Development
Development from a Christian Perspective
Childhood: Before Puberty
Physical
Cognitive
Moral
Spiritual
TCKs
Adolescence: Added in 19th century
Physical
Cognitive
Moral
Spiritual
TCKs
Adulthood: Shortened several times
Physical
Cognitive
Moral
Spiritual
Retirement: Added in the 20th Century
Death: Not in the Original plan
Suicide
Grief
Resurrection: Christian concept
Chapter 10 in Dewey’s introductory text is relevant
(Chapter 4: Developing through the Life Span in Myers 8th edition is also relevant.)
Another major area of psychology is developmental psychology, in which psychologists are interested in describing and explaining changes in behavior and mental processes that result from maturation and experience. American developmental psychology has traditionally been unbalanced, because psychologists saw "development" as something that happened primarily to children and adolescents. Most books before 1970 were written about child psychology and adolescent psychology, but even those about developmental psychology devoted about nine-tenths of the book to the first two decades of life and the remaining one-tenth to the last five decades. Fortunately, psychologists corrected this imbalance. As Christians we should take this more balanced view of lifespan development.
Development from a Christian Perspective
Developmental psychology fits into our Christian perspective as shown in the lower part of Figure 3:1. The figure shows that at immaturity people are more like animals, and as they mature they may become more like God. Note that it does not imply that they are animals, just that they are similar to animals, and it does not say that they necessarily become like God, only that they have that potential. As we consider different sections of developmental psychology, we will see repeatedly that people progress from animal-like to God-like. This progression is closely related to our applied goal of making people more like God.
Figure 3:1 Developmental psychology from a Christian perspective.
HUMANS
Created . . . . . . . . . . . in the. . . . . . . . . Image of God
Like Animals Like God
Overt Behavior. . . . . . Definition. . . . . .Mental Processes
Understand. . . . . . . . . Goals. . . . . . . . .Make people
Creation Like God
Psychoanalysis. . . . . . Systems. . . . . . .Humanistic
Behaviorism Psychology
Experimental . . . . . . .Methods . . . . . . Descriptive
Physical. . . . . . . . . . .The Person . . . . Spiritual
Immaturity. . . . . . . .Development. . .Maturity
Through much of history, as well as in many cultures today, the developmental periods were childhood (from birth to puberty) and adulthood (from puberty until death). However, during the last couple of centuries some cultures, especially Western ones, have divided adulthood into several additional periods, and there is no general agreement as to what they should be or at what ages they occur. Some of these periods are marked by physiological changes (puberty), and others are marked by cultural norms (laws).
Childhood: Before Puberty
Development begins at the moment of conception and continues for a lifetime. Although childhood can be divided into several parts, this book defines it as extending from conception to puberty. Events in the womb may have a profound effect on life after birth. If the mother is severely stressed during pregnancy, her stress hormones can affect her baby’s temperament. If the mother is a heroin addict, the baby will be born an addict as well. If the mother smokes, the baby also experiences the nicotine and reduced placental blood flow. If the mother drinks alcohol, the baby may be born with fetal alcohol syndrome, a leading cause of mental retardation. In cultures where taking such drugs is common, missionaries may see these results in children to whom they minister.
Physical
Physical development takes place primarily during the first two decades of life. During the first year, height increases by more than a third and weight triples. Bones continue to ossify and muscles grow. Body proportions change. At birth the head is about one-quarter of the length of the body. By five years of age the child's height has more than doubled, so that the head is only a little more than one-eighth of the length. Between the ages of five and ten, children grow at a fairly constant rate. Physical development varies depending on the general community health situation and diet available to children where missionaries serve.
Cognitive
Cognitive development follows a progression from animal-like to God-like. The most influential individual in the study of this area is Jean Piaget, who conversed with and observed the behavior of children as their thinking developed. He discovered three stages of cognitive development during childhood.
· Sensorimotor stage. This stage occurs during the first two years of the child's life in which the child experiences the world through senses and actions such as looking, mouthing, and so forth.
· Preoperational stage. This stage lasts from about age two to age seven. Children now acquire language and can manipulate the meaning of objects and events using words and images.
· Concrete operations stage. From about age seven to eleven or twelve children can have a mental representation of a series of actions, can draw a map, and think in relational terms.
Though they have more stages of development ahead, in these stages children already begin to show progression from animal-like to Godlike. Animals have similar senses and can act on the basis of their sensations, much like children in the sensorimotor stage. However, most animals are not capable of the Godlike qualities of symbol use and relational thinking that characterize children in the preoperational and concrete operations stages.
Although the ages and particular things children can do vary across and within cultures, missionaries should realize that this general progression in cognitive development occurs. Most children before the age of puberty are unable to think abstractly. They cannot conceive of the Holy Spirit, but they can conceive of Jesus, “God with skin on.” They may not be able to understand sin, but they can learn that taking someone’s toy is wrong.
During childhood, children learn languages rapidly and without an accent. During this time it is common for children to become truly bilingual if they play frequently with national children, though the languages may be confused at times. Parents may become quite discouraged as they struggle to learn the language while their children learn it with no accent and little effort. Of course, the children are learning what is spoken on the street in the neighborhood, not necessarily what is grammatically correct.
If children live in a host culture for a significant amount of time during their later childhood, they begin to become Third Culture Kids (TCKs) as they live between cultures. Of course they internalize parts of their parents’ culture in their home and in a circle of expatriates, but they also internalize parts of the host culture in which they live. Along with the language they learn different ways of thinking and different sets of assumptions which determine their broader world-views.
