Most adults experience parenthood. But the longest period of the parental experience—when children grow into adolescence and young adulthood and parents themselves are not yet elderly—is the least understood. In this groundbreaking volume, distinguished scholars from anthropology, demography, economics, psychology, social work, and sociology explore the uncharted years of midlife parenthood. The authors employ a rich array of theory and methods to address how the parental experience affects the health, well-being, and development of individuals. Collectively, they look at the time when parents watch offspring grow into adulthood and begin to establish adult-to-adult relationships with their children. With a strong emphasis on the diversity of midlife parenting, including sociodemographic variations and specific parent or child characteristics such as single parenting or raising a child with a disability, this volume presents for the first time the complex factors that influence the quality of the midlife parenting experience.

The book addresses grieving patterns and intervention strategies according to the life trajectory and provides clinical intervention tools and strategies for coping according to the developmental stage of an individual. It incorporates losses beyond death loss, with special focus on losses related to maturational development. The second edition reflects new research that has clarified and underscored the value of theories examined in the first edition, particularly in the areas of continued bonds, disenfranchised grief, and ambiguous grief. It describes how grieving is influenced by biological responses to stress, psychological responses to loss, and social norms and support networks.--publisher.

How do today's parents cope when the dreams we had for our children clash with reality? What can we do for our twenty- and even thirty-somethings who can't seem to grow up? How can we help our depressed, dependent, or addicted adult children, the ones who can't get their lives started, who are just marking time or even doing it? What's the right strategy when our smart, capable "adultolescents" won't leave home or come boomeranging back? Who can we turn to when the kids aren't all right and we, their parents, are frightened, frustrated, resentful, embarrassed, and especially, disappointed? In this groundbreaking book, a social psychologist who's been chronicling the lives of American families for over two decades confronts our deepest concerns, including our silence and self-imposed sense of isolation, when our grown kids have failed to thrive. She listens to a generation that "did everything right" and expected its children to grow into happy, healthy, successful adults. But they haven't, at least, not yet -- and meanwhile, we're letting their problems threaten our health, marriages, security, freedom, careers or retirement, and other family relationships. With warmth, empathy, and perspective, Dr. Adams offers a positive, life-affirming message to parents who are still trying to "fix" their adult children -- Stop! She shows us how to separate from their problems without separating from them, and how to be a positive force in their lives while getting on with our own. As we navigate this critical passage in our second adulthood and their first, the bestselling author of I'm Still Your Mother reminds us that the pleasures and possibilities of postparenthood should not depend on how our kids turn out, but on how we do!

Today, more and more caregivers are male. Despite this fact, the vast majority of research on caregiving has centered on the experience of the female caregiver. This volume addresses the fundamental gap in our knowledge and theories about the growing male subpopulation of caregivers. The authors identify the serious limitations that result from viewing men caregivers through the lens of women's experiences and call for an unbiased and fresh perspective in future research. Special consideration is given to men who care for a family member with dementia; fathers of adult children with mental retardation; gay male caregivers for partners with AIDS; and sons and parent care.

Choice Recommended Read Leo B. Hendry is one of the foremost developmental psychologists of his generation. His diverse range of interests have included studies on young people’s involvement in competitive sports, investigations into teacher and pupil relations in school, adolescents’ leisure pursuits and their family relations, parenting styles, youth workers and mentoring, youth unemployment, adolescent health behaviours, and transition to early adulthood. His research interests now include work on ageing and retirement. Developmental Transitions across the Lifespan is the first collection of Hendry’s works, and essentially joins the dots to provide an overarching perspective on lifespan development through a dynamic systems theory approach. Underpinned by empirical research, this collection of journal articles and book chapters is linked by a contemporary commentary which not only contextualises each piece within today’s research climate, but builds to provides an unorthodox, comprehensive but above all compelling perspective on human development from childhood to old age. Leo B. Hendry’s research output has been significant and influential. This is an important book that will provide students and researchers in developmental psychology not only with an opportunity to view his contribution holistically, but in connecting his range of research interests, provides a new contribution to our understanding of lifespan development in its own right.

Based on a summer institute of the Family Research Consortium, this book presents theory and research from leading scholars working on issues of risk and resilience in families. Focusing on the splits and bonds that shape children's development, this volume's primary goal is to stimulate theoretical and empirical advances in research on family processes. It will be valuable to developmental, social, and clinical psychologists, sociologists, and family studies specialists.

