Richard M. Lerner

Bio: Richard M. Lerner is an academic researcher from Tufts University. The author has contributed to research in topics: Positive Youth Development & Developmental Science. The author has an hindex of 96, co-authored 575 publications receiving 37079 citations. Previous affiliations of Richard M. Lerner include Temple University & Pennsylvania State University.

Handbook of adolescent psychology

Abstract: The study of and interest in adolescence in the field of psychology and related fields continues to grow, necessitating an expanded revision of this seminal work. This multidisciplinary handbook, edited by the premier scholars in the field, Richard Lerner and Laurence Steinberg, and with contributions from the leading researchers, reflects the latest empirical work and growth in the field.

Life-Span Development and Behavior

Abstract: Contents: M.M. Seltzer, C.D. Ryff, Parenting Across the Life Span: The Normative and Nonnormative Cases. M.M. Baltes, S.B. Silverberg, The Dynamics Between Dependency and Autonomy: Illustrations Across the Life Span. E.A. Skinner, J.G. Wellborn, Coping During Childhood and Adolescence: A Motivational Perspective. D.F. Alwin, Aging, Personality, and Social Change: The Stability of Individual Differences Over the Adult Life Span. A. Assmann, Wholesome Knowledge: Concepts of Wisdom in a Historical and Cross-Cultural Perspective. A. von Eye, K. Kreppner, H. WeBels, Log-Linear Modeling of Categorical Data in Developmental Research. R.M. Lerner, J.R. Miller, J.H. Knott, K.E. Corey, T.S. Bynum, L.C. Hoopfer, M.H. McKinney, L.A. Abrams, R.C. Hula, P.A. Terry, Integrating Scholarship and Outreach in Human Developmental Research, Policy and Service: A Developmental Contextual Perspective.

Positive Youth Development, Participation in Community Youth Development Programs, and Community Contributions of Fifth-Grade Adolescents: Findings From the First Wave Of the 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development

Abstract: The 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development (PYD), a longitudinal investigation of a diverse sample of 1,700 fifth graders and 1,117 of their parents, tests developmental contextual ideas linking PYD, youth contributions, and participation in community youth development (YD) programs, representing a key ecological asset. Using data from Wave 1 of the study, structural equation modeling procedures provided evidence for five firstorder latent factors representing the “Five Cs” of PYD (competence, confidence, connection, character, and caring) and for their convergence on a second-order PYD latent construct. A theoretical construct, youth contribution, was also created and examined. Both PYD and YD program participation independently related to contribution. The importance of longitudinal analyses for extending the present results is discussed.

Theoretical models of human development

Abstract: 1. Developmental Science, Developmental Systems, and Contemporary Theories of Human Development (Richard M. Lerner). 2. Developmental Psychology: Philosophy, Concepts, Methodology (Willis F. Overton). 3. The Making of Developmental Psychology (Robert B. Cairns and Beverley D. Cairns). 4. Developmental Epistemology and Implications for Methodology (Jaan Valsiner). 5. The Significance of Biology for Human Development: A Developmental Psychobiological Systems Views (Gilbert Gottlieb, Douglas Wahlsten and Robert Lickliter). 6. Dynamic Systems Theories (Esther Thelen and Linda B. Smith). 7. Dynamic Development of Action and Thought (Kurt W Fischer and Thomas R. Bidell). 8. The Person in Context: A Holistic-Interactionistic Approach (David Magnusson and Hakan Stattin). 9. The Developing Person: An Experiential Perspective (Kevin Rathunde and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi). 10. Action Perspectives on Human Development (J. Brandstadter). 11. Life Span Theory in Developmental Psychology (Paul B. Baltes, Ulman Lindenberger and Ursula M. Staudinger). 12. The Life Course and Human Development (Glen H. Elder and Michael J. Shanahan). 13. The Cultural Psychology of Development: One Mind, Many Mentalities (Richard A. Shweder, Jacqueline J. Goodnow, Giyoo Hatano, Robert A. Levine, Hazel R. Markus and Peggy J. Miller). 14. The Bioecological Model of Human Development (Urie Bronfenbrenner and Pamela A. Morris). 15. Phenomenologitcal and Ecological Systems Theory: Development of Diverse Groups (Margaret Beale Spencer). 16. Positive Youth Development: Theory, Research, and Applications (Peter L. Benson, Peter C. Scales, Stephen F. Hamilton and Arturo Sesma). 17. Religious and Spiritual Development Throughout the Life Span (Fritz K. Oser, W. George Scarlett and Anton Bucher). Author Index. Subject Index.

