Lifespan Development Analysis: Britney Spears

Many people believe that they know Britney Spears. Having grown up in front of a camera — first on The Mickey Mouse Club and then as a major worldwide pop star — her life was extensively documented in the public eye. Unfortunately, Spears may be more notable for her personal problems than for her considerable professional success. She had a very public marriage followed quickly by two children and a divorce. It was her post-divorce behavior, however, that garnered the most significant public attention. She engaged in erratic public behavior that was, by many accounts, even more dramatic behind the scenes. Her breakdown led to widespread speculation that Spears was suffering from a biochemical disorder, with many observers suggesting she was bipolar. It also led to her father becoming her legal guardian.

All of these events have fueled intense public speculation about Spears — including questions about her own adulthood and her impact on the development of others. This should come as no surprise. "In cultures without clearly defined rites of passage, defining oneself as an adult rests on one's perception of whether personally relevant key criteria have been met. In U.S. society, this can be very complicated, for example, when success comes at a young age. Is Britney Spears...an adult?" (Kail & Cavanaugh, 2007, p. 383). Biologically, the answer is clearly yes. The more meaningful question, however, is whether Spears displays the behavior one generally associates with adulthood.

At this point in time, the answer to that question appears to be yes. Unlike many tragic Hollywood stories, Spears' story seems to have a relatively positive trajectory. She is currently in a stable romantic relationship. Her father remains her guardian, but she appears to be managing herself and her career with sufficient ability. She maintains relationships with both of her children and an apparently friendly relationship with her ex-husband. She therefore appears to be functioning as a stable adult in both her personal and professional life.

Because so much of Spears' life was lived in public, one does not have to speculate about the major milestones in her life. Instead, one can examine the persona she chose to project and observe what appear to be several clear turning points. It is critical to keep in mind, however, that these milestones are derived from her public persona. How that public persona relates to her private experience is something that may never be fully understood; to date, none of her biographers have demonstrated the kind of insider access that would suggest an unusual degree of personal insight.

One of the more significant milestones in Spears' life occurred before she ever entered the public consciousness — a dance recital with her cousin Laura Lynn Covington:

"For their first dance recital, Britney and Laura Lynn did a routine together. Both wore frilly pink costumes, and they had their hair done the same way. Nervously waiting their turn to perform, they looked like two adorable peas in a pod, but when the music started, that abruptly changed. Laura Lynn giggled and repeated the dance moves she liked over and over. But Britney, a look of intense determination on her face, completed the routine exactly as she had learned it, even though she was out of time with the music" (Heard, 2010).

In other words, at the very first opportunity to be a perfectionist performer, Britney embraced that role. Throughout her childhood she was known as a performer and competed in gymnastics and other athletic endeavors. What is interesting, however, is that even though many people perceive Spears' parents as the archetypal stage parents, they did make some effort to steer Britney toward pursuits that would genuinely fulfill her. Spears was considered for training by the celebrated gymnastics coach Béla Károlyi, but her mother Lynne Spears viewed Károlyi's methods as too intense and harsh for a young child (Heard, 2010). Instead, the family sought other performance outlets, and Britney began singing at a young age, competing in child talent contests and beauty pageants.

One website compiled a list capturing the many public twists and turns of Spears' life over the past decade. Though somewhat facetious in tone, the list did document several significant phases. It began with "Mickey Mouse Club Britney" — the young Britney's public introduction through The Mickey Mouse Club (ListAfterList.com, 2010). Next came "Sexy Schoolgirl Britney," marking Spears' transition from child to woman, including provocative videos and magazine covers (ListAfterList.com, 2010). This was followed by "Incredibly Ripped & Oversexed Britney," hallmarked by Spears' physical confidence, impressive physique, and her emergence into the dating world beyond Justin Timberlake (ListAfterList.com, 2010).

At this point, Spears had many of the outward markers of adult success but was still attempting to inhabit an adolescent persona. "Only 17 when her debut album was released, she worked hard to maintain her image as a wholesome teen. However, sales from the album quickly made her a multimillionaire and a worldwide celebrity. Clearly, she had achieved financial independence" (Kail & Cavanaugh, 2007, p. 383). Whether financial independence alone was sufficient to signal a true transition to adulthood remained an open question.

It is also important to note that her transition from Mouseketeer to pop star was not uninterrupted. When the television show was canceled, she returned to Louisiana. "Gradually Britney became a normal teenager. Her MMC memories faded, and she became interested in other things — including, eventually, boys. She progressed from grade 7 to grade 9, and sometime that year, perhaps due to her lingering celebrity status, she attracted the attention of Mason Stratham, a popular boy who was a year older than she and who had been unofficially dubbed 'most handsome boy in school'" (Heard, 2010). Another high school boyfriend later claimed that she lost her virginity to him at the age of 14 (Heard, 2010).