* The Boomerang Age was named an Outstanding Academic Title of 2007 by Choice Magazine. Domestic changes are taking place in the lives of young adults in Western industrialized societies. Today's young people often experience less permanency and more movement in a variety of family-related roles, statuses, and living arrangements. Among the most prominent changes is the phenomenon of "boomerang kids," young adults returning to the parental home after their initial entrance into the adult world. The Boomerang Age, explores the implications of this development in a changing sociocultural, economic, and demographic landscape. Mitchell begins by addressing definitional, conceptual, and measurement issues relevant to the "boomerang age." She then places the issues in historical perspective by considering trends in family organization--the nuclear family, marriage and divorce rates and fertility--over the past hundred years with emphasis on the 1950s family as a cultural benchmark. The book then turns to the contemporary trajectory of home leaving and returning, analyzing the "launch" and return phases with regard to economic factors, regional differences, and racial and ethnic backgrounds. Mitchell then explores the more personal dimensions of how a return to the family is complicated by partnership (marriage, divorce, cohabitation, homosexuality) and parenthood among young couples. Moving outside the home, she looks at how public issues such as globalization, the decline of the welfare state, and various forms of social inequality affect the circumstances of young adulthood. Here Mitchell offers specific social policy recommendations pertaining to education, housing and dependency issues, childcare, and gender and racial equality. The book concludes by critically evaluating the advantages and drawbacks of two possible future scenarios: increased individualization in the pursuit of social goals, or a more or less permanent return to the traditional, extended family.

The time is right for this comprehensive, state-of-the-art Handbook that analyzes, integrates, and summarizes theoretical advances and research findings on adult development and learning - a rapidly growing field reflecting demographic shifts toward an aging population in Western societies. Featuring contributions from prominent scholars across diverse disciplinary fields (education, developmental psychology, public policy, gerontology, neurology, public health, sociology, family studies, and adult education), the volume is organized around six themes: theoretical perspectives on adult development and learning research methods in adult development research on adult development research on adult learning aging and gerontological research policy perspectives on aging. The Handbook is an essential reference for researchers, faculty, graduate students and practitioners whose work pertains to adult and lifespan development and learning.

The goal of this volume is to examine development in middle age from the perspective of baby boomers -- a unique cohort in the United States defined as those individuals born from 1946 to 1962. This is the largest cohort ever to enter middle age in Western society, and they currently represent approximately one-third of the total U.S. population. The Baby Boomers Grow Up provides contemporary and comprehensive perspectives of development of the baby boomer cohort as they proceed through midlife. Baby boomers continue to exert a powerful impact on the media, fiction, movies, and even popular music, just as they were an imposing force in society from the time of their entry into youth. As these individuals enter the years normally considered to represent midlife, they are redefining how we as a society regard adults in their middle and later years. This volume features several unique aspects. First, the literature reviewed focuses specifically on research relevant to baby boomers and their development as adults, rather than a global perspective on middle age. Second, the volume takes into account the diversity within the boomer cohort, such as social class, race, and education. In addition, quantitative and qualitative developmental changes occurring from the forties to the fifties and the sixties are considered. Differences in leading and trailing edge boomers are likewise addressed. Ideal for researchers in adult development and graduate seminars on adult development, The Baby Boomers Grow Up will also appeal to adult educators, human resource personnel, health professionals and service providers, and clinical psychologists and counselors.

THE DEFINITIVE RESOURCE ON MIDLIFE DEVELOPMENT Edited by Margie Lachman, a leader in the field, Handbook ofMidlife Development provides an up-to-date portrayal of humandevelopment during the middle years of the life span. Featuringcontributions from well-established, highly regarded experts, thisexhaustive reference fills the gap for a compilation of research onthis increasingly important topic. Divided into four comprehensive sections, the book addresses thetheoretical, biomedical, psychological, and social aspects ofmidlife development. Each chapter includes coverage of unifyingthemes such as gender differences, ethnic and cultural diversity,historical changes, and socioeconomic differences from a life-spandevelopmental perspective. Readers will discover what can belearned from individuals' subjective conceptions of midlife;explore various "cultural" fictions of middle age; examine theresources individuals have at their disposal to negotiate midlife;consider mechanisms for balancing work and family; and other topicsas presented in the latest research from the social, behavioral,and medical sciences. Handbook of Midlife Development is an indispensable resource forprofessionals and practitioners who work with adults and forresearchers and students who study adult development and relatedtopics. Some of the midlife topics discussed: * Cultural perspectives * Physical changes * Stress, coping, and health * Intellectual functioning * Memory * Personality and the self * Adaptation and resilience * Emotional development * Families and intergenerational relationships * Social relationships * The role of work * Planning for retirement