Journey of Adulthood, The (5th Edition) (Hardcover)

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Editorial Reviews

Product Description

This best-selling book discusses the aspects of “successful aging,” covering growth and development from young adulthood to old age, and the impact that culture, gender, and individual differences have on these processes. Its conversational and positive tone keeps readers interested in the subject matter, as it encourages them to apply the concepts of the book to their own lives. It presents research findings, theories, and models from the fields of developmental psychology, social psychology, health psychology, sociology, and others to discuss topics of prevention, compensation, gains, and losses. For psychologists, sociologists, and gerontologists interested in a valuable resource for information about the aging process.

From the Publisher

Using a personal, conversational style -- and an exceptionally well-balanced blend of research, theory, and practical applications -- this text explores the ways in which adults change or develop in both shared and individual ways over the full range of adult years -- from 18 to 100 or more. Comprehensive in scope, it explores all aspects of the process of development -- physical, cognitive, social, personality, and spiritual development -- and the biological, psychological, or social forces or laws that may govern the changes we see among adults. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 512 pages
• Publisher: Prentice Hall; 5 edition (July 3, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0130970417
• ISBN-13: 978-0130970411
• Product Dimensions: 10.3 x 8.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #582,888 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars Could be much better, October 30, 2009

By	N. Walter (United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Journey of Adulthood (6th Edition) (Hardcover)

Reading through this for a psychology course on adult development and aging has been a difficult task. There is a bit of unnecessary rambling through out the book, making it difficult to keep focused on the actual topic being discussed. As others have mentioned the typo's are frequent as well as the gramatical mistakes, I find myself reading some sentences three or four times before giving up on understanding what they were trying to say. The other problem with the book is the absolute reliance on statistics, the book is filled with mostly meaningless statistics that anyone short of the rain man would struggle to ever remember which further adds to the difficulty of the content as you are bombarded with statistical figures that you try to remember you tend to forget the real content and issues being discussed.

And then as others have stated there is the jaded feminist viewpoint of the book. Every concept in the book is qualified with some remark or statistic showing the difference between men and women, and while in many cases there are indeed differences in how men and women act and react and age in their life time there are many cases where this difference is pointed out and it is irrelevant or the statistical difference is insignificant.

I am glad I got this from a library and didn't have to throw away $110 of my own money on it.

4.0 out of 5 stars Adulthood and Aging Review, October 12, 2009

By	K. Coyne (Davis, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Journey of Adulthood (6th Edition) (Hardcover)

easy to read/ follow. Enjoyable to read because personal connection to author. real life examples.

6 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Increasing understanding of Aging, April 15, 2002

By	"hpa-axis" (Cedar City, UT United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Journey of Adulthood (4th Edition) (Hardcover)

Hellen Bee is able to carry one through the years of adulthood through many avenues. Using scientific studies she interprets the data in meaningful ways. Inclusion of personal accounts and her conversational style make the reading interesting. The book continually ties previous ideas to new concepts giving a nice continuity. I especially enjoyed her occasional insertions of the not-so-scientific spiritual aspects of the adult experience, which I was not expecting in a textbook. My ideas of what it means to grow old were challenged and changed during the reading of this book. Some myths of adulthood are adeptly smashed making the thought of aging not such a frightful one. The only criticism I would include is that occasionally the point being made was not clear to me and a few conclusions seem to have contradictory statements in following chapters. That may be expected in the field of psychology, however.