Moral
Piaget also believed that children’s moral decisions were based on their level of cognitive development. Rather than separate stages, he believed that they went through two overlapping phases.
· In the heteronomous phase, more prominent during earlier years, children believe that unchangeable rules are handed down by authorities (God, parents, etc.). These rules must be obeyed and punishment should be proportional to the naughtiness of the offence. For example, they believe the child who accidentally breaks five cups while trying to help set the table should be punished more than the child who breaks one cup while climbing up to the shelf to get cookies placed there so he or she cannot reach them.
· In the autonomous phase, more prominent during later years, children understand that people’s interpretation of the rules differ, and the rules can be broken under some conditions. Intentions become more important than the naughtiness of the offence, and these intentions should be the basis of judging the behavior. For example, the child who breaks one cup while trying to get forbidden cookies should be punished more than the child who breaks five cups while trying to help.
Even in the transition between these two phases children begin to become more like God. As Samuel was anticipating anointing a new king, God reminded him that human beings look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart (1 Samuel 16:7). In the heteronomous phase children judge on the basis of visible damage done, but in the autonomous phase they judge on the basis of the inner intentions, the heart.
During recent years there has been an increasing concern with moral development during childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. Lawrence Kohlberg expanded Piaget’s work concluding that there were three levels of moral development, each with two stages. At the preconventional level, individuals obey or disobey the rules to avoid punishment or to get rewards. Even animals can respond on the basis of reward and punishment. At the conventional level, people try to please and help others to get their approval or do their duty to maintain social order. At the postconventional level, individuals realize that different cultures have different moralities, and they develop their own inner convictions. Here are the stages that most often occur during childhood, and they are still often found in adults.
Level 1: Preconventional Morality in which moral values are in external events or bad actions.
· Stage 1. Obedience and Punishment Orientation. In this stage children see rules as fixed and obeying these rules is important because doing so avoids punishment.
· Stage 2. Naively Egoistic Orientation. In this stage children obey the rules to get rewards to meet their own needs. The best course of action is the one that serves one’s interests.
Level 2: Conventional Morality in which moral values are in performing the right roles expected by others.
· Stage 3. “Good-boy/Good-girl” Orientation.” In this stage children make decisions based on what is expected of them. They conform to be “nice” and consider relationships as they decide issues of right and wrong.
Again, even animals can respond at the level of preconventional morality. They act to maximize reward and minimize punishment. However, as children reach later childhood, they begin to consider what others, including God, expect of them. They begin the change from animal-like to God-like.
As they interact with the nationals, especially in the national church, missionaries need to remember that they may be at different levels of moral development than people in the missionaries’ passport culture. In fact, the nationals sometimes have markedly different world-views and ways of thinking which seem to completely contradict God’s Word.
http://psychology.about.com/od/developmentalpsychology/a/kohlberg.htm
Spiritual
http://www.yutopian.com/religion/theology/Salvation.html
Although theologians usually do not use the term "stages" when talking about spiritual development, they use the same concept. In his Systematic Theology Louis Berkhof talks about the "relation between sanctification and some of the other stages in the work of redemption.'' There is little agreement among theologians on the specifics of the stages of spiritual development. Sometimes they may use the same terms, but with different meanings. However, they generally agree on broad stages of development toward God-likeness, so let us consider some of these.
First, human beings are born in a sinful state, commonly called original sin. This original sin is present in every person from birth and is the root of the overt sins appearing later in life. Humans can do nothing to rescue themselves from this sinful state, an unGod-like stage of development.
Second, is justification. In his death and resurrection Jesus paid the penalty for our sins so that through him anyone could receive eternal life (John 3:16). This gift of salvation comes by God’s grace and is not based on our works (Romans 3:24). Although the most common time for people to enter this stage of spiritual development is shortly after puberty, children may enter this state of justification before they reach adolescence or adulthood.
Adjustment
People living and working in other cultures may think that they do not need to give much thought to taking their preschool and primary children along. Parents may think that although the children may not want to go, they will soon adjust and be happy in the new culture.
Although this scenario is often the case, it is not always so. Children who do not want to go sometimes never adjust, refuse to learn the language, refuse to make friends, and talk about going home for years.
Parents can increase the likelihood that their preadolescent children will make the transitions to and from the host culture successfully. Following are suggestions that may increase the chances of a child having a good experience in another culture.
Parenting. Probably the most important factor in the adjustment of children is the relationship between their parents. Someone has said, “The best thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother.” Although parents may not realize it, children are aware when problems exist between their parents.
Living in another culture is difficult for any marriage, so couples who have not developed good methods of communication and resolving conflict should take time to do so before going. Then they will be able to adequately do the following P’s of Parenting:
· Presence. Parents are available for children. Of course, there will be times of separation, but when not out of town, parents should “schedule” time with their children.
· Provision. Parents provide for their children’s needs, not only financial and physical needs but also spiritual, relational, and emotional ones.
· Protection. Parents protect children by setting boundaries and by administering consequences as well as by their physical presence in times of danger.
· Permission. Parents give permission to express emotions in age-appropriate ways as well as to try new things and take some risks.
Preparation. Although children need not be involved when the idea of serving cross-culturally first comes up, they want to have their voice heard as a part of the family when it is seriously discussed. Talking with them about it is vitally important rather than just telling them they are going. Even preschool children can process an amazing amount of information and should be included when considering the move. In addition to generally talking about the move, talk about specific things in their new culture and experience parts of it if possible.
· Talk about the food they will be eating when there.
