Midlife Crisis : The Mid-Life Crisis

Growing up we always hear people around us or in movies talk about a “mid-life crises,” and we’ve never really understood what they talk about because we hadn’t experienced it ourselves. In Gail Sheehy’s essay “Predictable Crises of Adulthood,” she writes about each a crisis that can occur in each stage of a human’s life. She break’s our lives into six stages. “Pulling Up Roots”, “Trying Twenties”, “Catch-30,” “Rooting and Extending”, “The Deadline Decade”, and “Renewal or Resignation”. I can’t relate to all but one of these topics because I have not lived them. The only stage I can relate to is Pulling Up Roots, because I just turned 18 and still learning about life. From my experience, Sheehy’s crises claim in the Pulling Up Roots stage is accurate for me.

The world around us has many current issues that relate one way or another to family and consumer science. I recently read an article written by Joan R. McFadden and Kay T. Rawson Swan, entitled “Women During Midlife: Is It Transition or Crisis?”. The article talked about how women go through the different stages of menopause also known as mid-life crisis to some. With a mid-life crisis it is stated to involve a feeling of loneliness, a period of wanting to find one’s self in the world, a time to reinvent yourself, to live outside of a woman’s everyday life style, and to experience changes in health and family roles. For many women these statements are said to be true, but not all women are the same.

Lachman (2004) stated that although midlife crisis has never proven to be a true event, people have claimed to have been in a midlife or going through midlife crises. Lachmant (2004) also stated that midlife crisis is usually triggered by some event such as the thought of death or a career lost/change.

Middle-aged adults begin to show visible signs of aging. Vision usually changes and many who did not need corrective lenses or eyeglasses may find that they need them. Hearing loss begins, especially at the higher frequencies. Height begins with the maximum height from young adulthood but then begins to diminish. This process is more rapid in women who have osteoporosis. Changes occur in the nervous system and reaction time slows. The ability to perform complex tasks remains intact. Those in middle age usually begin to gain weight, 5–10 kg (10–20 lb) and experience a decline in strength and flexibility. Women in late middle age experience menopause. Menopause can have many side effects, some welcome and some not so welcome.[2] Menopause ends

The area of greatest disagreement was the area of midlife crisis. “Levinson (1978) views midlife as a crisis, arguing that the middle-aged adult is suspended between the past and the future, trying to cope with this gap that threatens life’s continuity (Santrock, 2013 p. 512). This is particularly interesting because the female responded that she was experiencing a midlife crisis and the male did not. However, in this instance, the female is still in the workforce and the male is retired. The experiences that the female related closely resemble the conditions of the male during the time of Levinson’s study. In addition to still working, the female had recently changed her place of employment, and within the past five years lost both of her parents. While the male was retired and took care of the house and children, his stress level had been reduced as he became the primary care giver to this in-laws and their passing reduced his overall daily responsibilities. Both maintain close relationships with their siblings and frequently get together with them.

In middle adulthood there are many changes that occur physically, psychologically, and socially as explained in the above passages. Yet, some say that this is the best time of their life, they experience enhanced self-confidence, great sex lives, career success, and enhanced brain functions. Middle age adults are better equipped to make better life choices and decisions and not worry so much about the negative parts of life. Their problem solving skills are greater which allows them to reason more creatively. They are able to enjoy sex freely without the worries of getting pregnant and they feel more confident with their partners. In general they are happier about life and look forward to enjoying the rest of their lives.

During middle adulthood biological and physical changes become apparent. During this time visual perception, hearing and the reproductive system

     During this time, there may be turmoil in the family, marital distress, and general dissatisfaction with our lives. Many people during this time go through what we call the "mid-life crisis". A mid-life crisis may be caused by many different issues. During the early 30’s, the woman’s primary duty is child rearing and may also be pursuing a career. Most men focus on

Someone who would be going through a “Mid-life crisis” is that of the age between 40 and 60("Development in midlife," 2004). It is the point during our lives where we go through periods of self-doubt, this is a natural and normal process ("Development in midlife," 2004). A mid-life crisis can be triggered by different experiences, for instance, children leaving the home, death of a parent or someone close, mid-life transition to

I watched another man having a mid-life crisis, pull out of the Novak car dealership across the street in a silver convertible. My uncle ran that dealership. I scanned my dad’s car lot; the cars were much older with red numbers written on the windshields, and they were Hondas rather than BMWs. Dad was having an intense phone call in the dimly lit back office. From where I sat at the desk, I could hear snippets of the conversation that filtered through the gap through the door.

However, middle age is best known for its infamous midlife crisis. The term implies that middle age is a period of difficulties and stress brought about by turning 40. They struggle to balance their life between work and family commitments. They juggle the responsibility of caring for older family members at the same time as children, or dealing with other family disruptions, like bereavement or divorce. During midlife crisis, men try to reassert their masculinity by engaging in more youthful male behaviours, like having a younger companion and having plastic surgeries. The telltale signs like grey hair, sagging breasts and boomer belly tells you that you have entered middle age. Midlife crisis is such a ubiquitous

As an older individual there are many physical changes that occurs during this stage of life. Older individuals live independently and maintain close relationships with family and friends. Most individual’s personalities remain relatively stable throughout their lives. Depression is less prevalent than depression in younger adults. Becoming older can cause hearing impairment. 37 percent of women and 48 percent of men over the age of 75 have impaired hearing. Also there is a decline in vision. It will start to become difficult to read small print, seeing in sim light, or even finding objects. Some aging adults may even need

The stage that follows early adulthood is known as middle adulthood where people are generally caught between being productive and being stagnant. This stage reflects the need to create a living legacy: they would either need to feel they have become an important figure for the next generation to follow or they would develop a sense of purposelessness which is generally known as a “mid-life crisis”. This crisis can be solved by having the adults care and nurture children or help the fore-coming generation in other ways or means, however if the crisis remains the person would persist in random non-age-appropriate behavior as well as a continued feeling in stagnation. During this stage adults lose some of their physical aspects as their muscular strength, ability and agility weakens. Women will go through a menopausal

Finally, adulthood consists of early adulthood, middle adulthood and late adulthood. Early adulthood is a stage where individuals are physically in their best condition. Memory and thinking abilities are sharp, life decisions are made, and they take on roles of independence. Middle adulthood is when individuals start to reflect on their lives as a whole. Retirement planning and sadness over unaccomplished goals began to surface, during this particular stage. Some physical changes such as hearing and vision start to take place. Focusing more on health, relationships and becoming tolerable with death are all signs of late adulthood development. The immune system, vision, hearing, and muscle strength start to decline. Loss of memory is a cognitive trait that is related

Advancing age is a common hindrance to the proper functioning of the body senses. The eyes will have difficulty focusing on near and distant objects. Adapting to different levels of light is the other common problem. Cataracts, also called clouding of vision is another common condition that results from changes in eye’s lens. Hearing abilities also diminish. With this, you will have difficulties following a conversation or hearing high frequencies.