Human beings constantly undergo changes all through their life, from the period of conception until death. Most of the changes that transpire in every individual are due to the common biological and psychological structure and composition that he or she experiences in the process of development. Life-span development is the progression of an individual’s physical, cognitive, emotional and social aspects through life periods, which begins from childhood, adolescence, early adulthood, middle adulthood and late adulthood.
Life-span perspective is assessed and evaluated through characteristics, stages and domains. Development pertains to all the changes that human beings go through (Louw, n. d. p. 4), thus life-span development is characterized by those alterations that an individual undergo in his or her lifetime. According to Levinson, life-span progression is composed of a sequence of four periods, each of them last for about 25 years. It starts from childhood and adolescence which commences from birth to age 20. It is followed by early adulthood which encompasses those who are at the age of 17 up to 45.
The subsequent stages are middle adulthood which starts from age 40 to 65 and late adulthood which begins at the age of 60 and up (Smith, 2009). Each of the mentioned periods gives different and diverse changes to an individual’s physical growth, cognitive and emotional development. The physical progression involves body and organ development that bestows signs of aging. The cognitive aspect reveals how an individual thinks and perceives the world. The emotional and social phase reflects the interpersonal growth such as social relationships and emotional management (Sigelman and Rider, 2005, pp. 2-3).
The life-span perspective, on the other hand, is comprised of characteristics that are life-long, which means that there is no age period that dominates the development; multi-dimensional, which means that the development covers biological, cognitive, socioemotional, and spiritual dimensions; multidirectional, which means that some aspects of the progression increase while the others decrease; plastic, which means that life’s situations depend on the individual because development may obtain several paths; historically-embedded, which means that the growth is influenced by historical situations; multidisciplinary, which means that sociologists, anthropologists, psychologists, neuroscientists and medical researchers study the human development and share a common endeavor of finding and unlocking the mysteries of the progression throughout the life cycle; and contextual, which means that every individual incessantly responds and acts on contexts that consist of the person’s biological, social, historical, cultural contexts and physical environment (qtd. Government of Saskatchewan: Education, 2007). The major domains of human development that affect each other are composed of biological, cognitive and psychosocial.
The biological domain represents the bodily alterations, growth and maturation. The cognitive, on the contrary, is revealed on the mental processes of perceiving, reasoning and solving problems. The psychosocial is represented by the emotions and social expectations and interactions. In accordance to Bee, Boyd and Johnson (2006), lifespan development is divided into eight major periods including infancy and toddler, early childhood, middle childhood, adolescence, early adulthood, middle adulthood and late adulthood (p. 7). There are many issues concerning life-span development. Such issues involve the nature versus nurture and the continuity versus discontinuity.
Those people who consider nature versus nurture believe that individuals are born with particular behaviors and characteristics that are innate to them. They are products of genetics and prenatal environment. On the other hand, those who take into consideration the nurture aspect of an individual think that behaviors and characteristics are brought by personal experiences. In contrast, the continuity and discontinuity dispute shows that age-related change is basically a matter of amount or a matter of category. Age-related differences are classified in accordance to universal, group specific and individual changes (Bee, Boyd and Johnson 2006, pp. 9-11).
The developments of human beings and the periods of life cycle continue to evolve in the process. As more studies and researches are conducted, more information, knowledge and theories will then be discovered and learned, some of them may debunk other theories; however, each study brings importance and realization on the stages of life-span progression. As the time goes by, people continue to change and show different and diverse patterns of alteration in a particular age, thus, the on-going study of psychologists, sociologists and other social scientists are indeed of great help in understanding human growth and development.
References Bee, H., Boyd, D. , Johnson, P. (2006). Lifespan Development. Boston: Pearson. Government of Saskatchewan: Education. (2007). The Lifespan Perspective on Human Development. Retrieved March 12, 2009, from http://www. sasked. gov. sk. ca/docs/social/psych30/support_materials/the_lifespan_perspective. htm. Louw, D. A. (n. d). Human Development. Africa: Pearson South Africa. Sigelman, C and E. Rider. (2005). Life-Span Human Development. United States: Wadsworth Publishing. Smith, M. (2009). Life Span Development and Lifelong Learning. Informal Education: Infed. org. Retrieved March 12, 2009 from http://www. infed. org/biblio/lifecourse_development. htm.