Adults Sokol, J. T. (2009) "Identity Development Throughout the Lifetime: An Examination of Eriksonian Theory," Graduate Journal of Counseling Psychology1(2), Article 14. Retrieved from http://epublications.marquette.edu/gjcp/vol1/iss2/14 In this article, Sokol reviews the Eriksonian theory through a person’s lifespan. Erikson proposed a life span model of human development that was composed of eight psychosocial stages. A person has to deal with inherent crisis throughout each stage so as to continue with development. He also added the influence that culture and society in general has on people’s development. In this article, the author closely examines the various stages of life span in regard to identity formation as proposed under the Eriksonian theory. The author discusses identity development in adulthood in regard to the Eriksonian theory. He criticizes the Erikson on his failure to provide details on identity formation beyond adolescence and mainly provision of contradicting ideas. Erikson states that final identity is fixed at the close of adolescence while still maintaining that identity development goes beyond adolescence into adulthood. As per the author, identity development especially in terms of religion, politics, vocations and sexual choices occur during young adulthood. It continues through middle adulthood through change of circumstances where people reorganize goals and ambitions as well as careers. Women take up masculine characters and vice versa to experience perspective shifts. There is continuous examination and evaluation to revise choices and draw up new beginnings hence identity development. This article is important since it evaluates one of the development theories in regard to human development. Identity formulation even if it mainly occurs in childhood and adolescence, it continues further into adulthood especially since they are more likely to reorganize their lives and take up new Brent, W. R., & Daniel, M. (2009). Personality Trait Change in Adulthood. National Institute of Health. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2743415/ The authors define personality traits as enduring patterns of feelings, thoughts, and behaviors among people that distinguish them from others. Recent cross sectional and also longitudinal research has shown that the development of personality traits does occur in all age groups across the life span. It specifically occurs mainly in middle aged people who also tend to score highly on conscientiousness and agreeableness and much lower in traits like neuroticism, openness and extraversion. The authors conclude that the development of personality traits in ongoing from childhood through to late adulthood. In adulthood, it is mainly positively although that does not mean the final trait in the person. It is influenced by certain factors such as growing responsibility and changing circumstances. Most personality changes occur in adults between 20-40 years. As .

1. Adults
Sokol, J. T. (2009) "Identity Development Throughout the
Lifetime: An Examination of
Eriksonian Theory," Graduate Journal of Counseling
Psychology1(2), Article 14.
Retrieved from
http://epublications.marquette.edu/gjcp/vol1/iss2/14
In this article, Sokol reviews the Eriksonian theory through a
person’s lifespan. Erikson proposed a life span model of human
development that was composed of eight psychosocial stages. A
person has to deal with inherent crisis throughout each stage so
as to continue with development. He also added the influence
that culture and society in general has on people’s development.
In this article, the author closely examines the various stages of
life span in regard to identity formation as proposed under the
Eriksonian theory.
The author discusses identity development in adulthood in
regard to the Eriksonian theory. He criticizes the Erikson on his
failure to provide details on identity formation beyond
adolescence and mainly provision of contradicting ideas.
Erikson states that final identity is fixed at the close of
adolescence while still maintaining that identity development
goes beyond adolescence into adulthood. As per the author,
identity development especially in terms of religion, politics,
vocations and sexual choices occur during young adulthood. It
continues through middle adulthood through change of
circumstances where people reorganize goals and ambitions as
well as careers. Women take up masculine characters and vice
versa to experience perspective shifts. There is continuous
examination and evaluation to revise choices and draw up new
beginnings hence identity development.

2. This article is important since it evaluates one of the
development theories in regard to human development. Identity
formulation even if it mainly occurs in childhood and
adolescence, it continues further into adulthood especially since
they are more likely to reorganize their lives and take up new
Brent, W. R., & Daniel, M. (2009). Personality Trait Change in
Adulthood. National Institute of
Health. Retrieved from
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2743415/
The authors define personality traits as enduring patterns of
feelings, thoughts, and behaviors among people that distinguish
them from others. Recent cross sectional and also longitudinal
research has shown that the development of personality traits
does occur in all age groups across the life span. It specifically
occurs mainly in middle aged people who also tend to score
highly on conscientiousness and agreeableness and much lower
in traits like neuroticism, openness and extraversion.
The authors conclude that the development of personality traits
in ongoing from childhood through to late adulthood. In
adulthood, it is mainly positively although that does not mean
the final trait in the person. It is influenced by certain factors
such as growing responsibility and changing circumstances.
Most personality changes occur in adults between 20-40 years.
As people grow older, they realize that high neuroticism over
time resulted in high mortality, depression, physical health and
age control.
In conclusion, this article touches on the development of
humans even through adulthood. It supports the theory that
other factors such as social factors affect the human
development, and are essential in shaping a person’s life. The
article brings out some of the developments that occur in human
life especially in terms of character traits that affect his life
thereafter. If one has negative traits they are bound to live for a

