ANAYA HARLEY: Boom.
SISTER: Boom.
ANAYA HARLEY: Come on, Chicken. [INAUDIBLE]
ANAYA HARLEY: Family means that you can love one another and care about each other.
ERICKA HARLEY: I think family is a bunch of different people who get along really well sometimes, and at other times they get on your nerves but you still love them.
MOTHER: Yeah, we could be mad, but we still always come together.
ERICKA HARLEY: Boom. Blue.
NARRATOR: By following the struggles and triumphs of ordinary people, developmental psychologists can examine the changes that occur in our bodies, minds, and social functioning over the life span. Erica Harley's family offers an insight into how generations overlap and interact.
ERICKA HARLEY: When I found out I was pregnant I was 16 I said, no this can't be right. I kind of had my plan. I'm going to do this. I'm going to do that, but it didn't include kids and it didn't include college.
It took my mom a while to kind of process it, but she was very supportive. And my grandma said to me, you're not the first, you won't be the last and I'm still going to be here for you. And it was just the most comforting feeling ever to know that I had her support.
NARRATOR: Ericka felt like a child who'd been thrust into the adult world of responsibility. But with her family's help, Erica was able to forge a new path for herself.
ERICKA HARLEY: I don't think that I was on the best path. Having to be responsible for such a young person forced me to grow up and think about life in a different way. It was almost life saving.
I thought about her growing up and her going to college one day, and it was like, if I don't go, how can I tell her that she should go? Having the support of my mom and my grandmother really made it a lot easier to go and finish college.
NARRATOR: As we age and accumulate experiences, our behaviors may change. For Ericka, juggling college and parenting helped put her life in perspective.
ERICKA HARLEY: If I didn't have Anaya, I would have never went to college I don't think. I don't think I would be in a good place. I don't think I would have the relationship that I have with my mom now. Having Anaya strengthened the relationship, because I understood what it meant to be a parent.
Anaya, she's like a life saver. She's such a little person, but she knows so much. And she's so sweet and so comforting. So to have her is like I have a reason to keep going to not give up and do my very best.
NARRATOR: Growing older inevitably means facing loss. Ericka's family faced this struggle together.
MOTHER: When my mom passed away, all my kids were so close to her. Everybody was like, we're going to get through this together.
ERICKA HARLEY: Anaya loves crossword puzzles. She reads a lot, and those are things that remind me of my grandmother. You know, her memory is still around and we won't ever forget her.
NARRATOR: Now 27, Ericka is like many other young adults. The Identity struggles of adolescence and early adulthood are behind her, and she's focused on building a meaningful career.
ERICKA HARLEY: Generation Hope it's a nonprofit based in Washington DC, and we focus on college completion for teen parents in Maryland, DC and Virginia. I got accepted into the Generation Hope program shortly after my grandmother passed away.
I found them at a very vulnerable point in my life where I felt like I wanted to give up. Generation Hope changed my life. I had this whole new group of family members who were there to kind of keep me on the right path. And I am now a staff member, and it's one of the most meaningful experiences I've ever had.
NARRATOR: Now Ericka and her husband and family are preparing for another arrival as the generations continue to overlap.
ERICKA HARLEY: I am five months pregnant now, and I am having a little boy. It's a boy. Nobody knew.
MOTHER: I told you she knew. I told you she knew.
ERICKA HARLEY: I just found out for sure on Friday. Anaya is very happy to finally have a brother.
NARRATOR: Life is a process of development and change. And each stage of life offers opportunities to learn.
ERICKA HARLEY: And just keeping a balance between you know the family relationships, the activities with my daughter, you know, my work commitments, that's probably the biggest challenge. I've learned that even if you fail, you have to try again. If you give up, you fail and that's the end. And I tell my daughter that all the time. If you try your best, I can't be upset with you. But it has to be your best.