ABSTRACT
The purposes of this chapter are fourfold: (1) to present historical considerations and central issues surrounding the concept of stages of parental development and related constructs (e.g., family life cycle stages); (2) to summarize and evaluate classical and contemporary theory and research on stages of parental development, highlighting a conceptualization based on holistic/systems-development theory or HSDT (Demick, 2015, 2016, in press; Wapner and Demick, 1998, 2003, 2005); (3) to delineate the practical applications of the collective theory and research on stages of parental development for scientists as well as for parents and clinicians; and (4) to propose directions for future theory and research on stages of parental development, specifically, and on parental development more generally.
