DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY
Provided by Spirit Lake Consulting, Inc.
"Making life better"

THE GRANT STUDY, named because it was originally funded by the philanthropist, William Grant, set out to study development from adolescence through middle age of a group of 268 healthy, male college students. When selected for the study, all of the men were doing well academically at a highly competitive college. All were above average in their academic accomplishments, had reached a level of education higher than the average person of their time, and showed no signs of mental or chronic physical illness. Not surprisingly, given that they were selected from a private college, their average family income growing up was significantly higher than average. The study did include, though, a range of social classes. The study's purpose was to identify how men develop and adapt over the lifespan. Interestingly, even though they started with a large group of advantaged, white men they found that not a single one of them had clear sailingthroughout their lives. All had some difficulties to overcome. Several findings from the Grant study will be mentioned throughout the course. Some of those I found particularly interesting were:
 
  • "It is sustained relationships with people, not traumatic events, that mold character."  So, while it is common to say that enduring poverty, facing the death of a close family member, etc. builds character, the facts do not seem to bear out that assumption unless we have other people to rely on who can help us out by getting us a job, helping us to deal with missing that person, etc. Contrary to what Freud predicted, for example, early separation from the mother to receive surgery did NOT cause these young men to have later problems, as long as they had a good relationship with their mother (or father). Generally, the more close relationships a person had, with parents, spouse, friends, the better off he was as far as physical and mental health throughout life.
  • Troubles during adolescence did not necessarily suggest problems as an adult. In fact, the best outcomes in adulthood were for those adults who had been relatively well-behaved children and then become tense, whiny, dependent adolescents prone to temper outbursts. The author's explanation for this finding was that the changes in adolescence of abilities, attraction to the opposite sex and so on are upsetting, and the natural response is to try to deal with these changes, first in an immature manner, and then, as a person finds these means don't work, to learn to deal with challenges in a mature, adult way.
  • One of my favorite lines that came from this entire study was: "We cannot be taught self-esteem; we absorb it."    In other words, self-esteem comes from the way that people around us accept us for who we are, channel our talents in appropriate areas and love us in spite of our failings.

If you are thinking about a book for your book report, one good one on the Grant study is:

Vaillant, G. E. (1977). Adaptation to life. Boston: Little, Brown & Co.

Okay, enough on the Grant Study for now, click here to return to the page on developmental theories.

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