1. Introduction to lifespan theories of health and wellbeing

Question 1

testing our assumptions

Answer 1

• We all have our own assumptions about the underlying causes of development:
  
  • Nature vs nurture; active vs reactive; stability vs change; continuity vs discontinuity; universal vs context specific.
    Some theories emphasise one over the other and others emphasise both.

Question 2

lifespan development

Answer 2

• A consistent feature of developmental psychology has been the study of stability and change across the lifespan.
• Historically developmental psychology has focused on childhood and old age with relatively less on young adulthood and midlife.
  
  • Adulthood seen as a period of psychological stability
  • Research typically examines health using age-specific cross-sectional studies rather than age-comparison or longitudinal designs.
• However, development is a lifelong process:
  
  • We cannot understand adult experiences without appreciating what came before in childhood and adolescence (Baltes & Graf, 1996)
    Transitions define and shape the life course of each person (Miller, 2010).

Question 3

lifespan perspective

Answer 3

• ‘Everything is developmental’ (Skinner et al., 2019)
  
  • Lifespan psychology is an orientation rather than a theory.
• The lifespan perspective aims to understand:
  
  • how individuals change and develop throughout the course of their lives (Cavanaugh & Blanchard-Fields, 2011).
  • the factors influencing change, including biological, social, psychological, historical, and geographic factors (Hendricks, 2012).
• The life-span perspective divides human development into two phases:
  
  • Early phase (childhood and adolescence, e.g. PSYC130):
    ○ characterised by rapid age-related changes in people’s size and abilities.
  • Later phase (young adulthood, middle age and old age, PSYC230):
    characterised by slower changes, but abilities continue to develop as people continue adapting to the environment (Baltes, Lindenberger, & Staudinger, 2006).

Question 4

four forms of lifespan development (Zittoun, 2006)

Answer 4

• Lifespan transitions represent a range of psychological processes and movements.
• Four forms (Zittoun, 2006):
  
  • Change in the cultural context (e.g. religiosity, faith)
  • Change of, or within, a person’s sphere of experience (e.g. having a baby)
  • Change in the relationships and interactions with objects and others (e.g. new romantic partner)
  • Change from within a person (e.g. chronic pain or illness)
• These different forms are not mutually exclusive.
• Some theorists view lifespan transitions as stressful; so called ‘life stressors’ (Miller, 2010), but pathologising lifespan overlooks positive change.

Question 5

age and health: static or dynamic?

Answer 5

• In the past we viewed development statically- once you turn a certain age then something happens- e.g. 5 stages of grief
• Now viewed as a dynamic change- better to use qualitative studies
• Life-span transitions elicit individual differences in health and wellbeing.
• Yet Psychology was slow to adopt a lifespan framework for studying health and illness (Whitman et al., 1999).
• Historically, health psychology viewed age as a static variable and took cross-sectional snapshots of health rather than a videotape that captures the ‘rich dynamics of change’ (Peterson, 1996).
• Both health and age are dynamic:
  
  • Ageing brings profound biological, cognitive, socioemotional, behavioural and environmental changes.
• A growing body of research examines how these changes, both normatively and abnormally, influence patterns of health and wellbeing.

Question 6

individual differences in health and wellbeing

Answer 6

• When health and wellbeing are examined from a lifespan perspective, a myriad of questions are generated:
• How do patterns of health and wellbeing vary across the lifespan?
  
  • Why do I eat and drink more at Christmas than at other times of year?
  • Why do some new mothers develop postnatal depression whereas others don’t?
• To understand health and wellbeing both in and across age groups, individual differences in biological, psychological and social characteristics must be considered= DIRECT RELATIONSHIP.
• Factors that determine health status across the lifespan, although sometimes similar, can also differ considerably depending on a person’s developmental status= INDIRECT RELATIONSHIP
• ## Mediating relationship between multidimensional risk factors, health status and age.

Question 7

a multidimensional approach

Answer 7

• Cavanaugh & Blanchard-Fields, 2015
• The following 4 interactive forces shape development throughout the life course:
• Biological forces- Genetic and health-related factors.
• Psychological forces- Internal perceptual, cognitive, emotional and personality factors.
• Sociocultural forces- Interpersonal, societal, cultural, and ethnic factors provide context.
  Life-cycle forces- Past experiences determine biological, psychological and sociocultural forces.

Question 8

biopsychosocial framework

Answer 8

• One way to organise the interactive forces is to adopt a biopsychosocial framework.
  
  • Each of us is the product of a unique combination of these forces.
    Expands our theoretical understanding of lifespan development from a purely psychological context to a model in which many different factors contribute to health and wellbeing (Miller, 2009).

Question 9

theories of lifespan development

Answer 9

• Lifespan theories can be grouped into two key approaches:
• Person-centred approach:
  
  • Stage theories e.g. Erikson (1958), Peck (1968)
    Function-centred approach e.g. Bronfenbrenner (1979), Baltes (1987), Sameroff (2010).

