Developmental Influences and Life-cycle Forces Quiz

Life Cycle Forces and Developmental Influences

• Life cycle forces affect people differently at various stages of life, e.g., being widowed at 85 vs. 22 or having a first child at 52 vs. 22.
• There are three developmental influences that interact to produce developmental change over the lifespan:
  • Normative age-graded influences: occur as part of the aging process, common experiences that occur to all who age, e.g., puberty, wrinkles, menopause.
  • Normative history-graded influences: events experienced by most people in a specific culture at a particular time, e.g., graduation from school, marriage, retirement.
  • Nonnormative influences: unique experiences that are not common to most people.

The Life Span Perspective (LSP)

• The LSP divides human development into two phases: early (childhood and adolescence) and later (young adulthood, middle age, and old age).
• Paul Baltes (1987) identified four key features of the LSP:
  • Multidirectionality: involves both growth and decline.
  • Multiple causation: development is a product of multiple causes (biological, psychological, sociocultural, and lifecycle forces).
  • Plasticity: the capacity to improve, even in later life, to a certain degree.
  • Historical context: time and place shape individual development.

Development and Adaptive Capacity

• Development is age-related change in adaptive capacity, which is the ability to make positive change in response to adversity.
• With age, more "energy" is needed to maintain function and deal with age-related losses, leaving less "energy" for continued growth.
• To adapt with age, one needs to selectively optimize and compensate by:
  • Selecting specific goals that are appropriate for the individual and situation.
  • Optimizing available effective resources to meet goals.
  • Compensating in response to lost resources needed to meet goals.

Characteristics of Older Adults

• The number of older adults is increasing in all ethnic groups globally.
• Ethnic groups in the United States are increasing faster than European Americans.
• There are more older women than older men in all ethnic groups in the United States and many countries.
• The educational levels of older adults will continue to improve and allow them more opportunities (at least 1/3 have a bachelor's degree).
• Older adults have a wide age range (65-74, 75-84, and 85+).
• There is a wide range of functioning and ability among older adults.

Forces of Development

• Forces of development can help explain differences and similarities in individual development.
• There are four forces of development:
  • Biological forces: genetic and health-related factors that affect development.
  • Psychological forces: thoughts, feelings, perceptions, and personality that affect development.
  • Sociocultural forces: interpersonal, societal, cultural, and ethnic factors that affect development.