no plagiarize, spell check, and check your grammar. Please only use the attached below. Only 250 words
compare and contrast your respective choices of literature, issues/cases, and theoretical approaches. Offer constructive criticism and argument regarding your respective conclusions. Additionally, identify any insights you have gained as a result of reading the responses of others.
Read the story below and answer the questions above.
Lifespan development is a process that is a part of every individuals lifecycle. An individual’s lifespan developmental process can be influenced by their cognitive development, cultural beliefs, social interactions with others, and their surrounding environment. According to Smith-Osborne (2007), there are different theories of development that help with an individual’s growth which include biological, psychodynamic, behavioral and social learning, cognitive, moral and spiritual, and those influenced by systems, empowerment, and conflict theory (p.1). The ability to learn is a on going process that covers the lifespan of an individual. An individual’s learning developmental process can help one to improve their training skills, tasks, and observing and interacting with others. In addition, Erik Erikson offered his psychosocial theory where each stage of life is driven by a crisis (Stever, 2011, p.2). This theory also suggest that all stages of adulthood are a part of the development of identity and intimacy, generativity and integrity are subcategories of identity (Whitbourne, Connolly, 1999, p. 1). According to Erikson, the most notable stages of lifespan development in fans group studied have been adolescence, young adulthood, and middle adulthood. Erikson’s was describing a developmental crisis for adolescences which included identity vs. diffusion. For the young adults it included intimacy vs. isolation. In addition, the middle adult crisis is generativity vs. self-absorption (Stever, 2011, p.2). For many young adults having a hard time with intimacy vs isolation, they may result to focusing on the media and celebrities as role models in this stage. Each stage of the Lifespan Theory will be a result of what was learned from the previous stages to move forward. Baltes, Staudinger, Lindenberger, (1999), conducted research on Lifespan Theory and found that it is intended to generate knowledge regarding three components of individual development which includes interindividual commonalities in development, interindividual differences in development, and intraindividual plasticity in development. They also pointed out there are two ways to construct Lifespan Theory person-centered or holistic and function-centered. This is a different approach compared to Erikson and Smith-Osborne. The end results would be very similar comparatively. The holistic approach looks at the person as a system an attempt to generate knowledge about lifespan development by describing and connecting age, periods, or states of development into one pattern of individual development. On the other hand, the function-centered method of the Lifespan Theory focuses on a category of behavior such as perception, information processing, action control, attachment, identity, and personality traits (Baltes, Staudinger, Lindenberger, 1999, p. 473).
The Resiliency Theory in comparison to the Lifespan Theory is influenced by stress and coping mechanisms. This theory is not an outgrowth of the Lifespan Theory, but it is developmental in focus and examines a specific chronological life stage as a starting point. It addresses health developmental outcomes during a life stage or throughput the lifespan of an individual. This theory was developed to describe resistance to psychosocial request experiences (Rutter 1999b, p.119). This theory has been further defined as a dynamic process encompassing positive adaption within the context of significant adversity and coping with change (Luthar, 2003, p. 663). In essence, The Resiliency Theory looks at how an individual handles stress and the impact of stress on that individual. The term resiliency is the capacity to recover from difficulties or traumatic situations as quickly as possible without ill side effects. The Resiliency theoretical framework addresses health development and overcoming stress and adversities to achieve functional outcomes during developmental stages. Lifespan Theory focuses on the entire life cycle of an individual from birth to death (Smith-Osborne, 2007, p. 153). The similarity of both theories “lifespan and resiliency” the approaches are different, but the results ends with similarities.
The Lifespan Theory has strengths and weaknesses that can influence an individual’s life cycle. Lifespan strengths include evaluating a person’s personality development through their lifecycle. This theory includes evaluating family, social interaction, religious preference, cultural beliefs, and the environment. This may, also, have a positive or negative effect on an individual’s life cycle. Research on Lifespan development has shown a similarity of senses around the belief that people hold concerning how traits and characteristics develop throughout one’s life (Fleeson & Baltes, 1998 p. 411). Young adults are viewed by themselves and by others as developing in a primarily positive direction, whereas older adults typically considered to be changing in a pre-dominantly negative fashion (Diener, 1984, p.542). With older age individuals the relative preponderance of anticipated losses verse gains increases, and things of compensation, maintenance and repair become particularly important to the older generation (Heckhausen, Dixon, Baltes, 1989, p. 109). This would especially significate since older adults are looking towards the end of their lifespan. Some theorists have discussed that the Lifespan Theory shows weakness by not explaining how the life stages shifts across domains and how the emergence of new forms of staging within an individual’s development (Smith-Osborne, 2007, p. 159).
Unlike the Lifespan Theory the Resiliency Theory has strengths and weaknesses as well. The Resiliency Theory focus on an individual’s healthy development throughout the life cycle process. According to Smith-Osborne (2007), this theory has the advantage of incorporating ongoing findings and construct information from biology and neuroscience such as neuroplasticity (p. 160). The Resiliency Theory have been utilized in social work settings to aid in an individual’s life stages. The weaknesses of the Resiliency Theory is that it puts a limit on populations that are exposed to trauma or high levels of stress. (Smith-Osborne, 2007, p. 160). According to Luther (2003), Resilience is the ability to adapt positively when confronted with adversities and stressors. Bodenmann’s (1997), research suggest just that social relationships and individuals in them are influential and their resilience might best be captured at both levels. An example of resilience would be families affective by the aftermath of the Great Recession. Here, “Families were not alone in their stress and uncertainty. Entire communities and the families and couples within them, experienced a similar fate as a result of the Great Recession and became unified in their efforts to confront it (Wilcox, 2011, p.8).”
Based on the articles I read and research in the articles, they revealed a great deal of information regarding cognitive and personality issues of emerging adulthood pertaining to Lifespan Theory and Resiliency Theory. The articles suggested that younger adults related to the Resiliency Theory and looked toward upward growth, whereas, older adults leaned toward a downward spiral. There were many positive factors with younger adults. On the other hand, older adults viewed their life as decreasing in dimension over a period of time. Although the Lifespan Theory looked at individual’s beginning at birth through adulthood, the biggest negative was the perception of older adults, their relative position in the community, and how their family and friends viewed them. Resiliency Theory in the article I read focused on how an individual or individuals dealt with stress or stressors. Younger adults dealt with stress in most cases with position resiliency. Old adults and families had a more difficult time. The most positive aspect of the articles I read were that most of the researchers found similarities in their studies with both lifespan and resiliency.
References
Baltes, P.B., & Straudinger, U.M. (1999). Lifespan psychology: Theory and application to intellectual functioning. Annual Review of Psychology, 50(1), 471. https://doi-org.proxy-library.ashford.edu/10.1146/annurev.psych.50.1.471 (Links to an external site.)
smith-Osborne, A. (2007). Life span and resiliency theory: A critical review. Advances in Social Work, 8(1), 152-168. Retrieved from http://journals.iupui.edu/index.php/advancesinsoci… (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. (Links to an external site.)
Stever, G. (2011). Fam Behavior and Lifespan Development Theory: Explaining Para-social and Social Attachment to Celebrities. Journal of Adult Development, 18(1), 1-7. https://doi-org.proxy-library.ashford.edu/10.1007/s10804-010-9100-0 (Links to an external site.)
