In this longitudinal Canadian study, we investigated the relationship between the developmental trajectories of community involvement and generative concern measured at ages 23, 26, and 32. Participants completed a questionnaire on youth involvement, the Youth Involvement Inventory (YII), and the Loyola Generativity Scale (LGS) at all 3 ages. A…

Neurologically healthy adults display a reliable but slight leftward spatial bias, and this bias appears to change with age (Jewell & McCourt, 2000). Studies using line bisection and the landmark task to investigate pseudoneglect in participants over 60 years of age have shown suppression and near reversal of the leftward response bias. The…

Happiness is an important indicator of well-being, and little is known about how it changes in the early adult years. We examined trajectories of happiness from early adulthood to midlife in 2 Canadian longitudinal samples: high school seniors followed from ages 18-43 and university seniors followed from ages 23-37. Happiness increased into the…

Employing a life span developmental systems perspective, this study used a 5-wave (1985-1992) Canadian longitudinal data set (N = 404) to examine trajectories of intrinsic and extrinsic work values and job entitlement beliefs from age 18 to 25. Piecewise growth models (Slope 1: age 18-20; Slope 2: age 20-25) showed intriguing patterns of change.…

In this paper, through the theoretical lens of life-course research and reproduction theory, we employ 15 years of longitudinal data from the British Columbia, Canada "Paths on Life's Way" project to examine the extent to which educational and career pathways of this cohort of 1988 high school graduates are gendered, individualized,…

A study was conducted of all Christian theological seminaries and divinity schools in the United States and Canada. The search was for Christian higher education courses, programs, and degrees offered by these graduate schools. Only a few schools offer courses per se in Christian higher education. Eight schools offered courses of instruction…

Conducted interviews with 786 adults, randomly assigned after stratifying according to 3 socioeconomic classes, 9 age strata, 2 genders, and 3 working sectors. Identified three vocational trajectories within the three social classes, each comprising nine phases of working life. Implications concern equilibrated integration of adaptive and creative…

Survey responses from 268 of 444 doctoral programs in adult development/aging and 81 of 145 in clinical psychology show a slight decline in the former. There are fewer teaching assitantships and more internships and practicums; 8% of clinical psychology programs offer a specialization in clinical geropsychology. (SK)

Examined occupational change by identifying, exploring, and describing the transition periods of the life cycle and the disengagement states of the occupational cycle to determine if they are interrelated, and to ascertain if changers and non-changers differ on variables used to assess these transitions. Subjects included 298 managers and 166…

The Death Attitude Profile was developed and four orthogonal factors were identified: Fear of Death/Dying, Approach-Oriented Death Acceptance, Escape-Oriented Death Acceptance, and Neutral Death Acceptance. An elderly sample (N=50) showed less fear of death and more acceptance (all three kinds of acceptance) than did middle aged (N=50) and young…

Describes Guided Autobiography, process developed to assist family life educators in helping families adapt to new demands and changing circumstances by serving as facilitators of the life review process. Explains how Guided Autobiography incorporates use of sensitizing questions, pretested themes, and group process to encourage life review in…

Compared young (aged 18-25) and other adults on characteristics of suicide, examining unbearable psychological pain, interpersonal relations, rejection-aggression, inability to adjust, indirect expressions, identification-egression, ego, and cognitive constriction. Found that young adults' suicides did differ psychologically in a number of…

Describes conceptualization of compensation that applies to life span cognitive development, in general, and aging of prose processing skills, in particular. Presents model of forms and processes of compensation that directs attention to developing dynamics of cognitive skills and compensatory mechanisms. Outlines three main approaches to research…

Examined the relationship between the qualitative aspects of marital intimacy among 20 couples and a quantitative microanalysis of their self-disclosing behavior. Results suggest that, although self-disclosure and intimacy are not synonymous, self-disclosing behavior is a major determinant of various aspects of marital intimacy. (Author/JAC)

The concept of Personal Major Events is proposed as a methodological approach to the study of death and dying with retired couples. A pilot study which elicited the personal major events during retirement of retired couples indicated that these couples tended to place different emphases on death. (Author)