Lifespan Human Development

Abstract

This article explores psychological development from a lifespan perspective, with a special focus on the periods of youth, adulthood and old age. These phases, like infancy and childhood before them, are exciting periods of developmental change. As adolescents embark upon mature lives independently, and as adults progress through the successive milestones and turning points of mature life (like marriage, a new baby, a new career, the launching of adult children into independence, retirement from a lifelong career, the birth of a grandchild, or widowhood), new opportunities for psychological growth are continually presented. At the same time, the range of available choices may narrow, losses will arise, and problems and disappointments will almost certainly occur. These adversities, too, will provide the impetus and opportunity for psychological adjustment, and gains in maturity can arise out of successful coping late in life, just as they did during childhood. The lifespan approach to the study of human development seeks to understand these continuities and discontinuities in psychological growth and change over the whole of life.