"Psychologists have long understood that laboratory settings only approximate genuine human environments. Yet, how can the influence of the real world, with all its complexity and variability, be measured? This edited volume deals with this question by providing theoretical models and testing methods for quantifying physical and social environments that serve as contexts of human development." "This volume represents the state of the art in environmental assessment procedures and will be a welcome resource for psychologists specializing in assessment, methodology, and development."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Lifespan human development is the study of all aspects of biological, physical, cognitive, socioemotional, and contextual development from conception to the end of life. In approximately 800 signed articles by experts from a wide diversity of fields, The SAGE Encyclopedia of Lifespan Human Development explores all individual and situational factors related to human development across the lifespan. Some of the broad thematic areas will include: Adolescence and Emerging Adulthood Aging Behavioral and Developmental Disorders Cognitive Development Community and Culture Early and Middle Childhood Education through the Lifespan Genetics and Biology Gender and Sexuality Life Events Mental Health through the Lifespan Research Methods in Lifespan Development Speech and Language Across the Lifespan Theories and Models of Development. This five-volume encyclopedia promises to be an authoritative, discipline-defining work for students and researchers seeking to become familiar with various approaches, theories, and empirical findings about human development broadly construed, as well as past and current research.

This volume evolved from the second life span development conference held at Southern Illinois University entitled "Assessment and Intervention Across the Lifespan." Providing an overview and consideration of important directions for research in areas of assessment and intervention across the lifespan, the presentations covered a variety of topic areas including social ecology, cultural diversity, attitudes about aging, as well as attention, visual, and linguistic skills. This volume consists of chapters based on the conference presentations as well as additional chapters by experts in related specialty areas discussing attachment theory, learning disabilities, and phonological processing. The second conference and volume continue the work of the first conference and its associated earlier volume. The chapters cover important interactions between assessment and intervention for each major developmental period; several emphasize the importance of early assessment and intervention. A common theme found throughout is the critical connection between basic research and practice. The editors hope this book will prove useful not only to researchers, but also to practitioners in related disciplines working with individuals of all ages.

The Handbook of the Psychology of Aging has become the definitive reference source for information on the psychology of adult development and aging. The Fifth Edition provides comprehensive reviews of research on biological and social influences on behavior and age-related changes in psychological function. In addition to covering environmental influences on behavior and aging and gender differences in aging, new chapters in the Fifth Edition discuss wisdom, creativity, and technological change and the older worker. This handbook is an essential reference for researchers in adult development and gerontology and suitable as an advanced textbook for courses on the psychology of aging.

There are many reasons to be curious about the way people learn, and the past several decades have seen an explosion of research that has important implications for individual learning, schooling, workforce training, and policy. In 2000, How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School: Expanded Edition was published and its influence has been wide and deep. The report summarized insights on the nature of learning in school-aged children; described principles for the design of effective learning environments; and provided examples of how that could be implemented in the classroom. Since then, researchers have continued to investigate the nature of learning and have generated new findings related to the neurological processes involved in learning, individual and cultural variability related to learning, and educational technologies. In addition to expanding scientific understanding of the mechanisms of learning and how the brain adapts throughout the lifespan, there have been important discoveries about influences on learning, particularly sociocultural factors and the structure of learning environments. How People Learn II: Learners, Contexts, and Cultures provides a much-needed update incorporating insights gained from this research over the past decade. The book expands on the foundation laid out in the 2000 report and takes an in-depth look at the constellation of influences that affect individual learning. How People Learn II will become an indispensable resource to understand learning throughout the lifespan for educators of students and adults.

The United States is among the wealthiest nations in the world, but it is far from the healthiest. Although life expectancy and survival rates in the United States have improved dramatically over the past century, Americans live shorter lives and experience more injuries and illnesses than people in other high-income countries. The U.S. health disadvantage cannot be attributed solely to the adverse health status of racial or ethnic minorities or poor people: even highly advantaged Americans are in worse health than their counterparts in other, "peer" countries. In light of the new and growing evidence about the U.S. health disadvantage, the National Institutes of Health asked the National Research Council (NRC) and the Institute of Medicine (IOM) to convene a panel of experts to study the issue. The Panel on Understanding Cross-National Health Differences Among High-Income Countries examined whether the U.S. health disadvantage exists across the life span, considered potential explanations, and assessed the larger implications of the findings. U.S. Health in International Perspective presents detailed evidence on the issue, explores the possible explanations for the shorter and less healthy lives of Americans than those of people in comparable countries, and recommends actions by both government and nongovernment agencies and organizations to address the U.S. health disadvantage.

Personality Development across the Lifespan examines the development of personality characteristics from childhood, adolescence, emerging adulthood, adulthood, and old age. It provides a comprehensive overview of theoretical perspectives, methods, and empirical findings of personality and developmental psychology, also detailing insights on how individuals differ from each other, how they change during life, and how these changes relate to biological and environmental factors, including major life events, social relationships, and health. The book begins with chapters on personality development in different life phases before moving on to theoretical perspectives, the development of specific personality characteristics, and personality development in relation to different contexts, like close others, health, and culture. Final sections cover methods in research on the topic and the future directions of research in personality development. - Introduces and reviews the most important personality characteristics - Examines personality in relation to different contexts and how it is related to important life outcomes - Discusses patterns and sources of personality development