抄録
This paper contains a review together with some considerations concerning studies on life-span developmental psychology, centering around the studies on adult development. Recently, adult life is regarded as a period of development with the changes of life-cycle and life styles. However, the history of the studies of adult development is comparatively short.Mainly, Epigenetic Scheme by Erikson (1950) built a theoretical base for the study on adult development, and empirical studies on adult development have been rapidly increasing since 1970's, for example, Levinson(1978), Gould (1978), and Vaillant (1977). The following points are suggested by the above mentioned studies:(1) there is a common developmental process in adult life.(2) It is also observed that there are some critical periods in psychological development such as middle age crisis and late adult transition. On the other hand, the developmental studies on adult identity is gradually increasing from 1980. The above studies reveal some important view points proving psychological changes in adulthood in its totality.