Question 10

Erikson (1958)

Answer 10

• Erikson’s (1958) psychosocial stages of development
• Each stage of a person’s life requires the resolution of an ‘issue’ as part of that person’s ego development.
• Each stage consists of a crisis/conflict with alternative possibilities wherein the individual may move forward, backward or remain stuck.
• Successful development: sameness and continuity between the self and the outer world.
• Maladjustment: break in continuity of development, such as moving backward or becoming stuck,
• The way each person resolves these issues results in the acquisition of a ‘virtue’; an ego strength or special quality.
• First person to think about stages in a persons life- conceptualised it through the stages being issues that need to be resolved in order to move to the next stage
  Can move forwards, backwards and remain stuck

Question 11

Evaluation of Erikson (1958)

Answer 11

• Erikson’s (1958) theory was one of the first to explicitly recognise that psychological development continued throughout life.
• Important emphasis on the relationship between the individual and society in affecting personal development.
• Most developmental change is seen as occurring in early life.
• Characterises later life in very narrow terms; a period of relative stability, where the primary concern is coming to terms with death and dying.
  Latter two stages (40+) are supposed to represent all of the psychological crises and crisis resolutions of the last 40-45 years of life (Peck, 1968).

Question 12

Peck (1968)

Answer 12

• Peck’s (1968) stages of psychological development in the second half of life
• Subdivided middle and old age into additional sub-stages to attempt to characterise the crises in more detail.
  
  • Middle age – 4 crises
  • Old age – 3 crises
    In doing this, Peck (1968) characterised later life more positively, as a time for growth.

Question 13

Evaluation of stage theories

Answer 13

• The defining characteristics of stage theories suggest that development is:
  
  • Sequential
  • Unidirectional- only move in one direction
  • contains an end state- ultimate goal is to reach the end of the stages
  • Irreversible- once we reach a stage we cannot go back
  • structural in transformation
  • Universal- everybody who has aged goes through all of these things
• Stage theories have been criticised on the following three grounds:
  
  • Normalising patterns of development
  • Age-related focus on development
    Culture, context and history.

Question 14

criticisms of stage theories

Answer 14

• Normalising patterns of development
  
  • Stage theories are based on the premise that each stage is experienced universally, in the same way in all individuals.
  • Human development shows relative plasticity, so there is no single or ideal developmental pathway for any one person.
  • Presents problems to those who sit outside the parameters of what any given society considers ‘normal’.
• Age-related focus on development
  
  • Stage theories view developmental change as related to chronological age.
  • Individuals progress in very different ways; regression or stability is not always a bad thing!
• Culture, context and history
  Universal nature of change undermines the role of culture, context, person-environment interaction and individual, community and generational histories.

Question 15

life course theory

Answer 15

• By the mid 20th Century, life course theory was becoming increasingly popular.
• Life course theories acknowledge the full social context of the individual and thereby offer a more fully informed account of influences on development and reflect our global and culturally diverse society.
• Developmental contextualism
  
  • Development doesn’t occur in isolation, it is affected by the context of a person’s life.
  • Internal influences on development such as biology and psychology interact with external influences such as their cultural context and interpersonal relationships.
• Dynamic interactionism
  
  • If one of the variables influencing development changes, this can cause changes in other variables at the same or a different level.
    It is not possible to separate biology and psychology of a person from the environment in which they live.

Question 16

function centred approaches- Bronfenbrenner (1979) ecological systems theory

Answer 16

• The developing individual is always in interaction with an evolving environment.
• The ecological environment is a ‘nest’ of interactive structures or settings placed within each other:
• Microsystem (innermost level)
  
  • Where the individual is at a particular moment in time, e.g. at home, work.
• Mesosystem
  
  • Interaction between different microsystems, e.g. success at work may be influenced by home situation.
• Exosystem
  
  • An external environment that influences an individual even if they are not physically present within that environment, e.g. parent’s promotion at work may improve the quality of life for their child(ren).
• Macrosystem (outermost level)
  Beliefs, attitudes and traditions within a given culture that influence the individual, e.g. Western individualism vs. Eastern collectivism.

Question 17

Baltes (1987) selection, optimisation and compensation model

Answer 17

• Lifespan development consists of dynamic interactions between growth (gains, e.g. new job) and decline (losses, e.g. health).
• A person’s internal and external resources are finite. As we age:
  
  • We must devote more resources to maintain function and compensate for biological losses.
  • Resources are replenished less often and drawn upon more exhaustively.
• The SOC model posits that the following three fundamental processes are essential for successful development:
  
  • Selection: Selecting functional domains on which to focus one’s limited resource
  • Optimization: Maximising gains
  • Compensation: Compensating for losses
    These processes ensure the maintenance of functioning and minimisation of losses throughout the life course.

Question 18

Sameroff (2010) integrative model of development

Answer 18

• Based on Bronfenbrenner’s model of nested systems, but adds the biological and psychological ‘twin’ nature of the individual at the centre of the various social systems.
• The individual is a biopsychological self-regulating system composed of biological and psychological parts.
  The self-regulating individual is embedded in, and influenced by, social systems, including: parents; family; friends; community; and geopolitical environment.

Question 19

critique of the lifespan approach

Answer 19

• There are two key critiques of the lifespan approach to health and wellbeing (Skinner et al., 2019):
• The notion that ‘everything is developmental’
  
  • Lifespan approach has claimed the territory of all of psychology
  • Could this be diluting our in-depth understanding of development, health and wellbeing?
• Emphasis on context
  
  • Lifespan approach assumes that the individual is a passive agent
    What is the role of the individual in actively dictating what environments must provide?

Question 20

what makes a good lifespan theory?

Answer 20

• Hendricks (2012) outlines the following four principles for evaluating life course perspectives:
• Does the model recognise our ties to others?
  
  • We are all connected to others through a web of social relationships
• Are relevant dimensions of time part of the framework?
  
  • Influence of historical time or context on life experiences.
• Is place or location addressed?
  
  • Where we live, geographically and socially, affects how life is experienced.
• What about personal agency?
  Individuals are actively involved in inputting meaning and shaping outcomes.