The foundation of developmental theory can be traced back to the pioneering work of:

Developmental Theories

Developmental theories pragmatically aim to understand the roots of creativity, as suggested by the backgrounds of Big-C creators, but they also often suggest how to design environments to fulfil creative potential. They mainly emphasize the person, place, and potential aspects of creativity, and range from mini-c to Pro-c. Early developmental theories were devised by examining the lives and backgrounds of eminent creative persons; these suggested that particular developmental experiences were correlated with later creativity, such as exposure to diverse experiences and not being overly restricted.

Other theories focus on family structure (e.g., birth order, ordinal position within the family, age interval between siblings, etc.). For instance, evidence suggests that middle children often rebel against their parents and the status quo, to attract attention away from older siblings whose maturity earns them praise. Rebellion may occur within the context of the family, in one's thinking, or, during adulthood, in artistic or scientific revolutions.

Longitudinal methods provide another powerful perspective on development. Findings from this tradition indicate that during their childhoods, the truly gifted had the support to make cognitive and emotional transitions – one from general to creative talent, and the other from capability to a motivational state which leads directly to actual achievement. Such studies reinforce developmental theories of creativity that take into account cognitive processes, motivation, affect, and personality.

Abstract

Developmental theory and research have often focused on a single social identity category, for example, race or sexual orientation, and examined the consequences of that category on life outcomes. Yet intersectional models of social disadvantage (eg, Cole, 2009; Crenshaw, 1995; King, 1988) suggest that social categories combine to shape the experiences and life outcomes of individuals across life domains. In this chapter, we review empirical research that offers insight into the intersectionality of social identities across three critical developmental periods, namely, middle childhood, adolescence, and emerging adulthood. We also consider the consequences of intersecting identities across several life domains, including intergroup relations and political and civic engagement. Recognizing that the body of work on social identities is expansive, we focus our review on race/ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, and immigrant status. In each developmental stage, we discuss what we know, drawing from the limited empirical literature, and offer suggestions on where we need to go moving forward. We conclude that research that focuses on as a single category and ignores the specific domain of development provides an incomplete and inaccurate picture that will hinder efforts to develop culturally appropriate and clinically effective prevention and intervention programs to meet the needs of our diverse children and youth living in the United States.

5 Hybrid Person-Centered Studies

Whereas the majority of studies employing a person-centered approach focus on patterns of dimensions within a construct (e.g., racial identity or racial socialization but not both), a few recent studies examine patterns of racial identity and racial socialization or patterns of racial identity and racial socialization in conjunction with other constructs suggested by developmental theory to influence youth outcomes. For example, Smalls (2010) used PCA to investigate the combined effects of racial socialization and aspects of the mother–child relationship as they related to academic engagement outcomes. In this investigation, 94 self-identified African American youth between the ages of the 11 and 14 completed surveys assessing indices of maternal racial socialization (i.e., racial pride and racial barrier messages), parenting styles, climate of the mother–child relationship, and engagement (i.e., persistence and academic engagement).

The results from this study revealed three unique patterns of reports of racial socialization messages and parenting styles: Cultural Affective-Race Salient (low on child-centered parenting, average on positive climate parenting, and above average frequencies of racial pride and barrier socialization), Low Affective-Nonsalient (low on both racial socialization message and positive climate parenting, but average on child-centered parenting), and Traditional Affective-Race Salient (high on both racial messages and both components of affective relationship quality). Participants in the Traditional Affective-Race Salient group reported the highest academic and task engagement, in contrast to participants in the Low Affective-Nonsalient cluster, who reported the lowest frequencies of racial socialization and lowest levels of overall engagement. The findings from this study illustrate that although the presence of racial socialization messages is important, it is critical to consider the family context from which these messages emanate.