· Cook some of the food while still at home.
· If possible eat at a restaurant that serves such food, and let the children hear the language and see the actions and appearance of the cooks and servers.
· Talk about the place the family will be living and look at pictures of it.
· If children are in school, talk about their school and look at pictures of it.
In all of this, stress positive things about the move and discuss options open to them months in advance of the move.
Packing. When parents are packing and realize that they cannot possibly take everything they planned, they should very careful to let children have a voice in what they leave behind. The following “worn out” or “insignificant” items may be very important to a child:
· An torn blanket
· A wrinkled picture
· A broken toy
· A ragged teddy bear
Parents may tell a child to leave a cherished teddy bear behind and they will get him or her a new one when they arrive. Although that sounds good, it may be the emotional equivalent of someone telling a person to leave a baby at home because they can always have another one when they get there.
If individuals are into the popular pastime of scrapbooking, they should be sure to take some of those scrapbooks along. They can be invaluable for keeping memories alive. Photo albums are important as well. If individuals are really cramped for space, in this digital age families may still have the photos in the computer or burned on a CD that can be taken along easily because it is so small and weighs only ounces.
Goodbyes are very important. People tend to say goodbye to others, but they also need to bid farewell to other things as well:
· Places. Take a child to school to tell it goodbye, then to the church, then to the park, and so forth.
· Pets. A cat, a dog, or even a fish may seem like a part of the family to a child. He or she needs to tell it goodbye and see who will be caring for it.
· Possessions. Obviously everything your children have cannot go with them, so giving their things away (or selling them at a yard sale) lets them know who will have their treasured possessions.
Possibilities. On arrival the choices may seem endless where children are involved. Adults may want their children to play with the national children who live nearby. However, the children have so many strange things to adjust to that the thought of playing with boys and girls who do not speak their language may be daunting at first.
Parents may want their children to learn the national language as children so that they can speak it without an accent and think in it like the parents can never do. However, still mastering the intricacies of their own language, they may find the new language confusing and not want to learn it.
Parents may want their children to take in the incredible scenery of the surrounding countryside or the important historical monuments and buildings in the area. However, they may rather play in the sandbox in the back yard.
The number of potential choices may seem endless, and families will have to use their own judgment. However, very important is realizing that there is a big difference between parents spending time with their children and children spending time with parents.
· If mom and dad are all doing something kids want to do (play in the sandbox), they are spending time with them.
· If Children are all doing something parents want to do (seeing the monuments), they are doing something with parents.
Of course, parents do not have to do everything with children, but they need to be sure that they do enough “somethings” with them. Better to end up with good memories of the sandbox than with bad memories of the monuments.
Preschool & Primary. School is a very important part of the children’s lives, and missionaries have a broad range of open options:
· Local Christian school
· Local international school
· Correspondence courses (traditional or DVD)
· Distance learning (internet or DVD)
· National school (public or private)
· Home school (alone or cooperative)
· Assisted home school (home and other)
· Boarding school (mission or international Christian)
· Satellite school (small or multigrade class)
As parents and children face these choices, it is important to remember that no one type of schooling is recommended for all children or even one child over his or her lifetime. Some children flourish in one type of school while other children flourish in another. A child may do well in one school situation when five years old but need a different one when ten years old.
This decision is one that is likely to be revisited several times during a child’s life, so parents should not be reluctant to make changes when such changes will help.
For further information about childhood click on the following links to parts of Chapter 10 in Dewey’s on-line text.
Adolescence: Added in the 19th century
Jesus was a teenager, but never an adolescent. So was Moses. So was Paul. So was George Washington. If you are working among non-Western people, that may be the case with them as well. If you are working in developing countries, you may have noticed that teenagers in the larger cities are adolescents, but those in the rural villages are not.
The idea that adolescence is the time of life between puberty and adulthood seems simple enough; but it is much more complicated than it appears at first glance because of changes in the definitions of puberty and adulthood during the last 200 years.
· Puberty. Puberty originally meant, “of ripe age, adult.” That is what it still means in many tribes where children go through rites of passage as teenagers to become full adults in their culture. However, in Western nations the age of sexual maturity has decreased by three or four years, but people do not become adults culturally at that time. Today puberty means only sexual maturity.
· Adulthood. People used to become adults in their early teens, such as Jewish children going through bat or bar mitzvah at 12 or 13. It is not clear when people become adults today in Western cultures. They begin paying adult prices in restaurants and theatres at 12, driving at 16, graduating and voting at 18, and buying liquor at 21. We have gone from the bar mitzvah to the bar as the final step to adulthood.
Adolescence is the time of life after puberty but before adulthood; it did not exist much before the twentieth century and still exists only in Western (or Westernizing) countries. However, developmental changes occur in various areas of development.
Physical
Growth during later childhood takes place at a rather constant rate. However, between the ages of ten and fifteen, puberty occurs. Great changes happen as the anterior pituitary increases its output of certain hormones. This results in a sudden spurt of growth in the bones and muscles and in sexual development. After the adolescent growth spurt, the rate of growth decreases and full adult size is usually reached by the age of sixteen or eighteen. Slight increases in height and weight occur during the next few years, but physical development is now nearly at its peak.
Cognitive
During childhood we saw that children progress through the sensorimotor stage, the preoperational stage, and the stage of concrete operations. Most people make it through these three stages, but not everyone makes it through the final stage proposed by Piaget. They can perform well in most subjects, but they still have difficulty in subjects requiring abstract thinking, such as algebra or theoretical physics.
