Life-span Developmental Psychology Research Articles

PRACTICE AND THEORY: THE SIGNIFICANCE OF PARTICIPATING IN CULTURALLY-RELEVANT CRAFTS FOR DIVERSE OLDER ADULTS

Abstract In the last 25 years, there has been a great increase in interest in the benefits of creative activities for older adults, especially for dementia patients. More recent research (Adams-Price et al., 2018) has identified specific benefits that healthy older adults get from participating in arts activities. However, little research has featured the benefits of traditional craft activities, especially those prominent in different ethnic groups. The focus of this symposium will be on the benefits of traditional crafts for older adults, especially when those crafts are traditional to one’s culture and have benefits for identity. The proposed symposium will include papers by Chen and Alcantar on the impact of craft participation on diverse older adults. Kaori Otera Chen will be discussing older women weavers in New York State, and the psychological growth they experience from learning and practicing skills associated with weaving, and from creating beautiful pieces. Sandy Alcantar will be discussing a program that she runs for older Hispanic immigrants that promotes participation in traditional crafts to provide income and connect the immigrants to their culture of origin. Adams-Price will be discussing life-span developmental psychology and the sociocultural theory of creativity from Vlad Glaveanu, and their implications of the theory for discussing the significance of long-term participating in culturally-relevant crafts in later life, singly and in groups. She will tie in examples from diverse cultures, including older rural African American women who quilt.

How and where does "care" fit within seminal life-course approaches? A narrative review and critical analysis.

To map the concepts of the caring life-course theory that are used in life-course approaches from different disciplines; establish whether there is a common recognition of, or language used, to describe care in those life-course approaches; and identify the role and contribution of care to the life-course literature. This discursive paper uses a narrative review process to explore points of convergence and divergence between life-course approaches and the caring life-course theory. Categories for analysis were developed deductively and inductively, focusing on the constructs of fundamental care, capacity and capability, care network, care transition, care trajectory and care biography. We identified four disciplinary perspectives: (1) life-course sociology; (2) life-course epidemiology; (3) lifespan developmental psychology; and (4) life-course health development. While six core constructs of the caring life-course theory were described, either explicitly or implicitly, in existing life-course approaches, no single approach fully describes the role and contribution of care across the lifespan. Life-course approaches have largely neglected the contribution and role of care in informing the life-course discourse. This review highlights the significance of care beyond traditional healthcare settings and recognizes it as a fundamental human need for well-being and development, which can contribute to existing life-course literature. There is a need to understand care as a complex system and embrace a whole-system, life-course approach to enable nurses and other healthcare professionals to provide high-quality, patient-centred care. Incorporating care within a life-course approach provides opportunities to integrate and deliver care centred around the person, their life transitions, trajectories and care networks, including informal carers and healthcare professionals. Patients or members of the public were not involved in this study as it is a discursive paper based on the relevant literature.

Coordinated data analysis: Knowledge accumulation in lifespan developmental psychology.

Coordinated analysis is a powerful form of integrative analysis, and is well suited in its capacity to promote cumulative scientific knowledge, particularly in subfields of psychology that focus on the processes of lifespan development and aging. Coordinated analysis uses raw data from individual studies to create similar hypothesis tests for a given research question across multiple datasets, thereby making it less vulnerable to common criticisms of meta-analysis such as file drawer effects or publication bias. Coordinated analysis can sometimes use random effects meta-analysis to summarize results, which does not assume a single true effect size for a given statistical test. By fitting parallel models in separate datasets, coordinated analysis preserves the heterogeneity among studies, and provides a window into the generalizability and external validity of a set of results. The current article achieves three goals: First, it describes the phases of a coordinated analysis so that interested researchers can more easily adopt these methods in their labs. Second, it discusses the importance of coordinated analysis within the context of the credibility revolution in psychology. Third, it encourages the use of existing data networks and repositories for conducting coordinated analysis, in order to enhance accessibility and inclusivity. Subfields of research that require time- or resource- intensive data collection, such as longitudinal aging research, would benefit by adopting these methods. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Socioeconomic origin, future expectations, and educational achievement: A longitudinal three-generation study of the persistence of family advantage.

Expectations about the future direct effort in goal-oriented action and may influence a range of life course outcomes, including educational attainment. Here we investigate whether such expectations are implicated in the dynamics underlying the persistence of educational advantage across family generations, and whether such dynamics have changed in recent decades in view of historical change. Focusing on the role of domain-specific (educational) and general (optimism and control) expectations, we examine parallels across parent-child cohorts in (a) the relationships between parental socioeconomic status (SES) and children's future expectations and (b) the associations between children's future expectations and their academic achievement. We estimate structural equation models using data from the prospective multigenerational Youth Development Study (N = 422 three-generation triads [G1-G2-G3]; G1 Mage in 1988 = 41.0 years, G2 Mage in 1989 = 14.7 years, G3 Mage in 2011 = 15.8 years; G2 White in 1989 = 66.4%, G3 White in 2011 = 64.4%; G1 mean annual household income, converted to 2008 equivalents = $41,687, G2 mean annual household income in 2008 dollars = $42,962; G1 mode of educational attainment = high school, G2 mode of educational attainment = some college). We find intergenerational similarity in the relationships between parental educational attainment and children's future expectations. Children's educational expectations strongly predicted their academic achievement in the second generation, but not in the third generation. With educational expansion, the more recent cohort had higher educational expectations that were less strongly related to achievement. Overall, the findings reveal dynamics underlying the persistence of educational success across generations. The role of future expectations in this intergenerational process varies across historical time, confirming a central conclusion of life span developmental psychology and life course sociological research that individual functioning is influenced by sociocultural contexts. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Utilizing Principles of Life-Span Developmental Psychology to Study the Complexities of Resilience Across the Adult Life Span.

Life-span developmental psychology includes a broad array of principles that have wide application to studying adult development and aging. Three principles have guided my past, current, and future research: (a) development being a cumulative, lifelong process with no one period taking precedence; (b) multiple processes influence development (e.g., age-, pathology-, nonnormative, and mortality-related processes); and (c) development is multidirectional and multidimensional. This paper elaborates on how these principles have guided my research studying resilience to adversity across the adult life span and how my research aligns with guiding elements of resilience across definitions and literatures. I also discuss my current and future research of applying these principles to studying resilience in midlife, which emphasizes how the defining features of midlife lend themselves to examining resilience, midlife continues to not be well understood, midlife health foreshadows health in old age, and the experience of midlife will evolve in the context of an increasingly diverse society. The last section elaborates on additional directions for future research, such as the promise of intensive longitudinal research designs that incorporate qualitative approaches and examining historical changes in midlife health and well-being. In conclusion, a life-span developmental psychology framework has wide application for elucidating the nature of resilience across the adult life span through the integration of its principles with existing paradigms and research designs that blend contemporary methods with mixed methodology.

Sport and physical activity across the lifespan: “Sports Trajectory Questionnaire”

Activity and participation in sport have garnered a great deal of attention over the past few decades, due in part to growing awareness of the benefits they offer that lead to a better quality of life. This situation has opened up new lines of investigation in the sport sciences field, including the study of physical activity and sport participation according to the perspective of Lifespan Developmental Psychology, the approach that underlies this study. The aim of this research is (1) to design an instrument to collect information on individuals’ lifelong relationships with sport and physical activity (2) to implement the instrument through a pilot test to create profiles that can be compared with other variables, all in order to study the role that physical activity and sport participation play in a range of aspects throughout the lifespan. The results indicate the questionnaire was effective and capable of collecting data on the physical and sport activities of the members of the sample at different moments in the lifespan. It was also able to generate profiles that can be used to analyze the variables of participation in sport and/or physical activity in conjunction with other variable, thus offering a way to measure the impact of physical activity on human development. Keywords: Sports trajectories; lifespan; physical activity questionnaire; physical activity profiles

Perspektywy, możliwości i ograniczenia badań łączących psychologię i historię nad edukacją i wychowaniem dzieci i młodzieży u progu nowoczesności

The past three decades have seen a heightened interest in integrating psychology and history in educational research. The aim of this article is to present interdisciplinary approaches combining psychological and historical perspectives in research on education and upbringing of children and youth on the eve of modernity. Using the examples of research projects that blend historical methods with Lifespan Developmental Psychology and Social Psychology, the authors analyse their possibilities and limitations. This article brings a new perspective to the studies on childhood and adolescence, with a special focus on people living in the Polish lands at the turn of the twentieth century.