Expanding on the Smalls (2010) study, Smalls and Cooper (2012) used LPA to investigate gendered patterns in the clustering of private regard (racial identity), barrier socialization messages, grades, and behavioral engagement (i.e., academic effort and motivation behaviors). One hundred twenty-five self-identified African American youth in the 6th through the 8th grade (10–14 years old) completed surveys assessing racial barrier socialization, private regard, grades, and behavioral academic achievement.

LPA yielded two unique clusters of identity, socialization, grades, and engagement: a High Engagement-Race Salient cluster, categorized by scores above the sample mean on private regard, barrier socialization, grades, and engagement; and a Low Engagement-Non-Salient cluster categorized by scores below the sample mean on all four variables. Youth that were in the High Engagement-Race Salient cluster reported higher private regard and socialization; however, it is important to note that private regard and barrier socialization were not statistically different between the two clusters. With respect to gender differences, girls were nearly twice as likely to belong to the High Engagement-Race Salient cluster, while boys had greater representation (though more balanced) in the Low Engagement-Non-Salient cluster. This study provides one of the few examples of studies that combine multiple constructs (e.g., identity, socialization, grades, engagement) to identify patterns across individuals.

In another study advancing the work of Smalls (2010) and Smalls and Cooper (2012), Dunbar et al. (2015) investigated the extent to which profiles of maternal and paternal racial and emotional socialization practices varied as a function of family income and child gender, as well as how these profiles were associated with child emotional adaptation. One hundred ninety-two African American young adults who ranged in age from 18 to 24 years were recruited from classrooms and locations on a college campus (e.g., the university student center food court) to participate in this study. After providing consent, participants completed measures of parental racial socialization, parental emotional socialization, depressive symptoms, and anger symptoms.

On the basis of LPA conducted with cultural socialization, preparation for bias, promotion of mistrust, supportive responses (e.g., encouragement), and nonsupportive responses (e.g., punishment), Dunbar et al. (2015) identified four unique profiles of youth-reported maternal racial and emotional socialization practices. The first profile identified was labeled Cultural-Supportive and was characterized by the highest levels of cultural socialization endorsement and supportive responses to negative emotions compared with all the other profiles, moderate levels of preparation for bias and nonsupportive responses, and low levels of promotion of mistrust. The second profile, identified as Low Engaged, was characterized by low levels of endorsement across all socialization constructs. The third cluster was labeled Moderate Bias Preparation and was characterized by moderate levels of socialization across constructs with scores above the mean on preparation for bias, promotion of mistrust, and nonsupportive responses and scores near the mean on cultural socialization and supportive responses. The final cluster was named High Bias Preparation and was characterized by moderate levels of cultural socialization, high levels of preparation for bias, the highest levels of promotion of mistrust compared with all other profiles, and scores below the mean on supportive responses and above the mean on nonsupportive responses.

In contrast to the maternal profiles, analyses revealed three unique paternal profiles of emotional and racial socialization practices. The first cluster was labeled Multifaceted and was characterized by moderate levels on four of the five socialization constructs, with low levels of promotion of mistrust. A Low Engaged cluster was also identified for paternal emotional and racial socialization practices. This cluster was characterized by low scores across all socialization constructs, similar to the Low Engaged cluster discussed for paternal reports of socialization. The third and final cluster was labeled High Bias Preparation and was identified by its moderate levels of cultural socialization, high levels of preparation for bias, and the highest levels of promotion of mistrust. The authors found that males were more likely than females to have mothers who fit the High Bias Preparation profile than any other maternal profile. In addition, individuals with higher family income were more likely to have mothers who fit the Cultural-Supportive profile compared with the Moderate Bias preparation profile and fathers who fit the Multifaceted profile compared with the Low Engaged profile.

