Signature Assignment: Final Paper--Development Across the

Lifespan

(PLO 5 – Life Span Development: Understand and apply the major

theories related to the entire lifespan from conception through childhood,
adolescence, young adulthood, middle-age, and late adulthood.)

For this assignment you will examine how adult developmental theories
apply to a case. You will have three options for which kind of case you use.
You can 1) Write about your own development, if you are over the age of
45, 2) interview a person over the age of 45 to get the information, or 3)
you can analyze a main character in a book or movie, or a famous person. If
you interview a person, or use a famous person, the person should be at
least 45 years old. If you use a book or movie character, you need to use a
main character that is shown or written about over a span of many years. If
you plan to use option 3, you must get your instructor’s permission
to use the person or character for your paper ahead of time.

Your paper will consist of 4 sections:

1) Background information about the individual (demographic
information)
2) Childhood/adolescence information
3) Adult information
4) Application of theory

Here is the information you need to have in your paper. If you cannot get
the information for some questions (e.g. the person being interviewed does
not want to answer the question), then state that you could not get that
information. If a question does not apply, you may state that the person
didn’t experience this issue, or something similar. You should answer as
many questions as possible. If you interview a person and they don’t want
to answer most of the questions, you will need to interview someone else so
you may gather the necessary information. Also, you will need as much
information as possible in order to complete section four. Do not include
the person’s name, unless you have chosen the option of writing
about a fictional character or historical figure. In that case, include
the name of the character and what book or movie they are from, or
the name of the historical figure.

Please clearly delineate each section with a heading. Also, use at least 3
academic/research sources in your paper.

Section 1: Demographic Information

1) Age
2) Race/ethnicity
3) Sexual orientation and gender identification (i.e. what gender do they
self-identify as)
4) Birthplace or place of adoption
5) Family information such as current relationship (e.g. divorced, etc.), if
they have children, number of siblings, and any other information that is
available. Also, were they raised by their biological parents, adopted, etc.
6) Current location/residence and how long they have lived there.
7) Education: What is their current highest level of educational
achievement?
8) Occupation

Section 2: Childhood/Adolescence

Information about the person’s childhood and adolescence should include

all of the following sections. If you cannot get answers to all of the
questions that is acceptable, but you should provide at least some
information for each section:

Early Childhood
1) Major illnesses
2) Major losses or other events that may have contributed to who the
person became as an adult.
3) How does the person think these issues affected them?
4) Did the person meet developmental milestones?
5) With whom did they live?

Early School Years

1) School performance, such as grades
2) Did they like or dislike school? Why?
3) Did they have any learning difficulties? What kinds of help did they
receive for these?
4) Extra-curricular activities? Did they do these activities because they
wanted to, or because parents made them?
5) How did their early school experiences affect the way they currently
view education?

Adolescence
1) What kind of romantic relationships did they have and what were they
like?
2) Did they like or dislike high school? Why?
3) Were they rebellious in high school? In what ways? If not, why not?
4) How did they perform in high school?
5) What kinds of experiences did they have with drugs/alcohol?
6) Extra-curricular activities and/or volunteer work? Did they do these
activities because they wanted to, or because parents made them?
 7) In what ways do they think their adolescent experiences affected who
they became as an adult?

Family Relationships
1) Did they get along with their parents and siblings? Why or why not?
2) Did they consider their family life to be positive? Why or why not?
3) How did their early family relationships affect the way they currently
view the importance of family?
4) In what ways do they feel their early family relationships continue to
affect them in adulthood?

Cultural Factors in Childhood/Adolescence

1) How did cultural issues or factors affect their childhood/adolescent
experiences and development?
2) Were there language or cultural barriers?
3) In what kind of place did they grow up: big city, small town, rural
area, etc. and how did that affect them?
4) What was their socioeconomic status and how did that affect them?
5) What childhood/adolescent cultural experiences do they think
continue to affect them as an adult? In what ways?

Section 3: Adult Development

Information about the person’s adult development should include all of the
following sections. If you cannot get answers to all of the questions that is
acceptable, but you should provide at least some information for each
section:

Post High School Education/Training/Learning

1) Did they go to college or do some other kind of training after High
School? Why or why not? What kind of degrees/training did they get?
2) Did they go into the military? Why or why not?
3) Did they seek further education or training later in life? For what
purpose?
3) Do they engage in any activities to increase or maintain their
cognitive abilities or to keep learning new things? (E.g. doing puzzles or
“brain training” exercises, taking classes in a topic of interest, reading
about subjects of interest, traveling, etc.)

Romantic/Family Relationships
1) What kinds of adult romantic relationships have they had?
2) Have they been successful? Why or why not?
3) What are their current views on romantic relationships?
4) Children or decision not to have children: Do they have children or
plan to have children? Why or why not?
 6) If they have children, what has that experience been like, both
positively and negatively?
7) Do they regret their decision to have or not have children? Why or
why not?
8) Has the person struggled with any sexual identity issues as an adult?
9) Have their relationships with family, children or spouse/partner
changed as they have gotten older? In what ways? Do they see these
changes as positive or negative?

Occupations/Careers Throughout Adulthood

1) What kinds of jobs has the person held?
2) Do they like their work?
3) Do they plan to change careers? Why?
4) What have they learned from their work?
5) How has their work affected their personal life?
6) What kind of relationships do they have with supervisors and co-
workers?
7) Have they experienced any discrimination at work? In what ways?
8) Has work been overall a positive or negative experience?
9) What would they change about their career if they could?
10) Did they pursue any higher education as an adult? Why or why
not?
11) Did they make a major career change at some point? Why?
12) When do they plan to retire?

