6210 Week 10 Assignment Draft

Meet Ray: Age 69 to 87

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Meet Ray: Age 69 to 87 Program Transcript NARRATOR: Ray begins to watch more spiritual programming and reconnects with the

Catholic faith. He joins the local church and encourages Yolanda to attend services as

well. Ray volunteers at the church's thrift shop and at youth events, establishing

friendships with several older men in the church. Engaging in these activities helps

Ray's psychological functioning and his acceptance of later life.

In his 70s, Ray starts using a wheelchair for mobility. He also begins to forget things

and even leaves the oven on overnight. Yolanda takes Ray to the Aging Center, which

has sliding fee services for neurology. The neurologist determines that Ray has early-

onset dementia that will get progressively worse.

The diagnosis is a major blow to Ray, who understands what this will mean for the rest

of his life. Ray becomes depressed again. More grandchildren are born, and when Ray

is well, he invents silly games to play with them. During gatherings, Ray sits outside and

watches the children, finding fulfillment and peace in the family he has created.

As Ray enters his 80s, full dementia sets in. Ray also experiences sundown syndrome,

in which he becomes agitated and paranoid every day in the late afternoon. He is cared

for by Yolanda, Peter, and Amy, along with his grandchildren, who have complex

emotions as they watch his deterioration. Ray has a peaceful passing at age 87,

surrounded by his wife and children. At his bedside, Yolanda reminisces, saying, "He

was the love of my life."

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Week 10 Life Span Interview

Below are some questions to start the conversation with your interviewee. Do not

hesitate to add more questions as needed.

You are encouraged to reach out to a senior center, adult living facility, or nursing home

to locate an interviewee, or you may use an older friend or family member. When

interviewing an individual, please consider how to show respect to an individual of this

age within their cultural values.

Demographics

How do you prefer to be addressed?

What is your age?

Where were you born and raised?

How do you identify your ethnicity?

How do you identify your gender?

Childhood and Adolescence

How many siblings do you have?

How would you describe your childhood?

Who were your friends when you were growing up? Did you maintain those

friendships throughout life? Any reason why or why not?

What was your favorite thing to do for fun (movies, beach, etc.) growing up? In

your young/middle adult years?

Where did you go to school? What was school like for you as a child? What were

your best and worst subjects?

At what age did you leave home?

Young and Middle Adulthood

Did you marry? If so, at what age? If you have children, how many?

Were you employed? If so, where?

Where did you live?

Were you involved in the military in your young or middle adulthood? If so, how

did it mold you as a person?

Later Adulthood

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Have you retired? If so, from where? How would you rate your retirement

experience? (Did you return to work?)

Have you experienced any financial limitations in later adulthood?

Do you have any health issues? If so, what are they? Do these health issues

place limits on your functioning?

Has religion/spirituality been a part of your life? If so, how has your religious or

spiritual development changed in later adulthood?

What has been your experience with aging (physically, psychologically, socially,

environmentally)?

Do you have any challenges accessing healthcare?

How would you describe your social life, friendships, and social activities?

How do you see yourself today? (e.g., as an elder, senior, older adult?)

Have you had any experiences with services not being available to you as an

elder/senior/older adult?

Have you experienced age-related discrimination? Other types of discrimination?

Looking Back

What has been the happiest moment of your life?

Who is the person who has influenced your life the most?

Have you lost a loved one? If so, how has that loss affected your life?

What world events have had the most impact on you?

What are some of the most important lessons you have learned over the course

of your life?

As you look back over your life, do you see any “turning points”; that is, a key

event or experience that changed the course of your life or set you on a different

track?

What are you most proud of?

How would you like to be remembered?

Life Span and Resiliency Theory: A Critical Review

Alexa Smith-Osborne

Abstract: Theories of life span development describe human growth and change over the life cycle (Robbins, Chatterjee, & Canda, 2006). Major types of develop- mental theories include biological, psychodynamic, behavioral, and social learn- ing, cognitive, moral, and spiritual, and those influenced by systems, empower- ment, and conflict theory. Life span development theories commonly focus on onto- genesis and sequential mastery of skills, tasks, and abilities. Social work scholars have pointed out that a limitation of life span and other developmental theory is lack of attention to resilience (Greene, 2007; Robbins et al., 1998).

The concept of resilience was developed to “describe relative resistance to psy- chosocial risk experiences” (Rutter, 1999b, p. 119). Longitudinal studies focused on typical and atypical child development informed theory formulation in develop- mental psychopathology (Garmezy & Rutter, 1983; Luthar, Cichetti, & Becker, 2000) and in an evolving resilience model (Richardson, 2002; Werner & Smith, 1992). Research on resilience has found a positive relationship between a number of indi- vidual traits and contextual variables and resistance to a variety of risk factors among children and adolescents. More recently, resilience research has examined the operation of these same factors in the young adult, middle-age, and elder life stages.

This article examines the historical and conceptual progression of the two devel- opmental theories—life span and resiliency—and discusses their application to social work practice and education in human behavior in the social environment.

Keywords: Life span, resiliency theory, life cycle, critique

T heories of life span development describe human growth and change over the life cycle (Robbins, Chatterjee, & Canda, 2006). Major types of develop- mental theories include biological, psychodynamic, behavioral and social

learning, cognitive, moral and spiritual, and those influenced by systems, empowerment, and conflict theory. Life span development theories commonly focus on ontogenesis and the sequential mastery of skills, tasks, and abilities.

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Alexa Smith-Osborne, Ph.D. is assistant professor at The University of Texas at Arlington School of Social Work, Arlington, TX 76019.

Copyright© 2007 Advances in Social Work Vol. 8 No. 1 (Spring 2007) 152-168. Indiana University School of Social Work.

The major theories address the entire life cycle, from prenatal or birth to death, but they often focus in-depth on particular age periods, referred to as life stages. Some theorists within this field have focused more exclusively on a single life stage (Vaillant, 1993) or on a macro-level view of developmental traits that char- acterize an age cohort with defined ranges of birth dates or historical/cultural periods of primary influence on development (Strauss & Howe, 1991). For pur- poses of this paper, only a segment of life span theory can be addressed. Therefore, this paper focuses on personality and psychosocial theories, which form the historical foundation for much of the other life span theories.

Resiliency theory is an emerging theoretical perspective that has been devel- oped within developmental psychopathology and ecosystems perspectives and is influenced by stress and coping theories. Although this theory has not been explicitly developed as an outgrowth of life span theory, it is developmental in focus, and theory-driven research typically examines a specific chronological life stage as a starting point. This theoretical framework addresses health develop- ment of at-risk populations, and overcoming stress and adversity to achieve func- tional outcomes either during a life stage, a specific trajectory (e.g., educational or deviancy), or throughout the life span. The initial focus of theory development has been on childhood and adolescence and associations of traits and events at these life stages with outcomes later in life. Some recent research in this field has applied resiliency constructs to adults at risk (Daining, 2005; Smith, 2003; Smith- Osborne, 2006).

Historical Context

The notion that life can be understood as a series of significant and sequential stages can be traced to the earliest human civilizations and has appeared consis- tently in literary, religious, and philosophical writings throughout history (Erikson, 1968; Robbins et al., 1998). The scientific approach to human develop- ment throughout the life cycle was stimulated by the emergence of evolutionary theory at the turn of the century (Darwin, 1872), which led to the development of biologically focused maturational and psychosexual perspectives, such as those of G. Stanley Hall in 1904, Sigmund Freud in 1905, and Arnold Gesell in 1925. These seminal theories challenged the Victorian (and earlier) conception of chil- dren as little adults, and childhood as a time of relative stability, while the chil- dren were simply waiting to grow physically (Colby, 1970; Karl, 1964).

These theories also established the conceptualization of human development as occurring in a series of essentially stable stages, with periods of instability during transitions between stages and the mastery of stage-specific skills or conflicts as the foundation for progress to the next stage (Hoffman, Paris, Hall, & Schell, 1988).

Freudian theory came to dominate much of human development theory and clinical practice in the early 20th century, with several of Freud’s students, notably Jung and Erikson, expanding on his concepts on the basis of their own clinical and cross-cultural experiences. These amplifications of Freudian theory occurred against the backdrop of the rise of fascism, the Holocaust, and World War II. The originator of what is now called the life span approach to human psychological development, Erik Erikson, had been a student of Freud’s and trained as a psy-

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choanalyst in Germany. Erickson fled Nazi Germany in 1939 to immigrate to America, where he expanded Freud’s stages to apply to the entire life span, emphasizing psychosocial, rather than biological drive theory.

