Editorial

Abstract

Developmental Psychology (DP) has long been in the forefront of shaping the field of life span developmental science by advancing theory, research design, and statistical methodology and applying these to timely topics. My overarching goal as editor is to ensure that DP continues to play a leading role in charting the future of developmental science research by maintaining the highest theoretical and methodological standards and to further extend our reach by continuing to encourage international and multidisciplinary researchers to submit manuscripts. My comments in this editorial are not meant to be viewed as an endorsement of any specific topic, theoretical perspective, or methodological/statistical modeling technique, and we do not propose to change the journal's broad mission, which is to publish "articles that significantly advance knowledge and theory about development across the life span." Rather, my comments reflect my views of the field of life span developmental science and where it is headed, informed by my own research since the early 1980s and, more recently, by my 6 years as an Associate Editor and my year as incoming Editor of DP. Based on these experiences, I want to share a few examples of what I have observed in terms of specific emerging timely content areas, as well as methodological design characteristics, that appear to be on the forefront of developmental science (PsycINFO Database Record