Changing Employment Trends in the United States 391
Balancing Work and School 392
Graduation Rates and Dropout Rates 392
Risky Behaviors 393
Social Drinking and Drug Abuse 394
❖ MORE INFORMATION YOU CAN USE: Whether Someone Y Problem 395 T396
Summary 399
Key Terms 400
Following Up on the Internet 400
13 Early Adulthood: Physical and Cognitive Development 402
Developmental Perspectives 404
Demographics of Early Adulthood 404
Physical Changes and Health 411
Physical Performance 411
Physical Health 411
❖ IMPLICACTICE: Family Nurse
Practitioner, Ronald Dingwell 412
Generation X 404
The Millennial Generation 405
Conceptions of Age Periods 406
Age Norms and the Social Clock 407
Age-Grade Systems 408
Life Events 409
Socioeconomic Status, Race-Ethnicity, and Gender 418
Drug and Alcohol Use 419
Mental Health 420
❖ MORE INFORMATION YOU CAN USE: Coping with Stress 425 Sexuality 426
Cognitive Development 428
Post–Formal Operations 428
Thought and Information Processing 429
Moral Reasoning 431
Kohlberg and Postconventional Reasoning 431
Moral Relativism and the Millennials 433
Summary 434
Key Terms 435
Following Up on the Internet 435
14 Early Adulthood: Emotional and Social Development 436
Theories of Emotional-Social Development 438
Psychosocial Stages 438
Emerging Adulthood 439
Stages in a Young Man’s Life 440
Stages in a Young Woman’s Life 442
Establishing Intimacy in Relationships 443
Friendship 443
Love 444
Diversity in Lifestyle 445
Leaving Home 446
Living at Home 446
Staying Single 447
Cohabiting 447 450
Same-Sex Partners 450 Getting Married 452
Family Transitions 455
❖ FURTHER DEVELOPMENTS: The Decline 456
Transition to Parenthood 458
Same-Sex Parenthood 460
Separation and Divorce 461
❖ FURTHER DEVELOPMENTS: The Long-T of Childhood Sexual Abuse 410
The Search for Periods in Adult Development 411
Single-Parent Mothers 462
Single-Parent Fathers 464
Work 464
❖ MORE INFORMATION YOU CAN USE: of Fathers Today 465
The Significance of Work for Women and Men 466
Differing Work Experiences for Women and Men 470
PREFACE
TO PROVIDE YOU WITH THE MOST recent research findings in human development over the past three years, we have done an exhaustive search of the research literature across many disciplines to provide the most up-to-date, organized, and easy-to-read account of the overall organization and sequence of development across the life span. As with the past nine editions, we strive to continue our legacy as McGraw-Hill’s premier multidisciplinary human development textbook by offering our readers a wide array of contexts in which to make sense of the complex nature of the human condition. Changing demographics, new biosocial technologies, increased plasticity within and between stages of development, the implications of fertility decline in Western societies, the lengthening of the life span, and the globalization of cultures require today’s students to understand human development through an increasingly multicultural and multidisciplinary lens. In addition, the recent serious challenges posed by global economic decline, geopolitical unrest, and massive natural disasters in various countries contribute to our understanding of the resilience of the human condition.
While remaining committed to covering the subject matter comprehensively, we have shortened this revision by an equivalent of 20 pages. The text was written to hold students’ interest and attention, and it can be used in a typical semester (14 to 15 weeks) for traditional classroom instruction, blended-instruction classes (some traditional and some online), and courses offered solely online.
Also, unlike many competing textbooks, the tenth edition of Human Development is not cluttered with visual features that undermine the reader’s ability to distinguish the most important information, and the key relationships among ideas, from everything else on the page. Too often textbook pages are filled with large, distracting figures, multiple colors, and numerous photos that overwhelm the reader’s short-term memory and create cognitive overload. Although they may look appealing in marketing brochures, such graphic devices as large photos, boxed inserts, multiple highlighting techniques, several competing colors, many key terms defined in the margins, and other misplaced pedagogical devices confuse the reader and make it difficult to focus on the
information to be learned—the content of the text itself. Each page of the Crandell, Crandell, & Vander Zanden tenth edition is organized using in-text learning aids based on sound principles of human learning, information usability, and cognitive psychology.
You, the student, in reading this text, will soon come to realize that human development is emerging as a truly vibrant and relevant field for the twenty-first century— on the professional backgrounds and life experiences of the authors. So, before you read about human development over the next several months, you may well ask, “What are the unique backgrounds of the authors of this text?”