Resiliency theory, in contrast, originated on the basis of prospective longitudinal research on cohorts of children at risk (Garmezy, 1993; Rutter, Quinton, & Hill, 1990; Werner & Smith, 1982, 1992), rather than on the basis of individual clini- cians’ observations and case studies. Such studies were informed by prevention science (Greene, 2007) and the application of the epidemiological concepts of immunity and resistance to disease to human development and psychopatholo- gy (Thoits, 1983). In particular, Werner and Smith’s longitudinal study of 698 infants, many of Hawaiian and Asian descent, provided a major empirical basis for the inception of resiliency constructs and hypotheses for further testing, as did Rutter’s work with early onset mental disorders and with institutionalized Romanian children (e.g., Rutter, 1983; Rutter et al., 1990). Resiliency theory’s salu- togenic orientation has been heavily influenced by the Hawaiian study’s focus on those in childhood adversity who overcome the odds by the time they reach adulthood. The initial formulation of theoretical concepts and constructs based on this research proceeded within the developmental psychopathology frame- work in psychiatry (e.g., Rutter, 1987) and developmental psychology (e.g., Garmezy, Masten, & Tellegen, 1984) and within family stress and adjustment the- ory (e.g., McCubbin & Dahl, 1976; McCubbin & Patterson, 1983) in social work. Much of the seminal research in this field was begun in the late 1950s (e.g., Werner & Smith began their study in 1955) and initial findings were reported in the 1980s. Thus, this early theoretical development was situated historically in the post- Vietnam War and the post-colonial era of globalization, and it often focused on identifying factors in overcoming trauma and adverse events, such as war- induced family separations. Later, as social work educators and researchers gave more attention to salutogenic, strengths-based (Saleebey, 1997) theoretical mod- els for practice, resiliency constructs were further developed within the ecologi- cal perspective (e.g., Fraser & Galinsky, 1997; Gilgun, 1996) in social work theory, rather than in life span theory. Social workers have continued to draw on resilien- cy theory constructs and empirical findings in research (e.g., Herrenkohl, Hill, Chung, Guo, Abbott, & Hawkins, 2003) and in human behavior and practice texts (e.g., Haight & Taylor, 2007; Johnson, 2004; Thomlison, 2007), either within the ecological perspective (e.g., Haight & Taylor) or, more commonly, outside a spec- ified theoretical frame of reference. Furthermore, some social workers have explicitly identified and used resiliency theory as a theoretical framework, inde- pendent of other perspectives, for education (Greene, 2007) and research (Smith- Osborne, 2005a, 2006; Ungar, 2004).

THEORETICAL CONCEPTS AND CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Life Span Theory

Life span theory utilizes the central concept of ontogenesis, the chronological unfolding of human development (Gunnar & Thelen, 1989; Thelen & Smith, 1994), which includes both change in size and change in the complexity and dif- ferentiation of function (e.g., the change in motor reflexes at various stages in

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life). Some theorists include deterioration or diminishment in size and function, particularly if the focus is on aging and the adult life cycle, as well as accretion or augmentation ( Jung, 1965; Newman & Newman, 1975; Santrock, 1989).

Erikson (1950) proposed the concept of “epigenesis” to convey that human development unfolds from part to whole, with elements of the chronologically appropriate ability or personality feature gradually emerging in a prescribed sequence until the functional whole was achieved. The term has since been used within the developmental psychopathology theoretical perspective to also apply to the chronological unfolding over the life span of the disease process, such as schizophrenia (e.g., Cannon, Rosso, Bearden, Sanchez, & Hadley, 1999). He saw this emergence as occurring within an interactional and adaptive framework, within which the individual develops through interaction and adaptation to the immediate social environment as well as to the larger society, culture, and histor- ical context. Thus, Erikson postulated that mutual responsiveness on the part of both the individual and society was necessary for optimal development.

Another key life span concept associated with the work of Freud and Erikson is the life stage. The life stage is seen as an age-related period of life characterized by predictable features, tensions, and changes and leads into a subsequent stage. Erikson formulated the notion of the psychosocial crisis, a period of tension and disorganization centered on a stage-specific theme, the resolution of which was the goal of the transition phase from one stage to the next. Freud and Erikson conceptualized stages as prescriptive, in that their sequence was unvarying and defined optimal mature development, was associated with specific tensions/con- flicts, and was prerequisite, in that each stage must be worked through and the associated conflicts resolved before successful transition to the next stage could be accomplished. Freud’s and Erikson’s life stage models are presented in Hoffman et al. (1988, pp. 30 and 32).

Erikson (1950) moved beyond Freud’s life stage constructs in proposing that ego development in childhood is a process of identification, which he defined as internalization of another person’s values and standards in an attempt to become like that person or parts of that person. It was in adolescence that Erikson observed (1968) the identity was formed through a process of:

repudiation and mutual assimilation of childhood identifications and their absorption in a new configuration, which in turn, is dependent on the process by which a society (often through subsocieties) identi- fies the young individual, recognizing him as somebody who had to become the way he is and who, being the way he is, is taken for grant- ed. (p. 159)

In Erikson’s theory, then, the concept of the mature ego identity as a complex sense of self, comprising societally-defined life roles as well as aspects of person- ality, is crucial. The “identity crisis” in adolescence is normative and revolves around issues of personal sameness and historical continuity, which serve as a link between the individual and the larger society. Prolonged adolescence, in Erikson’s schema, provides a psychosocial moratorium in which the sexually mature individual engages in free role experimentation, sanctioned by society, in

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order to find a defined niche in society, while postponing adult sexual roles. Erickson saw this as a second period of delay in the life cycle, with the first being Freud’s psychosexual moratorium of the latency life stage, which permits the young to learn the basics of society’s work situations before embarking on mature sexual roles, such as spouse and parent. Erikson used the term identity diffusion, and later the term identity confusion (1968), to describe the state of mild confu- sion commonly experienced by adolescents in the process of identity formation. James Marcia (1980) developed this concept further to apply to adolescents who are not in an identity crisis, because they are not committing themselves to occu- pational or ideological goals and are not concerned about the situation.

Based on the mature and socially acceptable ego identity, the young adult, in Erikson’s schema, could then take up the mature sexual role in seeking a spouse or intimate partner. In the middle adult stage, the individual was seen as transi- tioning to the ego strength made up of procreativity, productivity, and creativity, such as in forming a family and mentoring future generations on a personal, soci- etal or even global level. The last stage of life was that of ego integrity, which involves the older adult’s acceptance of his/her own live as meaningful and coherent, and the perspective that one has handled life’s tasks in the best way possible under given circumstances.

Contemporary theorists have proposed expanded models, particularly in the adolescent and adult stages. Two such models, proposed by Vaillant (1993, p. 145) and Newman and Newman (1988, p. 45).

Erikson (1982, 1986, 1988) built on his earlier work in the last life stage, as he and his wife reflected on their own adult development in later life, conceptualizing aging in terms of revisitation of earlier stages of development within his Stage 8 of Integrity vs. Despair.

Erikson and other psychodynamic theorists, such as Vaillant (1993), acknowl- edge developmental influences such as culture, race, and gender, but tend to view intrapsychic and biological factors, including IQ, as being more important to development.

Other theorists conceptualize human development as being more fluid throughout the life span, rather than the product of invariant and chronological- ly sequential stages, and as being more heavily influenced by social roles (Goffman, 1959; Neugarten, 1985), demographic variables, such as gender, race, or socioeconomic status, culture and historical “moment,” and even the recipro- cal, interactive effects of the immediate physical/social environment (Gunnar & Thelen, 1989).

Resiliency Theory

The concept of resilience was developed to “describe relative resistance to psy- chosocial risk experiences” (Rutter, 1999b, p. 119). It has been further defined as “a dynamic process encompassing positive adaptation within the context of sig- nificant adversity” (Luthar, Cicchetti, & Becker, 2000) and “the process of coping with adversity, change, or opportunity in a manner that results in the identifica- tion, fortification, and enrichment of resilient qualities or protective factors”

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(Richardson, 2002, p. 308). Research on stress reactions and recovery from stress, with implications for education, has also informed this theory (Benotsch et al., 2000; D’Imperio, Dubow, & Ippolito, 2000; Dubow, Schmidt, McBride, Edwards, & Merk, 1993; Dubow, Tisak, Causey, Hryshko, & Reid, 1991; Fontana, Schwartz, & Rosenheck, 1997; Garmezy & Rutter, 1983; Golding, 1989; Keenan & Newton, 1984; Lazarus, 1993; Lazarus & Folkman, 1984). Thus, resilience is conceptualized as relative resistance to psychosocial stressors or adversity. Although varying models of resiliency have been tested, researchers and theorists agree that the construct is salient in the context of stress and adversity and is not operative in the absence of environmental stressors ( Jew, Green, & Kroger, 1999; Rutter, 1999).

