1st Edition

Self Directedness Cause and Effects Throughout the Life Course

Edited By Judith Rodin, Carmi Schooler, K. Warner Schaie Copyright 1990
    280 Pages
    by Psychology Press

    280 Pages
    by Psychology Press

    This book, the third in a series on the life course, has significance in today's world of research, professional practice, and public policy because it symbolizes the gradual reemergence of power in the social sciences. Focusing on "self-directedness and efficacy" over the life course, this text addresses the following issues:

    * the causes of change

    * how changes affect the individual, the family system, social groups, and society at large

    * how various disciplines--anthropology, sociology, psychology, epidemiology--approach this field of study, with consideration given to common themes and differences

    Finally, an effort is made to develop a multidisciplinary perspective unique to the study of self-directedness and efficacy.

    Contents: M.W. Riley, Foreword: The Life Course and the Crisis in Social Science. J. Rodin, Control by Any Other Name: Definitions, Concepts, and Processes. C.Schooler, Individualism and the Historical and Social- Structural Determinants of People's Concern Over Self-Directedness and Efficacy. J.W. Meyer, Individualisms: Social Experience and Cultural Formulation. D.R. Heise, Careers, Career Trajectories and the Self. R.P. Abeles, Schemas, Sense of Control and Aging. A. Foner, Social Constraints on Self-Directedness Over the Life Course. J. R. Weisz, Development of Control-Related Beliefs, Goals, and Styles in Childhood and Adolescence: A Clinical Perspective. M. Rosenberg, Control of Environment and Control of Self. C.A. Berg, What is Intellectual Efficacy Over the Life Course?: Using Adults' Conceptions to Address the Question. G.W. Evans, M.A. Lewis, The Role of Adaptive Processes in Intellectual Functioning Among Older Adults. D.J. Herrmann, Self-Perceptions of Memory Performance. S.L. Syme, Control and Health: An Epidemiological Perspective. S. Cohen, Control and the Epidemiology of Physical Health: Where Do We Go From Here? C. Peterson, Personal Control and Health Promotion: A Psychological Perspective. C. Schooler, Afterword.

    Biography

    Rodin, Judith; Schooler, Carmi; Schaie, K. Warner

    "...the volume offers a number of new, interesting, and potentially important perspectives."
    Contemporary Psychology

    "This volume is the rich outgrowth of a conference organized by its editors....an exceptionally valuable contribution to the literatures on stress and coping, the life course, and social epidemiology....perhaps this magnificent volume, as Matilda White Riley contends in its foreword, symbolizes 'the gradual reemergence of the power of the social sciences.'"
    JoAnn L. Miller,
    Contemporary Sociology