Tom Crandell, an educational psychologist and psy-
, continue to build on the foundation of James Vander Zanden’s work. We teach developmental psychology classes, conduct research, write about human development, and actively reflect upon the stages of life across the life span. We bring to this text a wealth of knowledge blended with personal experience about the issues facing families with children with special needs, Millennial cohab, families supporting aging relatives, and families coping with the recent loss of a beloved parent and grandparent.
Our third child, Becky, our daughter/stepdaughter with Down syndrome, has particularly enriched our lives, and she and her friends and coworkers have made us more conscious of the complexity of human development. We are pleased to note that since (in the seventh edition of our text) we began providing information about the development of all individuals (including those differently abled), some other authors of books about life-span development have followed our lead. In our view, this only makes sense! Many of the clients and patients served in the psychology, education, health care, therapeutic, human services, and social services fields are “atypical” individuals who need professional guidance to achieve their full potential. Thus we continue, in this tenth edition, to include some information about the development of differently abled persons. Our other three adult children have been equally successful and are
decisions as they encounter real-life situations. Further Developments boxes take an in-depth look at specific issues across the life span. Implications for Practice boxes provide readers who are exploring careers in human development with helpful information furnished by professionals working in key occupations.
NEW TO THE TENTH EDITION
This edition has been significantly streamlined to make it easier to use as a learning tool for both classroom and ing outdated or repetitive information, and new research has been judiciously selected to ensure that students have the most current information on important developmental topics—without unnecessary statistical density. We had several main objectives in revising the tenth edition:
1. To improve the readability of our textbook by streamlining all chapters. This edition has been reduced by an equivalent of 20 pages. We accomplished this without altering the warm and caring tone or the helpful themes for which our textbook is recognized.
2. To reduce statistical density, in order to promote ease of learning and comprehension of key concepts and facts.
3. To provide additional research on how gender, raceethnicity, and social-economic circumstances affect development. For example, more studies on gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender issues across the life span are included.
4. To present students with the most up-to-date research in many domains of study across the human life span. Overall, this edition contains about 1,000 new references, including important research that examines development from both a multicultural and a multidisciplinary perspective.
THINKING CRITICALLY
As we have said, a course on human development should do more than lay out for students a body of scientific findings. Rote memorization of definitions and facts does not do justice to the dynamic nature of this subject matter. We must encourage students to think critically and creatively about their own development and how it is shaped by the world around them. This text will provide students with a deeper understanding of the human experience and the variety of factors that directly or indirectly mold their life course.
5. To add new boxed topics that highlight important and interesting developmental issues. In addition, several Implications for Practice boxes provide information for students interested in pursuing some careers related to human development: genetic counselor, licensed certified social worker, speech-language pathologist, special education teacher, family nurse practitioner, occupational/physical therapist, and professor and gerontologist.
6. To introduce students to new information and strategies for managing many experiences and challenges that they will face across the life span—in their personal lives as well as in their professional roles.
The challenging, real-life topics we discuss include research on the complex effects of immigration (Chapter 1); the emergence of the “young-old” and the “oldest-old” (Chapter 2); the newest assisted reproductive technologies, updated research on the Human Genome Project, and stem-cell research and human cloning (Chapter 3); the effects of poverty on preterm births and infancy by race-ethnicity, as well as various practices in labor and delivery (Chapter 4); differing theories of language acquisition, bilingualism, and effects of infant media viewing on cognitive and language outcomes (Chapter 5); current research on gay and lesbian parenting, child care across cultures, rising rates of autism, the effects of child maltreatment, and parenting practices that promote child well-being (Chapter 6); demographic trends and implications for children’s health, (Chapter 7); health beliefs and practices across cultures; Muslim American cultural expectations; the infl , brain, and hormones on gender behaviors; and parenting practices (Chapter 8); the latest statistics on child obesity and its implications, current research on ADHD and learning disabilities, and why Asian children strive for excellence (Chapter 9); children of “choice mothers” (Chapter 10); adolescent health-risk behaviors, including risk for HIV/ AIDS; an assessment of how U.S. students compare academically with other students around the globe; and new research on the effects of father absence from the home (Chapter 11); the racial-ethnic socialization of teens, and statistics and outcomes of higher teen school dropout rates (Chapter 12); traits of the Millennial Generation, sexual health issues, and emerging adulthood as a new
years of marriage; how divorce affects successive generations; and young-adult lifestyle arrangements in Western cultures, including rising rates of cohabitation and decline of marriage (Chapter 14); the benefits and risks of popular diet programs in middle age, and the challenge of maintaining physical and cognitive health into old age (Chapter 15); factors promoting lifelong marriage, and stepfamily adaptations (Chapter 16); longer life expectancy across cultures, faith and well-being in late life, emergence of the oldest cohort as a political and social force in America, rising rates of Alzheimer’s disease and
latest research, and the debate between generations on Social Security and health care (Chapter 17); research findings on lesbian and gay elderly to providing for a rapidly increasing number of elders, policy issues in an aging society, faith and adjustment to aging, and grandparenting and great-grandparenting (Chapter 18); the right-to-die and hospice movements, the impact of religious beliefs, rituals that surround dying and (Chapter 19).
