Measuring Environment across the Life Span: Emerging Methods and Concepts

Psychologists have long understood that testing individuals within laboratory settings can only approximate genuine human behaviours. Yet how can the influence of the real world, with all its complexity and variability, be measured? This edited volume seeks to answer that question by providing theoretical models and testing methods for quantifying the effects of the environment on human development. The volume begins with a theoretical essay by Urie Bronfenbrenner. Chapter authors then explore ways for measuring and conceptualizing the environment across major stages in the life span, focusing on home life, the adolescent peer environment, child care settings, the after school environment, the work place and elder communities. The unpredictable influence of real-world events is thoroughly considered at each stage. This book brings together the work of environmental researchers specializing in specific domains or populations, which will provide a critical intellectual link for these often-isolated areas of research.