The study of adult development and aging is a rapidly growing field, as the older adult population continues to increase. This handbook provides a comprehensive overview of adult development and aging, including theory and methods, biological factors and health, personality and individual differences, cognition, mental health and clinical issues, variability and diversity in development, and social and contextual factors.
Each chapter provides a state-of-the-art review of a different domain of adult development and aging and applies a lifespan developmental lens to the topic, addressing aspects of continuity and change in biopsychosocial processes across multiple aspects of adult development, with an emphasis on midlife and later adulthood. Distinguished scholars and researchers included in this handbook contribute a broad variety of perspectives, approaches, and methods, demonstrating the heterogeneity and diversity of adult development and aging. The volume provides foundational research and explication of theories as well as insight into current topics of growing importance within the field, such as alternative therapies including mindfulness and meditation; technology support for aging adults; the health of LGBTQ+ older adults; health inequities related to race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and other sociocultural factors; cultural variability in aging; and addressing ageism.
Margie E. Lachman, PhD, the Minnie and Harold Fierman Professor of Psychology at Brandeis University, is director of the Lifespan Developmental Psychology Lab and the Boston Roybal Center for Active Lifestyle Interventions. With funding from the National Institute on Aging, her current work focuses on identifying modifiable factors that can protect against, minimize, or compensate for declines in cognition and health. Dr. Lachman is a Fellow of the Gerontological Society of America (GSA) and Division 20 (Adult Development and Aging) of the American Psychological Association (APA). She received the Distinguished Research Achievement Award from APA Division 20 in 2003, the Distinguished Career Contribution to Gerontology Award in Behavioral and Social Sciences (BSS) from the GSA in 2015, and the Distinguished Mentorship in Gerontology Award from the GSA BSS in 2021.
Avron (Ron) Spiro III, PhD, is research professor of epidemiology at Boston University School of Public Health and of psychiatry at Boston University Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine. He is a research health scientist at Veterans Affairs Boston Healthcare System, where he serves as associate director of the Normative Aging Study at the Massachusetts Veterans Epidemiology and Research Information Center; study director at the Boston Cooperative Studies Coordinating Center; and codirector of the Stress, Health and Aging Research Program. Dr. Spiro is a Fellow of Divisions 5 (Quantitative and Qualitative Methods) and 20 (Adult Development and Aging) of the American Psychological Association, and of the Gerontological Society of America.
Susan T. Charles, PhD, is professor of psychological science and nursing science, and associate dean of academic programs in the School of Social Ecology at the University of California-Irvine. Her research examines social and socioemotional processes across the adult lifespan, and how they are related to cognitive, physical, and mental health, with a focus on theories of socioemotional aging. She is a Fellow of the Gerontological Society of America and the Association for Psychological Science, and her work has been continually funded by the National Institutes of Health for over 2 decades.
Shevaun D. Neupert, PhD, is professor in the Department of Psychology at North Carolina State University. Her work focuses on contextual and individual differences in processes that occur before, during, and after stressors, and the connection of these processes with health outcomes across the adult lifespan. She has received the postdoctoral research award from American Psychological Association (APA) Division 20 (Adult Development and Aging), and at NC State she has received the Outstanding Graduate Professor award, designation as a University Faculty Scholar, and induction into the Academy of Outstanding Teachers. She is a Fellow of APA Division 20 and the Gerontological Society of America.