With respect to emotional adaptation, young adults whose mothers fit the Cultural-Supportive profile or the Moderate Bias Preparation profile had lower levels of depressive symptoms than young adults whose mothers fit the High Bias Preparation profile. Interestingly, mothers’ socialization was not related to young adults’ anger expression. However, young adults whose fathers fit the Multifaceted profile had marginally lower levels of anger expression than young adults whose fathers fell within the Low Engaged profile. Taken together, these results illustrate the importance of considering the ways in which racial socialization practices combine with supportive and nonsupportive parenting responses to emotions. Furthermore, this study sheds light on ways in which psychosocial factors such as gender and income may impact the type of racial and emotional socialization messages youth may receive and how these messages pattern together. Although the analysis does not tell us why there is a correlation, the findings lay the foundation for future research to examine how particular combinations of socialization experiences, in context, might lead to particular outcomes.

One last example of a hybrid person-centered study includes a recent examination of patterns of racial discrimination and racial socialization experiences. Richardson et al. (2015) examined the associations between youth racial identity and two types of environmental feedback: racial discrimination and parental racial socialization. Participants were 491 African American adolescents from a large public school district participating in the MADICS study. Racial discrimination was measured with the Classroom/Teacher and Peer discrimination scale. Parental Bias Preparation Messages were measured with the Proactive Responses to Discrimination Scale. All measures were obtained during participants’ 8th and 11th grade years.

Cluster analyses resulted in four profiles of adolescents experiencing racial discrimination and parental discrimination coping messages: High Discrimination/Average parent messages, Average discrimination/Average parent messages, Low Discrimination/Low parent messages, and Low Discrimination/High parent messages. High Discrimination/Average parent messages was the largest cluster, and boys were overrepresented in this group. In contrast, girls were overrepresented in the Low Discrimination/High parent messages cluster.

Richardson and colleagues also examined associations of adolescents’ racial discrimination and parent messages in 8th grade with profiles of adolescents’ 11th grade racial identity (as measured by the centrality, public regard, and private regard subscales of the MIBI-t). Three profiles were identified across centrality, private regard, and public regard racial identity variables. The Idealized cluster was characterized by high levels of racial centrality, private regard (positive feelings about African Americans and being African American), and public regard (i.e., individuals felt others viewed Blacks favorably). The Detached cluster was characterized by low racial centrality, low private regard, and moderate public regard. The Buffering/Defensive cluster was characterized by high group connectedness and racial pride. Adolescents that were in High Discrimination/Average parent messages cluster in 8th grade were less represented in the Idealized racial identity cluster in 11th grade. Boys in this cluster in 8th grade were more likely represented in the Detached cluster in 11th grade. The hypothesis that youth who receive more proactive coping messages from parents (Low Discrimination/High parent messages) would feel more positive about their identities was not supported. Instead, analyses indicated that boys in High Discrimination and girls in Average Discrimination clusters in 8th grade had greater representation in the Detached racial identity cluster in 11th grade, but this was not the case for adolescents with low experiences of discrimination. Overall, the results indicated that boys experience more frequent discrimination than girls but receive fewer coping messages, suggesting the importance of considering the context of gender in adolescents’ racial discrimination experiences and parental racial socialization. Furthermore, adolescents who reported experiencing more discrimination and average coping support were less likely to have positive feelings toward their racial identity. This study is perhaps the only of its kind in its hybrid examination of discrimination experiences and racial socialization messages as predictors of racial identity profiles.

4.2 Cognitive Development

Cognitive developmental theory focuses on the way cognitive structures affect the influence of the environmental factors that are often studied by social learning theorists. Determining the role that cognitive structures play in the development of gender knowledge and gender-typed behaviors is a difficult task due to the changing nature of children’s cognitive structures across childhood. As these structures change with age, so too does the manner in which children interpret and remember gender-relevant experiences.

Consistent with Jean Piaget’s stage theory of cognitive development, Ronald Slaby and Karin Frey identified four developmental stages that characterized children’s gender knowledge acquisition in North America. Prior to age 2, children did not distinguish between men and women, but in the second stage by age 2 or 3 they used physical characteristics to differentiate between the sexes. By the third stage at approximately 4 years of age, children understood that gender was stable, and by age 5 or 6 they knew that gender remained constant.

