Coping and Resilience in Adulthood

The purpose of this paper is to advance your knowledge about developmental theory and how different theories explains the development of coping and resilience in adulthood when individuals are faced with life challenges. You will examine an aspect of loss/threat or challenge that developing adults must manage. Some examples of loss or challenge that you might consider are those associated with chronic health problems, medical diagnosis such as cancer, dementia and other types of mental or physical disability, loss of a loved one, unemployment, caregiving or perceived loss of freedom.

Describe in 2 pages (maximum) a case depicting a challenge experienced in adulthood that is of interest to you (you should plan on sharing this case with your instructor for the pre-final prospectus). You may use a case from your field practice (after receiving permission from your field advisor), an individual from your private life, or an individual whose challenge is a matter of public record (e.g. person has written a memoir). Be sure to follow professional guidelines for protecting the identity of your case except where the information is already public.

Then in an additional 9-10-page paper (maximum), apply one or more theories covered in class to the development of coping and resilience in the chosen case, highlighting aspects in the case that are explained well by the theory (or theories) and those that are not. Provide specific case facts as evidence for resilience and positive or negative coping and link those facts to one or more theories covered in this course. Also include aspects of the environment, for example socioeconomic status, culture, education, neighborhood, gender or stigma that may pose particular obstacles/challenges or benefits to the development of coping and resilience. Utilize 8-10 references. The majority of references (5 or more) should be outside the required reading on the syllabus. Please select references to assist you in exploring your chosen theory or theories more deeply, to seek examples of how the theory has been used to describe coping and resiliency in the face of challenge, or to describe your adult challenge in more detail. Make sure that you have a diversity of types of references you select. Using only pop culture, websites like Webmd and self help blogs will not provide you with the depth of understanding needed in a project of this nature. The references should help deepen your knowledge and add to the depth of analysis of your chosen case.

I already have the case study portion and the start of the theory application. It is critical that you use ERIKSON'S PSYCHOSOCIAL THEORY AND THE LIFE SPAN THEORY TO EXPLAIN HOW MIKES COPING AND RESILIENCE DEVELOPED. If you are in need of another theory please have them email me and I can provide you with a theory that was used in class. Also please provide me with a list of the references you plan to use so I can cross check them to make sure they weren't part of the required readings for the class. If you need to add or subtract anything from the case study please do so. Please be sure to cover all areas necessary for the paper.