TY - JOUR
T1 - Toward a broader conceptualization of development
T2 - The role of gains and losses across the life span
AU - Uttal, David H.
AU - Perlmutter, Marion
N1 - Funding Information:
Preparation of this manuscript was supported by a Rackham Graduate School Predoctoral Fellowship to David Uttal and by a Brookdale National Fellowship to Marion Perlmutter. We thank Andy Achenbaum, Cindy Adams, Catherine Amott, Hiroshi Azuma, Bill Bacon, Fred Bookstein, Chen Chuansheng, John Hagen, Max Lummis, Jane Perlmutter, Denise Person, David Rotenizer, Steve Stemberg, Harold Stevenson, K. Warner Schaie, and Sherry Willis for their helpful comments. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Marion Perlmutter, Institute of Gerontology, 300 N. Ingalls, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2007.
PY - 1989/6
Y1 - 1989/6
N2 - Developmental psychologists traditionally have conceived of childhood primarily as a time of positive change, or gain, and old age primarily as a time of negative change, or loss. Life-span developmental psychologists recently have challenged these assumptions, asserting that gains and losses are ubiquitous across the life span. While generally supporting this assertion, we suggest that the relation between developmental gains and losses needs to be considered in more depth. Even life-span developmentalists seem to have assumed that gains and losses are causally related, and that the direction of causality is determined by age. In this paper, we review previous considerations of gains and losses. Then, we show that losses during early life are not necessarily responses to gains, and that gains during later life are not necessarily responses to losses. Finally we suggest criteria and methods for assessing four alternative models (unrelated phenomenon, spurious phenomenon, suppression, and compensation) relevant to the causality and directionality of the relation between developmental gains and losses.
AB - Developmental psychologists traditionally have conceived of childhood primarily as a time of positive change, or gain, and old age primarily as a time of negative change, or loss. Life-span developmental psychologists recently have challenged these assumptions, asserting that gains and losses are ubiquitous across the life span. While generally supporting this assertion, we suggest that the relation between developmental gains and losses needs to be considered in more depth. Even life-span developmentalists seem to have assumed that gains and losses are causally related, and that the direction of causality is determined by age. In this paper, we review previous considerations of gains and losses. Then, we show that losses during early life are not necessarily responses to gains, and that gains during later life are not necessarily responses to losses. Finally we suggest criteria and methods for assessing four alternative models (unrelated phenomenon, spurious phenomenon, suppression, and compensation) relevant to the causality and directionality of the relation between developmental gains and losses.
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U2 - 10.1016/0273-2297(89)90025-7
DO - 10.1016/0273-2297(89)90025-7
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:0011658401
SN - 0273-2297
VL - 9
SP - 101
EP - 132
JO - Developmental Review
JF - Developmental Review
IS - 2
ER -
