SOC model's restoration potential can help older people to identify how they make meaning and how this influences their adaptation process to being incurably sick.

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