Contextual Influences on Life Span/life Course: A Special Issue of Research in Human Development

This special issue covers different aspects of life course development. The central argument of the first paper is that human development should be viewed as the product of the interpenetration of cultural and biological processes. The following article outlines how current sociology constructs life courses. The notion of developmental biocultural co-constructivism and specifically the zone within which human development can be expressed is the focus of the third paper. Next, a developmental account of civic engagement and political participation is provided. Finally, the special issue concludes with a paper marking individual differences in patterns of rhesus monkey biobehavioral development through the life span.