The central constructs of the theory include risk factors/mechanisms, vulnera- bility factors, and protective factors/mechanisms. Risk factors and mechanisms have been conceptualized in alternate ways in the literature: either as 1) the events or conditions of adversity (for example, poverty) themselves for which there is empirical evidence of association with psychopathology, illness, or dys- functional developmental outcomes or as 2) factors that operate to reduce resist- ance to stressors/adversity. Vulnerability factors are traits, genetic predisposi- tions, or environmental and biological deficits (such as cognitive impairments) for which there is empirical evidence of heightened response, sensitivity, or reac- tion to stressors or risk factors. The constructs of vulnerability factors and risk fac- tors are sometimes used interchangeably in the literature. Protective factors and mechanisms are traits, contextual characteristics, and interventions that operate to enhance or promote resistance, or which may moderate the effect of risk fac- tors, and for which there is empirical evidence of association with health and functional developmental outcomes. Rutter (1987) suggests that protective mechanisms may operate in one of four ways to allow overcoming odds in the face of adversity: by reducing risk impact, by reducing negative chain reactions to risk factors, by promoting resiliency traits (i.e., the opposite of vulnerability fac- tors, such as self-efficacy and optimism), and by setting up new opportunities for success. Reducing risk impact can occur not only by way of buffering events and social networks, but also by inoculation due to successful coping with earlier, milder stressful events. Protective and risk mechanisms have been found to vary according to the type of adversity, type of resilient outcome, and life stage under analysis; risk factors in one context may be protective in another (Rutter, 1999; Smith-Osborne, 2006; Ungar, 2004).

Research on resilience among children, adolescents, and young adults has found a positive relationship between spirituality, social support, social capital, income, and personal/family traits (e.g., hardiness, coherence, social compe- tence and self-efficacy, normal attachment, healthy attributions, active stress appraisal, and coping), and resistance to a variety of risk factors, including psy- chiatric disorders and school failure/drop-out (Daining, 2005; Garmezy, 1991; Luthar et al., 2000; Masten & Coatsworth, 1998; Richardson, 2002; Rutter, 1999a; Smith & Carson, 1997; Werner, 1992). Research on military families dealing with war-induced separation and trauma has found associations between resilience and similar protective mechanisms (Benotsch et al., 2000; Lavee et al., 1985; McCubbin & Dahl, 1976; McCubbin, Dahl, Lester, Benson, & Robertson, 1976;

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McCubbin, Hunter, & Dahl, 1975; McCubbin et al., 1980; McCubbin & McCubbin, 1996; Patterson, 2002; Sutker et al., 1995; Thoits, 1983).

Units of Analysis

Life span theory is most commonly applied to the individual and family as the units of analysis (McCubbin et al., 1980). However, Erikson (1962, 1968, 1969) pro- posed that this theory could apply to humanity as an entity, thus not being limit- ed to one’s interactions with individuals, groups, or specific environments/insti- tutions.

Subsequent theorists, such as Coles (1990, 1991, 1997) and Strauss and Howe (1991), have focused on the more macro-level implications of Erikson’s concepts, for example, in investigating human development within generations and reli- gious reference groups.

Like life span theory, resiliency theory has been most commonly applied to individuals and family units that are consistent with these theories’ shared devel- opmental focus. More recent investigations of specific risk and protective factors, however, have shown a trend toward the examination of macro-level or contextu- al variables (Herrenkohl et al., 2003; Schafft, 2006; Smith-Osborne, 2005, 2006; Ungar, 2004), such as neighborhoods (e.g., disorganized, residentially unstable) and institutional policies.

Aspects of Human Development

Rapid advances in the knowledge base about the biological underpinnings of human development tend to lend support to conceptualizations of the life stages that are more fluid throughout the life span, rather than invariant or even neces- sarily sequential (Robbins et al., 1998; Thelen & Smith, 1994). Incorporation of this new knowledge is seen most clearly in researchers who focus on adult devel- opment and aging. George Vaillant (1993), for example, pointed out that:

If adult development is to be conceived as a psychobiological process then it must conform to biology, and neither to social mores nor to chronological age. This means that, as with shaving and menstruation, not everybody will reach a given stage at the same chronological age (p. 166).

Similarly, Sharon McQuaide, in her research on “Women at Midlife” (1998), examined biological and cohort variables to add to life span theory. She found that “The generation of women now entering midlife differs from previous gener- ations” (p. 21), and that women who were “’blocked from being in the world’ (through disability, poor health, involuntary unemployment, limited spending power)” (p. 29) were less likely to achieve well-being and other indicators of gen- erativity, Erikson’s designation for the midlife stage issue. Life span theory, then, has the flexibility to address various aspects of human development throughout its stages.

Resiliency theory has, from its inception, been remarkable for encompassing the broad biopsychosocial aspects of human development, as well as for cross- referencing empirical findings on normative or healthy human development with findings on pathological development (Cichetti & Cannon, 1999). Early develop-

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ment of the theory gave more attention to individual characteristics and to fac- tors present in childhood, which were associated with adult outcomes, thus priv- ileging enduring traits from earlier life stages. Although recent cross-sectional studies have begun to offer more possibilities for developing an understanding of resiliency in middle and later adulthood, this theory’s current utility is, in its application to the broad aspects of human development, from infancy through early adulthood.

Philosophical Underpinnings

The life span theory philosophical underpinnings, most of which have been noted previously in this paper, include: a health and adaptation orientation, rather than a medical illness-oriented orientation; a special interest in the earlier stages of life; an ontogenetic perspective with emphasis on predictable and dis- continuous life stages; a transition period between stages, which may be charac- terized by increased tension and disorganization (Erikson’s “psychosocial crises”); an intrapsychic focus and an interactive focus; and lifelong development. As noted previously, the life span theorists who built on Erikson’s work have gone far in addressing the limitations of many of these philosophical underpinnings, as well as the biases built into the original theory. Resiliency theory is characterized as similarly salutogenic, but with a philosophical orientation toward the linear, cumulative connections between earlier life stages and adulthood for those at risk. Resiliency research to date has been largely conducted by Western scientists and has had a linear, positivistic paradigm. Thus, it has been criticized as hege- monic and, thereby, limited in its scope in accounting for diverse resiliency expe- riences. Philosophically, resiliency theory is more heavily focused than life span theory on interactions between the environment and person in terms of environ- mental adversity and personal protective traits. As with life span theory, more recent work in resiliency theory has tipped the balance philosophically more in the direction of contextual protective variables, often operationalized as social groups and community and institutional characteristics.

Strengths and Weaknesses

The evident strengths of life span theory include its expansion of understanding of personality development through the life span, its utility across a variety of human service settings and functions, and its “generativity,” to borrow Erikson’s term and reapply it to theory-building. Life span theory gave rise to a rich pletho- ra of human development models, not only to increase understanding of specific life stages or the entire life cycle, but also to address intermediate and macro-level entities, such as families, family-run businesses, social movements led by “great” personalities, faith communities and religious reference groups, and entire gen- erational cohorts. In so doing, this theory has been applied to disciplines beyond the human service domain. For example, the sociological concept of the bour- geois bohemian (Brooks, 2001), the theological concept of Gen X religiosity (Beaudoin, 2000), and the economic concept of style as a form of self-expression (Postrel, 2003), all owe their origins ultimately to life span theory.

Several of the most cogent points of criticism of life span theory weaknesses have been noted above: the Euro-American, middle class, male bias; the rigidity

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of the life stage concept; and the notable lack of empirical support. Another, less frequently discussed weakness is the theory’s failure to address or adequately explain the sources of the stage shifts (Haroutunian, 1983; Oyama, 1985) and the application of those stage shifts across domains (Thelen, 1987). Concomitantly, the theory has been targeted by critics for failure to account for the emergence of new forms in each stage (e.g., why do immobilized Hopi babies start walking at the same age as mobile WASP babies) in the context of the nature versus nurture dichotomy.

Resiliency theory shows promise as an emerging theory, which extends life span theory in offering predictive and explanatory constructs relevant to healthy development in the face of adversity. Its constructs and models have been used flexibly by social workers in concert with other theoretical perspectives, such as the ecosystems perspective (Fraser, 1997; Gilgun, 1997), systems theory (Ungar, 2004), the differential resiliency model (Palmer, 1997), and the social develop- ment model (Herrenkohl et al., 2003). Furthermore, this theory has demonstrat- ed that it offers both a viable platform for developmental research and a concep- tual framework capable of elegant and parsimonious evolution based on that research. Resiliency theory has the advantage of being empirically based from its inception and of thereby incorporating ongoing findings and constructs from biology and neuroscience, such as neuroplasticity (Rutter, 1999b). It has begun to demonstrate utility in application across human service settings and practice models and across life stages and trajectories (Greene, 2007).

One important limitation of resiliency theory is its restriction to application only to populations in adversity or populations experiencing trauma or high stress levels. Theoretical constructs may be misapplied in research or practice to normative life cycle issues or moderately stressful events. The constructs them- selves have been criticized as tautological and are inconsistently defined across studies, thus limiting validity and reliability of the research. Considerable effort has been made by leading resiliency theorists, particularly in the last decade, to clarifying and standardize these definitions. This theory has also been criticized for its positivist research paradigm to date, with consequential bias towards lin- ear explanatory models based on predictable, hierarchical relationships between protective and risk factors (Ungar, 2004). This tendency may limit its utility in application to diverse cultures and populations. On the other hand, the original empirical basis for the development of the theory consisted heavily of studies of cross-cultural and ethnic minority populations, which may be evidence to count- er this criticism.