Ruth and Robert Munroe and Harold Shimmin tested the predictions of cognitive developmental theory in a study of children in societies marked by differing degrees of gender differentiation. They predicted that in societies with high gender differentiation (i.e., Kenya and Nepal), children would progress through the cognitive gender stages at a faster rate than children living in less differentiated settings (i.e., Belize and Samoa). Contrary to these predictions, attainment of gender classification capabilities was not related to cultural variations in gender differentiation. Although the degree of gender differentiation varied between these cultures, the discrepancies within each culture may have been sufficient to promote the development of gender discrimination skills. Furthermore, it is possible that the extensive gender differentiation in Kenya and Nepal may have been superfluous for children’s learning.

Summary

Cognitive developmental theories are attempts to define and explain the changes in children's concepts, their thinking and their understanding of the world, over the course of development. The pioneering theories of Piaget and Vygotsky were taken up by a number of other theorists, including the neo-Piagetian theorists, but also by others who emphasized the acquisition and organization of knowledge, and the increasing complexity of children's cognition as they developed. Some theories emphasize the nature of reasoning processes, including analogy and mental models, while others, such as dynamic systems theories and neural net models, define the processes of development. Still others, such as microgenetic analyses, are primarily concerned with ways of analyzing the development of children's cognition. Theories of the origin of cognition in infancy are also reviewed.

Although there are many theories, they tend to be complementary rather than contradictory. Cognitive development is influenced by increases in capacity to process complex information, as emphasized by neo-Piagetian theories, but acquisition and organization of knowledge are also important. Theories of reasoning processes do not contradict any of this, but relate it to what we know about how reasoning is carried out. Earlier theories, including those of Piaget and Vygotsky, have not been so much discredited as absorbed into larger bodies of knowledge. This has given us a much richer understanding of how thinking develops in children. Importantly, conceptual coherence of the field has increased considerably.

Abstract

Child developmental theories and a large body of literature underscore the importance of both home and preschool influences on early childhood outcomes. We leveraged data from UNICEF'S Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys, a nationally representative international household survey that has collected cohort comparable information on children's early development in over 118 low- and middle-income countries since 1995. We focused on data from 216,052 3- to 4-year-olds (106,037 girls) from 28 countries that had undertaken at least two surveys from 2010 to 2018. We considered the impact of maternal education and household wealth (what mothers/caregivers have) on home learning activities and sending children to early childhood programs (what mothers/caregivers do), on early child development. Our results indicated that maternal education, household wealth, home learning activities, participation in early childhood education (ECE) and scores on the early childhood development index (ECDI) generally increased over time and were significantly related to each other. Multilevel structural equation modeling revealed the mechanism through which maternal education and household wealth were associated with child outcomes. More wealthy and more educated mothers were more likely to send their child to an ECE program, which was in turn, associated with a higher ECDI score. Caregiver-reported participation in ECE had a large effect on the ECDI score while maternal education had a small effect on it. In comparison the effects of the home learning environment were much smaller. Taken together, findings suggest that education and wealth (what parents have) influence what they do (providing opportunities for learning), which in turn influences early child development. Furthermore, exposure to ECE services was particularly important for children's development. We conclude by discussing the policy implications of our findings and providing suggestions for future research.

Contributions of cognitive developmental theory for adolescence

Cognitive developmental theory hypothesized a unique stage of thinking that emerges in adolescence, formal operational thought. According to Inhelder and Piaget, at this stage a person is able to conceptualize about many variables interacting simultaneously. Formal operational reasoning results in the creation of a system of logical principles that can be used for problem solving. Thought becomes reflective, so that adolescents can think about their thinking, evaluate logical inferences of their thoughts, and form hypotheses about the relationships among observations. Formal operational reasoning is propositional and probabilistic; the person can hypothesize about possible outcomes and evaluate the likelihood of one outcome over another. This is the kind of intelligence on which science and philosophy are built.

