Lifespan Development Overview

Principles

Definition

Lifespan development is an academic field and research approach concerned with the study of constancy and change in human behavior and capabilities across the entire life course, from conception to death. It examines development as a complex, multidisciplinary process characterized by multidimensionality, plasticity, and contextual influences.

Ontological type

Core Theoretical Models

Research Methods

Key Developmental Domains

Key developments

Key Figures

Ecological Resilience in Aging era

Urie Bronfenbrenner [1] engaged with Cornell University [3] during this era. His 1977 work Toward an experimental ecology of human development [6] proposed an experimental ecology framework that links laboratory measures to real-world functioning, emphasizing context-sensitive methods and the role of sociocultural contexts in development, which was crucial for understanding ecological resilience in aging. William J. Hoyer [2] was affiliated with University of Wisconsin–Madison [4] and Pennsylvania State University [5] during this period. His key contributions are reflected in Psychology of Adult Development and Aging [7] and Intellectual Functioning in Adults [8], which together framed cognition in adulthood as a variable process shaped by life contexts and experience, thereby underpinning resilience and adaptive functioning in aging [7][8].

Lifespan Regulation Paradigm era

Jeffrey Jensen Arnett [1] is a prominent developmental scientist whose work in this era is linked to the University of Pennsylvania [3] and the University of Chicago [4]. His key contributions include the theory of Emerging Adulthood [7] and research on Young People's Conceptions of the Transition to Adulthood [8], which reframed developmental trajectories as a distinct, resource-regulated period and highlighted the importance of social timing and identity development in late adolescence to early adulthood. Paul B. Baltes [2] was a foundational figure whose work in this era connected Washington University in St. Louis [5] and the University of California, Santa Barbara [6]. His theoretical propositions of life-span developmental psychology [9], LIFESPAN PSYCHOLOGY: Theory and Application to Intellectual Functioning [10], and Developmental changes in personal goal orientation from young to late adulthood: From striving for gains to maintenance and prevention of losses [11] contributed to the Lifespan Regulation Paradigm by detailing growth, maintenance, and loss dynamics across the lifespan and the adaptive regulation of goals and behavior that defines this era.