In Western cultures, life narratives are typically expected to recount the narrator's life from birth to the present. Disparate autobiographical memories need to be integrated into a more or less coherent story, which is facilitated by an overarching temporal macrostructure. The temporal macrostructure consists of elaborated beginnings that…

Risk behaviors such as substance use or deviance are often limited to the early stages of the life course. Whereas the onset of risk behavior is well studied, less is currently known about the decline and timing of cessation of risk behaviors of different domains during young adulthood. Prevalence and longitudinal developmental patterning of…

Age significantly predicted performances on six memory tests which clearly defied verbal labeling. Low scores of older persons were responsible for the age effect. The progressively lower recognition scores suggested that nonverbal memory processing through all three modalities was affected adversely by age. (Author)

Determines patterns of differential human development in a longitudinal study of 417 male and 358 female college students ages 18 to 30. Findings suggest individuality in development is associated with significant qualitative individual differences that are best described on a cross-time basis. (BJD)

Investigated adult development of police officers compared to the development of subjects in Daniel Levinson's study. Interviews with 23 male police officers indicated that their lives generally corresponded to Levinson's theory. The nature of subjects' psychosocial stages was similar to Levinson's model for some age periods, but not all.…

A partial sequential design was used to study personality development over a 10-year-period. Data on the Inventory of Psychosocial Development were collected from: a sample of college students in 1966; the same sample as alumni in 1976; and a sample of undergraduates in 1976. (JMB)

Examined four large surveys to establish the existence of passages. Results indicated that age groups and their associated passages can be identified. The passages appear to progress with time, but are not stable across cultures. Suggests that the generational event theory provides a better model for explanation. (JAC)

There is a common perception that stresses tend to increase and accumulate with age, but there have been no definitive studies of differences in perceived life stress among different age groups. To study these differences, a quasi-random sample of 215 adults completed a 41 item life-stressor questionnaire, modified from the Paykel (1971) and…

Cohort-sequential analyses were conducted on measures from the Primary Mental Abilities Test and the Test of Behavioral Rigidity for 2,151 participants at the first testing and 723 individuals at the retesting 7 years later. Data were examined for 7-year age intervals from 25 to 81 years and cohort intervals from 1889 to 1938. (Author/JMB)

Studied white and blue-collar men and women using a questionnaire seeking designation of the most suitable ages for various role transitions and age-related attributes. Comparisons with 1950s findings indicated loosening of the norms, but with continuing adherence to a prescriptive timetable and with persistent socioeconomic differences. Results…

A suicide potential scale is constructed that fits the Guttman scale criteria. The mean suicide potential scores of various age groups support the cohort model with the exception of individuals 75 and older, where it appears that maturation factors play an important role in explaining suicidal behavior. (Author)

The impact of early life events that take place under specific historical and societal circumstances on adult development have rarely been investigated in old age. We examined whether having started a family in young adulthood was related to the contents of possible selves generated by women aged 85 to 100+ in the Berlin Aging Study (N = 129; M…

Assessed changes in MMPI normative scores for age, year of birth, and time of measurement, in police academy recruits (N=1119). Age and year of birth did not affect MMPI scores. From 1964-1971 more "symptomatology" and less "defensiveness" was reported, but reversed when the police department hired a consultant clinical…

Surveyed 928 older Bostonians and found a negative correlation between age and alcohol consumption among older adults. Retrospective data suggest that there are cohort or generational patterns of drinking behavior by older adults. Survey provides no insight into the historical factors which account for the differences in alcohol use. (Author/JAC)

Women in four age groups did not differ significantly in overall level of self-esteem, but could be discriminated on the more specific aspects of self-concept. The 40- to 55-year-olds reported more positive feelings about themselves in their family relations and morality. Women over 60 showed more defensiveness. (Author)