Donald Super's Life Span Theory

Donald Super (1910-1994) developed a Career Development Theory known as Life Span Theory. Super's ideas on career and vocation were developed and refined over the course of his more than five decade career stretching from the late 1930's through the early 1990's.  The development of his Life Span Theory took place during the middle of part of his career (starting in the 1950's and stretching through the 1970's). The basic premise of the theory is that an individual's self concept, or view that one has of oneself and their situation in life, changes over time because of different changing factors.

Some of the factors that Super identifies that contribute to one's changing self concept include:

• our physiological make up
• where we live geographically in the world
• our psychological make up (or personality) as it relates to our needs, values, interests, aptitudes and abilities, etc.
• environmental factors of the age in which we live such as: economic health, the stability of our family, the stability of our neighborhood and the communities in which we live, etc

Because one's self concept changes over time, it is subjective in Super's theory, as opposed to other theorists who try to identify objective measures of 'self'.

Super's Theory is visually depicted on a Life Career Rainbow that shows some of the factors identified above (called "lifestyle factors" in the below diagram) as well as six (6) life roles that Super sees as common to most people.  The life roles he identifies are:

• homemaker
• worker
• citizen
• leisurite
• student
• child

Super argues that individuals experience developmental stages throughout life.  The developmental stages on the above rainbow are: birth, growth, exploration, establishment, maintenance and decline. Super identifies sub-stages that fall under these stages and notes that most individual's experience of moving from one stage to another will not be linear but rather cyclical.  In other words, one might revisit different stages and sub-stages multiple times throughout their life.

Super argues that as individuals go throughout their life, the interplay of the above mentioned factors, life roles, and developmental stages contribute to one's career development, choices, and options.

Michael Schreiner has a short article summarizing Super's Theory and how it relates to career counseling.  The article can be found at the following website: http://evolutioncounseling.com/donald-super-career-counseling-theory/