In transitioning into later adulthood, being in the midlife of one’s life, there can be the crisis one may face and might begin to act abnormal to how they would act before. It can be described as a “midlife crisis.” According to Daniel Levinson, the ages between 40-45 is considered the mid-life transition phase, which can also be considered a crisis period (Levinson 1978, p.21) There are numerous people who in their forties suffer from issues of the structure of their life and might be struggling transitioning from their “peak,” or so they think. Levinson specifically focused on the transitional period in a man’s life where he might be having issues transitioning in now that during this age, a man has more burdens to bear, possibly more responsibility …show more content…
It was common that the men in that time came from more stability from the families that raised them and were able to be the only one who had to work so the wife didn’t have to. Today, we have higher divorce rates, both parents often working in one household and different stressors that are dealt with by people these days. It seems that there are many diseases and illnesses that are burdening copious amounts of people that can be an added stress to someone or their loved ones. There can be different meanings of a midlife crisis for everyone and whether or not people even believe in a midlife crisis. One of the main new ideas that what can cause a midlife crisis, is the provocation of a stressful event or change in self. This idea has been researched some and as written in the article by Elaine Wethington said that outside events such as job loss or divorce could cause such a crisis in one’s life at that stage where a person in their forties is believing that their life may be coming to an end and they begin to think about the idea of death (2000.) There are many other theories where anyone can think of a reason as to why someone might be going through a midlife crisis. A mixture of the things that were stated can also be indicators as to why someone may be going through a midlife crisis. Not ever person goes through this while in the transitional stage, but both men and women have reported it. One of the main differences in the research today is that women are included in this because they can go through the same things and stressors in life that a man
Greg is a forty-one year-old man, who is retired from the military. He is in stage seven of Erikson’s psychosocial development called Generativity vs. Stagnation, which includes middle adulthood, forty to sixty-five years of age. According to Capps (2004), Erikson defines generativity as “the concern in establishing and guiding the next generation” (p. 25). This stage claims the largest stretch of time on Erikson’s chart encompassing middle adulthood. Greg has become successful throughout this stage and has a feeling of accomplishment by being active in his home and community. Stagnation represents an individual that is disconnected or uninvolved in their community because they fail to find away to contribute to society. Greg realized he was
With the beginnings of the cold war the media and propaganda machine was instrumental in the idea of the nuclear family and how that made America and democracy superior to the “evils” of the Soviet Union and Communism; with this in mind the main goal of the 50’s women was to get married. The women of the time were becoming wives in their late teens and early twenties. Even if a women went to college it was assumed that she was there to meet her future husband. Generally a woman’s economic survival was dependent on men and employment opportunities were minimal.
Showing up in a fancy new car, deciding to start a new career, throwing out an entire wardrobe and staring over or ending a marriage of over twenty years, these all seem to be connected what society calls a ‘mid-life crisis.’ Is the mid-life crisis fact or fiction? Mid-life is the life span between the ages of 35 and 65 years old and as people age, there are biological and physiological gains and losses (Tillery 2014). When people enter into the middle adulthood, they have usually settled into family and carrier life, their knowledge base has grown and they are usually particularly healthy (Tillery 2014). However, as adults progress through this life-stage, a crisis can occur; which is the result of biological and physiological changes, an
Menopause is defined as the end of menstration and reproductive capacity. This occurs, on average, in the early fifties among North American, European, and East Asian women, although the age range can extend from the late thirties to the late fifties. In the video, a group of co-workers that are also friends are interviewed discussing menopause and midlife. Carolyn, Mary, Virginia, Djuana and Heidi are the womens names and out of the five of them, four of them are mothers. Heidi is the youngest and is starting to think about starting her own family with her husband. One lady says, ''I like myself more now than I did at an earlier age.'' Another lady claims that the old you get, the wiser you become and you start to
However, social conditions made it less feasible for families to live this way. As the 1960s approached and consumption was in high demand, women were yet again, forced to join the work force; but only a quarter of the women joined the workforce, whereas in the 1990s about “two-thirds of women who had children were in the work force (Coontz 55). Coontz (1997) explains how by 1973, “real wages were falling for young families, and by the late 1970s, government effectiveness had decreased (Coontz 54). It was because of economic factors that the nuclear bread-winning family could only be a lifestyle a few can afford. Nonetheless, women joining the workforce created a new understanding of women-hood, changed women’s status in society, and created conflict within the household. Women did not have the time to complete all the household tasks which contributed to the increased divorce rates, but left women happier due to the fact that they had that ultimate
Williams, R. H., & Wirth, C. G. (1965). Lives through the years: Styles of life and successful aging.
