Longitudinal and Cross-Sectional Sequences in the Study of Age and Generation Effects

Baltes, Paul B.

doi:10.1159/000270604

Cited by 588 publications

(330 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…The role of a changing society in codetermining individual development initially came to the forefront in life-span research on cohort differences (Baltes, 1968;Riley et aL, 1972;Schaie, 1965); later, its significance was amplified because of theoretical issues such as dialectics and contextualism (Lemer, 1984;Lerner & Kauffman, 1985;Riegel, 1976). In research on cohort effects, the age-deveiopment of several birth cohorts is studied in a comparative manner.…”

Section: Development Is Codetermined By Multiple Systems Of Influencementioning

confidence: 99%

Theoretical propositions of life-span developmental psychology: On the dynamics between growth and decline.

Baltes¹

1987

Developmental Psychology

2,307

1,615

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Life-span developmental psychology involves the study of constancy and change in behavior throughout the life course. One aspect of life-span research has been the advancement of a more general, metatheoretical view on the nature of development. The family of theoretical perspectives associated with this metatheoretical view of life-span developmental psychology includes the recognition of multidirectionality in ontogenetic change, consideration of both age-connected and disconnected developmental factors, a focus on the dynamic and continuous interplay between growth (gain) and decline (loss), emphasis on historical embeddedness and other structural contextual factors, and the study of the range of plasticity in development. Application of the family of perspectives associated with life-span developmental psychology is illustrated for the domain of intellectual development. Two recently emerging perspectives of the family of beliefs are given particular attention. The first proposition is methodological and suggests that plasticity can best be studied with a research strategy called testing-the-limits. The second proposition is theoretical and proffers that any developmental change includes the joint occurrence of gain (growth) and loss (decline) in adaptive capacity. To assess the pattern of positive (gains) and negative (losses) consequences resulting from development, it is necessary to know the criterion demands posed by the individual and the environment during the lifelong process of adaptation.The study of life-span development is not a homogeneous field. It comes in two major interrelated modes. The first mode is the extension of developmental studies across the life course without a major effort at the construction of metatheory that emanates from life-span work. The second mode includes the endeavor to explore whether life-span research has specific implications for the general nature of developmental theory. The second approach represents the topic of this article.Specifically, the purpose of this article is twofold. First, after a brief introduction to the field of life-span developmental psychology, some "prototypical" features of the life-span approach in developmental psychology are presented. Second, these features are illustrated by work in one domain: intellectual development. Although the focus of this paper is on life-span developmental psychology and its theoretical thrust, it is important to recognize at the outset that similar perspectives on developmental theory have been advanced in other quarters of developmental scholarship as well (Hetherington & Baltes, in press; Scan;. There is, however, a major difference in the "gestalt" in which the features of the theoretical perspective of life-span psychology are organized.

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Section: Development Is Codetermined By Multiple Systems Of Influencementioning

confidence: 99%

Theoretical propositions of life-span developmental psychology: On the dynamics between growth and decline.

Baltes¹

1987

Developmental Psychology

2,307

1,615

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…A cohort-sequential longitudinal design (Baltes, 1968;Schaie, 1965) AND ADOLESCENCE 14 (1985) PUBERTAL TIMING AND GRADE EFFECTS ON ADJUSTMENT 195 cross-sectional one); two successive birth cohorts were sampled to permit the replication of results. 3 The 335 participating young adolescents and their families were selected randomly from the sixth-grade classes of two suburban school districts in the Midwest.…”

Section: Design and Samplementioning

confidence: 99%

Pubertal timing and grade effects on adjustment

Petersen

Crockett

1985

J Youth Adolescence

185

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“…Although a longitudinal design is the only way to study these changes, it has some methodological drawbacks, some of which may affect the accuracy of the estimates of cognitive change. One such potential drawback is the occurrence of selective attrition [1][2][3], which may bias estimates of cognitive change over time. For example, in a longitudinal study by Siegler and Botwinick [3], elderly participants showed almost no intellectual decline; however, close inspection of the data revealed that the subjects who remained in the study at follow-up were characterized by higher levels of general intelligence.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Predictors of attrition in a longitudinal cognitive aging study:The Maastricht Aging Study (MAAS)

Beijsterveldt

Boxtel

Bosma

et al. 2002

Journal of Clinical Epidemiology

114

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A large sample of older participants of the Maastricht Aging Study (MAAS) were compared to drop-outs at the 3-year follow-up with respect to socio-demographic, health, and cognitive characteristics. In addition, the impact of selective drop-out on measures of cognitive change was examined. To this end, hypothetical scores were estimated for drop-outs by using single and multiple imputation methods. Of the initial sample of 539 subjects, aged 49 years and older at baseline, 116 (22 %) did not return for the follow-up ( n ϭ 32 had died, n ϭ 84 refused participation). Drop-outs who refused to participate in the follow-up were more often women, had lower educational levels, and had lower baseline scores on neurocognitive tests. Follow-up drop-outs who had died were more often men, older, and had a poorer performance on cognitive tests than the follow-up participants. Although follow-up participants and drop-outs differed in terms of socio-demographic and cognitive characteristics, attrition appeared to have little effect on the estimates of cognitive change.

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Longitudinal and Cross-Sectional Sequences in the Study of Age and Generation Effects

Cited by 588 publications

References 18 publications

Theoretical propositions of life-span developmental psychology: On the dynamics between growth and decline.

Theoretical propositions of life-span developmental psychology: On the dynamics between growth and decline.

Pubertal timing and grade effects on adjustment

Predictors of attrition in a longitudinal cognitive aging study:The Maastricht Aging Study (MAAS)

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