This document identifies patterns of characteristics of those who have leisure as an option at mid-life. A comparison was made between individuals electing to enter teaching and those electing to pursue leisure at this life stage. Results of structured interviews, statistical results, and an analysis of a life satisfaction scale is given. In…

This research paper explores both the meaning of career decisions and the implications of these decisions for teacher education. Since a pilot study indicated that gender realization was influenced by the historical era in which people are raised, four subjects--two men and two women--from different age levels were selected to be the subjects of…

This study examined the interrelationships between individual development and the family system by testing the hypothesis that variations in family relations during middle adolescence are associated with psychological and social aspects of adolescent development and with parental midlife development. Data were collected from 27 parent-adolescent…

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…

Two surveys were conducted regarding the career and life transition needs of National Hockey League (NHL) players and their spouses. The Professional Athletes' Career Transition Inventory was distributed to player representatives and members of eight NHL teams. Results revealed that 85 percent of players believed it important that help be provided…

The study described in this paper was conducted to delineate the phenomenon of generativity in middle-aged adults in an attempt to identify its major characteristics, attributes, determinants, and situational or circumstantial variables. Three themes emerged from a literature survey of materials on middle adulthood: the theme of the entry…

A study was conducted to increase understanding of the mid-life career decision factors of vocational teachers in trade and industrial education. A sample of 179 conditionally licensed occupational teachers in Indiana who had initially been employed in industrial occupations were willing to participate in the study. Four additional criteria were…

A validation study of 30 married females and 30 married males was conducted on a theoretical model of stages in interpersonal development developed by Bar-Yam Hassan (Bar-Yam Hassan & Bar-Yam, 1987). According to the model, the five stages of adult interpersonal development are: (1) Social Relatedness versus Self-Insistence, or need for Approval;…

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…

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 increased college attendance of mature women students has played a major role in the changing demographics of college enrollment. This study examined the experience of reentry women during the initial period of adjustment from the time just prior to college entrance to the end of their first or second academic year. A pre- and post-test…

A study examined the life transitions of adult educators and their perceptions toward a summer university program. The Summer Chautauqua Program was conducted to model program evaluation techniques for students of adult and continuing education, to provide data for program planners relative to the maintenance and revision of the summer program,…

The theory of perspective transformation was used as a framework for a study of volunteerism among older adults, examining whether volunteering in community organizations in late adulthood brings about transformation in meaning structures in later life development, and if and how it affects aging at both the individual and societal levels. Two…

Retirement has been the subject of increasing interest in the popular as well as professional literature, but the psychosocial consequences of the transition have received little systematic attention. To study variatons in adaptation to retirement, 80 female educators and educational specialists were interviewed. The majority were rated as…

Social scientists have traditionally assumed that marriage and widowhood are the crucial life events for women, and that retirement has no effect on women's social relationships. To explore the relationship between women's work status and perception of peer and power relationships, a thematic apperceptive procedure was used. A sample of 1,428…