Lifespan Developmental Psychology

Relating the concepts of the burnout and resilience variable within the theoretical framework of lifespan development; the necessary central concepts of life-span developmental psychology ought to first be reviewed. According to this theoretical framework, development throughout life is characterized by the joint occurrence of increases (gains), decreases (losses), and maintenance (stability) in adaptive capacity (Staudinger et al., 1993). Staudinger et al., (1993) contents that this multi-directionality of development is possible if, at the same time, development is not uni- but multidimensional - thus, when development is approached from a life-span perspective, it is important to distinguish between the overall balance of developmental gains
and losses across domains and the domain-specific trajectories for particular functions. Such a point of view is consistent with a multilevel or systemic approach to development (Ford as cited in Staudinger et al., 1993).