The final stage of cognitive development, occurring near the age of puberty, is the stage of formal operations in which people can finally begin to think in purely symbolic terms. They can now use abstract rules to solve a whole class of problems and can think in terms of hypothetical ideas. If this stage occurs late, a person may fail algebra one year but repeat it a year later and find it quite easy. The progressive development from animal-like to God-like is again obvious.
Some people in all cultures and many people in some cultures remain in the stage of concrete operations or get only partly into the stage of formal operations. This does not mean that anything is wrong with them, just that they are different and do not have some of the abilities of others in the culture.
Adolescents who have grown up between cultures and become TCKs have a broader world-view and develop ways of thinking that are a combination of two or more cultures. However, not everyone who lives in two cultures becomes a TCK. Adolescents who live almost entirely on a military base or a missionary compound may have little contact with the culture around them and internalize little of the culture.
There is a difference between being able to communicate in everyday conversation and communicate in an academic setting. Adolescents who can speak fluently with friends on the street may not be able to do well in school because they have gone to school in a different language. This is of particular concern if the children of cross-cultural workers have attended national schools rather than schools taught in the language of their passport culture. Basic conversational ability can be learned in a year or two, but the academic language ability required for high school or college may take five to seven years to learn. See this master’s thesis for more information. http://etd.ohiolink.edu/send-pdf.cgi/Grigorenko%20Margaret.pdf?acc_num=cedar1116340990
Moral
The stages of moral development that most often occur during childhood are still often found in adolescents. However, a new stage may also appear.
Preconventional Morality
· Stage 1. Obedience and Punishment orientation.
· Stage 2. Naively Egoistic Orientation.
Conventional Morality
· Stage 3. “Good-boy/Good-girl” Orientation.
· Stage 4. Authority and Social Order Orientation. During adolescence many people begin to consider society as a whole when making moral judgments. They know that they are supposed to respect authority and follow the rules made by society just because those are the rules. Of course, they may not follow them, but if they do, they do so out of a sense of obligation.
Postconventional Morality
· Stage 5: Contractual/Legalistic Orientation. Later adolescents see laws and rules as being defined by society and make sense. If a rule or law conflicts with an individual need, the law should be followed because the majority rules for the welfare of all.
Of course, being able to think at this level and make moral decisions at this level does not mean that adolescents act accordingly. Knowing what ought to be done and actually doing it are two separate things. Many adolescents know what they should do, but they do something quite different. Kohlberg’s theory is about moral thinking, not moral action.
Again nationals in a different culture may not think in these terms at all. Those living in a totalitarian society may not be able to comprehend making moral judgments in this way. They may have always lived where what the chief of the tribe or the ruler of the party in charge is always to be obeyed.
Nationals living in a collectivist culture may have very different moral outlooks. People living in individualistic Western cultures emphasize personal rights while those living in collectivist Eastern cultures emphasize society and community. These different perspectives may result in very different decisions about moral issues.
Spiritual
People begin in a state of original sin and need to progress to a state of salvation. As noted earlier in the chapter, the most common age for people to experience justification is around puberty, at the beginning of adolescence. As people enter the stage of formal operations cognitively and the stage of conventional morality, they become aware that they are breaking human rules and God’s laws. They begin to experience feelings of guilt and want to do something about it.
In modern Western society which has created the concept of adolescence most people who have a conversion experience do so during adolescence. A few people do so after reaching adulthood, but the majority who experience conversion do so before that.
Problems of Adolescence
When difficulties occur during the teen years, they often center around our invention of adolescence, and they occur in three major areas: identity, sexuality, and work.
· Identity. Adolescents have problems knowing who they are because we have not yet created a cultural identity for adolescents. They are neither children nor adults. In addition to the loss of family identity by such things as divorce and remarriage, MKs may live much of their lives thousands of miles from their extended families, seeing them only rarely. In addition to the loss of community identity caused by urbanization and bussing, MKs may live in a different “home” each time they come to their “home” country. And in addition to the loss of religious identity due to denominations and independent churches, MKs may be confused by national religions.
· Sexuality. The very definition of adolescence means that teenagers are not able to express their sexuality in a marriage relationship. They cannot legally be married (without parental consent) for about the first six years of their sexual maturity and cannot financially afford to for about the first ten years. Unfortunately, this is during the young men’s time of greatest sexual desire. Of course, we know that most teenagers in Western cultures are not sexually inactive. MKs may grow up in host cultures that are even more sexually permissive than their “home” culture as well as in missionary subcultures that are less sexually permissive. This may result in even more difficulty dealing with their sexuality during adolescence.
· Work. Teenagers worked for thousands of years, but full-time work that pays enough to live on was legally prohibited for most people before the age of 18 with the invention of adolescence. Since they could not work, our culture passed laws that adolescents must go to school, although many teens now work part-time. MKs often have even more limited opportunities to work, earn money, and learn how to spend it than teens in sending countries.
Preventing Problems
Problems in adolescence can at least be greatly decreased. The major way to help those going through adolescence is to treat them as adults. Expect responsible behavior from them and teach them to be adults. Parents can take many specific actions to help with all three major problem areas. Here are a few examples.
Identity. Help teens develop an identity:
· Family. Have family nights, family outings, family traditions, family jokes, family devotions, family scrapbooks and videos. Study the family history.
· Mission community. Participate in school activities, church activities, dinners, retreats, outings, etc. with others in the mission. Have a positive attitude about it.
· “Home” community. When in the home country, participate in scouts, 4-H, PTO, block parties, etc. Subscribe to the local paper and read about the local history.