The website then describes "Rebellious Britney," characterized by behavior such as smoking cigarettes and dressing in what was perceived as an unflattering manner — regarded as the beginning of Spears' initial public downfall (ListAfterList.com, 2010). This was followed by "Pregnant Britney," featuring Spears' two back-to-back pregnancies (ListAfterList.com, 2010). After her pregnancies, Spears appeared to begin engaging in increasingly erratic behavior. The website describes this phase as "White Trash Britney," during which Spears was observed wearing disheveled clothing, appearing barefoot in public, and generally looking unkempt (ListAfterList.com, 2010).

Spears' erratic behavior reached a climax in what the website calls "Dangerous Bald Britney," during which she shaved her head, entered rehab, reportedly attempted suicide, and attacked a paparazzo's car with an umbrella (ListAfterList.com, 2010). During this phase, she also failed to appear at court hearings related to her children's guardianship and engaged in very public partying. She was eventually hospitalized for a mental health evaluation (ListAfterList.com, 2010).

What is noteworthy is that, although Spears' shaved head was characterized by the media as a dramatic sign of mental instability, her stated reasons were more mundane. The hairdresser she approached, Esther Tognozzi, reported that Spears said she was tired of her long hair and that her extensions were uncomfortably tight (Heard, 2010). When one considers the chronic discomfort of pulled hair extensions, the decision to shave her head no longer seems like an obviously irrational act.

Fortunately, there were more significant developments to come. "While in the hospital, Spears became the subject of a power struggle between her parents, Jamie and Lynne, and her then-manager Sam Lufti. The couple believed that Lufti was a bad influence on their daughter and was trying to control her life. Her father went to court and obtained control over Britney's personal, professional, and medical matters" (A&E Television, 2011). This appears to have been beneficial for Spears. While her ex-husband remains the primary caregiver for their two children, Spears maintains significant contact with them. Her father retains conservatorship, but their relationship appears to be an amicable one. She is currently in a long-term relationship and is in the process of a career comeback. Her physical health, which had long served as a barometer of her overall well-being, appears restored. While Spears is still relatively young and may face future challenges, she currently appears to have found some stability.

While Spears spent much of her early life in the public spotlight, it is actually difficult to assess her early cognitive development. This is consistent with what one finds when examining major theories of cognitive development. Jean Piaget, for example, discusses cognitive development in terms of stages that all occur prior to the time Spears became a public figure, and therefore prior to the period for which biographers have reliable information. Nevertheless, Piaget's conclusion "that cognitive development is the product of complex interactions between the maturation of the nervous system and that of language, and that this maturation depends on children's social and physical interactions with the world around them" allows one to draw reasonable inferences about Spears' early development (The Brain from Top to Bottom, n.d.).

The sensorimotor period occurs from 0 to 24 months and is characterized by learning reflexive behaviors and how the infant interacts with the world (Child Development Institute, 2011). There is nothing to suggest that Spears did not complete this stage. The preoperational period, occurring between ages 2 and 7, is marked by increased verbalism and a transition from egocentric to social thinking, as well as early developments in logic and reality testing (Child Development Institute, 2011). Though much of Spears' later public behavior appeared illogical and was marked by a breakdown in reality testing, that behavior occurred only after a long period of consistently logical conduct and seems more likely related to a chemical imbalance — perhaps postpartum depression — than to a failure to complete earlier cognitive stages.

It is also important to recognize that Piaget's theory is fundamentally about cognition rather than emotion. Part of the preoperational stage involves learning social rules such as reciprocity — "or taking the other person's point of view into consideration" (Borensen, 2008). Whether Spears fully mastered this aspect of the stage is a subject of some debate. By the time the world was introduced to a young Spears, however, she was already apparently engaging in concrete operations. Her successful television work provided evidence of "organized, logical thought" (Child Development Institute, 2011). Moreover, the careful career calculations evident in her early years were characteristic of formal operations — she appeared capable of predicting the outcomes of her behavior (Child Development Institute, 2011).

There is little doubt that much of Spears' early adult success was linked to her carefully managed transition from child to woman in her public persona. As one scholar observes: "Britney Spears was consumed by children when she was still a child....Then the consuming changed. On April 15, 1999, Britney appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone for the first time. Her body became text, her eyes invited the gaze and her stomach made readers of all types look twice" (Smit, 2011, p. 20). This was a critical moment in her career, as it was also when she began to experience negative public reaction to her emerging sexuality and adult identity. For a pop star like Spears, it is worth noting that her changing public image not only reflected shifts in her own personality but also contributed to changes in her fan base — young girls who identified with her as a pop culture icon were gradually replaced by a different audience, with real implications for her commercial appeal (Goodman, n.d.).

It is difficult to discuss Spears' physical development without focusing on her sexuality. Part of this is due to the fact that most of Spears' other physical development was complete before she entered the public spotlight — she had clearly mastered motor control and coordination prior to her emergence as a public figure. She entered that spotlight as a young girl and then transitioned into a woman in full view of the world. Not only did her body physically change, but Spears also actively highlighted the differences between her younger and emerging adult body. "One way Britney tried to emphasize the change was through her dress, which became more revealing. One of her now famous routines during this period had her take off a more modest costume to reveal a more risqué one" (Kail & Cavanaugh, 2007, p. 383).

Some of her other behavior may also have been linked to asserting the differences between her adolescent and adult identities. For example, "her two marriages — first to Jason Allen Alexander for two days in 2004, and second to Kevin Federline — and her subsequent pregnancy may be indicators of her transition from adolescent pop star to adult woman" (Kail & Cavanaugh, 2007, p. 383). Closely tied to her physical development is how Spears chose to portray her sexuality. When she was a young, emerging pop star, she used her sexuality aggressively to market her music while publicly maintaining that she was a virgin. This seemed implausible given that she was living with then-boyfriend Justin Timberlake, but it was the public position she adopted. She later reversed course and appeared to fully embrace her sexuality in public displays with subsequent romantic interests.

Spears' most prominent public display of sexuality involved a televised kiss with pop icon Madonna — the only confirmed instance of same-sex behavior, though it "spurred tabloid rumors for reputed dalliances with female porn stars and loyal personal assistant Shannon Funk" (James, 2007). Her physical fitness also played a central role in her public image. After emerging as a sexual icon, Spears appeared to follow in the footsteps of her self-proclaimed idol, Madonna, and devoted significant time to developing a muscular and athletic physique. When she deviated from this regime and gained a small amount of weight, she was widely criticized by the media and the public. Except when pregnant, Spears was never actually overweight; however, her continued insistence on wearing provocative clothing during those periods, which seemed to ignore the change in her body, made her an easy target for ridicule. Consequently, the physical condition of her body — combined with her choices about how she presented that body — became a widely used barometer of her mental state.

Piaget is not the only theorist to discuss life stages, and not all theorists focus primarily on cognitive or physical development. Erik Erikson focused on social-emotional development, and his framework is particularly well suited to examining Spears' life. Aside from questions of possible biological mental illness, there is little reason to doubt that Spears successfully navigated the cognitive and physical stages of development. It is in the social-emotional domain that the more interesting and complex questions arise. Erikson's life stages are less tightly tied to cognitive milestones and more concerned with what one might consider psychological development across the lifespan.

Erikson envisioned development in eight stages:

1. Infant (Hope) — Basic Trust vs. Mistrust
2. Toddler (Will) — Autonomy vs. Shame
3. Preschooler (Purpose) — Initiative vs. Guilt
4. School-Age Child (Competence) — Industry vs. Inferiority
5. Adolescent (Fidelity) — Identity vs. Identity Diffusion
6. Young Adult (Love) — Intimacy vs. Isolation
7. Middle-Aged Adult (Care) — Generativity vs. Self-Absorption
8. Older Adult (Wisdom) — Integrity vs. Despair (Learning Theories, 2008)

Because Spears' biological age places her in the young adult stage, this paper does not focus extensively on the middle-aged or older adult stages. According to Arlene Harder, "Our personality traits come in opposites. We think of ourselves as optimistic or pessimistic, independent or dependent, emotional or unemotional, adventurous or cautious, leader or follower, aggressive or passive. Many of these are inborn temperament traits, but other characteristics, such as feeling either competent or inferior, appear to be learned, based on the challenges and support we receive in growing up" (Harder, 2009). Examining Spears' adult behavior can therefore provide insight into how she progressed — or struggled — through earlier stages. Her life also illustrates two of Erikson's core concepts: "(1) the world gets bigger as we go along and (2) failure is cumulative" (Harder, 2009).

It is important to recognize that although Erikson associated specific ages with specific stages, "all of the stages in Erikson's epigenetic theory are implicitly present at birth (at least in latent form), but unfold according to both an innate scheme and one's upbringing in a family that expresses the values of a culture. Each stage builds on the preceding stages, and paves the way for subsequent stages" (Davis & Clifton, 1995). A negative outcome at one stage does not produce a permanent negative result, but it does influence subsequent development. "Ideally, the crises in each stage should be resolved by the ego in that stage, in order for development to proceed correctly. The outcome of one stage is not permanent, but can be altered by later experiences. Everyone has a mixture of the traits attained at each stage, but personality development is considered successful if the individual has more of the 'good' traits than the 'bad' traits" (Davis & Clifton, 1995).