The Life Span: Human Development for Helping Professionals, 6th edition

For courses in life span development.

Human development for helping professionals

The Life Span is a comprehensive, in-depth exploration of human development, with perspectives that can be translated into professional best practices for future professionals in education, counseling and social work. It reflects the contemporary view that life span development is a process deeply embedded within and inseparable from the context of family, social network and culture.

The 6th Edition expands coverage in many essential areas such as stress, media and technology influences on children, and social information processing; adds useful new features such as chapter vignettes and boxes on key topics; incorporates abundant new research and data where applicable; updates figures and tables throughout; and much more.

Hallmark features of this title

• Application sections blend information about treatments with the issues covered in each chapter, discussing how developmental science can inform practice.
• Focus on Developmental Psychopathology features trace the roots of various disorders and explain linkages between normal and abnormal pathways of development.
• Boxed features explore key topics in depth. Examples include biographies of influential theorists or detailed examinations of critical issues.
• Vignettes, case studies and case study discussion questions guide students to think about the clinical implications of the facts and theories presented.
• Journal questions help students reflect on the issues they have read about and encourage them to consider the relevance of those issues in their own development.

New and updated features of this title

• New introductory vignettes in each chapter help students relate chapter content to their own lives and the lives of those they serve.
• Updated, comprehensive coverage of emerging data is provided on the biological and neuropsychological underpinnings of development. New theories and research related to risk and resilience processes across development are discussed.
• Revised and expanded coverage is provided on topics such as stress (its nature, role in development, and effects on behavior at every life stage); physiological systems that interact with environmental influences to affect developmental processes; social genomics as part of a deeper look at social determinants of health; media and technology influences on children and adolescents; stepfamilies; and much more.
• New figures and tables throughout summarize and organize large amounts of data and/or provide accessible information about programs and interventions. (Ex.: Ch. 5 presents a table of some skills taught in parent training programs; a table in Ch. 9 features pointers on ways to communicate with transgender youth.)
• Expanded coverage of the implications for development of cultural, ethnic, and socioeconomic contexts: Examples of expanded coverage of cross-cultural research in development include attachment theory, early language development, adolescent identity formation, parenting, life satisfaction, and happiness.
• A fully revised chapter on the evolving scientific understanding of sex and gender (with applications for practitioners) reflects the latest research, with expanded/updated discussions in other chapters of the implications of gender and sexuality in the lives of adolescents and adults.