LifeSpan Paper

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LifeSpan Paper

Jordan Chapman

Tyra Silvers

PSY 241

November 4, 2019
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Lifespan development is very crucial to the human body. It is the changes we go through

that makes us who we are across a span of a lifetime. Our development begins from the time we

are born until death occurs. Each and every person will move through each stage of development

in their lifespan, and each stage prior to the next determines whether he/she will or will not be

successful. This lifespan paper will include the different stages of life that four females are

currently going through, varying from child to senior adult. I will be covering the cognitive,

emotional, and physical areas of each stage of development to compare and contrast how each

stage is similar or different than the next. Across the span of a lifetime, a common denominator

is that everyone just simply wants to be happy and live their life to their fullest extent, which in

return gives the person a happier life experience.

Child

Emersyn is a three year old female that is currently in the early stages of her lifespan

development. She is currently growing up in a very stable and secure environment. She lives

with her both her mother and father, that are still currently married, and her two older brothers,

both of which are very intelligent and have grown successfully through the beginning of their

lifespan development. Observing Emersyn with her older brothers, you can tell they influence

certain things she does. If they are playing with a toy, she wants to be as well. She looks up to

their brotherly interactions as in sharing snacks as well as toys. The mother’s pregnancy with all

three children was very stable. She had no major problems, the only thing that happened during

the course of her pregnancy was the children were born premature, so with a few extra days in

the hospital they were ready to start the development in the years ahead. Emersyn is very petite,

which is common in her family history, but cognitively she is very much so advanced. Overall,
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she is ranked very high in her percentile for her age range. Though Emersyn is very smart, she

does still have some attachment issues, not necessarily just with her mother, but also with the

father and close family members. She becomes more attached at times in need, when frightened,

hurt, or becomes tired. At the age of three, children seem to still want someone they are

comfortable with if becoming uneasy or nervous at a point in their life. As far as language, just

from observation, Emersyn can already complete full sentences. Compared to other children

around her age range, she excels in communicating and comprehending things she needs to say

or needs to be heard. While playing with her brothers as well as other children her age, Emersyn

plays very well. At times, she has a harder time sharing, because she is still at a young age and is

having to learn and be taught right from wrong in situations such as these. She has a very vivid

imagination and makes up many stories, due to her imagination she plays very well by herself as

well. She currently is enrolled in her second year of preschool and was already able to move up a

class due to her cognitive advancements. Her preschool class meets five times a week, which is a

great way for her to grow cognitively as well as physically. Everyday, her class has a designated

snack time, nap time, play time, craft time, as well as learning things such as colors, the alphabet,

and numbers. As Emersyn is continuing to grow throughout her stages of development, she is

becoming an extremely sassy and independent. Because she is so full of spunk and energy at a

young age, she gives her parents a run for their money, but she is a fast learner and is slowly

realizing things she can and can not do. Other than sharing, she is doing very well advancing in

all the best ways possible. I have observed from Emersyn, this is the stage of development that

you begin learning your capabilities, physically and cognitively.

Adolescent
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McKenna is a thirteen year old female that is currently in the adolescent stage of

development. She lives with both of her parents, which are still married and in a good stable

relationship, and has grown up in a positive environment. McKenna is in the stage of her

development where she unfortunately is going through puberty, and from experience I know

those are some tough years to get through. Due to this, she is in the rebellious phase where she

likes to talk back to her parents. She is slowly becoming to bloom from a child to a preteen,

which is totally a big deal at her age. She has two older sisters, which she expresses she looks up

to very much so, but they get into multiple arguments a day. Just from observation, McKenna

likes to only get her way and if she does not she becomes angry and breaks down, she has

become more emotional since entering puberty. She is enrolled in the eighth grade and for the

most part she expresses lots of interest in school, she has always loved reading in her spare time

and becoming engaged in her school work. McKenna has always been a straight A and B

student, for grades are really important to her as well as her parents. From observing her, I have

noticed she is still more shy than others her age. She has always been timid, especially around

people she does not know or is not comfortable with. Her time to completely break out of her

shell and become self aware will be coming in the next few years as she advances to the next

stage of development. In her classes, McKenna has several friends, but of course around the

middle school age there is always some type of drama going on. She has dealt with some events,

but overall overcame it and became a better person because of it. In her spare time, she enjoys

getting on social media, such as Snapchat and Instagram, she loves FaceTiming her friends, and

watching YouTube videos. She used to attend dance and has recently found a new love for the

sport of volleyball, and now her favorite extracurricular is band, which she hopes to continue
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into highschool. During this stage of McKenna’s lifespan development, she is continuing to grow

physically, mentally, and emotionally. She is becoming more aware of herself as she gets older,

meaning she is beginning to realize who she is as a growing preteen.

