ABSTRACT
The organisation of this book is in six chapters. First, there is this introductory chapter which looks at what psychologists mean by ‘lifespan’ and ‘adulthood’, and also at how this area of psychology has been researched. Chapter 2 deals with early and middle adulthood, and three important theories of human development during this time: the theories of Erikson, Levinson and Gould. Each of these theories views adulthood from a different stance, a different point of view, and these alternative approaches are all very interesting. Chapter 3 takes a fourth approach and looks at some of the main life events of adulthood, namely marriage and partnering, parenthood, and divorce from a psychological angle. Chapter 4 is about late adulthood, with sections on social psychological theories of ageing, the psychological effects of retirement and bereavement, cognitive changes in older adults, and some cross-cultural ageing studies. Chapter 5 has some alternative psychological perspectives on ageing, and Chapter 6 gives a senior
examiner’s comments on two student essays, showing where more marks could have been gained and therefore a higher grade obtained. This last chapter is a particularly useful one!
