Abstract
The difficulty of studying midlife in women is illustrated dramatically by the above statement. Midlife typically is characterized as a transitory rather than as a distinct phase of the life cycle. As a phase defined primarily by the end of youth, it is accorded little importance in developmental conceptualizations, in literature, or in the media. Midlife also is defined as the time to prepare for old age and death, the time when one begins to count forward rather than backward (in terms of years to live rather than years lived). This view is reflected in research methodologies that relate behavior in midlife to outcomes in old age. Midlife adjustment, sexuality, satisfaction, and health are considered possible predictors of adjustment to old age but are rarely considered outcomes of earlier behavior (see, as a notable exception, the Berkeley and Oakland growth studies; Eichorn, Clausen, Haan, Honzik, and Mussen, 1981).
The shock ... of middle age is a threshold shock. A door is closing behind us and we turn sorrowfully to watch it close and do not discover, until we are wrenched away, the one opening ahead. (Fromm-Reichmann, F., 1959)
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Brooks-Gunn, J., Kirsh, B. (1984). Life Events and the Boundaries of Midlife for Women. In: Baruch, G., Brooks-Gunn, J. (eds) Women in Midlife. Women in Context: Development and Stresses. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-7823-5_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-7823-5_2
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