Manifesto for new directions in developmental science

Baptiste Barbot; Sascha Hein; Christopher Trentacosta; Jens F Beckmann; Johanna Bick; Elisabetta Crocetti; Yangyang Liu; Sylvia Fernandez Rao; Jeffrey Liew; Geertjan Overbeek; Liliana A Ponguta; Herbert Scheithauer; Charles Super; Jeffrey Arnett; William Bukowski; Thomas D Cook; James Côté; Jacquelynne S Eccles; Michael Eid; Kazuo Hiraki; Mark Johnson; Linda Juang; Nicole Landi; James Leckman; Peggy McCardle; Kelly Lynn Mulvey; Alex R Piquero; David D Preiss; Robert Siegler; Bart Soenens; Aisha Khizar Yousafzai; Marc H Bornstein; Catherine R Cooper; Luc Goossens; Sara Harkness; Marinus H van IJzendoorn

doi:10.1002/cad.20359

Manifesto for new directions in developmental science

New Dir Child Adolesc Dev. 2020 Jul;2020(172):135-149. doi: 10.1002/cad.20359. Epub 2020 Sep 22.

Authors

Baptiste Barbot¹, Sascha Hein², Christopher Trentacosta³, Jens F Beckmann⁴, Johanna Bick⁵, Elisabetta Crocetti⁶, Yangyang Liu⁷, Sylvia Fernandez Rao⁸, Jeffrey Liew⁹, Geertjan Overbeek¹⁰, Liliana A Ponguta¹¹, Herbert Scheithauer¹², Charles Super¹³, Jeffrey Arnett¹⁴, William Bukowski¹⁵, Thomas D Cook¹⁶, James Côté¹⁷, Jacquelynne S Eccles¹⁸, Michael Eid¹², Kazuo Hiraki¹⁹, Mark Johnson²⁰, Linda Juang²¹, Nicole Landi²², James Leckman²³, Peggy McCardle²⁴, Kelly Lynn Mulvey²⁵, Alex R Piquero²⁶, David D Preiss²⁷, Robert Siegler²⁸, Bart Soenens²⁹, Aisha Khizar Yousafzai³⁰, Marc H Bornstein³¹, Catherine R Cooper³², Luc Goossens³³, Sara Harkness³⁴, Marinus H van IJzendoorn³⁵

Affiliations

¹ Psychological Sciences Research Institute, UCLouvain, Belgium & Yale Child Study Center, Yale University, USA.
² Freie Universität Berlin, Germany.
³ Wayne State University, USA.
⁴ School of Education, Durham University, UK.
⁵ Department of Psychology, University of Houston, USA.
⁶ Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna, Italy.
⁷ School of Education, Tianjin University, China.
⁸ Department of Behavioural Sciences, National Institute of Nutrition, India.
⁹ Department of Educational Psychology, Texas A&M University, USA.
¹⁰ University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
¹¹ Yale Child Study Center, Yale University, USA.
¹² Department of Education and Psychology, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany.
¹³ Department of Human Development and Family Sciences & Center for the Study of Culture, Health, and Human Development, University of Connecticut, USA.
¹⁴ Clark University, USA.
¹⁵ Concordia University, Canada.
¹⁶ GW Institute of Public Policy, George Washington University & Northwestern University, USA.
¹⁷ Department of Sociology, University of Western Ontario, Canada.
¹⁸ University of California Irvine, USA.
¹⁹ Department of General Systems Studies, University of Tokyo, Japan.
²⁰ Cambridge University, UK.
²¹ University of Potsdam, Germany.
²² Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Connecticut, USA.
²³ Yale University School of Medicine, USA.
²⁴ Haskins Laboratories & Peggy McCardle Consulting, LLC, USA.
²⁵ Department of Psychology, North Carolina State University, USA.
²⁶ University of Miami, USA & Monash University, Australia.
²⁷ Psychology, Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, Chile.
²⁸ Teachers College, Columbia University, USA.
²⁹ Department of Developmental, Personality, and Social Psychology, Ghent University, Belgium.
³⁰ Department of Global Health and Population, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, USA.
³¹ National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, USA.
³² Department of Psychology, University of California Santa Cruz, USA.
³³ School Psychology and Development, KU Leuven, Belgium.
³⁴ Center for the Study of Culture, Health, and Human Development and Department of Human Development and Family Sciences, University of Connecticut, USA.
³⁵ Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

PMID: 32960503
DOI: 10.1002/cad.20359

Abstract

Although developmental science has always been evolving, these times of fast-paced and profound social and scientific changes easily lead to disorienting fragmentation rather than coherent scientific advances. What directions should developmental science pursue to meaningfully address real-world problems that impact human development throughout the lifespan? What conceptual or policy shifts are needed to steer the field in these directions? The present manifesto is proposed by a group of scholars from various disciplines and perspectives within developmental science to spark conversations and action plans in response to these questions. After highlighting four critical content domains that merit concentrated and often urgent research efforts, two issues regarding "how" we do developmental science and "what for" are outlined. This manifesto concludes with five proposals, calling for integrative, inclusive, transdisciplinary, transparent, and actionable developmental science. Specific recommendations, prospects, pitfalls, and challenges to reach this goal are discussed.

Keywords: applicability; developmental science; diversity; globalization; reproducibility.

MeSH terms

Biobehavioral Sciences* / methods
Biobehavioral Sciences* / standards
Biobehavioral Sciences* / trends
Humans
Psychology, Developmental* / methods
Psychology, Developmental* / standards
Psychology, Developmental* / trends

Grants and funding

MR/T003057/1/MRC_/Medical Research Council/United Kingdom