Developmental Theory/ Course Theory

As the pictutre depicts we all go through various stages in our lives. We are born, we grow, mature and age. I believe that the best theory to describe the differences in family and marriges, is Developmental Theory/ Course Theory. This theory basically states that every stage in an individual's life goes through a sequence or a stage in which they perform different roles and learn different responcibilities. For example, as a child one is expected to be highly active, observative and experimental towards life. As the individual gets older, they learn to adapt to different society rules.

However, not all individuals go through the same stages in life. For example, while some individuals choose to go through marriage, others prefer to live single. Like wise some individuals choose to procreate while others do not. Another example is that of two individuals with totaly different points of views that often clash and although at times they may come at peace, their marriage is at a constant battle. The reason being that these individuals have gone through different stages in life therefore acquiring different roles and responcibilities which in turn lead to different behaviors and rationalisations. As you can see not all individuals think alike and many have different points of views on cetain issues. Therefore, each individual has a different perspective on how family and marriage should be.