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…

This paper addresses the question of benefits of education from a life course perspective. Using data from a study of 1600 students (response rate 48%) on an open access program at a London University college, it explores educational activity within the framework of a transitions model. In addition to the quantitative evidence, the article uses…

Why do teachers become poor performers? In semi-structured interviews, forty elementary school principals in Israel described the personal story of one poor-performing staff member. Half of the problematic teachers were veteran teachers who faced a marked internal and external shift in mid-career. The seeds of their problems were probably planted…

The current study employed a life events perspective to examine the relationship between attachment style and both adjustment and coping processes in adults during two specific life events involving both the loss of and a renegotiation of an attachment relationship: the launching of children from the family of origin and job loss, which represent…

We use a life course framework to examine how the "new risk economy" has left middle-age professionals, managers and executives more vulnerable to job loss and unemployment despite high levels of human capital. Using in-depth qualitative data from 77 recently-unemployed white-collar workers, we examine perceptions of macro-economic…

Conditions in the U.S. have created a situation where some middle aged white males are experiencing a stalled career; they perceive they have plateaued in career progression while at the same time women and minority peers continue advancing. Based on phenomenological research methods, individuals who have experienced the non-event work transition…