Discusses misinformation that women have about the experience of menopause, the midlife acquisition of opposite sex characteristics, and the midlife shift from a focus on significant others to a focus on more personal needs. Suggests potential educational programs for women on midlife topics. (SK)

Mid-life women in increasing numbers are seeking the assistance of mental health professionals to address critical development and contextual issues. The myriad of social and cultural changes of the past two decades have had a profound effect on the type, intensity, and prevalence of problems currently experienced by women between 30-50 years of…

Fifty women and 43 men who did little college study in the four years following high school graduation were retested with a multiaptitude precollege battery. Results show that, in the absence of continuing education, the 50 women declined in intellectual growth, while the men grew slightly. The women utilized in the study were employed, for the…

The past 15 years have brought a re-evaluation of women's adult development in light feminist thinking. However, many outdated assumptions in psychological theory remain comfortably ensconced; to challenge these ideas, some misrepresentations of women's experience are examined. The focus is on Erik Erikson's explanation of the second stage of…

Sex role development is discussed, beginning with processes through which children adopt sexual identity and related behaviors. The growth of androgyny (measured by the Bem Sex Role Inventory) in adult males and females is documented, and changes in the sex role behavior of men and women over 50 are described. (PP)

A growing body of literature is questioning whether existing models of human development apply equally to men and women. Prevailing theories of human development have been criticized for being based on research with primarily male subjects of similar ethnic, racial, or class backgrounds. Some research supports the viewpoint that women have…

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…

Examined the effects of social age status and gender on perception of control of work, home, and school situations. Adults perceived the greatest control through the ability to influence powerful others. Adult females perceived greater influence than adolescent or retired females but the same as males of any age. (Author/JA)

This study investigated adult adjustment of male and female graduates with mental disabilities out of school for three years. Year three data indicated that males and females had achieved comparable rates of full-time competitive employment, but females were falling behind in hourly wages. From years one to three, there were positive shifts in…

Explores age as a moderator of the relationship among gender, sex role, and coping strategies for 155 males and 281 females in 5 age groups from adolescence through old age. Age is related to type of coping and moderates the relationship between sex role orientation and coping. (SLD)

This textbook consolidates main findings across disciplines about individuals' development during the middle years. Twelve chapters are organized into three parts. The first three chapters explore development from the perspective of a historical/cultural period and within the context of dynamic social change and looks at theories of identity and…

This book argues that radical adult education, which supports progressive social movements and tries to produce critically reflexive people capable of shifting social balance towards social justice, needs to recast the ways that it conceives of the human subject, experience, and power by taking on board recent developments in feminist…