Human Development from Middle Childhood to Middle Adulthood

Preface PART I: Introduction to the Jyvaskyla Longitudinal Study of Personality and Social Development Chapter 1: How the longitudinal study began * A historical context for the study of aggression * Positive behavior in an impulse control model and the goals of the study * The search for alternatives to aggression * The impulse control model * The goals of the longitudinal study * Research conditions in Finland and in the longitudinal study Chapter 2: The execution of the longitudinal study * The research sample and major waves of data collection * Attrition and representativeness of the sample * Additional data collections * Assessment methods * Peer nomination and teacher rating * Personal interview * Self-reports and other methods * Data analysis Chapter 3: Reflections on the research process * The evaluation of choices * Recommendations for launching a longitudinal study * What is development? PART II: The development of personality and psychological functioning Chapter 4: Theoretical frameworks for the study of socioemotional development * From cognitive control of impulses to self-control * Updated framework * The model for the Unfolding of Socioemotional Behavior * Self-regulation and executive functions * Towards cumulative theoretical reasoning * Three layers of personality for organizing research findings Chapter 5: The person as social actor * Questions to be answered * Socioemotional behavior in childhood and adolescence * Agreement between informants *2 Continuity in socioemotional behavior * The person-situation controversy * Children grow and adult styles of life emerge * The two-dimensional framework across generations * The unfolding of the styles of life from age 8 to 27 * The developmental background of the styles of life * A person-oriented approach to personal styles at age 27 * Personality profiles at ages 33 to 50 * Maturation, adjustment, or growth in adult personality * Childhood socioemotional behaviors as predictors of adult personality characteristics * Roots of the personality profiles and the clusters for personal styles * Roots of adult agreeableness and continuity in aggression * Paths from childhood socioemotional behavior to adult personality Chapter 6: The person as motivated agent * The transition to adulthood * Age-stratified or individualistic transitions? * Life changes in early adulthood * Patterns and timing of adult transitions * The length and timing of one's education * The structure of education * Predictors of the choice of education *'Off-time' education and other post-comprehesive education trajectories * Goals and values * Common elements in the life structure of adults * Values in middle age * Individual life structures and unifying life themes Chapter 7: The person as autobiographical author and an 'experiencer' of life * A holistic approach to personality * Self-reflections * Identity formation * Personal control over one's own life * Optimism and self-esteem * Turning points * A study of turning points * Individual differences in the experience of turning points * A qualitative analysis of turning points Chapter 8: Personality and psychological functioning * Personality and well-being * The concept of mental well-being * Continuity in well-being * The personality traits associated with mental well-being * The model for Personality and Psychological Functioning * Explanations for the associations between personality traits and psychological functioning PART III: The development of social functioning Chapter 9: Social development and social functioning * Conceptual approaches to social functioning * Spheres of life * Processes in social functioning Chapter 10: Problems in social functioning * Antisocial development * Antisocial behavior * From aggression to antisocial behavior * Proactive and reactive aggression as predictors of criminal offending * The accumulation of problems * Dynamic processes in the accumulation of problems * Continuity from risk factors to social functioning problems * Multi-problem predictors of problem behaviors * Offender groups compared * Offender groups * Differences in personality * Social background * Life success of the offender groups in adulthood * Conclusions and suggestions for prevention Chapter 11: Health behavior * Substance use * The start and continuity of the use of alcohol * Problem drinking in middle age * Socioemotional characteristics associated with drinking * Social backgrounds of the use of alcohol * Smoking cigarettes * Health risks * Health in early adulthood * The predictors of accidents and impairment * Subjective health and metabolic syndrome in middle age * Temperance in adulthood Chapter 12: The family and its care functions * A partnership in the family * The structure of the family * The relationship between the partners * Adult attachment * Parenting * Delights and stresses in parenting * Parental identity * Child-rearing practices * Relationships in the chain of generations Chapter 13: Work as a sphere of life * Occupational status and career line * Success in career path * Constructive behavior in childhood as the antecedent of success in the work domain * Satisfaction with work * Occupational well-being and personality * Job insecurity * Unemployment and psychological distress: selection or causation? * Health consequences of the unstable career line * The consequences of economic strain for the family and parenting * Work - family balance * A stress theory approach to work-family interface * A role enhancement theory approach to work-family interface * Successful reconciliation * Recovery from work and the content of free time PART IV: Epilogue Chapter 14: Navigating through the spheres of life * Middle age - a prime time * Midlife transition * The person functioning in the different spheres of life Chapter 15: The Integrated Model for Personality and Social and Psychological Functioning Chapter 16: A credo References