This curriculum aims to study with rigorous quantitative and qualitative analysis techniques the developmental trajectories, the processes of continuity and discontinuity in development from conception to death, and the individual, contextual and macrosocial factors that can account for adaptive and maladaptive paths in the life course.

​Special attention will be paid to the role of risk and protective factors, mechanisms of continuity and discontinuity, and processes of resilience and vulnerability. An important theoretical and methodological focus will be on the multidirectionality of processes with particular attention to the fact that developmental changes may differ in the timing or onset of change, in the direction and rates of change, or in some combination of timing, direction, and rates of change.

These issues will be investigated through a multidimensional theoretical and empirical approach with the application of multilevel analysis methods and longitudinal research designs.

The curriculum will specifically address the transitions of childhood, adulthood, and aging in relation to the developmental tasks of these different stages and the typical and atypical processes of the life cycle.