· Religious. Adolescents should participate as adults in the choir, ushering, teaching, leading Bible study, participating in board meetings, leading small groups, etc.
Sexuality. Talk with teens about sex.
· Talk about sexuality and adolescence so that the adolescents will realize the problem is with Western culture, not with them as individuals. Begin doing this when they are children.
· Study what the Bible has to say about the various types of sexual activity in which adolescents engage, and look at all the positive things the Bible has to say about sex.
· Begin interacting with the opposite sex in acceptable ways. Dating is a time of becoming friends and developing commitment, not becoming sexual partners.
· Make a commitment during the early teen years about what the teen will do and will not do in terms of sexual behavior (hold hands, embrace, pet, premarital sex, etc.).
Work and Money. Teach teens about finances.
· Everyone given a job to do to help around the house and grounds, without pay.
· Teens work extra jobs to earn their own money to spend as they see fit, to learn how to manage money.
· Give teens the money used to buy their own necessities (clothing, toiletries, etc.) as their weekly or monthly pay, just as adults are paid. It is then their responsibility to manage that money so they will have new clothes for school. If they do not have it, let them wear their old ones.
Although there will almost certainly be times of conflict, in general adolescence can be a time of growth for both parents and teenagers. Adolescence was invented primarily between 1850 and 1950, so it is a relatively recent concept. It may have been a sustainable one if everyone considered to be adults at its invention had continued working until death. However, another concept, retirement, came into being during the 20th century, and most societies may not be able to support both adolescence and retirement. Much more about adolescence is available in the book Understanding Adolescence at http://www.crossculturalworkers.com/ebooks.htm.
Third Culture Kids (TCKs)
Adolescents who live in two or more cultures during these crucial developmental years are very likely to become TCKs. They internalize parts of all the cultures in which they have lived, but are not fully at home in any one. Growing up between worlds has an influence on all the areas we have discussed in this chapter (cognition, morality, and spirituality) as well as many other parts of life. Children of missionaries and other cross-cultural workers, such as people working for the diplomatic core or the military or businesses, often become TCKs.
Much more about TCKs is available in Third Culture Kids and Adolescence: Cultural Creations at http://www.crossculturalworkers.com/ebooks.htm. Also see materials available at TCK World at http://www.tckworld.com/ and Interaction International at http://www.interactionintl.org/
Children of missionaries are often called MKs (Missionary Kids). and these MKs have websites specifically for them on MK Connection at http://www.mknet.org/ and Mu Kappa at http://www.mukappa.org.
For further information about adolescence click on the following links to parts of Chapter 10 in Dewey’s on-line text.
Adulthood: Shortened several times
Before the invention of adolescence, the age of adulthood was often clearly marked by a ceremony when people reached some particular stage of puberty or reached a particular age. In the Jewish culture boys became men at their Bar Mitzvah at age thirteen, and girls became women at their Bat Mitzvah at age 12.
However, in places where adolescence exists, there is usually no clear indication of when people become adults. Even within the same building, such as a hotel or motel, parents with several teenagers may find that they are all adults in the restaurant (all pay adult prices), none of them are adults in the bar (they cannot buy liquor), and some adults and some children at the front desk (have to pay extra for some but not for others). The indication of adulthood used to be the Bar Mitzvah; now it is the bar.
Adulthood has been shortened by removing the person from full participation in society relative to work during the early years (usually the teen years) and calling it adolescence. Similarly in Western cultures people typically leave full participation in society relative to work during the later years (usually beginning in the mid 50s to mid 60s and calling it retirement). Whether this is a sustainable situation or not remains to be seen, but at this point it appears that the economic contributions of working adults between the early 20s and the 60s may not be able to support both adolescence and retirement for long.
Physical
Although endurance increases for another twenty years, performance on tasks requiring speed and agility begins to decline slowly after the early twenties. Perhaps society places too much emphasis on this decline, because the decline between twenty and sixty years of age is very gradual, especially if people care for themselves physically. Furthermore, adults more than compensate for the physical decline by using better judgment. For example, although the reaction time of an adolescent male is faster than that of a sixty-year-old, the adolescent's traffic accident rate is higher.
The most outstanding characteristic of the psychology of aging is the sensorimotor decline that typically accelerates rather rapidly beginning in a person’s 60s. With aging, all of the senses show some changes that reduce the individual's contact with the environment. Individuals are not able to see, hear, touch, taste, or smell their surroundings as well as they once did. Responses change as well, tending to slow down. Since we are animal-like physically, from our perspective we would expect a decline of the physical as we age.
Cognitive
People often think there is a general decline in cognitive abilities throughout adulthood, that memories fail, intelligence drops, and older adults are not able to think as well as younger ones. This is true on tasks requiring rote recall and a speedy answer. However, older adults do better in many areas, such as:
· Vocabulary
· Recognition memory
· Analogies
· General knowledge
· Integrating information
· Good judgment
In four studies Timothy Stackhouse found that when given 15 minutes to work on a crossword puzzle from the New York Times people in their 60s and 70s correctly filled in twice as many words as people in their 20s.
Wisdom. The Bible says a great deal about wisdom. In fact, the books of Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes are often referred to as “wisdom literature.” Within those books the major passages about wisdom are in Job 28 and in Proverbs 3-4. Of course, one of the attributes of God is that he is wise and the Bible repeatedly urges people to seek wisdom no matter what the cost. Over the centuries most people have believed that wisdom increases with age, and recent research has found evidence that supports that.