Young Adult

Jordan is a nineteen year old female that is currently enrolled at a two year college before

transferring to a four year university. Before coming to the two year college, she tried to go

straight into a university setting, which was a bigger mental set back for her than she realized.

Though Jordan has been through emotional and cognitive setbacks, it has helped her move

further along in her stage of development as a young adult. Starting junior year of highschool,

Jordan got a job to help her parents so she could pay for some of her own expenses to take the

burden off of them, she began working at a hair salon and is currently still employed there. From

a young age, she showed leadership and responsible traits that are still present in the woman she

is becoming advancing in her developmental stages. Personally, Jordan values family as her

main priority in life. Through growing up, she has realized how important family and other close

relationships truly are and has set goals to make those relationships stronger. A part of growing

older is becoming aware of yourself as well as how to make those around you genuinely happy.

Jordan currently has two jobs, which she works as a host in a restaurant, if she is not working or

doing school work, she is hanging out with her friends or catching up on social media. As of

now, Jordan has no health problems and is working to make herself the best version of herself.

She has a gym membership which she attends to make herself physically stronger, she expressed

that making herself physically stronger, she becomes more mentally and emotionally stable.

Thus far, she is a healthy young adult working on completing her degree to become advanced in
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her career of choice. She fears that because of her career choice being rather challenging it will

take her awhile to finish with college completely, so the journey ahead as a whole. She also fears

losing grandparents and close loved ones, but is at an age that she realizes she is getting older, so

are they. If she could change anything about herself, it would probably be how much she

procrastinates and how she looks sometimes. Jordan is at an age where she still feels insecure in

certain settings, and just from observation, you can tell when she becomes anxious or nervous at

all. As Jordan proceeds farther along in her young adult developmental stage, she will become

even more aware of herself than she already has in the experiences she has been through thus far.

A lot of big events happen at this stage of development, such as high school graduation, moving

to college, graduation from college into your career field and getting a big girl job. Though some

of these events can be challenging and stressful, they are the most important days of your life,

and you grow into the man or woman you have always hoped you would one day reach.

Senior Adult

Marie is a seventy-three year old female that is currently not working due to physical

problems as well as maintaining her life off of her social security check each month. At an early

age, she had to quit school altogether and begin working to help support her family. Due to the

times around the time she was younger, education was not as important as it is in today’s times.

Whenever she reached the age where she knew enough knowledge to get by, she was forced to

work to sustain all her family’s needs. Her family is the most important thing to her in this stage

of development because it is all she has. Marie had four brothers and sisters, two which have

passed away and two of which she does not communicate with often. Her husband is deceased,

but has two daughters and their entire families that she thinks the world of. For instance, things
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she was concerned about when she was younger was her family, but in a different sense than it is

now. Back then all she cared about was providing for what she needed to due the bad times her

family was in, but now she values family in different ways. She appreciates the time spent with

family and loved ones and takes every opportunity to see them she can. In her free time she has

expressed loving crossword puzzles and adult coloring books because they keep her mind sharp,

but she is obsessed with any show on HGTV. As far as health, she is in a very healthy state

considering she has already outlived most of her friends. With few minor health problems, she

tries her best to stay as healthy as possible and in her best mental, emotional, and physical state

as possible. In her years of living and growing through each stage of development, she has come

to realize the most important thing in her lifetime all lead back to the family such as the births of

her daughters and grandchildren. The effect that family did on Marie is how much they made her

into the strong woman she is today. She expressed that if it wasn't for family, she would not be

where she is today. Just from observation, I can tell that not only is she a strong believer in the

power of prayer and family, but how much stronger they can make you emotionally, physically,

and mentally. I believe that going through hardships, in all the developmental stages across your

lifespan, shape you into the person you are today.

In conclusion, the varying developmental stages outline the growth of a person from the

time they are born to the time death occurs. The cognitive, physical, and emotional aspects only

gradually increase over the course of the stages. From Emersyn’s stage to Marie’s stage, they

were all growing in their own type of way that is gradually making them stronger. By

understanding how a person changes and grows developmentally, we can take what we know

and help advance others along to live their life to the fullest extent.