Abstract

Current perspectives acknowledge that adult development is a lifelong process. Life-span development involves both gains and losses in skills and abilities. Life-span development is multidimensional, multidirectional, and multicausal, and is embedded in historical, cultural, and social contexts. As such, the study of developmental processes across the life span involves multidisciplinary approaches. Knowledge of these characteristics is, therefore, critical for informing the selection of methodology to study development processes in adulthood. The life-span perspective implies that developmental studies measuring change over time are preferred to non-developmental studies because the former are better able to uncover patterns of change (i.e., growth or decline) over time. The characteristics of life-span processes also imply that the methodology used to assess developmental changes should facilitate the modeling of a complex system of development. Methodology should be sensitive to maturational patterns, the effects of life events, and allow for the incorporation of an array of contextual variables to best describe the rich influences of historical, cultural, and social contexts on individuals.