Empirical Support

Life span theory has been criticized as lacking an empirical base of support, much like psychodynamic theory in general has been criticized. It is true that many the- orists in this perspective use clinical case and cross-cultural observation (Erikson, 1968; Coles, 1990; Greenspan, 1992) and, in some instances, examination of the lives of great men and women, as their primary methodology for generating the theory. For example, Erikson studied the lives of Luther and Gandhi (1962, 1969), while Vaillant looked at Florence Nightingale’s life in his analysis of women’s adult development (Vaillant, 1993). Coles is robust in his defense of these clinically ori-

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ented methodologies in generating rich, contextually-based theoretical con- structs, and is critical of the biases and limitations he finds inherent in empirical, quantitative methodologies (1990, pp. 22-39).

However, Vaillant’s longitudinal study of adult men (1977), his follow-up study of male adults from a different socioeconomic group (1993), and recent quantita- tive studies of adult development (McQuaide, 1998; Norman, McCluskey- Fawcett, & Ashcraft, 2002) have provided empirical support both for the life span concepts derived from ego defense theory and for life stage concepts.

In general, the life span theory has maximal utility when used to describe and explain the human development of individuals and, at a probabilistic rather than prescriptive level (Robbins et al., 1998). Erikson indicated his general concur- rence with this summation in his discussion of the misapplication of his concept of the psychosocial crisis (1968, pp. 15-43).

As previously described in this paper, resiliency theory has been conceived on an empirical basis, with two examples being Werner and Smith’s study of infants in Hawaii and the English and Romanian Adoptees Study Team’s investigation of institutionalized children who were later adopted (Rutter, Quinton, & Hill, 1990; Rutter & ERA, 1998). Resiliency theory-based empirical findings have been useful in refining important practice modalities used in social work. For example, such findings suggested a shift in the focus on family therapy to include assessment of the differential impact of family communication patterns on different family members, depending on individual vulnerability factors and peer group influ- ences (Rutter, 1999b; Greene, 2007). Richardson (2002) has suggested that there have been three waves of resiliency research: the first wave focused on identifying resilient qualities in person and environment, the second wave focused on spec- ifying resilient processes effective in overcoming the odds, and the third and cur- rent wave in identifying innate transformational processes. Empirical testing of resiliency constructs and models is ongoing in several disciplines, including social work (e.g., Finkelstein et al., 2005; Hrabowski, Freeman, Maton, & Greif, 1998, 2002; Kennedy, 2005; Wright, Fopma-Loy, & Fischer, 2005).

IMPLICATIONS FOR SOCIAL WORK

Consistency with Social Work Values

Despite its lack of empirical evidence, life span theory has enjoyed widespread acceptance, not only among social workers, but among the wide range of human service disciplines, particularly those with a psychodynamic theoretical perspec- tive regardless of discipline. Thus, part of its appeal has come from its expansion of Freudian theory and its correction of some of the limitations and biases of that theory. Its optimistic, strengths-oriented perspective, and its applicability to some domains other than the individual (McCubbin et al., 1980) have shown con- sistency with social work values. The utility of its concepts and theoretical con- structs has been amply demonstrated by the variety and magnitude of applica- tions that have been made to practice issues (e.g., Streever & Wodarski, 1984; Snow, 2003; Smith-Osborne, 2005b), to theory building (e.g., Elder, 1998; George, 1993; Ingersoll-Dayton, Krause, & Morgan, 2002; Vaillant, 1993), and to popular

161Smith-Osborne/LIFE SPAN AND RESILIENCY THEORY

understanding of the nature of human life (e.g., Sheehy, 1976). The psychody- namic life span theorists deemphasized the biological determinism of strict Freudian theory, and their theoretical concepts focus on successful negotiation of the life stage transitions as a normative, not as pathological process. These factors are seen as consistent with social work values, such as client self-determination and strengths-based practice.

Contemporary social workers are cautioned to be mindful that the originators of this theory base operated almost exclusively within a Euro-American middle class framework, which limits the utility of the theory for application to diverse cultures and classes. The male bias inherent in the original theory base has been partially addressed through research and additional theory formulation on the development of women through the life span (Gilligan, 1978, 1982, 1991; Friedan, 1963, 1977; and 1993; McQuaide, 1998).

The social work emphasis on person-in-environment is a good fit with life span theory’s perspective of human development as proceeding interactively. The lim- itations of the theory in taking macro-level influences into account, and the expansion work in this area by Strauss and Howe and others, is noted above.

Resiliency theory shares with life span theory the excellent fit with social work values detailed above, while avoiding the cultural, class and gender biases that have been noted in life span theory. Its focus on vulnerability and populations at risk makes it particularly useful to the social work mission. This theory has been criticized as being less consistent with social work values than it could be, due to the hegemonic tendencies inherent in its positivistic philosophical underpin- nings; however, new qualitative and mixed methods research, undertaken within a constructivist paradigm, may develop this theory so as to correct these tenden- cies.

Next Steps for Theory Progression

The current status of life span theory within social work remains that of wide- spread, even uncritical acceptance in its application, in a variety of human serv- ice settings, from child welfare agencies to parent education classes. Social work- ers who practice or conduct research with specific age groups are informed by this theory in understanding the unique aspects of that age group or birth cohort (e.g., McQuaide, 1998; Norman et al., 2002). In social work education, it is taught in theory and human behavior classes at all levels of social work preparation. The concept of developmental stages has been applied to student development through the field instruction process in social work, as well as in counseling and psychology (Deal, 2000, 2002). The utility of this theoretical perspective and its value-fit with the social work profession are likely to ensure its continued place within the discipline. In order to enhance its viability as a foundation for best practices, life span theory must take the next steps in theory progression by strengthening empirical support for both its micro and macro levels across life stages, including the incorporation of recent advances in human neuroscience evidence. Further development of models for middle and older adult life stages, differentiated by gender and ethnicity, is also needed. Continued attention must be paid to the dissemination of updated life span theory development by social work educators, text writers, and researchers.

162 ADVANCES IN SOCIAL WORK

The current status of resiliency theory in social work is that of an emerging the- ory; its main constructs are used more often than the entire, articulated theoreti- cal framework, both in social work research and education, while frequency of practitioners’ use of this theory and its evidence base is unclear. Since it repre- sents an extension of more well-established life span theory and shares many of that theory’s strengths and acceptability for the profession, it is likely that resilien- cy theory will become more widely used in social work education the near future, as indicated by its use in at least two recently published texts in the Human Behavior in the Social Environment curriculum (Greene, 2007; Haight & Taylor, 2007). The next steps for progression of this theory should include cross-section- al studies to elucidate applicability of the known protective mechanisms to young adult, middle adult, and older adult life stages, and to generational cohorts. Cross-sectional and longitudinal studies are needed to examine the operation of protective and risk mechanisms for particular resilient outcomes, such as educa- tional attainment, health disparities and perceived level of wellness, quality of life, and vocational achievement, to build on results of the most common, previ- ously studied outcome of psychopathology versus mental wellness. Qualitative and mixed methods research designs must be applied to extend theory develop- ment to diverse cultures and perceived operationalizations of resiliency within the lived experience of persons across the life span and across conditions of adversity. Further discussion is needed in the literature to refine the operational- ization of this theory’s constructs and models and to promote common usage of the same in research. Articulation of practice applications of the theory, followed by empirical testing of related interventions, is necessary to integrate this theory into our understanding of human behavior in the social environment and to add to the evidence base for practice with populations in adversity.

Resiliency theory offers a rich opportunity for social work to refine evidence- based developmental theory for the vulnerable populations it is our unique priv- ilege to serve.

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Author’s Note:

Address correspondence to: Alexa Smith-Osborne, Ph.D., assistant professor, The University of Texas at Arlington School of Social Work, 211 S. Cooper, Box 19129, Arlington, TX 76019, USA. e-mail: [email protected].

168 ADVANCES IN SOCIAL WORK

https://doi.org/10.1177/1044389419873240

Families in Society: The Journal of Contemporary Social Services 2019, Vol. 100(4) 351 –366 © The Author(s) 2019 Article reuse guidelines: sagepub.com/journals-permissions DOI: 10.1177/1044389419873240 journals.sagepub.com/home/fis

Article

In the early 1990s Germain (1990, 1994) recom- mended that social workers use the emerging life course perspective (LCP) for under- standing human behavior. She and colleague Gitterman applied the LCP to the ongoing development of a social work practice model they called the life model (Germain & Gitter- man, 1996). In 2005, Hutchison provided an updated report on the LCP and suggested that the perspective has promise for assisting social workers to bridge the micro and macro worlds in their practice. Since that time, researchers across several disciplines have continued to use the main themes of the LCP to add breadth and depth of understanding of individual and collec- tive human behavior and the ways in which they are connected. The basic concepts and major themes have not changed in the past 15 years, but they have been elaborated by ongoing

research. This article provides an updated understanding of the LCP and its implications for social workers.