Theoretical work outlining stages of cognition and the processes that bring about changes in reasoning led others to explore whether this same quality of thought might apply in domains other than scientific reasoning. Two mid-level theories emerged, one focusing on moral development led by Lawrence Kohlberg, and one focusing on social cognition, with work by Robert Selman, William Damon, and others. These theories described qualitative shifts in reasoning from childhood to adolescence, hypothesizing about the ability of adolescents to step back from their own point of view, and to take multiple perspectives into account as they evaluate moral and social scenarios.

The theoretical characterization of formal operational thought led to extensive empirical investigation. Although research generally finds that adolescents are better able than younger children to solve problems involving multiple variables and problems in which they have to inhibit the impulse to reach an answer before processing all the information, these abilities are not universally well developed in adolescence. They are strongly influenced by culture and schooling, and they do not emerge as a clearly coordinated ‘package’ of new capacities at a specific time associated with puberty. As a result, recent theorists have focused on specific aspects of reasoning. This work is converging with studies in neuroscience on the maturation of the prefrontal cortex, and focuses on features of executive functioning and meaning making.

Work by scholars such as Deanna Kuhn and Paul Klaczynski point to the role of mental representations and the awareness of alternative interpretations in adolescents' ability to solve specific reasoning problems. Klaczynski identified two complementary processes that improve in adolescence. One results in increased speed of processing, automatic recognition of patterns that have been experienced in the past, and quick, well-rehearsed responses. The other increases a person's ability to allocate attention and manage the controlled execution of a task. Klaczynski argues that what develops in adolescents is a greater capacity to inhibit the reliance on first impressions, stereotypes, and overly simplistic solutions as they review and evaluate information. Kuhn suggests that the trajectory of cognitive development in adolescence is especially sensitive to the person's self-directed engagement with cognitive challenges. The range and diversity of cognitive abilities observed among adolescents are products of the differences in interest, motivation, and values that adolescents invest in specific types of problems and their solutions.

1 Identity Described from an Eriksonian Position

Erikson's psychosocial developmental theory is based upon the epigenetic principle that certain ego abilities will develop in a predictable stage sequence given an ‘average expectable environment.’ He views identity as the stage-specific task of adolescence. Although he has offered different definitions of identity at different times, a comprehensive one is:

The integration now taking place in the form of the ego identity is more than the sum of the childhood identifications. It is the inner capital accrued from all of those experiences of each successive stage, when meaningful identification led to a successful alignment of the individual's basic drives with his endowment and his opportunities. In psychoanalysis we ascribe such successful alignments to ‘ego synthesis’…(Erikson 1959, p. 94, italics in original)

and identity refers to ‘a conscious sense of individual identity; …an unconscious striving for a continuity of personal character; …as a criterion for the silent doings of ego synthesis; and, finally, as a maintenance of an inner solidarity with a group's ideals and identity (Erikson 1980, p. 109; italics in original).

The period following puberty and before young adulthood is seen as a time when individual needs (e.g., to be independent, to be sexually expressive) and abilities (e.g., physiological maturity, cognitive sophistication) articulate with societal demands (e.g., to begin to put away childhood, to prepare for an occupation), and rewards (e.g., granting of increasing autonomy, offering rewarding occupational niches and relevant education/training). It is at this point in the life cycle that the individual is expected to begin to leave the childhood position of ‘one who is given to and who takes’ to ‘one who is to give to, and be responsible for, others.’ A crucial shift in ideological perspective is required to navigate this transition. This is one of the reasons that Erikson emphasized the importance to identity of an ideology, a kind of theory of oneself and one's social outlook: a weltanschauung. Childhood worldviews are not serviceable in adult life, and adolescence constitutes the period of transition between the two. Besides ideology, another area of importance in identity formation in adolescence is occupational choice. Making decisions about this area involves adolescents' inner self-examination of their competencies, wishes, and goals and their outer exploration of available rewarding social contexts. Therefore, one might say that an adolescent is constructing an identity when he or she is exploring alternatives and establishing commitments in the life areas of ideology and occupation. Some of the childhood constituents whose development is necessary to identity formation are described next.

