ABSTRACT
Abstract
Within the last decade, disciplinary, economic, and political factors have joined to foster increased attention to the social and applied relevance of developmental science. The applied developmental emphasis on person-environment interactions puts a spotlight on issues of life-span developmental theory, method, and ethical practices of interest to psychologists across the full spectrum of basic and applied research activities. This chapter examines the impact of current trends toward application on mainstream developmental psychology through a survey of journal articles published in the last decade. To begin to chart the course of the applied perspective in contemporary developmental psychology, we assessed empirical articles on: variation of experimental contexts and procedures; diversity of populations studied; proximal relevance of research questions to problems of immediate social concern; and sensitivity to ethical issues arising from consideration of developmental research as a process of social influence. Findings are discussed within the framework of evolving guidelines for developmental research and publication aimed at enriching both the generation and application of developmental science.