Unpacking “OK, Boomer”: Using Lifespan Concepts to Ease Intergenerational Conflict

With the “OK, Boomer” media exchange in late 2019, intergenerational conflict is touted as existing at an all-time high. Although the age diversity of today’s workforce is unprecedented, spanning nearly five generations of workers, generational stereotyping and its influence on the identities and experiences of those individuals is not new. In this talk, we will advocate for the role that lifespan developmental psychology can play in preparing students to enter a sometimes contentious, misrepresented multigenerational workforce. We will demonstrate the value of helping students distinguish normative age-graded, normative history-graded, and non-normative influences to better understand individual similarities and differences in developmental experiences. We will discuss research on age identity and generational identity as distinct and self-enhancing life-span processes. Finally, we will highlight the developmental barriers that must be navigated in order to foster intergenerational cohesion.

Age as an Overlooked Element of Diversity: Approaches to Addressing Intergenerational Perspectives

Outside of gerontology, age is an often underappreciated element of diversity. At a time when all generations must work together to provide inclusive, multi-faceted solutions to today’s societal problems, ageist and generational stereotypes are often barriers to meaningful intergenerational exchanges. Age derogation and negative stereotypes have been used to splinter communities, perpetuate misinformation, and trivialize intergenerational conversations. As researchers, educators, and practitioners, we understand why age matters, but our students, community leaders, and employers may not. It is our disciplinary obligation to convince those who ignore, dismiss, or misrepresent age of the importance of this aspect of diversity for navigating any multigenerational setting. In this talk, we provide three approaches to addressing age-related beliefs in the classroom. We begin by exploring the impact of generational stereotypes within minority communities. For the LGBT community, negative stereotypes coupled with rapid social change have lead to a growing generational gap. We then shift perspectives to examine the role that lifespan developmental psychology can play in preparing students to enter a diverse multigenerational workforce. Here, we discuss research on age identity and generational identity as distinct and self-enhancing life-span processes, and highlight the developmental barriers that must be navigated in order to foster intergenerational cohesion. Finally, we discuss the findings from Generation to Generation, an intergenerational discussion course for older and younger adults, designed to promote productive intergenerational contact. The results provide evidence that intergenerational discussion may facilitate improved connections between generations.

Development, ageing and hybrid minds: Growth and decline, and ecologies of human functioning in a sociocultural perspective

Abstract Historically, the concept of development has referred to processes that take place early in life. A basic scholarly ambition has been to provide research results that make it possible to understand and predict ontogenesis. The object of inquiry in these ambitions has been the individual and his/her path towards adulthood. It seems reasonable to assume that in complex societies, cultural and societal changes co-determine human functioning and development at all age levels, and in ways that are significant for most spheres of life. In life-span developmental psychology, the validity of the person-centered models has been questioned, and more complex perspectives, involving interaction between persons and their environments, have been suggested. In the present article, it is argued that studying development in complex societies must take the hybrid nature of human cognitive and other capacities into account. The conception of mind dominating most of life-span developmental research is too simplistic. Development does not reside solely in the individual but must be understood as the capacity to adapt to, and participate in, socio-material ecologies of communication that characterize rapidly changing societies.

It's More Complicated

Lifespan developmental psychology extends from birth to old age. I describe my research career from studies of newborns through childhood and adolescence to adulthood. I also include reflections from my aging brain on determinants of the life course especially in regard to risk and resilience. Infant learning, toddler temperament, and parental conceptions are highlighted content areas. A number of increasingly complex concepts from transactions to a unified theory are described to capture the ingredients that form development, requiring models of growth, context, regulation, and representation. I conclude by discussing applications to infant mental health and developmental disabilities.

An Open Time Perspective and Social Support to Sustain in Healthcare Work: Results of a Two-Wave Complete Panel Study.