The LCP looks at how biological, psycho- logical, and socio-cultural factors act inde- pendently, cumulatively, and interactively to produce great diversity in life course journeys and shape people’s lives across family gen- erations. It is a relatively recent attempt to contextualize human behavior, to understand how people and their environments influence each other and change over time. A primary

873240 FISXXX10.1177/1044389419873240Families in SocietyHutchison research-article2019

1PhD, professor emeritus, Virginia Commonwealth University

Corresponding Author: Elizabeth D. Hutchison, School of Social Work, Virginia Commonwealth University. Mail: 3275 Iris Rose Drive, Reno, NV 89509. Email: [email protected]

An Update on the Relevance of the Life Course Perspective for Social Work

Elizabeth D. Hutchison1

Abstract In recent years, the life course perspective has received increasing support from researchers across a number of behavioral science disciplines. The purpose of this article is to examine the relevance to social work of selected findings of the last 15 years of empirical investigation of life course concepts and themes. This discussion is organized around five basic concepts (cohorts, transitions, trajectories, life events, and turning points) and six interrelated themes (interplay of human lives and historical time, timing of lives, linked or interdependent lives, human agency in making choices, diversity in life course trajectories, and developmental risk and protection). Implications of life course theory and research for social work are overviewed.

Keywords evidence-based /evidence-informed practice, modes of practice, theory /conceptual models applied to practice, development across the lifespan, subjects of practice, disparities/ social determinants of health, equity issues/ human rights /social justice, family systems and functioning

Manuscript received: May 22, 2019; Revised: July 23, 2019; Accepted: August 6, 2019

Disposition editor: Sondra J. Fogel

352 Families in Society: The Journal of Contemporary Social Services 100(4)

contribution of the LCP is its focus on the life course as a whole, on how what happens in one period of a person’s life is connected to what happens in other periods of that person’s life. For example, it calls attention to the ways in which what happens in adolescence is influenced by what happened in childhood and also influences the long period of adult- hood (Johnson, Crosnoe, & Elder, 2011).

In the past 15 years, the LCP has grown in popularity across a broad range of disciplines (Alwin, 2012). It has been used to understand the pathways of families (Min, Silverstein, & Lendon, 2012), organizations (King, 2009), and social movements (Della Porta & Diani, 2006) as well as individual life journeys. It has potential for understanding patterns of stability and change in all types of social systems. Ger- ontologists increasingly use the perspective to understand how old age is shaped by events experienced earlier in life (Seabrook & Avison, 2012), but it has also become an increasingly popular perspective for considering adolescent and young adult transitions. The LCP has become a major theoretical framework in crim- inology (Prior, 2013) and the leading perspec- tive driving longitudinal study of physical and mental health (Bauldry, Shanahan, Boardman, Miech, & Macmillan, 2012; Evans, Crogan, Belyea, & Coon, 2009). It is also being used to understand patterns of lifetime drug use (Lind- ström, Modén, & Rosvall, 2013).

The LCP was developed from and contin- ues to be amplified by empirical research. The early roots came from two different streams of research: Glen Elder, Jr.’s (1974) analysis of three pioneering large-scale longitudinal stud- ies, and inquiry by social historians of how families change and adapt under changing his- torical conditions (Hareven, 1978). Research- ers in both of these traditions were interested in the social, cultural, and economic contexts of human behavior. The social historians were interested in telling the historical story from the point of view of ordinary people rather than from the traditional vantage point of elites and focused particularly on the extraordinary cop- ing mechanisms families have used in the face of adversity. In the ongoing development of the

LCP, large-scale national longitudinal studies have continued be a dominant method of study, and new methods of quantitative data analysis have been designed for studying specific con- cepts (see Elder & Giele, 2009). The social history tradition of using life stories and other qualitative methods to study the context of human behavior continues to play a role in ongoing LCP theoretical development (Sprague, Scanlon, & Pantalone, 2017).

In keeping with these traditions, the most common method of empirical research cited in this article is large-scale panel national longitu- dinal study (12 studies) following the same people over time, using representative samples, convenience samples, and stratified probability samples. Seven of the cited studies report on repeated cross-sectional studies using large- scale nationally representative sample studies taken at different time points to track trends in social life. Four of the cited studies analyze cross-sectional surveys based on convenience samples. Other cited research includes three studies based on qualitative interviews, two experimental studies, two large-scale cross- sectional random surveys, two population- based studies, and one cross-sectional national representative sample study. Consistent with trends in life course research, two cited studies use mixed methods, triangulating national rep- resentative samples with qualitative interviews. The cited studies are found in peer-reviewed journals covering the disciplines of addiction studies, criminology, demography, family stud- ies, gerontology, medicine, psychology, public health, and sociology. They include samples from Australia, Canada, China, 27 European countries, Israel, Japan, South Korea, and the United States.

Basic Concepts of the Life Course Perspective

Fifteen years of research have elaborated the handful of LCP staple concepts noted in Hutchison (2005): cohorts, transitions, trajec- tories, life events, and turning points. Each of these concepts is summarized here and shows up again in discussion of major themes.

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Cohorts

Life course scholars find the concept of cohort to be particularly useful to emphasize the important influence of the historical context on human behavior, one of the major themes to be discussed later. A cohort is a group of persons who were born during the same time period and who experience particular social changes within a given culture in the same sequence and at approximately the same age. Generation is another term used to convey a similar meaning, but life course scholars often make a distinction between the two terms, suggesting that a birth cohort becomes a gen- eration only when it develops some shared sense of its social history and a common iden- tity (see Alwin, McCammon, & Hofer, 2006).

Cohorts differ in size, and these differences affect opportunities for education, work, and family life. The baby boom that followed World War II (1946-1964) in the United States produced a large cohort that faced tight com- petition as they entered the labor market, a situation that drove wages down and unem- ployment up (Pearlin & Skaff, 1996). Baby boomers adapted by marrying later, having fewer children than earlier generations, and increasing the presence of mothers in the labor force. Generation X, born from 1965 to 1979, grew up with fewer siblings and experi- enced higher rates of parental divorce than the baby boomers. They have been less likely than earlier generations to marry (Carlson, 2009). The Millenial Generation, born from 1980 to the late 1990s, has now surpassed the Baby Boomers as the largest adult demo- graphic group in the United States. They have been found to have more student loan debt, poverty, and unemployment when compared to the previous two generations at the same age, and it is not clear how these circum- stances will affect the long-term trajectories of their lives (Drake, 2014). They are also more ethnically diverse than previous cohorts and grew up in a time of great technological innovation. Not surprisingly, they have been found to be more tolerant of diversity and more media-connected than earlier cohorts (Fry, Igielnik, & Patten, 2018).

Although it is too early to know what major social, cultural, or economic factors might influence the adult trajectories of Generation Z, born from the late 1990s until about 2012, recent survey research indicates that they are as large as the Millennial Generation and even more diverse. As children and youth, they have lived in households that are, on average, more well educated and more affluent than any earlier cohort, and they are on track to be the best-educated generation yet (Fry & Parker, 2018). As they enter adulthood, they are reporting attitudes on social issues such as sexual orientation, gender identity, and cli- mate change that are very similar to the atti- tudes of the Millennial Generation, attitudes that are more liberal than the Generation X and Baby Boomer generations (Parker, Graf, & Igielnik, 2019). It remains to be seen how the Millennial and Generation Z cohorts will adapt to changing circumstances across the life course and, more importantly, what effects they will have on major social institutions.

These four cohorts have grown up with different communication technologies. Baby Boomers grew up as television was becoming ubiquitous; Generation Xers grew up in the computer revolution, Millenials as the Internet exploded, and Generation Zers with multi-pur- pose mobile devices (Dimock, 2019). These differences will have an impact on receptivity to different social work interventions.

Transitions

The LCP puts a spotlight on the numerous transitions in roles and statuses experienced by individuals across the life course (Torres & Young, 2016). A transition can produce both stress and opportunity (Benner, 2011). Many transitions relate to family life: marriages, births, divorces, remarriages, and death, all transitions that involve entrances and exits of family members. Social workers McGoldrick, Preto, and Carter (2016) make a distinction between normative life course transitions and unpredictable transitions in the lives of individ- uals and families. Health professionals have used the LCP and the concept of transitions to understand role changes that occur in the

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family caregiving of older adults (Carpentier, Bernard, Grenier, & Guberman, 2010). The concept of transitions is also increasingly used to study the migration/immigration process (Gong, Xu, Fujishiro, & Takeuchi, 2011). Transitions in collectivities other than the fam- ily, such as small groups, communities, and formal organizations, also involve exits and entrances of members as well as changes in statuses and roles. The concept of transitions is useful for social workers, no matter the setting or role; in all settings, social workers must be mindful of the stress as well as the opportunity for positive change created by transitions.