COMMITMENT TO DIVERSITY
Past editions of Human Development have been lauded for their sensitivity and coverage of issues of race-ethnicity, class, gender, aging, and ability. The tenth edition continues this legacy by updating and integrating information on cross-cultural, minority, gender, and individual differences wherever possible. The tenth edition of Human Development reflects our attitude toward human diversity—this exciting aspect of U.S. culture is integrated into discussions in every chapter of the text, rather than separated out as boxed material. This edition considers the light that recent developmental research has shed on important issues for growing immigrant populations, including Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans, and Muslim Americans. Because more women than ever in Western cultures are bearing children in middle age and using fertility procedures to do so, the known risks are greater for pregnancies with multiple fetuses. Thus, with developmental differences are presented. This edition continues to address the development of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals from adolescence into late adulthood. And it explores the fact that nearly all societies of the world are creating policies to address the rapidly increasing elderly population.
metic surgery for teens, the continuing decline in teen pregnancy rates, and the increase in moral relativism among teens (Chapter 11); cultural aspects of adolescent identity formation; racial and ethnic socialization; sexual minority teens and transition to early adulthood; text messaging, “sext” messaging, and teens; and changing employment trends for teens (Chapter 12); emerging adulthood as a new stage of development, and coping with the long-term effects of child sexual abuse (Chapter 13); the increase in cohabitation and decline of marriage in Western cultures, the continuing rise in single parenthood across Western societies, same-sex relationships, lesbian and gay parenthood, and the diversity among the roles that fathers play and among the family structures found in U.S. households (Chapter 14); the impact of the large Baby Boom generation, the risks and benefits of hormone replacement therapy, the latest estern
Calling attention to emerging issues in human development is a crucial component of our task as teachers and authors. Specific examples of this approach include research on the complex effects of immigration in the United States (Chapter 1); the range of developmental theories across various domains of the life course (Chapter 2); the Human Genome Project and the trend of childbirth in midlife (Chapter 3); childbirth in America (Chapter 4); boosting babies’ brain power (Chapter 5); the rising incidence of autism (Chapter 6); health beliefs and practices across cultures, including the use of video games with health benefits (Chapter 7); preparing children from widely diverse backgrounds for kindergarten (Chapter 8); educating students with differing abilities and cultural backgrounds, genius and giftedness, and for children of veterans (Chapter 10); the rise in cos-
countries, and the impact of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act for retirees (Chapter 15); the diversity of family households in middle age, unemployment and early retirement in middle age, the increasing numbers of elderly who continue working, and the increase of social networking in middle age (Chapter 16); the increasing use of telemedicine and telehealth among seniors, the challenges that women in particular face when they survive their spouse, the increasing rates of Alzheimer’s disease, and the presence of ever more centenarians and supercentenarians (Chapter 17); the increasing numbers of minority elderly in the U.S. population; increasing rates of volunteerism among the elderly; older adults and online relationships; the social well-being of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender elderly; the increasing numbers of grandparents raising grandchildren; and how faith contributes to well-being in late adulthood (Chapter 18); expansion of the hospice movement, the “end-of-life choice” (or “right-to-die”) movement, who makes end-of-life decisions, and crosscultural views of an afterlife (Chapter 19).