Concepts and Theories of Human Development

Abstract: Contents: Preface to the Third Edition. Preface to the Second Edition. Preface to the First Edition. Human Development: Facts or Theory? Historical Roots of Human Development Concepts and Theories. Philosophical Models of Development. The Nature-Nurture Controversy: Implications of the Question How? The Continuity-Discontinuity Issue. Resolving the Nature-Nurture Controversy: T.C. Schneirla and the Concept of Levels of Integration. Developmental Systems Theories. Developmental Systems Theories: The Sample Case of Developmental Contextualism. Life-Span, Action Theory, Life-Course, and Bioecological Perspectives. Nature Approaches to Human Development: Behavioral Genetics. Nature Approaches to Development: The Sample Case of Intelligence and the Work of Sir Cyril Burt and Arthur Jensen. Nature Approaches to Development: Konrad Lorenz and the Concept of "Instinct." Nature Approaches to Development: Sociobiology. Cognition and Development: From Neo-Nativism to Developmental Systems. Stage Theories of Development. The Differential Approach. The Ipsative Approach to Development. Methodological Issues in the Study of Human Development. Applied Developmental Science.

Emerging adulthood. A theory of development from the late teens through the twenties.

Abstract: Emerging adulthood is proposed as a new conception of development for the period from the late teens through the twenties, with a focus on ages 18-25. A theoretical background is presented. Then evidence is provided to support the idea that emerging adulthood is a distinct period demographically, subjectively, and in terms of identity explorations. How emerging adulthood differs from adolescence and young adulthood is explained. Finally, a cultural context for the idea of emerging adulthood is outlined, and it is specified that emerging adulthood exists only in cultures that allow young people a prolonged period of independent role exploration during the late teens and twenties.

Evaluating Goodness-of-Fit Indexes for Testing Measurement Invariance

Abstract: Measurement invariance is usually tested using Multigroup Confirmatory Factor Analysis, which examines the change in the goodness-of-fit index (GFI) when cross-group constraints are imposed on a measurement model. Although many studies have examined the properties of GFI as indicators of overall model fit for single-group data, there have been none to date that examine how GFIs change when between-group constraints are added to a measurement model. The lack of a consensus about what constitutes significant GFI differences places limits on measurement invariance testing. We examine 20 GFIs based on the minimum fit function. A simulation under the two-group situation was used to examine changes in the GFIs (ΔGFIs) when invariance constraints were added. Based on the results, we recommend using Δcomparative fit index, ΔGamma hat, and ΔMcDonald's Noncentrality Index to evaluate measurement invariance. These three ΔGFIs are independent of both model complexity and sample size, and are not correlated with the o...

A Theory of Development From the Late Teens Through the Twenties

Abstract: Emerging adulthood is proposed as a new conception of development for the period from the late teens through the twenties, with a focus on ages 18-25. A theoretical background is presented, Then evidence is provided to support the idea that emerging adulthood is a distinct period demographically, subjectively, and in terms of identity explorations. How emerging adulthood differs from adolescence and young adulthood is explained. Finally, a cultural context for the idea of emerging adulthood is outlined, and it is specified that emerging adulthood exists only in cultures that allow young people a prolonged period of independent role. exploration during the late teens and twenties.

Romantic Love Conceptualized as an Attachment Process

Abstract: This article explores the possibility that romantic love is an attachment process--a biosocial process by which affectional bonds are formed between adult lovers, just as affectional bonds are formed earlier in life between human infants and their parents. Key components of attachment theory, developed by Bowlby, Ainsworth, and others to explain the development of affectional bonds in infancy, were translated into terms appropriate to adult romantic love. The translation centered on the three major styles of attachment in infancy--secure, avoidant, and anxious/ambivalent--and on the notion that continuity of relationship style is due in part to mental models (Bowlby's "inner working models") of self and social life. These models, and hence a person's attachment style, are seen as determined in part by childhood relationships with parents. Two questionnaire studies indicated that relative prevalence of the three attachment styles is roughly the same in adulthood as in infancy, the three kinds of adults differ predictably in the way they experience romantic love, and attachment style is related in theoretically meaningful ways to mental models of self and social relationships and to relationship experiences with parents. Implications for theories of romantic love are discussed, as are measurement problems and other issues related to future tests of the attachment perspective.