The Impact of ‘the Dream’ on Women's Experience of the Midlife Transition

Daniel Levinson's claim for the universality of age-linked periods is considered highly controversial considering that his theory evolved from a study consisting of males only. Theories relating to women's development, particularly at midlife, are somewhat scarce and restricted. Using Levinson's theory of adult development as a framework, the present study retrospectively examined the Dream and its impact on women's psychological health and adjustment to the Midlife Transition. Three hundred midlife women completed a questionnaire examining Dream Status, Dream Content, Dream Success, and the psychological health variables, depression, anxiety, self-esteem, and life satisfaction. Dream Success was significantly related to psychological health on dimensions of well-being and composure, and interesting changes were observed in Dream Content across the early and current Dream. Our findings revealed that, despite the overall greater complexity of women's Dreams, Levinson's theory is largely applicable to women's development.     

A Comparison of the Evolution of Men's and Women's Dreams in Daniel Levinson's Theory of Adult Development

This article examines an important difference in the adult development of men and women never stated by Levinson, but implicit in his two books, The Seasons of a Man's Life (1978) and The Seasons of a Woman's Life (1996). The task of forming a Dream that generated a sense of vitality and excitement was central to Levinson's adult development theory in his book on men. Often occupational in nature, the men's Dreams were usually formed in their late teens and 20s. Yet, careful examination of the interviews in Levinson's last book reveals a dearth of vitalizing Dreams among his women subjects, including the career women, during the same period: None had long-term career goals and nearly all gave precedence to marriage and family. Development of individualistic animating Dreams was complicated by this a priori commitment, and usually delayed until the women's Age 30 Transitions (28–33), often provoking crisis then and subsequent instability.     

Daniel levinson and his theory of adult development: A reminiscence and some clarifications

I offer some reminiscences occasioned by the death of Daniel Levinson, a modern pioneer in the study of the human life cycle. I clarify three controversial aspects of Levinson's theory—its universality, the role of critical life events, and the place of relationships—as well as briefly foreshadow findings from his forthcoming book on women. I show that relationships to people, enterprises, and social institutions are the stuff out of which the individual life structure—Levinson's central concept—is formed. Levinson's dream was of a society in which the developmental needs of adults were better understood and met so that they could more generatively fill their roles in the institutions upon which the young depend. He thought this essential to the evolution of a society that would be both more competent and more humane. In this dream, which was a product of his own difficult mid-life transition and a measure of the success he achieved in integrating its polarities, Levinson united a warm, scientific interest in others with an affectionate curiosity about nature.     

The primacy of thinking about possibilities in the development of reasoning

One of the main tenets of the mental model theory is that when individuals reason, they think about possibilities. According to this theory, reasoning on what is possible from the truth of a sentence would be psychologically basic, whereas reasoning the other way round, on the truth or falsity of a sentence from a given state of affairs, would require some meta-ability. The present study tested the developmental corollary of this theory, which is that reasoning about possibilities should develop first, whereas the development of reasoning about truth-value should be delayed. For this purpose, 3rd, 6th, and 9th graders as well as adults were presented with tasks requiring them to evaluate either the possibilities compatible with conditional sentences or the truth-value of these sentences from these same possibilities. The results revealed 2 phenomena. First, the same developmental trend was observed in both tasks with 3 successive interpretational levels: conjunctive, biconditional, and then conditional. Second, there was a developmental lag between the 2 forms of reasoning--with developmental transitions from one level to the next occurring about 3 years later when reasoning about truth-value. The implications of these results for theories of cognitive development and of reasoning are discussed.     

