Abstract
Before discussing this chapter’s topic, the question needs to be raised as to whether it merits a separate chapter in this volume. There is some debate as to the universality of parenthood as a stage of adult development. On the one hand, parenting has been seen as providing a necessary and unique context for the development of psychological maturity. In contrast, it has also been seen as just one of many stressors that adults encounter that can lead to either personal growth or maladaptation. This dichotomy reflects more generally tensions within our field between the idea of a “universal” structure to the timing of psychological changes in adulthood vs. a more “open-ended” view, with more “randomness” in such “transforming” experiences (Brim & Ryff, 1980; Gergen, 1980; Palus, 1993). On one side, theorists such as Erikson (1963), Gould (1978), and Levinson (1978, Levinson, 1986) have argued for a progression of stages through which most adults move and that are demarcated by age and specified periods, with parenting occurring in one’s 20s or early 30s and accompanied by the negotiation of specific and unique tasks. On the other side are views that have argued that an adult’s life course is more flexible, random, and more driven by context (i.e., “aleatoric” view). In this view, parenthood is one potential pathway to “maturity,” but there may be many others producing similar changes.
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Azar, S.T. (2002). Adult Development and Parenthood. In: Demick, J., Andreoletti, C. (eds) Handbook of Adult Development. The Springer Series in Adult Development and Aging. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-0617-1_20
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