Sexual minority persons (e.g., lesbian, gay, bisexual, and queer) are likely to encounter "minority stress", such as discrimination, concealment, expectation of rejection, and internalized heterosexism. Minority stress occurs alongside one's lifespan and has considerable implications in the context of the career lifespan trajectory.…

The authors report the findings of a descriptive, correlational study of 111 graduate counseling students' levels of ego development (L. X. Hy & J. Loevinger, 1996), wellness (J. E. Myers & T. J. Sweeney, 2005), and psychological disturbance (M. J. Lambert et al., 2004). Higher levels of ego maturity were associated with higher wellness scores.…

Views development of social cognition in adulthood as multidimensional and domain-based. Asserts that social cognitive understanding represents development of interpersonal and intrapersonal domains of knowledge and that social cognitive skills of adulthood cannot be based solely on emergent formal operational abilities or logical-mathematical…

Considers relationships of dialectical thinking to formal operational thought; general conceptions of cognitive structure to understanding thinking across specific domains; motivational and cognitive competence factors in adult reasoning; and contextualistic and dialectical conceptions of social intelligence. Outlines structural-developmental…

Makes three points to address central issues in synthesis of cognitive, social, and emotional domains. Recommends thinking in stage terms as well as in contextual terms, clarifying levels in which questions are posed, and operating in a systems theory framework to make sense of social cognitive behavior. Suggests that individuals co-create social…

Introduces five papers by presenting a rationale for examining personality and social factors in relation to intellectual aging. Argues that identification of links between personality, social, and cognitive factors may be useful for explaining and predicting variations in the course of intellectual aging. Recommends collaboration among…

Structural views assume that a single, comprehensive system of thought underlies cognitive activity. Although developmental research with both children and adults has tended to assume the validity of a structural model of cognitive development, this assumption may be invalid when applied to the social cognitive judgments of adults. There are two…

Argues that cognition must be understood in context of real-life adaptation, making social cognition an important area of investigation. Advocates unified theoretical approach to encompass child and adult social-cognitive development and presents life-span model synthesizing work from child and adult social-cognitive literatures. Presents seven…

Examined the relation of control beliefs to individual differences in 63 elderly adults in 1981 and 1986. Over the 5 years, generalized control and intellectual performance did not change, but intellectual control beliefs did. (RJC)

Discusses adaptive cognitive changes in adulthood from perspectives of adult cognitive development and social cognition theory. Proposes interface between the two disciplines. Applies post-formal literature on cognitive development to area of attributional processes. Discusses implications changes in attributional processes may have for cognitive…

Outlines major premises of contextual perspectives to adult intellectual development and describes what theorists hypothesize to be changes in environmental demands that occur during adulthood. Presents research suggesting that people's conceptions of intelligence at all points during development include social competence as a form of intellectual…

Considers adult cognitive growth within the social domain. Draws from Plato's writings and from current views to argue that in order to understand how the educational process is to be of use to adult learners, researchers must determine the kinds of cognitive processes most suited to the learner's stage of life. (Author/NB)

Examines differences between 70 more- and less-generative adults through a new coding system for analyzing themes of agency and communion in significant life-story scenes. The study revealed that highly generative adults express greater levels of the communion themes of dialog and care/help and greater levels of agency/communion integration. (LSR)

Three studies examined naturalistic concepts of moral maturity in young through older adults to develop a more comprehensive understanding of moral excellence than in dominant theories. Findings indicated that naturalistic notions of moral excellence contained themes of principled reasoning, also referenced aspects of moral character and virtue…

The theory of transformative learning, the process of making meaning of one's experience, emerged from the work of Jack Mezirow and has been explored through numerous research studies and critiques over the last 20 years. The purpose of this monographic is to provide greater insight into the transformative learning theory. The paper begins with an…