Implicit and explicit false belief development in preschool children

The ability to represent the mental states of other agents is referred to as Theory of Mind (ToM). A developmental breakthrough in ToM consists of understanding that others can have false beliefs about the world. Recently, infants younger than 2 years of age have been shown to pass novel implicit false belief tasks. However, the processes underlying these tasks and their relation to later‐developing explicit false belief understanding, as well as to other cognitive abilities, are not yet understood. Here, we study a battery of implicit and explicit false belief tasks in 3‐ and 4‐year‐old children, relating their performance to linguistic abilities and executive functions. The present data show a significant developmental change from failing explicit false belief tasks at 3 years of age to passing them at the age of 4, while both age groups pass implicit false belief tasks. This differential developmental trajectory is reflected by the finding that explicit and implicit false belief tasks do not correlate. Further, we demonstrate that explicit false belief tasks correlate with syntactic and executive functions, whereas implicit false belief tasks do not. The study thus indicates that the processes underlying implicit false belief tasks are different from later‐developing explicit false belief understanding. Moreover, our results speak for a critical role of syntactic and executive functions for passing standard explicit false belief tasks in contrast to implicit tasks.     

The psychological growth of women in a short-term inpatient group

This paper identifies ways in which a short-term inpatient group can support psychological growth of women. A four-stage developmental model of women's work in an inpatient group is described. In each stage, women achieve greater comfort in new modes of relating. Women also gain greater appreciation of their interpersonal strengths. In the first stage, women face issues related to autonomy and connection. In the second stage, women focus upon conflictual feelings in relation to authority. In the third stage, women address obstacles to the achievement of satisfying, intimate, peer-based relationships. In the fourth stage, women focus upon the issues of separation and loss that are precipitated by the termination of the group. At each stage, the developmental tasks women perform are contrasted with related but nonidentical tasks performed by men.The author wishes to thank Drs. Joan Cooper and Francine Deutsch for their comments on an earlier draft of this paper.     

Indoor travel and simple tasks as physical exercise for people with profound multiple disabilities

2 to 4 30-min. periods of indoor travel and simple tasks were arranged daily as physical exercise for two women with profound mental retardation, deafness, and profound visual impairment. The questions were whether (a) the women could manage this fairly extensive exercise regimen (over about 9 and 4.5 mo.) with support technology and only minimal staff supervision and (b) the exercise could affect aspects of the women's physical condition. Data indicated that both women could successfully manage the exercise regimen with support technology, and the exercise seemed to have some beneficial effects on physical aspects such as bone metabolism and step width.     

Memory for object location: a span study in children.

The aim of the present study was to analyze the developmental changes in three spatial processes, namely, in positional reconstruction involving the retention of spatial locations per se (Positional encoding task), in the assignment of objects to positions (Object-to-position assignment task), and in the integration of these two (Combined task). A span procedure was used to assess the development of spatial memory in children aged 6, 8, and 10 years tested in these three tasks. The findings of the present study provide developmental spans for each relocation task. Results show an age-dependent improvement in all tasks, suggesting that spatial position is not automatically encoded. The results also show different developmental patterns for the relocation tasks considered, suggesting that spatial memory comprises a number of different component processes.     

Young infants' actions reveal their developing knowledge of support variables: converging evidence for violation-of-expectation findings

Violation-of-expectation (VOE) tasks have revealed substantial developments in young infants' knowledge about support events: by 5.5 months, infants expect an object to fall when released against but not on a surface; and by 6.5 months, infants expect an object to fall when released with 15% but not 100% of its bottom on a surface. Here we investigated whether action tasks would reveal the same developmental pattern. Consistent with VOE reports, 5.5- and 6.5-month-old infants were more likely to reach for a toy that rested on as opposed to against a surface; and 6.5- but not 5.5-month-olds were more likely to reach for a toy with 100% as opposed to 15% of its bottom on a surface. Infants at each age thus used their support knowledge to determine whether the toys were likely to be retrievable or to be attached to adjacent surfaces and hence irretrievable. These and control findings extend recent evidence that developmental patterns observed in VOE tasks also hold in action tasks, and as such provide further support for the view that VOE and action tasks tap the same physical knowledge.     

