Human Development Capstone

For my capstone for my Human Development major at Eckerd College, we were tasked to write a major comprehensive paper applying developmental theory to extensive lifespan interviews with individuals over the age of 65. I chose to interview my grandmother for this project. We spent several weeks in the fall of 2019 discussing her life: the high points, low points, turning points, moments of grief, moments of joy, and more. After transcribing and analyzing the several hours of interviews, I defined five periods of her life and applied corresponding developmental theories to those moments.

To summarize, here are the five life periods and corresponding developmental theories that I outlined in the final paper:

• Adolescence: Becoming Valedictorian

  • Baumrind's Parenting Typology Model (1971)​

  • Sternberg's Triarchic Theory of Intelligence (1988)

• Young Adulthood: Marriage

  • Gottman & Silver's Sound Relationship House Theory (2015)​

  • Sternberg's Triangular Theory of Love (1988)

• Middle Adulthood: Near Infertility

  • Markus & Nurius's Possible Selves Theory (1986)​

  • Lazarus & Folkman's Stress & Coping Process Theory (1987)

• Older Adulthood: Caretaking Career

  • Gilligan's Theory of Women's Moral Development (1982)​

  • Kohlberg's Stages of Moral Development (1981)

• Octogenarian: Widowhood

  • Kübler-Ross's Five Stages of Grief (1969)​

  • Worden's Four Tasks of Mourning (2018)

My grandmother passed away five days before I completed my capstone project, so she unfortunately did not read the final product. While it was emotionally difficult for me to complete this project, I would do it all over again with her. Below, you will find my final Human Development Capstone paper.