Identity and Crisis in Middle Aged Men

Abstract

The authors selectively review disparate literature bearing on the issue of the male mid-life transition. There is considerable evidence that the entrance into middle age is associated with stress and often maladaptive patterns of reaction. There is little available information, however, on the specific nature of the stressors, their differential impact, or the factors associated with the individual's attempted style of adaptation to them. Through the process of exploring relevant findings from sociology, social and clinical psychology, and popular fiction we attempt to specify a working model of the experience of entering middle age. The authors see this model as being of heuristic value in that it specifies a number of dimensions to be operationalized which may, together, provide a more holistic view of the changes in the self-system undergone by the middle aged male.