Amid growing recognition that strong academic skills alone are not enough for young people to become successful adults, this comprehensive report offers wide-ranging evidence to show what young people need to develop from preschool to young adulthood to succeed in college and career, have healthy relationships, be engaged citizens, and make wise…

A basic goal for individuals as they struggle to face normative developmental tasks across their life span is to determine how to make meaning of their experiences, real and vicarious. The authors describe a workshop that gave counselors and human service practitioners meaning-making strategies that they could use in their personal and…

Adult development theory can assist supervisors in understanding the needs of staff member sin various stages on their psychosocial and career development. A chart was created that identifies developmental tasks or challenges many student affairs professionals face during their working lives, and approaches supervisors may use to assist staff in…

Reviews the literature on pregnancy, indicating that there is a predictable and uniform psychological process associated with the experience for both expectant parents. Identifies specific developmental tasks for both expectant mothers and fathers. Suggests that the manner in which prospective parents handle the pregnancy will affect post-partum…

Adult development theorists believe that the changes that occur during the adult years are predictable and age linked. Their theories explain how change is resolved by the majority of the adult population. Three persons whose research has been influential in the field of adult development during the 1970s are Erik Erikson, Daniel Levinson, and…

Little attention has been given to how adults develop through their lifetimes and what roles their workplace environments play in that development. Research and theory regarding adult psychosocial development have confirmed the developmental life-cycle phases of adulthood. These are: leaving the family (ages 16-22), getting into the adult world…

Theories of adult development are reviewed and considered in relation to the role of higher education and the educational methods employed. The literature is divided according to two perspectives: issues and tasks that are characteristic of chronological periods in the adult life cycle; and developmental stages that have no strict relationship to…

Marriages, just like the individuals in them, go through stages of development. Understanding these relatively predictable stages can be helpful to couples, by allaying apprehension, promoting preparation for change, and putting fluctuations into perspective. Research on marital stages and experiences in counseling couples suggest that marriages…

A systematic review and critique of the work of midlife researchers and theorists such as Gould, Vaillant, Jung, Newman and Levinson, among others, indicates that: (1) a midlife transition period exists from approximately 35 to 55 and lasts as many as 10 years for both men and women; (2) a series of unique and fundamental biological, psychosocial,…