Psychologist Paul Baltes studied wisdom for many years and even developed some tests to measure it. He was interested in more than knowledge. He was looking at knowledge about life in general and about how to live using that knowledge to make good judgments when facing complicated and ambiguous situations. He found that older adults do well on the test. The writers of the US Constitution realized that the twenty-something may have an abundance of knowledge, but they wanted someone older to lead the county, so they set the minimum age for President at 35. For more information about Baltes work see
http://www.wisdompage.com/WisdomResearchers/PaulBaltes.html
Disease. Unfortunately, dementias of various types increase with age, especially in later life. Dementia simply means a loss of cognitive abilities including memory, thinking, language, and problem solving, and this loss is caused by an underlying physical basis. It can be caused by a series of small strokes, a brain tumor or many other factors. The most feared type of dementia today is Alzheimer’s Disease, a slowly developing loss of mental functions. By the time people reach their mid-80s nearly one in five shows signs of dementia. Medline Plus has much information about dementia at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/dementia.html.
At the same time that the highest potential of people’s God-like cognitive development is possible, one’s chances of their animal-like physical brain deteriorating is at its highest rate.
Moral
The stages of moral development that most often occur during childhood and adolescence are still often found in adults, along with a new one or two.
Preconventional Morality
· Stage 1. Obedience and Punishment orientation.
· Stage 2. Naively Egoistic Orientation.
Conventional Morality
· Stage 3. “Good-boy/Good-girl” Orientation
· Stage 4. Authority and Social Order Orientation
Postconventional Morality
· Stage 5: Contractual/Legalistic Orientation
· Stage 6: Universal Principles Orientation. Adults can also base their moral reasoning on abstract reasoning and internalized ethical principles which they believe are universal. When asked about the greatest commandment, Jesus replied with the principles of loving God supremely and loving one’s neighbor as oneself. He went on to say that all of the Law and the prophets were based on these principles (Matthew 22:34-40). People can follow such general principles of justice even if they conflict with specific laws and rules. People who believed slavery was wrong formed the “underground railroad” to help slaves escape even though it was illegal. Because they believe that everyone has a right to worship God, people in some cultures today worship in an “underground church” even though it is illegal.
· Stage 7? Ontological-Religious Orientation. Kohlberg speculated on the possibility of an ontological-religious orientation in which the person deals with the question "Why be moral?" People with this orientation adopt a cosmic perspective with a sense of being a part of the whole of life and often express themselves in theistic terms http://gerontologist.oxfordjournals.org/content/13/4/497.short. In 1973 mainstream psychology had little time for such “religious” concepts, and Kohlberg abandoned following up on his idea.
At the principled level, people obey laws because those laws are a "contract" they have with others to avoid violating their rights. They also make judgments on the basis of self-accepted moral principles containing ideas of justice, human rights, and human dignity. Again, we begin our moral development with an animal-like emphasis on reward and punishment and have the potential to develop toward a God-like perspective.
Spiritual
During childhood and adolescence, two stages of spiritual development commonly occur.
· Stage 1: Original Sin. Children are born in a sinful state.
· Stage 2: Justification. Although it can occur at any time, the most common is around the age of puberty, people may repent of their sins and seek salvation.
· Stage 3: Sanctification. Theologians probably disagree more about this stage of development than any other. They disagree about when it takes place and what happens in it. Some say sanctification is completed during life on earth; others, at a person's death; and still others, after death. Some emphasize its aspect of dedication, being "set apart'' or consecrated. Others emphasize its aspect of transformation or being made holy.
Whatever theological position is taken, most agree that at some time a person has the potential of becoming more and more God-like. In 2 Corinthians 3:18 Paul said, “We are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory.”
Retirement: Added in the 20th century
Paul, Barnabas, Silas, and their companions never planned for retirement or made the transition into it. They simply kept working until they died. Retirement for the masses, like adolescence, is an invention of our modern Western culture. Never before in history have the majority of people had enough money not to work during their first decade of their lives after puberty and to be able to quit working with 20-30 years of their lives remaining.
If Jesus were telling the parable of the rich man in Luke 12 today, he would probably talk about the missionary getting on-line daily to check his retirement portfolio, thinking about diversifying, perhaps by a strategic rebalancing of stocks, bonds, and real estate. This modern rich missionary may still say to himself or herself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy, eat, drink and be merry” (Luke 12:19).
Retirement can take many forms from a delightful, freeing experience to a traumatic, depressing one. A major factor in determining which it becomes is the planning one has done. Most people make some sort of financial plan for it, if nothing more than knowing that Social Security (or similar benefits) will be available. However, people need to think about where they will live, if they will have enough money, what they will do, and who will be in their circle of friends. This planning should begin early, but at the latest, early in the last term of service before retirement. This time can be a wonderful time of growing into God’s likeness. For further information see “What Missionaries Ought to Know about Retirement at http://www.missionarycare.com/brochures/br_retirement.htm .
For further information about adulthood click on the following links to parts of Chapter 10 in Dewey’s on-line text.
Dying and Death: Not in the original plan
Paul, an early cross-cultural worker, wrote to Christians in Rome telling them in Romans 5:12 that
· Sin entered the world through one man.
· Death entered through sin.
· Death came to everyone.
Of course, Paul went on in the rest of Chapter 5 and all of Chapter 6 to say that life was possible through God’s grace in the form of his son, Jesus Christ. Where sin reigned in death, grace could reign through righteousness.
Throughout the Bible in both the Old and the New Testament people wrote that though death was inevitable, they did not fear it.
· Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil…. (Psalm 23:4).
