Life span theories focus on nature and nurture. Adult development is complex and a multidimensional model is needed to try and understand the processes of change. The cognitive and socioemotional functioning of adults continues as they age and adapting is important throughout an entire lifespan. Development is essentially the process of adapting to the influences in life.

 

Examples of Adapting components
1. Growth

2. Maintenance/Resiliency

3. Regulation of loss 

 

Life span development theories identify that each of the three processes are a component of development.

Intimate relationships include the “mutual sharing of joys and sorrows, reaching compromises, and working out problems” 

Family Life Cycle Marriages/Relationships “change as partners age and the demands of family life ebb and flow”

The visual include the approximate number of year spent in each stage. 

1. Married Couples (without children). 

2. Childbearing Families (Oldest child, birth–30 months). 

3. Families with Preschool Children (Oldest child 30 months–6 years). 

4. Families with Schoolchildren (Oldest child 6–13 years). 

5. Families with Teenagers (Oldest child 13–20 years). 

6. Families as Launching Centers (First child gone to last child leaving home). 

7. Middle-aged Parents (Empty nest to retirement).

 8. Aging Family Members (Retirement to death of both spouses).

 

Age-graded Change: Change that results as a function of time. This included physical changes (skin wrinkles, decline in sensory ability (hearing/vision)

 

Cognitive Change: Crystallized intelligence is knowledge that typically accumulates overtime. Fluid intelligence include processing speeds and this type of intelligence is more likely to decline as individuals age. 

Life Course Changes: Many theorists have published works on the predictable sequences of change throughout life. While life introduces many different experiences to adults, there is still some consistency in development. 

History-graded changes: These are changes that impact an entire group, or cohort and their development.

Nonnormative changes: unexpected events; including accidents or unexpected death of a loved one. This is a change that can alter development significantly.