Search

Procrastination is a common self-regulation failure that has been studied mainly in the educational context, but has been largely neglected in life-span psychology. Adopting a life-span motivational perspective, we focus on adult development and maintain that, historically seen, adults nowadays have to take on a more active role in pursuing their goals due to the deregulation of the life course and increased life expectancy. This requires higher self-regulatory skills, particularly with increasing age. When self-regulation fails, people may postpone developmental goals and experience negative consequences. We propose research questions that might foster the understanding of procrastination from a life-span perspective.

This issue addresses the topic of ecological validity in research in human development across the life span. Although recent developments in study design, data collection methods, and data analysis techniques have greatly advanced researchers’ ability to collect large amounts of data on large groups of individuals in natural settings, it is important to approach these data with a reflected understanding of their ecological validity. Just because data were collected using everyday and familiar stimuli or ecological momentary assessment methods does not mean automatically that the ecological validity of these data is guaranteed and can go unquestioned.

How do middle-age adults in the “rush hour of life” manage the demands of pursuing multiple goals in different life domains? A 20-day measurement burst study (N = 89 employed adults, Mage = 42) investigated the occurrence and consequences of integration and incongruity of work, family, and leisure in the everyday lives of middle-age adults. Results suggest that subjective well-being and goal relations (lower conflict, higher facilitation among goals) profit from an integration of multiple life domains. In contrast, incongruity between content (activities, thoughts) and context (location) seems to be detrimental for subjective-well being and goal relations of middle-age adults.

Birren and Bengtson’s (1988, p. ix) assessment of the field of aging research that it is “data rich and theory poor” still holds today and applies to developmental science as a whole. The accumulation of descriptive results that are not integrated into overarching theories of development lead to less progress in gaining knowledge about developmental processes than one might wish for, particularly considering its importance for enhancing development across the life span. My wish is that we as developmental researchers become more theory-driven and creative in our empirical approaches to study development. Complementing age-correlative studies, I propose that we make more use of experimental approaches that target the causal mechanisms driving developmental changes (or stability) more directly than by comparing different age groups.

Sehnsucht (life longings) refers to thoughts and feelings about missing something in life that would make it complete or perfect. Using a life-span–theoretical approach, we posit that life longings have important developmental functions, including giving directionality for life planning and helping to cope with loss and important, yet unattainable wishes by pursuing them in one's imagination. This article presents a life-span–theoretical conceptualization of Sehnsucht recently introduced by Paul B. Baltes and colleagues (Baltes, in press; Scheibe, Freund, & Baltes, 2008) and reviews first empirical research conducted in this framework. The review addresses lay conceptions of Sehnsucht and the construct's distinction from already existing, well-articulated constructs (goals, regrets, ideal self), the functions of life longings for development, and age-related differences across adulthood.