Expanded Coverage on Crucial Issues
In addition to including coverage of such topics as early intervention services for children born at risk (Chapter 7) and the latest research on results of longitudinal studies of the effects of divorce on future generations (Chapter 14), the tenth edition of Human Development is unrivaled in its detailed coverage of numerous critical issues. This unique quality is an outgrowth of our commitment to students’ learning and overall breadth of knowledge. We begin by addressing the changing conception of age and aging, including a focus on how “old age” has been redefined in the Western world (Chapter 1). Student concerns about relevancy are addressed in a box about how to put developmental theory to use in one’s own life
(Chapter 2). Information on the Human Genome Project has been updated. Breakthroughs in infertility treatments and information on stem-cell research and human cloning are covered (Chapter 3). We have added information about how the effects of poverty on preterm births and infancy interact with the variable of race-ethnicity. Traditional cultural beliefs and practices in labor and delivery among various ethnic groups are discussed, as is the significance of early caregiver bonding within diverse family structures (Chapter 4). We describe the effects of video viewing on babies’ cognitive and language development (Chapter 5). There is expanded coverage of raising a child with a pervasive developmental disorder such as autism or attention-deficit disorder, as well as understanding the needs of an intellectually gifted or talented child (Chapters 8 and 9).
The more recent research we have discussed in this edition of Human Development addresses such topics as emotional health and its relationship to cognitive growth and later job and life satisfaction (Chapters 6, 8, 16, and 18); gay and lesbian parenting (Chapter 5); early education practices in different cultures and the range of extensive services needed to educate an increasing number of children from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds (Chapters 6, 7, and 9); and child-care practices across cultures and cross-cultural expectations for emotionalsocial development in early childhood. Information on the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is updated with recent regulations for educating children with a learning disability or attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (Chapter 9). The family continues to be a special focus, as we consider the influence of mothers and fathers, single parents, same-sex parents, and stepparents on children’s emotional-social development (Chapter 10); adolescent substance abuse, sexual orientation and sexual behaviors, and increasing rates of teenage obesity.
Also discussed are the expanding social influence of teen networking sites, such as Facebook (Chapters 11 and 12); emerging adulthood as a new stage of development (Chapter 13); demographic differences among the present four generations of adults, lesbian and gay parenthood, and differing work experiences for men and women (Chapter 13). Americans’ redefinition of middle age by maximizing physical abilities and staying healthy in midlife, reproduction after menopause, factors promoting lifelong marriage, and the increasing cohabitation rate among older adults are described (Chapters 15, 16, and 17). We also address the oldest American cohort as a political force and the longer lives that millions live, creating generational tensions (including the Social Security and health-care debates); the greater role played by faith and well-being in later life; the role of the elderly across cultures; and the trend of more grandparents raising their grandchildren (Chapters 17 and 18). In Chapter 17 the
extension of life by many years (transhumanism) is introduced; personal choice, the right-to-die debate, and the hospice movement are discussed; and cross-cultural and religious views on coping with dying and death are summarized.
Positive Approach to Adulthood and Aging
The text features an extensive, candid discussion of the aging process, from young adulthood through late adulthood. Topics examined include the latest research and theories on biological aging, the longevity of a growing number of centenarians, methods of life extension, mem-
middle-aged and older adults, the special needs of lesbian and gay elderly, theories of adjustment to physical decline and loss of social relationships, sexuality in late adulthood, adult day care and various institutional arrangements, psychosocial changes and aging (including the use of online social networking), the role of faith for many who are aging, the psychosocial needs of widows and widowers, and planning for one’s own end-of-life care and needs. Many of these issues on aging are presented from cross-cultural perspectives. At the suggestion of reviewers, we added a new section on various views of near-death experiences and an afterlife.
New Photo Program
In looking through this tenth edition, you will undoubtedly note the beauty and creativity of our updated photo program (which is more than 50 percent revised). The photos and illustrations in Human Development display our commitment to making concepts as clear as possible and to representing humanity in all its diversity. Sensitivity to race-ethnicity, gender, age, and ability (or disability) is significant, and this is reflected in the photos we have chosen for this edition.
New References
The tenth edition of Human Development is both a useful teaching tool and a resource of considerable depth for students and instructors. In each chapter, the citations to source material have been streamlined to allow for easier reading of the text. The more than 1,000 new references that have been added to this edition are strategically integrated throughout the text. Additionally, at the conclusion of each chapter, the reader is invited to explore up-to-date research findings and relevant professional organizations by visiting a number of Web sites on the Internet. These Web sites can be hot-linked through the McGraw-Hill Higher Education Online Learning Center at www.mhhe.com/ crandell10.