Generalizability over age

Based on developmental theory, some researchers have suggested that the reciprocal pattern of relations in support of the REM found with adolescents is unlikely to generalize to preadolescents (see Wigfield and Karpathian, 1991). However, two reviews of this literature (Marsh et al., 1999; Valentine et al., 2004) concluded that there was not sufficient good-quality research with young children to support this conclusion. Guay et al. (2003) addressed this issue about developmental trends in REM research. They used a multicohort–multioccasion design for responses by students in grades 2, 3, and 4 (i.e., three age cohorts aged 8–10 years of age, each with three measurement occasions). The structural equation model (SEM) for the total sample supported an REM for the first two waves of data (paths leading from prior self-concept to subsequent achievement, and from prior achievement to subsequent self-concept) and a self-enhancement effect (paths leading prior self-concept to subsequent achievement) between the second and the third waves. This pattern was replicated in tests of the invariance of the SEM across the three age cohorts, demonstrating support for the generalizability of the REM across these preadolescent ages.

DEVELOPMENTAL THEORY

According to developmental theory, self-injury is a unique subset of behaviors emerging from the larger category of repetitive behaviors commonly observed in infancy.21 In this regard, repetitive behavior is seen as occurring during the normal progression of early developmental stages and reflective of the child's maturational process. Piaget22 viewed repetitive motor movements as reflecting the earliest stages of intellectual growth (i.e., sensorimotor period of development). For the infant, engaging in repetitive acts, or “circular reactions,” as Piaget termed them, emerges from an innate propensity for repetition, which allows infants to learn about their bodies. During the first year of life, the extent to which infants continue to engage in repetitive activity affects their ability to develop adaptive environment manipulation, which ultimately, helps them understand the world. Repetitive behavior would then decrease across the normal developmental trajectory as the child learns more adaptive and mature behavior, such as communication, to interact with the environment.

For children not progressing in accordance with the normal developmental trajectory, engaging in repetitive behavior was said to have become “fixated” at levels of primary and secondary circular reactions. Repetitive motor mannerisms directed toward the self were said to represent primary circular reactions, whereas repetitive motor mannerisms directed toward the environment were said to represent secondary circular reactions. Fixation, in this regard, was representative of not only a slower development but also a deceleration and termination of progress in the latter stages of the developmental period, in which continuing cognitive growth was anticipated. In sum, fixation was thought to occur when the course of normal development was disrupted as a result of inadequate learning experience, lack of appropriate stimuli, absence of critical role models, or physical and/or cognitive impairment.

Accordingly, self-injurious behavior is viewed as resulting from the stalling of an otherwise normal and transient stage of development. Repetitive self-injurious behavior has been observed in 5% of normally developing infants and toddlers before the age of 36 months,23 usually in the form of head banging in the crib and usually with the clear communicative intent to be picked up, fed, burped, changed, or comforted because of sickness. The advent of language in the normally developing child results in no further self-injury. For children with autism spectrum disorder and mental retardation who fail to acquire language, repetitive self-injurious behavior becomes stereotypic in nature because of a “fixed primary circular reaction” based in earlier learning, in which it proved to be an efficacious means of communicating protest and discomfort and/or gaining access to care and comforting measures. It may be argued that this same line of reasoning, which overlaps extensively with the positive and negative reinforcement hypotheses of learning theory, may be applied to adolescents with impulsive self-injurious behavior and borderline personality disorder, in which a constant demand for attention is characteristic of the disorder, or those with affective disorder, in which the need to communicate distress and access safety and comforting measures may be paramount.