Trajectories

Each life course transition is embedded in a trajectory that gives form to the life course (Alwin, 2012). Transitions are entry points to a new life phase. Trajectories involve relatively stable long-term processes and patterns of life, involving multiple transitions (Ruark et al., 2016). For example, Hser, Hamilton, and Niv (2009) recommend the LCP for understanding drug use trajectories (or careers) that may include onset of use, acceleration of use, regu- lar use, cessation of use, and relapse. Treatment may or may not be included in this trajectory. Trajectories are best understood in the rearview mirror; the multiple transitions of a trajectory are usually not anticipated at earlier points along the life course. Because individuals and families live in multiple spheres, their lives are made up of multiple intertwined trajectories—such as educational trajectories, family life trajectories, health trajectories, and work trajectories (Leong, Eggerth, & Flynn, 2014). These strands are woven together to form a life story.

Life Events

A life event is a significant occurrence that may produce serious and long-lasting effects for an individual or a collectivity. We experi- ence both positive and negative life events, but researchers have paid much more attention to the impact of negative life events. Psycholo- gists have long studied the short- and long- term impact of stressful life events on child, adolescent, and adult functioning. More

recently, they have also studied the relation- ships among stressful life events, genetics, and personality. Three examples of that research are presented here.

A Swiss research team (Orth & Luciano, 2015) studied the relationships among self- esteem (defined as one’s evaluation of one’s worth), narcissism (characterized by grandi- ose self-concept, feelings of superiority, and self-centeredness), and stressful life events. They found that people who are high in nar- cissism have an increased likelihood of expe- riencing a larger number of stressful life events. They also found that an increase in stressful life events was predictive of lower self-esteem.

A team of international researchers (Salvatore et al., 2015) studied a U.S. sample to investigate the interaction of stressful life events and the GABRA2 gene in producing intergenerational continuity in parents’ and adolescents’ external- izing behavior. They found that parental exter- nalizing behavior predicts a greater number of stressful life events for their adolescents, which in turn predicts higher levels of adolescent externalizing behavior. However, they found that the pattern of parental externalizing → stressful life events → adolescent externaliz- ing was stronger for those adolescents with a specific GABRA2 genotype.

Another international research team (Hygen et al., 2015) studied longitudinal data from a sample of children living in Norway to investigate the relationships among child exposure to stressful life events, the COMT gene, and aggression. They found that chil- dren with the COMT gene were more likely to behave aggressively in reaction to stressful life events than children without the gene. Taken together, these three studies suggest that both genetic and personality factors play a role in how people respond to stressful life events, and that the same interventions may have different outcomes for different people.

Turning Points

A turning point is a time when major change occurs in the life course trajectory, a lasting change not just a detour. Turning points may occur in the individual life course, but social

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science researchers also study turning points in social systems such as families, communi- ties, organizations, cultures, economies, and governments. At the individual level, the turn- ing point may involve a transformation in how the person views the self in relation to the world and/or a transformation in how the per- son responds to risk and opportunity (Cappe- liez, Beaupré, & Robitaille, 2008; Ferraro & Shippee, 2009).

The addition of the concept of turning point is an important way that the LCP departs from traditional developmental theory. In life course theory, the human life course is not smooth and predictable. Inertia tends to keep us on a particular trajectory but turning points add twists and turns or even reversals to the life course. One research team interviewed older adults aged 60 to 87 about perceived turning points in their lives and found that the most frequently reported turning points involved health and family. The perceived turning points occurred across the entire life course, but there was some clustering at midlife (ages 45-64) (Cappeliez et al., 2008). Gender differ- ences have been found in reported turning points in samples of young adults as well as sample of older adults, with women reporting more turning points in the family domain and men reporting more turning points in the work domain (Cappeliez et al., 2008). It is not clear whether this gender difference will be mani- fested in future cohorts if women’s work tra- jectories continue to become more similar to men’s. Researchers have studied the turning points that lead women to leave abusive rela- tionships (Khaw & Hardesty, 2007); the turn- ing points in the care-giving careers of Mexican American women who care for older family members (Evans et al., 2009), and the role transitions that can become turning points in a criminal career, leading to desisting from criminal activities (Kirk, 2012).

Most life course pathways include multiple turning points, some that send life trajectories off track and others that bring life trajectories back on track. In fact, we could say that the intent of many social work interventions is to precipitate a turning point that will get life

course trajectories on track (Olsson, Strand, & Kristiansen, 2014). Such interventions may occur at the individual, family, small group, community, organizational, or institutional level. By calling attention to turning points, the LCP puts a spotlight on human strengths and capacity for positive change, even revolu- tionary change.

Major Themes of the Life Course Perspective

In 1994, Elder (1994) identified four domi- nant, and interrelated, themes in the life course approach: interplay of human lives and histori- cal time, timing of lives, linked or interdepen- dent lives, and human agency in making choices. Two other related themes were later identified by Elder (1998) and Michael Shanahan (2000): diversity in life course trajectories and devel- opmental risk and protection. These six themes continue to be the framework for life course researchers, with different researchers empha- sizing different themes. Each of these themes, and relevant examples of recent research about them, are discussed below.

Interplay of Human Lives and Historical Time

Persons born in different years face different social, political, and economic worlds, with different options and constraints. Historical eras may produce cohort effects when distinc- tive formative experiences are shared at the same point in the life course and have a lasting impact on a birth cohort. The same events of a particular historical era may affect different cohorts in different ways. For example, Aus- tralian researchers (Page, Milner, Morrell, & Taylor, 2013) found that the cohort born in the years immediately following 1974 was more prone to suicide across the young adult period than earlier cohorts. The researchers also found that this cohort faced higher rates of unemployment and underemployment as they entered young adulthood than earlier cohorts and propose a relationship between these two factors.

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Analysis of large data sets by a number of researchers provide forceful evidence that changes in social institutions impinge on family and individual life course trajectories (Vikat et al., 2007). Researchers have examined the impact of globalization, declining labor mar- ket opportunities, and rising housing costs on young adult transitions (Arnett, 2015). Tran- sitions associated with young adulthood (leav- ing home, marriage, first parenthood) are occurring later for the current cohort of young adults than for their parents in many countries, particularly in countries with weak welfare states. Military service during non-war eras often has been found to be a protective factor for later health and mortality, but this benefit does not accrue to veterans who serve during war eras (Landes, Wilder, & Williams, 2017). Shifting immigration policies and attitudes toward particular immigrant groups change the landscape for immigrants over different historical eras (Torres & Young, 2016).

Public policy often lags behind such social changes, presenting social workers with a responsibility to keep the public informed about the impact of changing social condi- tions on individuals, families, communities, and organizations. For example, many service members from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are living with horrific combat injuries; others are experiencing substance abuse, post- traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), relationship problems, and work problems from prolonged periods of combat stress (Tanielian & Jaycox, 2008; Wadsworth & Southwell, 2011). Social workers in all practice settings should be alert to possibilities for engaging the involved mili- tary families in supportive services and to the need for more supportive public policies and programs.

Timing of Lives

Every society appears to use age as an impor- tant variable, and many social institutions are organized, in part, around age: age for starting school, age to be legally recognized as an adult, retirement age, and so on. Age is a prom- inent attribute in efforts by social scientists to bring order and predictability to understanding

human behavior. Life course scholars are inter- ested in the age at which specific life events and transitions occur, which they refer to as timing of lives. They may classify entrances and exits from particular statuses and roles as “off-time” or “on-time,” based on social norms or shared expectations about the timing of such transitions (McFarland, Pudrovska, Schieman, Ellison, & Bierman, 2013). One research team found that people who are diagnosed with can- cer at earlier ages had a greater increase in reli- giosity than people diagnosed at later ages, suggesting that off-time transitions are more stressful than on-time transitions or require different coping strategies (McFarland et al., 2013). Another researcher found that non- normative early entry into family formation and parenthood is associated with lower self- reported health over the life course (Barban, 2013). Chronological age itself is not the only factor involved in timing of lives. Age-graded differences in roles and behaviors are the result of biological, psychological, and social pro- cesses (Solomon, Helvitz, & Zerach, 2009).

Biological age indicates a person’s level of biological development and physical health, as measured by the functioning of various organ systems. It is the present position of the bio- logical person in relation to the potential life cycle. There is no simple, straightforward way to measure biological age, but there is an ongo- ing effort to identify an optimal set of bio- markers for accurate measure of biological age (Jee & Park, 2017). One method is to compare an individual’s physical condition with the conditions of others, for example, bone den- sity scans are compared with the scans of a healthy 20-year-old.