A very special thanks to researchers, authors, and professors of literature and creative writing at Broome Community College, Ellen Brandt, PhD., Mary Seel, PhD, and Christopher Origer, PhD. They contributed their expertise to many of these chapters. We particularly appreciate the up-to-date and relevant information in the fields of sociology, women’s studies, and psychology that they brought to this edition. We also give credit to our colleague and friend, George Bieger, PhD, and professor of Educational Studies at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, who helped to update our sections on Research Methods. We are especially grateful for the contributions of a conscientious doctoral student in neuropsychology, Joshua Peck, Queens College, who helped us gather and organize information on prenatal development, brain development, and cognitive functioning across the life span. Ben Andrus, our dedicated research assistant and information resource specialist, was invaluable in providing us current empirical research findings on topics across the entire life span. His persistent efforts helped us secure the most current research articles available through the nation’s interlibrary loan system. We are also grateful to Gilda Votra for her dedicated administrative assistance and keen attention to detail in updating the glossary and reorganizing the book’s extensive list of nearly 3,000 references. JoAnn Barton, an extremely competent secretary in our Liberal Arts Division, is dependable and always came through with a smile. Our college’s Copy Center professionals, Gary Hitchcock, Howard Nickerson, and Sandi Springstead, contributed to our ability to meet many deadlines and reminded us that laughter is still the best medicine.
We are indebted to everyone at McGraw-Hill who helped to produce this book and want to express special thanks to the following professionals in the domain of publishing: to Mike Sugarman, executive editor of Psychology, for supporting our work and our vision to make the tenth edition a human development text that will benefit learners in both their academic and their personal lives; to developmental editor Janice Wiggins-Clarke
who provided guidance through the initial revision; to Aaron Downey, production manager at Matrix Productions, who kept the copyediting project on schedule and coordinated various aspects of production; to Holly Irish, project manager, for overseeing the project through the production process and keeping us on schedule; to Connie Day, a highly professional copyeditor who improved the quality of our manuscript; to photo researcher David Tietz who helped us manage an extensive photo revision in this edition; and to permissions editor Marty Moga, for securing the necessary permissions from a wide variety of authors and sources. This project has been a total team undertaking at all times. We sincerely appreciate the encouragement and enthusiasm each person brought to this undertaking and the professional competence each one exhibited in bringing the tenth edition of Human Development to completion.
Finally, we wish to acknowledge the many contributions of our parents. They raised us, provided us with a healthy upbringing, and encouraged and supported us— but three have now passed on to their heavenly reward. They had common sense, worked hard, and gave us the foundation to be healthy parents and grandparents to our own four children and four grandchildren. They also taught us, by guidance and example, how to cope with the developmental changes of our own journey through life with faith, humor, and a positive outlook. We lovingly dedicate this book to them.
Thomas L. Crandell, PhD
Corinne H. Crandell, MS
more than 20 years, and has also been a college counselor. She also co-authored developmental psychology study guides, instructor’s manuals, and computerized study guides for more than 10 years. And in 1997 she developed the first distance-learning course in developmental psychology, which continues to be offered through the State University of New York (SUNY) Learning Net-
Broome Community College’s human services program at nearly 40 social service agencies. For five years she
taught in a middle school and worked with children with learning disabilities in grades 4 through 8. Additionally, she was coordinator of the gifted and talented program for a private school district comprising 12 schools. Corinne coached and judged in the regional Odyssey of the Mind program for several years, and for five years she was a board member at a local Association for Retarded Citizens, now called ACHIEVE. She continues to be a lector and teaches confirmation classes to high school students, and she especially enjoys being a grandmother.
PART 1 THE STUDY OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
THE MAJOR CONCERNS OF SCIENCE
I believe that the extraordinary should be pursued. But extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.
—Dr. Carl Sagan, American astronomer, astrophysicist,
This renowned scientist’s thought captures the sense of wonder and inquisitiveness about nature that lies behind development. Human development consists of opposing processes of becoming someone different—while remaining in some respects the same person over an extended period of time.
Research is essential to understanding human development, and there are diverse methods for obtaining analyzable evidence. Expanding the field of study globally and disseminating valid research findings help to improve the quality of life over an ever-increasing human life span. As we strive to live with the highs and lows and the gains and losses that inevitably occur over a lifetime, we hope that, as we accumulate both knowledge and experience, we will be able to lead a more optimal life (Scheibe, Freund, & Baltes, 2007).
