ABSTRACT
The focus of this book To date, mainstream developmental psychology has failed to provide an adequate theoretical base for describing changes in the psychology of girls and women across the life span. There is certainly a long history of developmental theorizing about the psychology of women, but even the more recent theories show little sign of being influenced by the conceptual insights that have emerged from life span developmental psychology and from important critiques of developmental psychology from both inside and outside this discipline. In addition, within the discipline which has come to be known as the psychology of women, there is a failure to confront developmental issues, associated with an over-reliance on social psychological frameworks. Feminist psychologists demonstrate either an acute wariness of all developmental theory – understandable given the way it has been traditionally defined and practised – or a questionable fixation on psychoanalytic approaches to development.
