Periods in the Adult Development of Men: Ages 18 to 45

Abstract

This is a preliminary statement of a theory of psychosocial periods in the development of men from the end of adolescence to the middle 40s. The theory has emerged from a study of 40 men currently in the mid-life decade (age 35-45). The method was biographical: through a series of interviews we constructed the adult life course of each man and looked for a sequential order underlying the highly diverse, unique individual biographies. (a) The first period, Leaving the Family, is a bridge between adolescent life and full entry into the adult world. (b) Getting Into the Adult World extends from the early 20s until 27-29, its major developmental tasks are to build an initial life structure, to form an occupation, and to work on the ego stage of Intimacy vs. Aloneness. (c) This is followed by the Age Thirty Transition which lasts for some four to six years and provides an opportunity to modify or drastically change the provisional first structure. (d) Settling Down extends from the early 30s until age 39-41 Its tasks are to build a second and more stable early adult life structure and, in the late 30s, to "Become One's Own Man." (e) The Mid-Life Transition involves the termination of early adulthood and the initiation of middle adulthood, and is part of both Its tasks are to reappraise and modify the late 30s' life structure, to rediscover important but neglected parts of the self and. toward the end, to make choices that provide the basis for a new life structure. (f) The Mid-Life Transition ordinarily gives way in the mid-40s to a period of building and living within a first provisional life structure for middle adulthood. Though our study ends at this point, we assume that there is a further evolution, involving periods of transition and of relative stability, throughout the life cycle.