Women in the sixties were very limited on what they did. A woman was expected to marry in her twenties, and then start a family with her husband. A woman’s main duty was to raise her children, and focus on the home. Author Stephanie Coontz states in her book about sixties women, “The women is not to expect a whole lot out of life. She is someone’s keeper she is her husband and her children’s keeper.” (Coontz, 42) Back in those days, the husband was the head of the household; he made all of the decisions. If there was a divorce to take place the wife would end up with nothing, all the husband’s earnings and property belonged to the husband.
J. J. Arnett argues his theory about a developmental stage individuals go through of 18-25 year olds as a new concept, (Arnett, 2000, pp. 469). He describes emerging adulthood as being a sustained period of time where this age group, as mentioned previously, explores their roles preceding being an adult. These movements can include events similarly by taking longer than previous years to get married and have children, moving back in with their parents at a point during this age span, exploring self-identities, not feeling like an adult and feelings of self-failure. James E. Cote, who is a previous colleague of Arnett argues the opposite about this concept being an unexperienced developmental stage Arnett calls, “Emerging Adulthood”. Cote states
“Though the age boundaries are not set in stone, we will consider middle adulthood as the developmental period that begins at approximately 40 to 45 years of age and extends to about 60 to 65 years of age” (Santrock, 2013, p. 485). I interviewed two individuals for this paper. Each person was asked the same fifteen questions (Appendix). I interviewed a male and a female who fell in the midrange of middle adulthood.
Erik Erikson developed the eight stages of life theory. Erikson’s theory focuses on the development from birth to death, social context, and interpersonal relations during each stage of life (McAdams, 2009). In the same manner, each stage of life is comprehendible in three levels, such as the body, ego, and family and culture. The eight stages of life are infancy (trust vs. mistrust), early childhood (autonomy vs. shame and doubt), childhood (initiative vs. guilt), childhood (industry vs. inferiority), adolescence and young adulthood (identity vs. role confusion), young adulthood (intimacy vs. isolation), mature adulthood (generativity vs. stagnation (or self-absorption)), and old age (ego integrity vs. despair).
Middle adulthood is the generatively vs. stagnation stages in which an adult must care of others and realize that they need a family or a legacy. During this stage, people will nurture their own family or find ways to nurture others that need to be nurtured outside their immediate family. If an adult does not overcome the crisis during this stage, then they will not grow which will result in them being selfish and
adult stage (age 80 plus). Levinson states "the shift from one era to the next
Adulthood has often been associated with independence. It serves as a turning point in life where one has to take responsibility for oneself and no longer being dependent on his or her family. Early adulthood, usually begins from late teens or early twenties and will last until the thirties (Santrock, 2013). Early adulthood revolves around changes and exploration while middle and late adulthood are more of stability. The transition from adolescence and adulthood differs among every individual. The onset of the transition is determined by many factors such as culture, family background, and the personality of the individual. Emerging adulthood (as cited in Santrock, 2014) is the term to describe the transition period from adolescence to adulthood.
However, the divorce rates trend to continually increase nowadays, thus it might be argued that divorces can take place easier than in the past. There are three main causes of divorce: changing women’s roles, stress in modern living and lack of communication, which are highlighted below. The first significant cause of the recent rise in the rates of divorce is that women completely change roles. In the past, men have to earn whole money to afford the expenses of family, whereas women only do housework, hence women have no money leading to depend on husbands’ money. Because of these situations, it is too difficult for most women to separate from their husbands.
The first being the emancipation of women where the entry of women into the labor force, it means that more women can delay marriage, and this can also be seen through the rise of the average age marriage of Asian women (Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Statistics Division, 2000), and women can support themselves, terminate a marriage if it does not work out, or even buy their own properties. Finding a marriage partner is no longer economically necessary for women everywhere these days. Another factor mentioned was the communication revolution, where living alone does not mean the end of communication, or leads to a solitary experience. In fact the solitary life is seen as a respite from the hyperconnectedness as some of the interviewees mentioned. The advent of the Internet and other communication technologies, have allowed people all around the world to stay connected, and have changed how we interact with each other (Hans, 2004). The third factor mentioned in the book is urbanization, where the cities provide an enclave of similar minded people who share similar interests, gather together to live together alone. It offers the singleton a form of support system, which helps to perpetuate this trend of living alone. The fourth factor being longevity where people are living longer lives, and with women outliving men most of the time. He mentions that it is not uncommon for people to spend the last part of their lives living alone. This point is especially salient in the Asian context, where there has been a marked trend in the increase of elderly living alone (Jamieson & Simpson, 2013). Klinenberg contends that until recently, the focus of policies and mindset was always on family and community. However he argues that people’s lifestyles have significantly changed