· Even in death the righteous have a refuge (Proverbs 14:32).
· Whether we live or we die, we belong to the Lord (Romans 14:8).
· For me, to live is Christ and to die is gain (Philippians 1:21).
Of course, the Bible is about how the fall into sin (Genesis 3) brought death, but the death of Christ paid the penalty for sin (Romans 5:6) and makes life in him possible. A study of this whole topic in the Bible is invaluable in gaining a Christian perspective on death. This is not the place for such a study, but it is the place for several topics related to death.
Suicide
Suicide is one of the ten leading causes of death in the world and is most common in highly developed Western nations. Although we hear a great deal about adolescent suicides, most suicides are committed by people over forty years of age. The suicide rate in the USA remains relatively constant for nonwhites and for white females, but climbs steadily for white males as they get older. Although women attempt suicide more often than men, men succeed three times as often as women. There has recently been a rise in the number of adolescents committing suicide. Christian missionaries are likely to counsel potential suicides, and we need to be aware of basic facts about suicide.
Is that true? Many myths surround suicide. If people believe these myths, they may miss a chance to save a life. Here are a few of those myths.
· People who talk about suicide never do it—they just want attention. False. Not everyone who talks about suicide actually does it, but most people who commit suicide do tell someone before doing so—as a cry for help. Any serious statement about suicide is a real danger signal and should not be ignored.
· Adolescents are much more likely to commit suicide than adults. False. The adolescent suicide rate is about the same as adult rates. The people most at risk for suicide are older males, someone such as the retiring teacher.
· People are more likely to commit suicide around the Christmas holidays, not in the spring of the year (when the school year is ending). False. The holidays have one of the lowest suicide rates, and spring has the highest.
· One should not mention suicide when talking to depressed people because it may give them ideas. False. Such people often have such thoughts already and should be encouraged to express them. In fact, talking about it may discourage people from doing it.
Is suicide sin? Many people assume that the Bible states that suicide is sin. It is true that several people (Judas, for example) took their own lives, and God never gave his approval to any of those. Most of those who took their own lives did it as a direct result of doing evil, and they probably could see no other way out.
However, the Bible nowhere specifically states that suicide is sin. The Bible does say that murder (taking someone’s life) is wrong. In fact, that is one of the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20. Most Christians believe that the command not to take someone’s life includes not taking one’s own life.
Would God’s people do it? Godly people are no exception. The Bible records several prominent individuals who wanted death very much. We often quote wonderful statements Job made as he suffered, but we forget some of his negative statements. Job cursed the day of his birth (Job 3:1), asked why he did not die at birth (Job 3:11), and wished he had never come into being or died at birth (Job 10:19).
In fact, some of God’s people wish for death shortly after great spiritual victories. For example, shortly after Elijah had a great victory over the prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel, he was sitting under a tree praying that he might die. He said, “I’ve had it, Lord. Take my life” (1 Kings 19:4). Of course, God did not take his life but let him sleep and sent an angel to tell Elijah to get something to eat. It is not unusual to feel the worst soon after wonderful things happen.
Missionaries wouldn’t, would they? Yes, missionaries may come to wish for death as well. This goes back to the first cross-cultural missionary in the Old Testament, and it happened after one of the most successful missionary terms ever. After his initial disobedience, Jonah obeyed God. When he did, more than 120,000 people repented. Instead of rejoicing, Jonah wanted to die and told God, “I’d be better off dead” (Jonah 4:8). Of course, God did not take his life but tried to reason with him.
Like other people, missionaries and TCKs do take their lives. If a person hears people say that they are thinking of suicide, it is time to take action to prevent it.
What can I do? Of course, you want to help, but how do you know what to do? What you do depends on how serious the person is about harming himself or herself. You can do this by going through the following three steps in order. If at any time during these steps you feel uncomfortable about doing them, you can report what you have found to the person’s superior in his or her agency. Do not simply ignore this call for help—do something!
Step 1: The idea? Ask people whether or not they have thought about harming themselves. Some people will say that they never have. Others (probably the majority) will say that they have, but it was during a difficult time years ago, and they would never do anything like that now. If that is the case, just let the issue drop. However, if they say that they have been thinking recently about taking their lives, you need to take further action.
Don’t act shocked or be sworn to secrecy. Do listen non-judgmentally, offer empathy, show interest and support, talk openly about suicide, and offer hope that alternatives are available. Offer to pray with them and share scripture with them (have passages in mind). Encourage such persons to talk with a mental health professional who can take responsibility. Missionaries sometimes would rather talk with a pastor, and that is fine as well. If the person talks with one of these, your task is finished. However, if they refuse to talk with someone else, go on to Step 2, and remember that you should never leave a person alone who is actively suicidal.
Step 2: A plan? Note that people harm themselves in different ways. Ask the persons whether or not they have considered various ways of doing it. Even if they have not begun to plan by thinking about a way, offer to make an appointment for them with someone competent to help, such as a mental health professional or pastor of their choice. Also get at least a verbal commitment not to harm themselves but to contact you if the feelings come again. Express your concern and care for them and follow-up to see that they keep their appointment.
If they have considered various ways, ask them whether or not they have chosen a way. If they have not chosen a way, offer to go with them to see a mental health professional or a pastor. If they have chosen a way, insist on a commitment in writing—a contract signed by both of you in which they promise to do no harm to themselves. Again express your concern and care and follow up immediately with Step 3. Remember that actively suicidal persons should not be left alone.