3. shorter period.
Older Adults
Andrea, M., Weinstein,S.L., Akl, K. E., & Destiny, M. (2012).
Physical activity and brain
plasticity in late adulthood: a conceptual review. Department of
Psychology, University
of Pittsburgh; Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition,
Pittsburgh, USA. Retrieved from
http://www.pagepress.org/journals/index.php/ar/article/view/ar.
2012.e6
The authors in this article link physical exercise and brain
plasticity. They cite evidence from neuroscience, kinesiology
and epidemiology that shows that physical activity in all stages
of development is effective in preventing and in treating of
cognitive problems. In late childhood, physical exercise
provides a good avenue of ensuring a reduction in the medical
burden that comes with various health problems in this stage.
The authors show that moderate physical activity even in very
sedentary individuals have shown to improve brain and
cognitive function. Many of the cognitive functions such as
memory, domain of executive control and attention are
influenced by physical exercise. Since cognitive decline is a
major characteristic of late adulthood, the need for physical
activity is crucial.
People in the late adulthood stage suffer from brain plasticity
where the brain becomes brittle and unconformable. They also
suffer from diseases and disorders such as Parkinson’s disease
and Alzheimer’s. Physical exercise that is moderate for six
months shows significant effect on the brain in this stage. It
also delays the onset of Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s and helps
people in this stage to better their motor skills and memory.

4. This article is important in that it tackles some of the challenges
that people face during the late adulthood stage. It provides a
way of dealing with cognitive decline in an inexpensive way
and preventing many diseases. Physical activity is also
important during other stages of development in improving
cognitive functions.
Del, B. E., Sala, E., Hancock, R., Gunnell, C., & Parisi, L.
(2007). “Gender, older people and
social exclusion. A gendered review and secondary analysis of
the data.” ISER Working
Paper 2007-13. Colchester: University of Essex. Retrieved from
http://www.iser.essex.ac.uk/pubs/workpaps/
In this article, the authors present study findings of older
people’s conditions in the UK. It highlights the gender
differences in regard to social inclusion such as provision of
care, service use and involvement in social networking. It also
includes various imbalances in gender as per the age structure
and marital status. The study found out that more men than
women are likely to be kept in communal homes and institutions
rather than in private homes. Being kept in an institution or
home was higher in those who never married although age and
illness also contributed. However, blacks and Asians were
unlikely to be institutionalized as compared to white people.
The article states that most of the people who live alone are
mainly widowed but this is true especially for women. Older
men tend to remarry after the wife’s death or divorce.
The article concludes that gender differences are not large in
significant to health conditions among older people. However,
older women tend to spend a high percentage of their later lives
in poor health as compared to men. Older women make use of
health services than men although more men have access to cars
for transportation. Rating of the quality of local services and
amenities does not differ with gender. In addition, the article

5. concluded that older women interact socially more than women
although the men have wider social networks. However, in case
of ill health, older people in general call a partner or relative.
This article examines the gender differences in older people
with regard to health and social networking. This article is
relevant in that it discusses on social and gender factors that
affect development in older adults. It shows the impacts of the
discussed factors as well as what attributes to them and their
influence in the lifestyle and lifespan of older adults.
Summary
Current research focuses much on cognitive development in
early childhood and adolescence including the various factors
that affect the overall development of infants, children and
adolescents. Most research on adolescence and young adulthood
is based on emerging factors such as education and careers and
social technology. Research on adults is mainly on personal
development in regard to personality and identity while older
adults research is on disease prevention and treatment due to
cognitive decline. The main similarity across all groups is
physical and cognitive development either positive or negative
and emerging issues especially technology. The difference is on
issues that affect each age group like growth in children and
decline in late adulthood.
The most applicable theory was Erikson’s theory of
psychological development that states that life progresses in a
series of stages that are influenced by social factors. Most
research articles made reference to the concept of this theory
and even discussed on the various factors that affect
development. Other applicable theories include attachment
theory especially for children and also Piaget’s theory of
cognitive development.

6. The lifespan perspective plays a crucial role in understanding of
the current research. It gives background information that helps
one to understand why a research would be interested in
undertaking research on a certain topic. In addition, one is able
to relate the situation in a certain stage by looking back and
understanding the previous stage as well as the subsequent one.
By understanding the holistic perspective on lifespan one can
the relate research issues into various stages.
References
Andrea, M., Weinstein,S.L., Akl, K. E., & Destiny, M. (2012).
Physical activity and brain
plasticity in late adulthood: a conceptual review. Department of
Psychology, University
of Pittsburgh; Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition,
Pittsburgh, USA. Retrieved from
http://www.pagepress.org/journals/index.php/ar/article/view/ar.
2012.e6
Brent, W. R., & Daniel, M. (2009). Personality Trait Change in
Adulthood. National Institute of
Health. Retrieved from
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2743415/
Del, B. E., Sala, E., Hancock, R., Gunnell, C., & Parisi, L.
(2007). “Gender, older people and
social exclusion. A gendered review and secondary analysis of
the data.” ISER Working
Paper 2007-13. Colchester: University of Essex. Retrieved from
http://www.iser.essex.ac.uk/pubs/workpaps/
Sokol, J. T. (2009) "Identity Development Throughout the
Lifetime: An Examination of
Eriksonian Theory," Graduate Journal of Counseling
Psychology1(2), Article 14.

7. Retrieved from
http://epublications.marquette.edu/gjcp/vol1/iss2/14