Formulates a model for viewing the transitions and losses of the aging process as opportunities for growth and self-enhancement. Reviews major categories of social-psychological transition events. Summarizes social-psychological resources that aging individuals bring to these events and discusses three processes of adaptation to transition…

Evaluates the effects of expanding sex-role alternatives on the passage of American middle-class women through the Eriksonian model of identity achievement. Contrasts contemporary norms regarding appropriate feminine roles with the more constricted social expectations of Erikson's time. Discusses validity of Erikson's original model of female…