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Life Span, The: Human Development for Helping Professionals, 5th edition

Published by Pearson (January 4, 2019) © 2020

  • Patricia C. Broderick Penn State University
  • Pamela Blewitt Villanova University

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For courses in life span development taught to those training to be helping professionals.

Provide human development information that can be translated into professional best practices

The Life Span: Human Development for Helping Professionals presents an in-depth look at the science of human development for individuals working in fields such as education, counseling and social work. The text 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 5th Edition offers fresh coverage of topics including child rearing, gender non-conformity and promoting well-being in adulthood.

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.
  • 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 see the relevance of chapter content to their own lives and those of the people they serve.
  • NEW: The text provides clear and comprehensive coverage of emerging data on the biological and neuropsychological underpinnings of development.
  • NEW: The 5th Edition presents new topics with special importance to helping professionals. These include the nature of translational research, the consequences of bilingual child rearing, bullies and victims, the impact of praise on self-development, gender non-conformity, parental monitoring of teens, “hook-up” culture, a narrative approach to career counseling, and promoting well-being in adulthood.
  • REVISED: The authors offer revamped and extended explanations of stress, its role in development and its effects on behavior at every life stage.
  • REVISED: The authors provide expanded coverage of the best empirical work on the implications for development of cultural, ethnic and socioeconomic contexts.
  • REVISED: New figures and tables throughout the text summarize and organize large amounts of data and provide accessible information about programs and interventions. Fully updated research and applications to practice are included in all chapters.

Features of MyLab Education for the 5th Edition

  • Self-check Quizzes throughout the eText present students with opportunities to check their understanding and ensure they master key learning outcomes. Each response is automatically graded to provide immediate feedback and rationales for both correct and incorrect answers.
  • MyVirtualChild is an engaging simulation that immerses students in raising a child from the prenatal period through age 18. Just like in the real world, students' parenting decisions and life choices combine with environmental and genetic factors to shape the development of the virtual child. By immersing students in a customizable virtual world, MyVirtualChild shows how developmental concepts play out over the course of childhood.
  • Embedded eText Videos, 4 to 7 per chapter, illustrate a developmental principle or concept in action, helping students better understand course content.
  • Interactive Application Exercises give students opportunities to practice applying the content and strategies from the chapters in a constructed response format. Once learners provide their answers, they receive structured feedback in the form of a model answer written by experts.
  1. Organizing Themes in Development
  2. Epigenesis and the Brain: The Fundamentals of Behavioral Development
  3. Cognitive Development in the Early Years
  4. Emotional Development in the Early Years
  5. The Emerging Self and Socialization in the Early Years
  6. Realms of Cognition in Middle Childhood
  7. Self and Moral Development: Middle Childhood Through Early Adolescence
  8. Gender and Peer Relationships: Middle Childhood Through Early Adolescence
  9. Physical, Cognitive and Identity Development in Adolescence
  10. The Social World of Adolescence
  11. Physical, Cognitive and Development in Young Adulthood
  12. Socioemotional and Vocational Development in Young Adulthood
  13. Middle Adulthood: Cognitive, Personality, and Social Development
  14. Living Well: Stress, Coping, and Life Satisfaction in Adulthood
  15. Gains and Losses in Late Adulthood

Appendix: A Practitioner’s Guide to Psychological Science

About our authors

Patricia Broderick is a research associate at the Bennett-Pierce Prevention Research Center at Penn State University and professor emerita, founder, and former director of the Stress Reduction Center at West Chester University of Pennsylvania. She holds a Master's degree in Counseling from Villanova University and a Ph.D. in School Psychology from Temple University. She is a licensed clinical psychologist, certified school psychologist (K-12), and certified counselor (K-12). Dr. Broderick has taught courses in Life Span Development, Educational Psychology, Stress Management, Mind-Body Health, and Counseling Theory and Practice to undergraduate and graduate students. In addition to this textbook and multiple research articles, she is the author of Learning to BREATHE: A Mindfulness Curriculum for Adolescents (New Harbinger Publications) and Mindfulness in the Secondary Classroom: A Guide for Teaching Adolescents (Norton).

Pamela Blewitt is Professor Emerita in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Villanova University, where she taught courses in Life Span Development, Parent/Child Transactional Processes, Child Psychopathology, and Research Design. She holds a Master's degree from Columbia University in special education, and she taught emotionally disturbed children in a variety of settings before earning a Ph.D. from the University of Rochester in Developmental Psychology. She investigates how young children learn words with a focus on identifying strategies for helping parents and teachers support their children's language development. Her research has been published in a variety of professional journals, including the Journal of Educational Psychology and in Child Development, where she has served on the editorial board. Dr. Blewitt is a passionate advocate for young children and their parents and for the professionals who work with them. She has served as President of the Board for both the Delaware Valley Child Care Council and for the Delaware Valley Association for the Education of Young Children (now First Up! Champions for Early Education).

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