Among the many life transitions that individuals must master throughout their lives, the transition to adulthood ranks very high in terms of importance, complexity and uniqueness. It involves the completion of education, and the assumption of new social roles and responsibilities, at a time when previous institutional structures that guided…

In 2007, the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation, with support from the Lehman Brothers Foundation, commissioned Public Agenda to explore interest in teaching careers among high-achieving college students, recent graduates, and potential career changers. MetLife Foundation, specifically interested in potential career changers as…

Middle aged women who have previously been occupied with family and community activities often experience increased role stress when they begin to invest more time and energy in their work roles. To compare coping styles women use to adjust to job changes, 71 women, aged 30-62, who had changed jobs within a 3-year interval were classified into…

Some researchers have suggested that there are developmental stages in adult life. If adult developmental stages exist, such stages would be reflected in one's career. Individuals would progress from their career dream when they first enter the work force through a period of stability, a mid-life transition period when they compare reality to…

Extends the available information base on intellectural aging by collecting self-report data from 100 psychologists between 45 and 64 years of age. Subjects rated changes in intellectual functions, related present changes with past expectations, and answered questions about health problems affecting intellectual functioning. The importance of…

Although the rate of divorce among older Americans has increased steadily, little attention has been paid to late life divorce. To describe the role of age and other factors which might influence adjustment to divorce in later life, data from a larger pilot study were used: 81 divorced persons over the age of 60 completed in-depth, structured…

The purpose of this paper is to review and synthesize the literature on adult development and to suggest how this information can be applied to the practice of adult education. The first section discusses the nature of adult development, its definition, and key concepts. Sequential patterns of change in adulthood are examined in section 2,…

This study investigated several aspects of early retirement (prior to age 65) as reported by a selected group of Colorado educators from two large districts, one using the state system and the other its own local system of early retirement. Early retirees from these districts were surveyed by means of a three-part questionnaire: part 1 gathererd…

Love and romance continue to be important issues within every age group, not merely among the usually studied college students. Two issues, the nature or intensity of the love experienced and the motives or purposes of love were examined for different age groups. The ways in which the pursuit of heterosexual love may change throughout adult life…

These proceedings contain the texts of the following 44 papers: "Adult Development in Midlife, Childless Women" (Rita Keneipp); "Analysis of the Relationship between Cognitive Style (Field Dependence-Field Independence) and Level of Learning" (Eugene Tootle); "Reconceptualizing Adult Education Participation" (Peter Cookson); "Adulthood:…