Psychological age has both behavioral and perceptual components. Behaviorally, psycho- logical ages refers to the capacities that people have and the skills they use to adapt to chang- ing biological and environmental demands, skills in memory, learning, intelligence, moti- vation, emotion regulation, and so forth. Per- ceptually, psychological age is based on how old people perceive themselves to be. Recent research has referred to this perceptual aspect of age as “subjective age” or “age identity.” Culture plays a role in subjective age, with

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older adults in Western societies consistently found to feel younger than their chronological age (Stephan, Chalabaev, Kotter-Grühn, & Jaconelli, 2013). This has not been found in research among Chinese older adults, but recent research indicates that this may be changing as traditions around filial piety weaken (Liang, 2014). Subjective age among early adolescents has been found to be influ- enced by pubertal timing (Hubley & Arim, 2012). Subjective age of middle-aged and older adults is related to self-reported health (Stephan, Demulier, & Terracciano, 2012). A workforce that, on average, feels younger than their chronological age has been found to be associated with an improvement in the overall performance of the organization (Kunze, Raes, & Bruch, 2015).

Social age refers to the age-graded roles and behaviors expected by society, the socially constructed meaning of various ages. Age norms indicate the behaviors expected of peo- ple of a specific age in a given society at a particular point in time. They may be informal expectations, or they may be encoded as for- mal rules and laws. Life course scholars sug- gest that age norms vary not only across historical time and across societies, but also by gender, race, ethnicity, and social class within a given time and society. They have paid particular attention to recent changes in age norms for the transitions of young adult- hood (Arnett, 2015; Newman, 2008; Scherger, 2009). Social age receives special attention in the LCP, and life course scholars call attention to the changing nature of the social construc- tion of life phases, noting that mass longevity is leading to finer gradations in life phases. For example, Arnett (2015) proposes that the changing nature of young adult transitions calls for the acknowledgment of a life phase between adolescence and young adulthood, a phase he calls emerging adulthood.

Linked or Interdependent Lives

The LCP emphasizes the interdependence of human lives and the ways in which people are reciprocally connected on several levels (Djundeva, 2015). It calls attention to how

relationships both support and control an indi- vidual’s behavior. Social support is an obvi- ous element of interdependent lives, but relationships also control behavior through expectations, rewards, and punishments. The family is seen as the primary source of both support and control, and life course scholars have paid particular attention to how lives of family members are linked across genera- tions, with both opportunity and misfortune having an intergenerational impact. They have also been interested in how families are linked to the wider world.

Links with family members. We are all linked genetically to our intergenerational families, and we may live with both genetic vulnerabil- ity and genetic advantage. But shared genetics is not the only way that parents’ and children’s lives are linked. The connection between fam- ily hardship, family nurturance, and child behaviors and well-being is now well estab- lished (e.g., Barajas, Philipsen, & Brooks- Gunn, 2008). In addition to the economic connection between parents and children, racial discrimination has an intergenerational effect (Rowley, Helaire, & Banerjee, 2010). In recent years, we are also aware that deporta- tion-related family separation impacts long- term relationships between children and parents (Yoshikawa, 2011). Parental hardship has a negative impact on child development, but parents also provide social capital for their children, in terms of role models and networks of social support (Szydlik, 2012).

Parents’ lives are also influenced by the trajectories of their children’s lives. For exam- ple, parents may need to alter their work tra- jectories to respond to the needs of a terminally ill child. Or parents may forgo early retire- ment to assist their young adult children with education expenses. Parents may be nega- tively affected by stressful situations that their young and adult children face (Greenfield & Marks, 2006).

Older adults and their adult children are also interdependent. Midlife adults may need to alter their social and work roles to take on greater caregiving roles with their aging par- ents. The pattern of mutual support between

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older adults and their children is formed by life events and transitions across the life course. They may be fundamentally changed when families go through historical disrup- tions such as wars, major economic down- turns, or by the migration of younger generation family members (Clark, Glick, & Bures, 2009).

Family roles must often be synchronized across three or more generations at once, and sometimes the synchronization does not go smoothly. Divorce, remarriage, and disconti- nuities in adult work and educational trajecto- ries may conflict with the needs of children and aging parents (Huinink & Feldhaus, 2009). When a significant life event in one generation (such as death of a grandparent) is juxtaposed with a significant life event in another generation (such as birth of a child), families and individual family members are especially vulnerable to stress pile-up.

Links with the wider world. The LCP has its ori- gins in Elder’s research (Elder, 1974) on the ways that families and individuals are linked to situations in the economic institution, and in recent years life course researchers have been documenting the ways that individual and family life course trajectories are linked to situations in the labor market, housing mar- ket, education system, and social welfare sys- tem (Newman, 2008; Scherger, 2009; Szydlik, 2012). Newman (2008) examined young adult transitions in Western Europe and Japan and found that changes in the labor market that result in less secure employment are driving the delayed departure of young adults from the parental home in southern Europe and Japan but not in the Nordic countries. These regional differences are at least partially explained by differences in other social institutions.

Newman (2008) found that timing of depar- ture from the parental home is linked to situ- ations in the housing market. In Southern European countries, great emphasis is put on owner-occupied housing and relatively little rental housing is available. In contrast, there is a large rental sector in the housing market in Nordic countries, a situation that facilitates early home leaving. Timing of departure is also

linked to the education system. Young adults who participate in post-secondary education tend to leave the parental home later than those who do not pursue post-secondary education, but regional differences are found in this rela- tionship as well. Nordic countries have a higher proportion of emerging adults in post-secondary education than countries in Southern Europe, and yet young adults in the Nordic countries depart the parental home earlier than those in Southern Europe. This regional difference is related to differences in the social welfare sys- tems of the two regions. The earlier departure from the parental home in Nordic countries is subsidized by a liberal welfare system that pro- vides generous housing and educational bene- fits. Newman’s research (2008) indicates that it is a confluence of policies in different social institutions that impact individual and family life trajectories.

The importance of social policy in life course trajectories has also been found in relation to family solidarity between older adults and their adult children (Szydlik, 2012) and in the career trajectories of mothers (Abendroth, Huffman, & Treas, 2014). Family-friendly social policies support family solidarity and decrease the motherhood penalty in career trajectories. These findings have important implications for legis- lative advocacy by social workers.

It is important for social workers to remem- ber that lives are also linked in systems of institutionalized privilege and oppression. Philip McMichael (2017) reminds us that, in the global economy, lives are linked around the world. The lifestyles of people in affluent countries depend on cheap labor and raw products from Africa, South America, the Caribbean, parts of Asia, and other places. Children and women in impoverished coun- tries labor long hours to make an increasing share of low-cost products consumed in afflu- ent countries. Women migrate from impov- erished countries to become the domestic laborers in affluent countries, allowing women in affluent countries to leave the home to take advantage of career opportunities and allow- ing the domestic workers to send money they make home to support their own families. Social workers should be well informed about

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these international linkages in an increasingly globalized world.

Human Agency in Making Choices

Human agency is the LCP theme most rele- vant to social work’s emphasis on individual, family, and community strengths. Hitlin and Elder (2007) note that although the concept of human agency is used differently by different disciplines, life course theorists and research- ers use it to refer to “attempts to exert influ- ence to shape one’s life trajectory” (p. 182). It involves acting with an orientation toward the future, with an eye for “possible selves” (Markus & Nurius, 1986). Possible selves represent our ideas of what we might become, what we would like to become, and what we are afraid we will become. They serve as incentives for action and may be enacted at the individual, family, small group, commu- nity, organization, or institutional level.

Emphasis on human agency in the LCP has been greatly aided by the work of psycholo- gist Albert Bandura. Bandura (2006) proposed three modes of human agency: personal agency is exercised individually to shape environmental events or one’s own behavior; proxy agency is exercised when others who have greater resources act on one’s behalf to meet needs or accomplish goals; and collec- tive agency is exercised on the group level when people act together to meet needs and accomplish goals. Cultural psychology critics of the concept of human agency argue that it is a culture-bound concept that does not apply as well in collectivist societies as in individualis- tic societies (Markus & Kitayama, 2003). Bandura (2006) responds that although people in all cultures must use all three modes of agency, there are cultural variations in the relative emphasis put on the different modes, with some cultures putting greater emphasis on personal agency and other cultures putting greater emphasis on collective agency. Par- sell, Eggins, and Marston (2017) argue that “human agency is core to social work” (p. 238), but social workers also recognize barri- ers to expressing personal agency. The con- cepts of proxy agency and collective agency

add important dimensions to the discussion of human agency and can serve to counterbal- ance the extreme individualism of U.S. soci- ety. Human agency is a major resource for positive turning points in the life trajectories of individuals and collectivities.

Diversity in Life Course Trajectories

Life course researchers have long had strong evidence of diversity in individual life pat- terns. Early research emphasized differences between cohorts, but over time more and more attention was paid to diversity within cohorts. Recently, life course researchers have begun to incorporate intersectionality theory to under- stand diversity in life course trajectories (see Raphael & Bryant, 2015; Warner & Brown, 2011). Intersectionality theory recognizes that all of us are jointly and simultaneously mem- bers of a number of socially constructed iden- tity groups, such as those based on gender, race, ethnicity, social class, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, religion, geographic loca- tion, abilities, and so on. Our social location, or place in society, is at the intersection of our multiple identity groups. Either advantage or disadvantage can be associated with each iden- tity group, and when considering the life jour- ney of any one individual, it is important to consider the multiple identity groups of which that person is a part (see Hankivsky, 2012).

