Psychological and economic factors characterize the life needs of persons as their life patterns change at mid-life and later. These elements can be seen as counselors work with mid-life and postretirement change and with counselees' responses. (Author)

Because of inaccurate assumptions and biases in developmental theories, the unique concerns of middle-aged women have not been sufficiently addressed. They must reconcile their masculine and feminine selves by reassessing their interpersonal relationships, their physical beings, and the meaning of work and achievement. Describes a four-phase…

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 However, many outdated assumptions in psychological theory remain comfortably ensconced; to challenge these ideas, some misrepresentations of women's experience are examined.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…

Using a transcultural perspective this model of the post-parental years assumes a "parental imperative" perspective of the entire life cycle and, thus, analyzes the post-parental years in relation to the pre-parental and parental years. Through this perspective, young parents recognize needs of infants for security, and select those…

Adults experience cyclical periods of stability and transition throughout life. The conflict between role cycles may spur career change. Personality differences between voluntary changers and nonchangers have been identified in research. Career changes may be triggered by factors ranging from the anticipated (marriage, empty nest) to the…

The suggestion is made that the flood of middle-aged women who have recently turned away from traditional approaches to achievement may have shifted their orientation to changing options, but have always had a great desire to achieve. The effect of the changing values of the women's movement is discussed, and a grid of achievement motivation…

In this part of the Kansas City Study of Adult Life, educational implications of adult activities and goals were explored, with emphasis on effective living in middle life. Performance of adult developmental tasks and motivation toward effort in these areas were investigated. Criteria were offered for assessing high, medium, and low performance in…