The dynamic nature of knowledge: Insights from a dynamic field model of children’s novel noun generalization

This paper examines the tie between knowledge and behavior in a noun generalization context. An experiment directly comparing noun generalizations of children at the same point in development in forced-choice and yes/no tasks reveals task-specific differences in the way children’s knowledge of nominal categories is brought to bear in a moment. To understand the cognitive system that produced these differences, the real-time decision processes in these tasks were instantiated in a dynamic field model. The model captures both qualitative and quantitative differences in performance across tasks and reveals constraints on the nature of children’s accumulated knowledge. Additional simulations of developmental change in the yes/no task between 2 and 4 years of age illustrate how changes in children’s representations translate into developmental changes in behavior. Together, the empirical data and model demonstrate the dynamic nature of knowledge and are consistent with the perspective that knowledge cannot be separated from the task-specific processes that create behavior in the moment.     

Maltreated Adolescents

Abstract

The authors review literature on the developmental tasks of adolescence and the unique problems faced by adolescent victims of maltreatment. The developmental domains addressed include cognition, identity, behavior and affect regulation, family and peer relationships, and sexuality. Research on the co-occurrence of multiple types of victimization is discussed. The relationship between multiple victimization and violent crime, with a focus on parricide, is examined. The authors call for greater attention to the assessment and study of multiple forms of maltreatment and its outcomes in adolescence, since adolescence is one of the least researched developmental periods in terms of single or multiple victimization.     

Some Implications of Life-Span Development for Counseling Psychology

Current models of personality and career development are criticized for their failure to recognize the developmental processes that occur throughout adulthood. Recent research in adult personality and social development suggests that adults experience a number of predictable transitional and stable periods, each of which is characterized by specific developmental tasks. The implications of this research for counseling psychologists' work with adult clients are discussed. Counseling psychologists are encouraged to adopt a more positive view of the roles that crises play in adult personality and career growth.     

Domain-specific and domain-general changes in children's development of number comparison

The numerical distance effect (inverse relationship between numerical distance and reaction time in relative number comparison tasks) has frequently been used to characterize the mental representation of number. The size of the distance effect decreases over developmental time. However, it is unclear whether this reduction simply reflects developmental changes in domain-general speed of processing and whether it is specific to numerical compared with non-numerical magnitude. To examine these open questions, we conducted a cross-sectional study with 6-, 7-, and 8-year-old children as well as adult college students. Participants performed comparisons on Arabic numerals, arrays of squares, squares of varying luminance and bars of varying height. To control for general age-related changes in reaction time, a measure of speed of processing was used as a covariate in the analysis. A significant developmental decrease in the distance effect was found across numerical and non-numerical comparison tasks over and above general changes in processing speed. However, this change was not found to differ as a function of format. These data suggest that developmental changes in the distance effect are reflective of changes in a domain-general comparison process, rather than domain-specific developmental changes in number representations. However, analysis of overall reaction times revealed significantly greater developmental changes for numerical relative to non-numerical comparison tasks. These findings highlight the importance of taking multiple measures into account when characterizing developmental changes in numerical magnitude processing. Implications for theories of numerical cognition and its development are discussed.     

汉语阅读发展研究中几种实验任务之间关系的探讨

本研究综合考察汉语阅读获得与发展研究中经常使用的注音、命名与组词,听写与多重选择的关系。结果发现：注音与命名有很强的一致性,并且都与组词有很高的棚关;在这些任务中,听写的难度最大,多重选择最易;几种任务存在共同的加工规律。文章从词汇识别过程讨论了这些结果的理论含义。     

Adolescents as “producers of their own development”: Correlates and consequences of the importance and attainment of developmental tasks