Based on lifespan developmental psychology and psychosocial work characteristics theory, we examined longitudinal relations between calendar age, occupational time perspective, different types of job demands and job resources in relation to sustainable employability (i.e., work ability, vitality and employability) among healthcare workers in Netherlands (N = 1478). Results of our two-wave complete panel study revealed satisfactory fit indices for the metric invariance of the included variables across the two waves (6-month time lag). Our results revealed a negative relation between calendar age and external employability of healthcare workers (limited support for hypothesis 1), and more consistent evidence for positive relations between an open future time perspective and across-time changes in vitality, work ability and external employability (supporting hypothesis 2). Few significant findings were found for relations between specific job demands or job resources and indicators of sustainable employability of healthcare workers (mixed results hypotheses 3 and 4). Our explorative tests of possible moderating effects of age or occupational time perspective in predicting relations between psychosocial work characteristics and indicators of sustainable employability revealed only a significant interaction effect of supervisor support and future time perspective in explaining across-time changes in external employability of healthcare workers (rejecting hypothesis 5 and confirming hypothesis 6). We discuss the practical as well as theoretical implications of these findings, and present recommendations for future research.

Emphasize Aging: Teaching Lifespan Developmental Psychology From an Intersectional Perspective.

Instructors of lifespan developmental psychology courses are faced with the impossible task of covering the entire lifespan. As such, aging can get neglected. The current paper advocates for approaches that emphasize aging throughout the course. One way to emphasize aging in lifespan courses is to approach the course from an intersectional perspective. Intersectionality advocates for simultaneous consideration of multiply marginalized people. Encouraging intersectional discussions of developmental topics will enrich course discussions and students will develop the habit of critically evaluating the material. Indeed, intersectional perspectives are critical in nature. Simply examining the generalizability of concepts to intersecting subgroups leaves out examination of interlocking systems of oppression and topics of disadvantage and privilege. As such, the current paper provides suggestions for questioning whether developmental concepts and theories are complicit with forces of oppression and domination of older adults.

Entrepreneurs\u2019 age, institutions, and social value creation goals: A multi-country study

This study explores the relationship between an entrepreneur's age and his/her social value creation goals. Building on the lifespan developmental psychology literature and institutional theory, we hypothesize a U-shaped relationship between entrepreneurs’ age and their choice to create social value through their ventures, such that younger and older entrepreneurs create more social value with their businesses while middle age entrepreneurs are relatively more economically and less socially oriented with their ventures. We further hypothesize that the quality of a country’s formal institutions in terms of economic, social, and political freedom steepen the U-shaped relationship between entrepreneurs’ age and their choice to pursue social value creation as supportive institutional environments allow entrepreneurs to follow their age-based preferences. We confirm our predictions using multilevel mixed-effects linear regressions on a sample of over 15,000 entrepreneurs (aged between 18 and 64 years) in 45 countries from Global Entrepreneurship Monitor data. The findings are robust to several alternative specifications. Based on our findings, we discuss implications for theory and practice, and we propose future research directions.

Poczucie samotności jako moderator przebiegu kryzysów sytuacyjnych, rozwojowych i egzystencjalnych

The Feeling of Loneliness as a Moderator of the Course of Situational, Developmental and Existential Crises The article addresses the issue of different categories of psychological crises. The main thesis of the work formulates the belief that feeling of loneliness (consisting of three dimensions: a feeling of social, emotional and existential loneliness) in crisis states is an important moderator (predictor) of their course and ultimately psychological consequences. In the theoretical layer, the problem raised here is based on the assumptions of life-span developmental psychology theory, and in the empirical layer refers to the results of a number of research projects in which a sense of loneliness among other numerous variables has been given the status of predictor. The results of the projects show that taking the feeling of loneliness into account provides a better insight into the direct or indirect consequences of psychological crises with different characteristics. This matters not only theoretically, but also practically. On the one hand, it raises awareness of the course and psychological consequences of crises caused by various risks, losses and relational deficits. On the other hand, it advocates the use of proprietary tools to measure feelings of loneliness: (SBS-C, 8–13 years), adolescents (SBS, 12–19 years), and adults (SBS-AD and SBS-ADC) (Dołęga, 2020).