(Note: If at any point they refuse to continue talking with you or see someone else, contact someone who can take responsibility for them. This may be a professional in their agency, their supervisor, or anyone else who can help.)
Step 3: The means? Ask them if they have acquired the means to do the harm. That is find out if they have the gun, the pills, the rope, the knife, and so forth. If they have the means to do the harm, call immediately for help and stay with them until someone specializing in crisis intervention and suicide prevention arrives.
What if they do? If a person is determined to commit suicide, you probably cannot prevent it. I know of one missionary who was in a mental health facility because of depression and suicidal tendencies. Even though the staff knew about his condition, he was able to take his own life while under their care.
If people you have been trying to help take their own lives, it is not your fault. Your responsibility is to love and care for them as well as you can. If you do that, you have done all that is possible.
What if it’s me? You may be reading this because you are the one contemplating suicide. If so, follow the advice recommended in all three of the steps. Go see a mental health professional or pastor who can help you.
Remember that suicidal thinking is usually associated with problems that can be solved. If you cannot think of solutions, mental health professionals, pastors, and even friends can help to find a solution. Your suicidal crisis is a temporary one, and once you get past the problem facing you, it will not look as big as it does now. Ties to family or friends, your relationship with God, and dreams for the future will provide meaning and satisfaction in life in the future.
The goal of the American Association of Suicidology is to understand and prevent suicide. The website www.suicidology.org has reliable information in their fact sheets about suicide.
Grief
Cultures vary widely in the expected reactions of family and friends to the death of a loved one. These reactions vary from very silent and stoic to prolonged weeping and wailing. Burial may take place within 24 hours or be delayed for a week or more. Of course, there are also differences within these cultures depending on whether the deceased lived in a rural or urban area, age at time of death, and many other factors, especially religious ones. Even within a religion, there may be a wide range of differences. The people in the culture where you serve may react quite differently than the people in your passport culture.
One emotion many Christians have difficulty expressing is grief, or bereavement. The loss of a loved one has a profound effect on the survivors. We would expect an especially strong grief reaction to the death of a spouse. Two have become one, and there are repeated warnings about dividing what God has joined together. When this unit is broken by death, it is especially traumatic. Many studies have shown that the bereaved are much more likely to die through illness, accident, or suicide than are those who have not lost loved ones.
Those studying the mourning process have found from three to five phases in it. There is usually an initial period of shock, sometimes followed by anger, hostility, and appeals for help and support from others. Then there is an intense period of grief characterized by despair, withdrawal, and disorganization. Finally, there is the period of recovery and reorganization, which leads to the resumption of a normal social life.
As Christians, we are sometimes given the impression that we are not to feel grief in reaction to death, because death is to be a victorious time. However, numerous instances of grieving and mourning are recorded in the Bible, and we do not find the bereaved being reproved, but being comforted.
· Abraham mourned and wept over the death of Sarah, his wife (Genesis 23:2).
· When Jacob thought that Joseph was dead, he felt such grief that he could not be comforted (Genesis 37:35).
· Even when Absalom had been rebellious and caused him great anguish, David wept much for him and wished that he had died in his son's place (2 Samuel 18:33).
· When Mary was weeping over the death of her brother Lazarus, Jesus did not rebuke her, but wept himself (John 11:35).
If Jesus wept at the loss of a friend, we can certainly grieve about the loss of a loved one. Of course, we are not to mourn like those who have no hope, but we must remember that death was not God's original intention for humanity. Death entered through sin and is referred to as an enemy. As Christian missionaries, we will work with people going through grief, and we must help them get through it.
For further information about dying and death click on the following links to parts of Chapter 10 in Dewey’s on-line text.
Resurrection: Christian concept
Although this stage of development is not considered by secular psychologists, there is general agreement among Christians on this final stage of development. Jesus Christ arose from the dead and was seen by many people, for example:
· Two women (Matthew 28:9)
· Mary Magdalene (Mark 16:9)
· Two disciples (Luke 24:15)
· The eleven disciples (John 20:19, 26)
· Paul (Acts 9:5)
· Peter (1 Corinthians 15:5)
· Five hundred people (1 Corinthians 15:6)
The resurrection of Christ was repeatedly emphasized in the book of Acts, for example:
· God raised him from the dead… (2:24; 3:15).
· The apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus… (4:33).
· God raised him from the dead on the third day… (10:40).
· Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead… (17:3).
The most complete passage of scripture about the resurrection of Christ and others is in 1 Corinthians 15. In this passage Paul, early missionary, elaborates on this doctrine of the Christian faith.
Spiritual Development
Earlier in the chapter we considered the stages of spiritual development, and after death the last stage occurs.
· Stage 1: Original Sin
· Stage 2: Justification
· Stage 3: Sanctification
· Stage 4: Glorification
The final general stage of development is glorification, which occurs at the resurrection. This means life in heaven where we will be even more like God. As John puts it, “We shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2).
Conclusion
From a Christian perspective in this chapter we have seen that humans have the potential of becoming more like God as they develop. Although their animal-like physical aspects decline after their teen years, their cognitive, moral and spiritual aspects can become increasingly like God as their development progresses.
From a historical perspective we have seen that adulthood has been divided into several additional parts during the past two centuries. For thousands of years adulthood spanned the entire time from puberty to death. Now, at least in Western cultures, it has been divided into adolescence, a shortened adulthood, and retirement. Whether or not these additional times are economically sustainable has not been determined.
Finally, from a Christian perspective, we have seen that death, not in the original plan, is not the end but another developmental stage, followed by resurrection after death. In this resurrection stage we become even more like God.