Course Description
An in-depth exploration of how early life events and experiences during critical periods of development lead to outcomes of health and well-being or disease in later life. Includes discussion of the accumulation of social determinants of health across the lifespan and at sensitive periods in development.
Athena Title
Early Life Influences on Aging
Non-Traditional Format
This course will be taught 95% or more online.
Semester Course Offered
Offered spring and summer
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
1. Explore health outcomes in later life from a developmental trajectory perspective. 2. Examine the scholarly evidence for early life influences on health in later stages of life. 3. Explain normative developmental stages across the lifespan. 4. Critique current public health initiatives on how well they address determinants of health across the lifespan. 5. Create an intervention to either decrease adversity or increase resilience for a particularly vulnerable group. 6. Discuss how interventions aimed at reducing adversity and/or increasing resilience are limited by structural inequality and the macro systems within which they are implemented.
Topical Outline
Defining Health 1. Medical model vs. WHO definition 2. Holistic models and definitions of health Early Life Development 1. Historical context of developmental science 2. Applying a developmental framework to health 2. Basics of prenatal development 3. Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DoHAD) model 4. Early childhood cognitive, social, and emotional development 5. Fetal origins of major adult health diseases – e.g., CVD, diabetes (including mental health) 6. Prenatal programming of weight set point and metabolism Adversity and Resilience 1. The biology of stress and resilience 2. Attachment theory 3. Influence of relationships with early caregivers on health and wellbeing across the lifespan 4. Adverse Childhood Events (ACEs) and adult physiological and mental health 5. Lifespan stress and stigma as threats to health 6. Interventions for resilience and prevention of ACEs 7. Social and cultural contributions to resilience across the lifespan 8. Resilience and aging well We Never Stop Developing 1. Adult development as a continuation of early life development 2. Relationships 3. Identity 4. Cognition 5. Sensation and perception
Syllabus