Developmental Risk and Protection

As the LCP has continued to evolve, it has more clearly emphasized the links between the life events and transitions of childhood, adoles- cence, adulthood, and old age (Gilman, 2012). Studies indicate that childhood events some- times shape people’s lives 40 or more years later (Shonkoff, Garner, Committee on Psycho- social Aspects of Child and Family Health, Committee on Early Childhood, Adoption, and Dependent Care, & Section on Developmen- tal and Behavioral Pediatrics, 2012). Indeed, recent biomedical research suggests we should look at factors that occur earlier than child- hood, focusing on fetal undernutrition as a contributing factor in late-life cognition and

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late-life health conditions such as coronary heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and hypertension (see Rooij, Wouters, Yonker, Painter, & Rose- boom, 2010).

It is quite an old idea that what happens at one point in the life journey influences what happens at later points, However, the idea of earlier life experiences affecting later develop- ment has taken on new energy since the explo- sion of longitudinal research a few decades ago. Two different research traditions have exam- ined how early life experiences affect later out- comes, one based in sociology and the other based in ecological developmental psychology. The sociological tradition is interested in cumu- lative advantage/cumulative disadvantage. The ecological developmental tradition is interested in risk, protection, and resilience.

Sociologists propose that social institutions and societal structures develop mechanisms that ensure increasing advantage for those who are well-resourced early in life and increasing disadvantage for those who struggle (Ferraro & Shippee, 2009). Researchers have applied these concepts to study racial health disparities across the life trajectory (Pais, 2014), financial assistance from midlife parents to adult chil- dren (Padgett & Remle, 2016), and evolving patterns of inequality among late-life adults (Crystal, Shea, & Reyes, 2017).

Through the lens of ecological develop- mental risk and protection theory, longitudinal researchers have identified multidimensional risk factors at one stage of development that increase the probability of developing and maintaining problem conditions at later stages. They have also identified protective factors or resources that decrease the probability of developing and maintaining problem condi- tions, a process known as resilience. In the past decade or so, biomedical researchers have proposed an ecobiodevelopmental framework for studying health and disease across the life course. They are articulating the ways that genetic predispositions interact with social and physical environments to drive development, referring to the human life course as “nature dancing with nurture over time” (Shonkoff et al., 2012, p. e234). The major focus of eco- biodevelopmental research is on the ways that

early toxic stress disrupts development in the brain and other biological systems. It is impor- tant to note, however, that neither cumula- tive advantage/disadvantage theory nor the ecological developmental risk and protection approach argue that early deprivations and traumas inevitably lead to a trajectory of failure. When resources are mobilized, the effects of deprivation and trauma are reduced (Gilman, 2012).

Implications of the Life Course Perspective for Social Work Practice

Like other professions, social work aspires to engage in evidence-informed practice and that requires using evidence-based theories of human behavior as well as evidence-based models of practice. The LCP was developed from empirical research and continues to be refined by ongoing research. The theoretical perspective, and the research that supports it, has many implications for social work prac- tice. It can be used at multiple levels of prac- tice and to support a variety of social work roles. The most important implication for social work’s efforts to promote societal well- being is the robust evidence that what happens throughout the life course is strongly influ- enced by what happens in the early years, beginning with conception, and even before in the preconceptual health of the mother. Soci- etal health is associated with public policies that support early development, and social workers can play an important role in promot- ing supportive public health and child and family policies.

The extensive research on risk and protec- tion has implications for both policy and pro- gram development. Social workers Jenson and Fraser (2016) make use of available research on risk and resilience to propose pol- icy recommendations in a variety of policy sectors, including antipoverty, child welfare, education, health, child mental health, disabili- ties, substance abuse, and juvenile justice. The Communities That Care (CTC) model of com- munity prevention developed at the University of Washington School of Social Work trains

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and supports community coalitions to promote positive youth development by identifying and prioritizing community risk factors and suppressed protective factors that can be mobi- lized to become community strengths. Recent program evaluation found that involvement in the CTC system during adolescence was associated with reduced drug use, antisocial behavior, and violence perpetration at age 21 (Oesterle et al., 2018). These two examples provide a window into the far ranging implica- tions of risk and protection research for social work intervention.

Social work, at its best, is a profession that puts human behavior in context. A major thrust of the LCP is to provide contextual understanding of human behavior, to place it in the context of biology, culture, historical time, and social systems. Special attention to the forces that create diversity in life course trajectories is consistent with social work’s goal to “engage diversity and difference in practice” (Council on Social Work Education, 2015, p. 7). Life course research can help social workers recognize the many ways of enacting personal identity and inform the process of engaging a diverse client population. Research on cohorts alerts social workers to the spe- cific opportunities and challenges faced by members of particular cohorts and may sug- gest ways to tailor interventions to the charac- teristics of a particular cohort. For example, younger cohorts may respond better to Inter- net and wireless-supported interventions than older cohorts (National Association of Social Workers, Association of Social Work Boards, Council on Social Work Education, & Clinical Social Work Association, 2017).

The LCP emphasis on linked lives is con- sistent with the National Association of Social Worker’s (2017, p. 1) stated value of the “importance of human relationships.” It sup- ports social work’s historical tendency to engage in family, small group, and community interventions. It recommends interventions that enhance social support and open lines of com- munication. Life course research is beginning to provide evidence that family-friendly pub- lic policies support family solidarity and alter individual and family life course trajectories,

findings with implications for social work involvement in legislative advocacy. The LCP emphasis on linked lives also calls social work- ers to keep a laser focus on how lives are linked in systems of institutionalized privilege and oppression and to seek ways to advance “social, economic, and environmental justice” (Council on Social Work Education, 2015, p. 7).

LCP emphasis on transitions, trajectories, life events, and turning points can inform practice at multiple system levels. Research on human reactions to transitions alerts social workers to the possibility of at least tempo- rary dysfunction in relationships at times of major transition and suggests that targeted interventions may help to avoid communica- tion breakdowns and stress pileup in times of pronounced change. Indeed, social work- ers have often targeted interventions to peo- ple involved in transitions, such as the use of support groups for children involved in divorcing families and for people living with a recent major loss. Life course research also indicates that transitions can create opportu- nities for positive change and social workers should be mindful of such opportunities. Imber-Black (2016) proposes the use of ther- apeutic rituals to assist families with difficult transitions and life events.

With its emphasis on life stories (trajecto- ries) that unfold over time, the LCP is a particu- larly good fit with narrative approaches to social work. Narrative practice focuses on helping clients examine the meanings they attribute to events in their life journeys. It attempts to uncover clients’ dominant story lines and to help them move from problem-centered stories to coping and empowering stories (Burack- Weiss, Lawrence, & Mijangos, 2017). Narra- tive approaches to practice can be used with families, small groups, communities, and orga- nizations, as well as with individuals. For exam- ple, the appreciative model of organizational change seeks to engage organizational stake- holders in identifying positive components of the organization and shared dreams of what it can become. Stakeholders are encouraged to recall and tell stories about events when the organization was vibrant, energetic, and lively (Newhard, 2012).

362 Families in Society: The Journal of Contemporary Social Services 100(4)

Research on life events suggests that social workers should be alert to recent stressful life events when assessing individuals, families, and communities, as well as to stressful life events, especially traumatic ones, in earlier life stages that may be impacting current function- ing. The expanding research on turning points in life trajectories can help social workers design turning point interventions that help to break cycles of dysfunction in individuals and the social systems with which they interact.

The LCP emphasis on human agency is con- sistent with social work approaches that focus on individual, family, community, and organi- zational strengths. It is a source of hope even in the most intractable situations. Making careful assessments about whether circumstances call for personal agency of the client, proxy agency by the social worker or some other advocate, or for organizing for collective agency opens more opportunities for action. Enhancing col- lective agency is a major goal of family, small group, and community interventions.

Conclusion

The Council on Social Work Education (2015) states that social work practice is guided by “knowledge based on scientific inquiry” (p. 5) and informed by “multi-disciplinary sources and multiple ways of knowing” (p. 8). It fur- ther states that social workers critically evaluate and apply theories of human behav- ior to engage with, assess, intervene with, and evaluate practice with individuals, families groups, organizations, and communities. This article has demonstrated that the LCP is a theo- retical perspective on human behavior that is informed by multiple methods of scientific inquiry in multiple disciplines. It shows that the LCP and the research that supports it have implications for practice with families, groups, organizations, and communities, as well as with individuals. It is an important perspective for social workers to add to their multi-theoret- ical tool kit.

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

ORCID iD

Elizabeth D. Hutchison https://orcid.org/0000 -0002-9344-8757

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