Continuity and Change in Development
To live is to change. Indeed, life is never static but always in flux. Nature has no fixed entities, only transition and transformation. According to modern physics— particularly quantum mechanics—the objects we normally see and feel consist of nothing more than patterns of energy that are forever moving and changing. From electrons to galaxies, from amoebas to humans, from families to societies, every phenomenon exists in a state of continual “becoming.” The fertilized egg you developed from was smaller than the period at the end of this sentence. All of us undergo dramatic changes as we pass from the embryonic and fetal stages through infancy, childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and old age. We start small, grow up, and grow old, just as countless generations of our forebears have done.
Change occurs across many dimensions—biological, psychological, and emotional-social (Caspi & Shiner, 2006). Life-span perspectives on human development focus on long-term sequences and patterns of change in human behavior. Each perspective is unique in tracing the ways people develop and change across the life span (Scheibe et al., 2007).
are relatively lasting and uninterrupted give us a sense of identity and stability over time. As a consequence of such continuities, most of us experience ourselves not as just so many disjointed bits and pieces but rather as wholes—larger, independent entities that possess a basic oneness—and much of the change in our lives is not accidental or haphazard.
The Study of Human Development
Scientists refer to the elements of change and constancy over the life span as development. Development is defined as the orderly and sequential changes that occur with the passage of time as an organism moves from conception to death. Development occurs through processes that are biologically programmed within the organism and processes of interaction with the environment that transform the organism.
Human development over the life span is a process of becoming something different, while remaining in some respects the same. Perhaps what is uniquely human is that we remain in an unending state of development. Life is always an unfinished business, and death is its only cessation.
Traditionally, life-span development has primarily been the province of psychologists. Most commonly the field is called developmental psychology or, if focused primarily on children, child development or child psychology. Psychology itself is often defined as the scientific study of behavior and mental processes. Developmental psychology is the branch of psychology that deals with how individuals change with time, while remaining in some respects the same. The field of life-span development has expanded to include not only infant, child, adolescent, and adult psychology but also biology, genetics, women’s studies, medicine, sociology, gerontology, anthropology, and cross-cultural psychology. A multidisciplinary approach stimulates fresh perspectives and advances in knowledge.
The Goals of Developmental Psychologists
Contradictory as it may seem, life also entails continuity. At age 70 we are in many ways the same persons we were at 5 or 25. Many aspects of our biological organism, our gender roles, and our thought processes carry across different life periods. Features of life that
People actively shape and give direction to their own development (Riediger, Freund, & Baltes, 2005). Within the context of developmental theory across the life span, scientists focus on four major goals related to a continuum of optimization of functioning in the early years and compensation for losses with advancing years (Ebner, Freund, & Baltes, 2006):
1. T life span. Social scientists describe the paths that young adults (ages 18 to 29) take as they move from parental homes. What percent go to work,
The Processes of Development
Development meets us at every turn. Infants are born. The jacket the 2-year-old wears in the spring is outgrown by winter. At puberty, youth exhibit a marked spurt in size and acquire various secondary sexual characteristics. Individuals commonly leave their parents’ homes and set out on careers, establish families of their own, see their own children leave home, retire, and so on. The concepts of growth, maturation, and learning are important to our understanding of these events.
Growth takes place through metabolic processes from within. One of the most noticeable features of early development is the increase in size that occurs with age. The organism takes in a variety of substances, breaks them down into their chemical components, and then reassembles them into new materials to sustain life. Most organisms get larger as they become older. For some organisms, including humans, growth levels off as they approach sexual maturity. Others—many plant and fish forms—continue the growth process until they die.
Maturation consists of the more or less automatic unfolding of biological potential in a set, irreversible sequence. Both growth and maturation involve biological change. Growth is the increase in the number of an individual’s cells, whereas maturation entails the development of the individual’s organs and limbs in relation to their ability to function and reflects the unfolding of genetically prescribed, or “preprogrammed,” patterns of behavior. Such changes are relatively independent of environmental events, as long as environmental conditions remain normal. As we will see in Chapter 4, an infant’s motor development after birth follows a regular sequence—grasping, sitting, crawling, standing, and walking. Similarly, at about 10 to 14 years of age, puberty brings many changes, including ovulation in girls and sperm production in boys, providing the potential for reproduction.
