Age and change in the adult male sex role

Abstract

The present paper proposes that the adult male sex role cannot be adequately understood without adopting a developmental perspective. The author reviews some of the current literature on the male sex role, summarizes Levinson's model of male adult personality development, and provides a reinterpretation of the mechanism by which men move into transition and stable periods. The paper concludes that men modify their conceptions of masculinity at a number of points throughout their adult years. These modifications result from dissonance created when their current concept of appropriate male behavior becomes too discrepant with age norms.