The understanding and categorization of folktales from the perspective of life-span developmental psychology

The understanding and categorization of folktales from the perspective of life-span developmental psychology

Adding life to one’s added years: Self- regulatory balancing of life domains across old age

As life-span developmental psychologists, our research programs focus on the description, explanation, and optimization of human behavior and development (e.g., Baltes, Reese, & Nesselroade, 1977; Lerner, 2012). Traditionally, this work adopts an action-theoretical accounting of the basic processes for human development (Brandtstadter & Lerner, 1999) arguing that in addition to biological and environmental factors, people are the active producers of their own development (Lerner & Busch-Rossnagel, 1981), creating their futures through setting and striving for goals. For decades, life-span developmental psychologists and life course sociologists have fruitfully conversed and collaborated to push their fields forward, developing research projects, applied programs, and supporting policies that have improved lives and our understanding of how they unfold. We hope that our comments on the commendable target article by Bernardi, Huinink, and Settersten (2018; this issue) contribute to this decades-long productive conversation across academic disciplines. Our goal here is to complicate a portion of the target article that focuses on interdependencies across life domains (e.g., work, family, education). We do so by introducing a new “wrinkle:” life-span developmental psychology’s perspectives on successful aging (e.g., Freund, 2008). In short, we argue that the lack of social norms that characterize aging populations provide older adults with a (1) significant challenge to their self-regulatory capacity, but also (2) a significant opportunity — that is arguably unique across the life span — to actively define and select domains in life to support their successful aging. Therefore, the interdependency of life domains in older adulthood may represent a special case that expands and further enriches the Life Course Cube model (Bernardi, Huinink, & Settersten, this issue).

The Perfect Storm: Mapping the Life Course Trajectories of Serial Killers.

Since the 1970s, scholars have produced a large body of research attempting to establish the mechanisms by which sexual serial killers come to arrive at a life of repeat fatal violence. From the standpoint of developmental psychology, however, the explanations offered are far too limited in scope. Human development is the product of complex reciprocal transactions that occur between an individual and their environment throughout their life span. This present study is meant to encourage a critical reconsideration of past knowledge (mainly static traits) in favor of the recognition of the complexity of human development. Using life span developmental psychology as a guiding framework, this study traces the developmental mechanisms that come together to shape the psychopathology that drives the motivations of sexual serial killers.

The Identity Status Continuum Revisited

Abstract. The developmental continuum of identity status has been a topic of theoretical debate since the early 1980’s. A recent meta-analysis and recent studies with dual cycle models lead to two conclusions: (1) during adolescence there is systematic identity maturation; (2) there are two continuums of identity status progression. Both continuums show that in general adolescents move from transient identity statuses to identity statuses that mark the relative endpoints of development: from diffusion to closure, and from searching moratorium and moratorium to closure and achievement. This pattern can be framed as development from identity formation to identity maintenance. In Identity Status Interview research using Marcia’s model, not the slightest indication for a continuum of identity development was found. This may be due to the small sample sizes of the various studies leading to small statistical power to detect differences in identity status transitions, as well as developmental inconsistencies in Marcia’s model. Findings from this review are interpreted in terms of life-span developmental psychology.

Prilog koncipiranju nove teorije životnog vijeka

Modern developmental psychology has been characterised with a wealth of empirical facts and a relatively small number of theories, which are mostly oriented to the confined time of development and confined domains of functioning. Because of some important changes in contemporary developmental psychology, according to which it is no more just a theory of child development but the life-span developmental psychology, it is very important to integrate information about different developmental aspects. It should bring into accord analysis with respect to life periods and different behaviors. In a new developmental theory attention should be directed to the personal contribution to one's own development and the self-regulation of the development. The theory of personal development which is proposed by Heckhausen and Schultz (1995)includes primary and secondary control of development. On the basis of some empirical indications it should be proposed that the new theory has to include tertiary control as well. The tertiray control of development is neglected probably because it includes some more mature personality defense mechanisms. Developmental self-regulation could be reached through connection of outer demands (biological and social) with the efforts of each person in accordance to primary, secondary and tertiary control.