Learning is the more or less permanent modification in behavior that results from the individual’s experience in the environment. Learning occurs across the entire life span—in the family, among peers, at school, on the job, and in many other spheres. Learning differs from maturation in that maturation typically occurs without any specific experience or practice. Learning, however, depends on both growth and maturation, which underlie a person’s readiness for certain kinds of activity, physical and mental. The ability to learn is clearly critical, for it allows each of us to adapt to changing environmental conditions. Hence, learning provides the important element of flexibility in behavior (Baltes et al., 2006).
As we will emphasize in this text, the biological forces of growth and maturation should not be contrasted with the environmental forces of learning. Too often the nature-nurture controversy is presented as a
dichotomy—nature or nurture. Rather, it is the interaction between heredity and environment that gives an individual her or his unique characteristics (Grusec & Hastings, 2007). As we interact with the world about us—as we act upon, transform, and modify the world— we in turn are shaped and altered by the consequences of our actions (Kegan, 1988; Piaget, 1963; Vygotsky, 1978). We literally change ourselves through our actions. As we pass through life, our biological organism is altered by dietary practices, activity level, alcohol and drug intake, smoking habits, illness, exposure to X rays and radiation, and so on. Furthermore, as many of us enter school, finish school, seek a job, marry, settle on a career, have children, become grandparents, and retire, we arrive at new conceptions of self. In these and many other ways, we are engaged in a lifelong process in which we are forged and shaped as we interact with our environment (Charles & Pasupathi, 2003). In brief, development occurs throughout our lifetime—in the prenatal period, infancy, childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and old age.
Questions
Initiation Ceremonies and Religious Rites of Passage
Beginning around age 13, Jewish children are obligated to obser emony that formally marks that transition. Youths say the blessing in Hebrew or recite from the Torah as an indication that they are ready to assume the rights and responsibilities of an adult.
The Context of Development
To understand human development, we must consider the environmental context in which it occurs (Rathunde & Csikszentmihalyi, 2006). In his ecological approach to development, Urie Bronfenbrenner (1917–2005) (1979, 1986, 1997) asserts that the study of developmental influences must include the person’s interaction with the environment, the person’s changing physical and social settings, the relationship among those settings, and how the entire process is affected by the society in which the settings are embedded (Ceci, 2006). (See the Further Developments box, “Researching the Complex Effects of Immigration.”)
Bronfenbrenner examines the mutual accommodations between the developing person and these changing contexts in terms of four levels of environmental influence: the microsystem, the mesosystem, the exosystem, and the macrosystem (see Figure 2.5 on page 49). Consider, for instance, Maria and Jami. Both are seventhgraders who live in a large U.S. city. In many ways their lives and surroundings seem similar. Yet they live in rather different worlds. Keep important differences in mind as you read their scenarios:
Maria Maria is the oldest of three children. Her family immigrated to the United States when she was an infant. Both of her parents work outside the home at full-time jobs, but they are usually able to arrange their schedules so that one parent is home when the children return from school. Should the parents be delayed, the children know they are to go to a neighbor—a grandmotherly figure—to spend the afternoon. Maria often helps her mother or father prepare a dinner “just like we used to eat in Nicaragua.” The family members who do not cook on a given evening are the ones who later clean up. Homework is taken seriously by Maria and her parents. The children are allowed to watch television each night, but only after they have completed their homework. Her parents encourage the children to speak Spanish at home but insist that they speak English outside the home. Maria is enthusiastic about her butterfly collection, and family members help her hunt butterflies on family outings. She is somewhat of a loner but has one very close friend.
Jami Jami is 12 and lives with her parents and an older brother. Both of her parents have full-time jobs that require them to commute more than an hour each way. Chaos occurs on weekday mornings as the family members prepare to leave for school and work. Jami is on her own until her parents return home in the evening. Jami’s parents have demanding work schedules, and one of them is usually working on the weekends. Her mother assumes responsibility for preparing a traditional evening meal, but fast food is starting to replace home-cooked meals on a regular basis. Jami’s father does not do housework; when he is not working, he can be found with friends at a local bar.
Although Jami realizes that getting a good education is important, she has difficulty concentrating in school. She spends a good deal of time with her friends, all of whom enjoy riding the bus downtown to go to the movies. On these occasions they “hang out” and occasionally shoplift or smoke a little marijuana. Her parents disapprove of her friends, so Jami keeps her friends and her parents apart.
