Abstract
Only 25 years ago, a majority of developmental psychologists considered development to end in adolescence with adults largely restricted to living out roles and scripts (cf. Baltes, Reese, & Nesselroade, 1977; Commons, Richards, & Armon, 1984; Levinson, 1978). However, recent demographic changes and events have forced us all to stop and reassess. For example, consider the following statistics (cf. Lemme, 1999). The largest generation in American history—baby boomers born between 1946 and 1964—is now in its 50s. The average life expectancy has risen significantly to 75 years. The fastest growing segment of our population is now over 85 years. More people are now changing jobs, divorcing, and/or moving than ever before. The average married couple currently has more living parents than children. Children either staying home or returning home after college has also become a relatively frequent occurrence. The average retirement age, 62 years, is higher than ever before. The recent events of September 11, 2001 have presented us with new changes and challenges, which require reorganization of our person-in-environment systems.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Altman, I., & Rogoff, B. (1987). World views in psychology: Trait, interactional, organismic and transactional perspectives. In D. Stokols & I. Altman (Eds.), Handbook of environmental psychology (pp. 7–40). New York: John Wiley & Sons.
Baltes, P. B. (1987). Theoretical propositions of life span developmental psychology: Some converging observations on history and theory. In P. B. Baltes & O. G. Brim (Eds.), Life span development and behavior, Vol. 2 (pp. 255–279). New York: Academic Press.
Baltes, P. B., Reese, H. W., & Nesselroade, J. R. (1977). Life span developmental Psychology: Introduction to research methods. Monterey, CA: Brooks/Cole.
Bruner, J. (1986). Actual minds, possible worlds. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Butler, R. N., Lewis, M., & Sunderland, T. (1991). Aging and mental health: Positive psychosocial and biomedical holdings, 4th edit. New York: Merrill.
Cantril, H. (Ed.) (1950). The why of man’s experience. New York: Macmillan.
Capobianco, N. (1992). Changes in the home setting following the departure of adult children. Unpublished manuscript. Worcester, MA: Clark University.
Commons, M. L., Richards, F. A., & Armon, C. (1984). Beyond formal operations: Late adolescent and adult cognitive development. New York: Praeger.
Demick, J. (2002). Stages of parental development. In M. Bornstein (Ed.), Handbook of parenting, Vol. 3. Being and becoming a parent (2nd ed., pp. 389–413). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Demick, J., & Andreoletti, C. L. (1995). Some relations between clinical and environmental psychology. Environment & Behavior, 27(1), 56–72.
Demick, J., Bursik, K., & DiBiase, R. (Eds.) (1993). Parental development. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Demick, J., & Miller, P. (Eds.) (1993). Development in the workplace. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Dewey, J., & Bentley, A. F. (1949). Knowing and the known. Boston, MA: Beacon Press.
Feibelman, J. K. (1954). Theory of integrative levels. British Journal of Philosophy of Science, 5, 59–66.
Giorgi, A. (1970). Towards phenomenologically based research in psychology. Journal of Phenomenological Psychology, 1, 75–98.
Herrick, C. J. (1949). A biological survey of integrative levels. In R. W. Sellars, V. J. McGill, & M. Farber (Eds.), Philosophy for the future (pp. 222–242). New York: Macmillan.
Ittelson, W. H. (1973). Environmental perception and contemporary perceptual theory. In W. H. Ittelson (Ed.), Environment and cognition (pp. 1–19). New York: Seminar Press.
Kuntz, P. G. (1968). The concept of order. Seattle: University of Washington Press.
Lavine, T. (1950a). Knowledge as interpretation: An historical survey. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, 10, 526–540.
Lavine, T. (1950b). Knowledge as interpretation: An historical survey. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, 11, 80–103.
Lemme, B. H. (1999). Development in adulthood, 2nd ed. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
Levinson, D. J. (1978). The seasons of a man’s life. New York: Ballentine.
Lewin, K. (1935). A dynamic theory of personality. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Maslow, A. H. (1946). Problem-centering vs. means-centering in science. Philosophy of Science, 13, 326–331.
Novikoff, A. B. (1945a). The concept of integrative levels and biology. Science, 101, 209–215.
Novikoff, A. B. (1945b). Continuity and discontinuity in evolution. Science, 101, 405–406.
Pepper, S. C. (1942). World hypotheses. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Pepper, S. C. (1967). Concept and quality: A world hypothesis. LaSalle, IL: Open Court.
Riegel, K. (1973). Dialectical operations: The final period of cognitive development. Human Development, 16, 346–370.
Sarbin, T. R. (1986). The narrative as a root metaphor for psychology. In T. R. Sarbin (Ed.), Narrative psychology: The storied nature of human conduct (pp. 3–21). New York: Praeger.
Schneirla, T. C. (1949). Levels in the psychological capacities of animals. In R. W. Sellars, V. J. McGill, & M. Farber (Eds.), Philosophy for the future (pp. 243–286). New York: Macmillan.
Sheldon, K. M., & King, L. (2001). Why positive psychology is necessary. American Psychologist, 50(3), 216–217.
Wapner, S. (1987). A holistic, developmental, systems-oriented psychology: Some beginnings. In D. Stokols & I. Altman (Eds.), Handbook of environmental psychology (pp. 1433–1465). New York: John Wiley & Sons.
Wapner, S., & Demick, J. (1998). Developmental analysis: A holistic, developmental, systems-oriented perspective. In W. Damon (Series Ed.) & R. M. Lerner (Vol. Ed.) Handbook of child psychology, Vol. 1: Theoretical models of human development, 5th edit. (pp. 761–805). New York: John Wiley & Sons.
Wapner, S., & Demick, J. (1999). Developmental theory and clinical practice: A holistic, developmental, systems-oriented approach. In W. K. Silverman & T. H. Ollendick (Eds.), Developmental issues in the clinical treatment of children (pp. 3–30). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
Wapner, S., & Demick, J. (2000). Person-in-environment psychology: A holistic, developmental, systems-oriented perspective. In W. B. Walsh, K. H. Craik, & R. H. Price (Eds.), Person-environment psychology: New directions and perspectives, 2nd edit. (pp. 25–60). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Wapner, S., & Demick, J. (2002). The increasing contexts of context in the study of environment-behavior relations. In R. B. Bechtel & A. Churchman (Eds.), Handbook of environmental psychology (pp. 3–14). New York: John Wiley & Sons.
Wapner, S., & Demick, J. (in press). Critical person-in-environment transitions across the life span: A holistic, developmental, systems-oriented program of research. In J. Valsiner (Ed.), Differentiation and integration of a developmentalist: Heinz Werner’s ideas in Europe and America.
Wapner, S., Demick, J., Yamamoto, T., & Minami, H. (Eds.). (2000). Theoretical perspectives in environment-behavior research: Underlying assumptions, research problems, and methodologies. New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum.
Werner, C. M., & Altman, I. (2000). Humans and nature: Insights from a transactional view. In S. Wapner, J. Demick, T. Yamamoto, & H. Minami (Eds.), Theoretical perspectives in environment-behavior research: Underlying assumptions, research problems, and methodologies (pp. 21–37). New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum.
Werner, H. (1957). Comparative psychology of mental development (rev. ed., originally published 1940). New York: International Universities Press.
Werner, H., & Kaplan, B. (1963). Symbol formation. New York: John Wiley & Sons.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2002 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Demick, J., Andreoletti, C. (2002). Epilogue. 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_31
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-0617-1_31
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-1-4613-5160-3
Online ISBN: 978-1-4615-0617-1
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive