If you only need the buying answer

If you only need this text for one term, the 180-day eTextbook at $59.99 is the cheaper route. If you want an owned copy because life-span development will likely come back in later classes, the current print listing at $78.98 is still a reasonable ownership choice because it remains below the sampled used and published print comparators.

Store	Format	Condition	Price	Link
Merybook	Print	New	$78.98	Check listing
VitalSource	eTextbook	180-day access	$59.99	Check price
Walmart	Print	Pre-owned	$84.15	Check price
Nursing booklist	Print	Published list price	$178.00	Check reference

Life-span development books often look like one-course texts, but they have a habit of returning later. Students reopen them when later work circles back to infancy, adolescence, adulthood, aging, developmental theory, or stage comparison. That makes the book more reusable than a narrow topical survey.

What this book actually teaches

Human Development: A Life-Span View is organized around change across the full human life span. Its real value is comparative. It helps readers connect theories, research findings, and stage-specific issues across infancy, childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and aging instead of treating each stage as an isolated topic.

That comparative structure is precisely why the book can remain useful later. Nursing, counseling, psychology, and education students often meet development again in more applied contexts, and a life-span text helps them reconnect the stages without starting over from scratch.

When print is worth keeping

If the book is only for one term, the eTextbook is the more economical route. If you know development will continue to matter in later study, the print copy has a stronger case because the book’s value lies in repeated cross-stage comparison rather than single-use reading.

Sources checked

• Cengage product page for Human Development: A Life-Span View, 9th edition: cengage.com
• Current market pricing reviewed on April 15, 2026.