In a four-wave longitudinal study, 228 adolescents from seven age cohorts were investigated annually regarding the importance and subjective attainment of age-specific developmental tasks. Distal outcomes (educational trajectory and residential independence) were examined when the adolescents were 21 years old. The results of latent growth models (LGM) showed that there was no mean level change in the importance of developmental tasks, whereas perceived attainment of developmental tasks increased over time. In general, whereas the importance of developmental tasks was more impacted by family factors, the attainment of tasks was more influenced by individual factors. Adolescents with more parental support for autonomy had higher developmental aspirations. Adolescents with unemployed fathers showed greater increases in the importance of developmental tasks, which subsequently predicted a higher educational trajectory. Only a small proportion of adolescents perceived a high initial level of attainment of diverse tasks; for 85% of the sample, the typical growth pattern with respect to overall attainment of developmental tasks was a moderate initial level, which increased over time. Girls, early maturers, and first-born adolescents reported higher perceived attainment of developmental tasks.     

Connectionist models of development

How have connectionist models informed the study of development? This paper considers three contributions from specific models. First, connectionist models have proven useful for exploring nonlinear dynamics and emergent properties, and their role in nonlinear developmental trajectories, critical periods and developmental disorders. Second, connectionist models have informed the study of the representations that lead to behavioral dissociations. Third, connectionist models have provided insight into neural mechanisms, and why different brain regions are specialized for different functions. Connectionist and dynamic systems approaches to development have differed, with connectionist approaches focused on learning processes and representations in cognitive tasks, and dynamic systems approaches focused on mathematical characterizations of physical elements of the system and their interactions with the environment. The two approaches also share much in common, such as their emphasis on continuous, nonlinear processes and their broad application to a range of behaviors.     

Women's role portrayals in magazine advertising: 1958–1983

Content analysis was used to study the changing nature of women's role portrayals. Advertisements appearing in eight general interest periodicals during November 1983 were compared with data from similar studies of magazines published during 1958 and 1970. Results indicate that current advertisements in some ways more accurately reflect the true diversity of women's social and occupational roles than do those of earlier time periods.     

Integrating fundamental movement skills in late childhood

The study examined how children of different ages integrate fundamental movement skills, such as running and throwing, and whether their developmental status was related to the combination of these skills. Thirty children were divided into three groups (G1 = 6-year-olds, G2 = 9-year-olds, and G3 = 12-year-olds) and filmed performing three tasks: running, overarm throwing, and the combined task. Patterns were identified and described, and the efficiency of integration was calculated (distance differences of the ball thrown in two tasks, overarm throwing and combined task). Differences in integration were related to age: the 6-year-olds were less efficient in combining the two skills than the 9- and 12-year-olds. These differences may be indicative of a phase of integrating fundamental movement skills in the developmental sequence. This developmental status, particularly throwing, seems to be related to the competence to integrate skills, which suggests that fundamental movement skills may be developmental modules.     

The negative consequences of threat: a functional magnetic resonance imaging investigation of the neural mechanisms underlying women's underperformance in math

This study used functional magnetic resonance imaging to identify the neural structures associated with women's underperformance on math tasks. Although women in a control condition recruited neural networks that are associated with mathematical learning (i.e., angular gyrus, left parietal and prefrontal cortex), women who were reminded of gender stereotypes about math ability did not recruit these regions, and instead revealed heightened activation in a neural region associated with social and emotional processing (ventral anterior cingulate cortex).     

The time of our lives: life span development of timing and event tracking

Life span developmental profiles were constructed for 305 participants (ages 4-95) for a battery of paced and unpaced perceptual-motor timing tasks that included synchronize-continue tapping at a wide range of target event rates. Two life span hypotheses, derived from an entrainment theory of timing and event tracking, were tested. A preferred period hypothesis predicted a monotonic slowing of a preferred rate (tempo) of event tracking across the life span. An entrainment region hypothesis predicted a quadratic profile in the range of event rates that produced effective timing across the life span; specifically, age-specific entrainment regions should be narrower in childhood and late adulthood than in midlife. Findings across tasks provide converging support for both hypotheses. Implications of these findings are discussed for understanding critical periods in development and age-related slowing of event timing.