Success/Failures/Losses
1) Successes in adulthood and how they affected the person. (e.g.
Degrees, Promotions, Awards, etc.)
2) Failures or losses in adulthood and how they affected the person (e.g.
Getting fired, divorcing, deaths of parents, etc.)

Civic Engagement
1) Does person do volunteer work?
2) Is the person involved in the community in some way?
3) How does this involvement affect them?

Religion
1) Does the person actively engage in a religion or spiritual activity?
Why or why not?
2) What benefit do they feel the religion or spiritual practice gives them?
3) Have they had any negative experiences with religion? How has this
affected them?

Medical or Psychological Disorders/Activities

 1) Has the person had any major physical injuries or illnesses as an
adult? How has this affected them? Is the person currently disabled in
some way?
2) Do they engage in activities to maintain physical or psychological
health? (E.g. exercise, healthy diet, meditation, etc.) If not, why not? If so,
in what ways do they find these activities to be helpful?
3) Have they had any psychological issues or disorders as an adult?
How has this affected them?
4) Have they had any substance use issues? How have these affected
them?
6) Have they ever been to psychotherapy? What was that like and was
it helpful?

Peer Relationships in Adulthood

1) Do they have a best friend? What is that relationship like?
2) Are their friends diverse? In what ways? If not, why not?
3) What have they learned from these relationships?
4) Have they had issues with peer pressure as an adult? How so?
5) How have their peer relationships changed as they have gotten older?
6) How have their peer relationships affected them both positively and
negatively in adulthood?

Issues with Aging

1) How does the person feel about getting older?
2) Has the person experienced age-related health issues? How has this
affected them?
3) How has aging affected them in terms of relationships and work?
4) Would they be in their 20’s again if they could? Why or why not?
5) What do they look forward to as they get older?
6) What worries them about aging?
7) What steps are they currently taking to help them to “age well?”
8) Do they plan to retire, or keep working? Do they want to do different
work in retirement?
9) If they plan to retire, what kinds of life plans do they have for when
they are retired?
10) What are their thoughts on death and dying, e.g. do they want
to live to be very old, would they want to be kept alive even if they are
very ill, have they made plans, such as having a will or burial plan,
etc.?

Cultural Factors That May Have Affected Development

1) How have cultural issues or factors affected their adult experiences
and development?
2) Were there language or cultural barriers? Did they feel that they fit in
to the dominant culture or not? Why or why not?
 3) In what kind of places have they lived as an adult: big city, small
town, rural area, etc. and how did that affect them?
4) What cultural experiences do they think continue to affect them as
adults?
5) Are there cultural factors or issues tied to aging?

Other Experiences That May Have Affected Adult Development

1) Are there other significant events or people that the person felt had
an impact or influence on development during adulthood, either
positively or negatively?
2) What experiences or relationship have they had as an adult that
helped ameliorate or remediate the effects of negative childhood
experiences?
3) Feel free to ask the person other questions which interest you and
which will help you to complete section 4, and include that
information in this section.

Section 4: Application of Theory

In this section you will need to apply the theories you have learned to the
person about whom you gathered information. You will need to complete all
three parts described below. Be sure to pick theories that apply best to the
person, and describe in detail how they specifically apply to the person,
rather than how they may apply in general. Use appropriate examples to
illustrate your points.

1. Using the information you gathered apply at least 2 theories of adult

development discussed in your textbook to explain and discuss the
following:
a) Biosocial development of the person, including how
childhood/adolescent experiences may apply. Be sure to discuss how the
theories apply specifically to this person, and use examples from the
information you gathered to illustrate your points.
b) Cognitive development of the person, including how
childhood/adolescent experiences may apply. Be sure to discuss how the
theories apply specifically to this person, and use examples from the
information you gathered to illustrate your points.
c) Psychosocial development of the person, including how
childhood/adolescent experiences may apply. Be sure to discuss how the
theories apply specifically to this person, and use examples from the
information you gathered to illustrate your points.

2. Discuss how adult experiences may have mitigated childhood experiences

(e.g. how adult relationships, experiences, or therapy, etc. may have helped
to reduce the impact of childhood abuse, poverty, cultural issues, learning
difficulties, bullying, physical or psychological issues, etc.) Use appropriate
examples to illustrate your point.

3. Discuss how cultural factors have affected development through

adulthood. Use appropriate examples to illustrate your points.

Note that in this section, you must cite sources in APA format. This section
should be a minimum of 850 words.

Other Information

 Your paper must include a title page and reference list.

 This paper should be at least 12 pages long, not including your title
page or reference page.
 The paper should be done in 6th edition APA format.
 You should have at least 3 academic/research journal or book
references in addition to your textbook.
 You may also use online or non-academic resources in addition to
these references. However, be careful not to rely on the non-
academic references.
 Be sure to properly cite ALL resources in the body of your paper as
well as on your reference page.
 It is important that you paraphrase. Plagiarism will not be tolerated.
 If you plagiarize, you will receive a zero on the assignment.

In order to be successful in this paper, be sure to follow all the

directions in this document. It is important to include ALL of the
required sections/information, have proper writing flow, use proper
grammar, meet the minimum page guidelines, and follow all APA
guidelines if you want to get a good grade on this assignment.
Please note that failure to cite sources may result in getting zero
points, so be very careful to cite all work in the application of theory
section that is not your original idea.