In Bronfenbrenner’s model, the microsystem consists of the network of social relationships and the physical settings in which a person is involved each day. Maria’s microsystem consists of her two siblings, mother, father, neighbor, peers, school, and so on. Likewise, Jami’s microsystem consists of her parents, brother, friends, school, and so on. The mesosystem consists of the interrelationships among the various settings in which the developing person is immersed. Both Maria and Jami come from two-parent families in which both parents work. Yet their home environments have substantially different effects on their schooling. Maria’s family setting is supportive of academic achievement. Without necessarily being aware of it, Maria’s parents are employing a principle of the Russian educator A. S. Makarenko (1967), who was quite successful in working with wayward adolescents in the 1920s: “The maximum support with the maximum of challenge.” Although Jami’s parents also stress the importance of doing well at school, Jami is not experiencing the same gentle but firm push that encourages Maria to move on and develop into a capable young adult. Jami’s family has dispensed with the amenities of family self-discipline in favor of whatever is easiest. Moreover, Jami is heavily dependent on peers, and such dependence is one of the strongest predictors of problem behavior in adolescence (Tolan, Gorman-Smith, & Henry, 2003).
An environment that is “external” to the developing person is called an exosystem. The exosystem consists of social structures that directly or indirectly affect a person’s life: school, the world of work, mass media, government agencies, and various social networks. The development of children like Maria and Jami is influenced not only by what happens in their environments but also by what occurs in their parents’ settings. Stress in the workplace often carries over to the home, where it has consequences for the parents’ marriage. Children who feel rootless or caught in conflict at home find it difficult to pay attention in school. Like Jami, they often look to a group of peers with similar histories, who, having no welcoming place to go and little to do that challenges them, seek excitement on the streets. Despite encountering job stresses somewhat similar to those of Jami’s parents, Maria’s parents have made a deliberate effort to create arrangements that work against Maria’s becoming alienated.
Resea M
FURTHER DEVELOPMENTS
x Effects of Immigration
FIGURE1.1 Distribution of U.S. Population by Race/Ethnicity: 2010 (by percent)
The macrosystem consists of the overarching cultural patterns of a society that are expressed in family, educational, economic, political, and religious institutions. We have seen how the world of work contributes to alienation in Jami’s family. When we look to the broader societal context, we note that the United States is beginning to catch up with other industrialized nations in providing child-care services and other benefits designed to promote the well-being of families (see Chapters 6 and 8). But only some American parents enjoy such benefits as maternity and paternity leaves, flex time, job-sharing arrangements, and personal leave to care for sick children or ailing parents. Along with most U.S. families today, the families of Maria and Jami are experiencing the erosion of extended family, neighborhood, and other institutional support systems that in the past were central to the health and well-being of children and their parents.
The ecological approach enables us to view the developing person’s environment as a nested arrangement of structures, each contained within the next. The most immediate structure is the setting in which the person currently carries out his or her daily activities; each ensuing structure is progressively more encompassing, until we reach the most inclusive, or societal, level (Shiraev & Levy, 2007). These dynamic interlocking structures challenge us to consider the risks and opportunities for development at each level. For instance, such problems as homelessness, child abuse and neglect, school violence, and psychopathology can be insightfully viewed as products of contextual factors that interact with individual and institutional vulnerabilities, particularly those of the family (Fiese & Spagnola, 2007).
The ecological approach enables us to see people actively immersed in a real world of everyday life. Imagine how much more extensive the information gathered would be if a researcher were allowed to record your day-to-day experiences, rather than just interviewing
you in a clinical setting. However, this seeming advantage is also the ecological approach’s major disadvantage: We usually have enormous difficulty studying people in contexts where a great many factors are operating simultaneously. Because so many factors bear on a person, we find it impractical, indeed impossible, to take them all into account. Only when we control a large array of factors can we get a secure “fix” on any one of them.
Critiquing his own model, Bronfenbrenner recognized a need to incorporate an investigation of biological, psychological, and behavioral aspects of the individual under study. Further, he saw the need to add the dimension of time to the model and introduced another system that he called the chronosystem, showing that there is change and constancy not only in the individual person but in society as well. As he states, “Not only do persons in the same age group share a life history of common experience, but those of a given age in different generations could have quite diverse experiences, depending on the period in which they live” (Bronfenbrenner, 2005).
Question
The Timing of Developmental Events
Time plays an important role in development. Traditionally, the passage of time has been treated as synonymous with chronological age, emphasizing changes that occur within individuals as they grow older. More recently, social and behavioral scientists have broadened their focus. They consider changes that occur over
