+ Feelings go up after midlife - feelings subside after midlife
Science Debunks Midlife Myths - Stanford University · If the midlife crisis seems to defy precise...
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2/13/2015 Science Debunks Midlife Myths Scientific American http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/sciencedebunksmidlifemyths/ 1/6
Transcript of Science Debunks Midlife Myths - Stanford University · If the midlife crisis seems to defy precise...
2132015 Science Debunks Midlife Myths shy Scientific American
httpwwwscientificamericancomarticlescienceshydebunksshymidlifeshymyths 16
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PATRIC SANDRI
Mind amp Brain raquo Scientific American Mind Volume 26 Issue 2 raquo Features
Science Debunks Midlife MythsPsychological studies suggest that midlife crises are real but the stereotypes are not
Feb 12 2015 | By Hanna Drimalla
A forty something middle manager quits hisday job buys a sports car and abandons hiswife for a younger woman DiagnosisMidlife crisis Lester Burnham in AmericanBeauty Walter White in Breaking Badmdashexamples of these desperate charactersabound in popular culture and the conceptis entrenched in our collective psyche Butare people of a certain age really more likelyto launch a total life reboot
It would seem so according to scientistsSome hallmarks of midlifemdashincreased selfshyreflection aging career and family changesmdashcan seed deep dissatisfaction And studiesindicate that our sense of wellshybeingnaturally wanes during this stretch ofadulthood But research also shows thatmany common beliefs about thequintessential fortysomething meltdown areuntrue In fact malaise can commence atalmost any age men are not moresusceptible to dissatisfaction than womenand midlife crises are far from inevitable
At some point between age 40 and 60 mostpeople will face significant stress in oneform or another but not everyone reacts bychasing after fading youth or worsesuccumbs to depression or substance abuseGenuine midlife breakdowns appear to beless common than many think affecting
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In BriefNot So Bad After AllGenuine midlife breakdowns affect nomore than a quarter of the population
Studies show that happiness does hit alifetime low in middle age The biologyand psychology of aging may contributeto that finding along with life events
Despite the trough in happiness midlifefor most people is marked by stabilityespecially in their relationships
2132015 Science Debunks Midlife Myths shy Scientific American
httpwwwscientificamericancomarticlescienceshydebunksshymidlifeshymyths 26
only 10 percent of the population accordingto a review in the early 1990s or 26 percentaccording to a 2000 study For some of thatgroup these upheavals lead not to ruin butto a welcome second act And the reasonscertain people do fall victim may have moreto do with personality and culturalexpectations than age
A life halfshyemptyIf the midlife crisis seems to defy precise definition consider that midlife itself is anebulous concept In 2011 researchers at Florida State University analyzed aquestionnaire given to several thousand Americans in the 1990s and found that mostparticipants defined midlife as running from age 44 to 59 Ten years later the sameparticipants described midlife as age 46 to 62 The older the respondentsmdashwomen inparticularmdashthe later they envisioned the debut of their dotage
Our notion of midlife may be a moving target but once it starts our perspective ontime shifts Instead of counting the years from our birth we begin guessing at howmany years we have left Psychologist Laura Carstensen founding director of theCenter on Longevity at Stanford University has shown that this subjective sense of alife halfshyempty influences our goals The fewer years we think we have the lessexpansive our plans become Instead some individuals focus on family and friendsmdashjust as young and old alike seek familiar comforts when epidemics or terrorist attacksremind us of how finite life is
Other people though begin to take stock of their lives and revisit unrealized dreamsldquoWe retrieve our youthful goals from 20 years before and check off one by one whatwe have achievedrdquo explains Alexandra Freund a professor of applied psychology atthe University of Zurich She has found that older people typically try to maintainwhat they have now to avoid future losses and that they focus less on their careersDuring this transition our sense that the demands of work exceed our ability to copecan increase Occupational psychologist Amanda Griffiths and her colleagues at theUniversity of Nottingham in England have reported that this perceived job stresspeaks between the ages of 50 and 55
Such changes in focus and aspiration may render us less satisfied with life In 2008labor economists David G Blanchflower of Dartmouth College and Andrew J Oswaldof the University of Warwick in England reviewed data about wellshybeing collectedfrom half a million people of various ages in 72 countries They concluded that thehappiness level throughout an individuals life span frequently follows a Ushyshapedcurve bottoming out in the early to midshy40s In some locations this emotional nadirdid not appear in the raw data but emerged once Blanchflower and Oswald reanalyzedthe numbers to consider the potentially confounding contributions of marital statusincome education and other factors on contentment
Complicating the picture other researchers have noted the presence of peaks andplateaus of happiness within the midlife period In 2012 economist John HaiskenshyDeNew of the University of Melbourne reviewed life satisfaction among Germansusing data from the German SocioshyEconomic Panel a 30shyyearshyold longitudinal studythat surveys some 30000 people annually The length of the study allowed HaiskenshyDeNew to account for individual differences in optimism For instance a happiness
More raquo
See what were tweeting aboutScientific American Contributors
Solve Innovation Challenges
DARPA Forecasting Chikungunya ChallengeDeadline Feb 16 2015 Reward See Details
DARPA(Defense Advanced Research ProjectsAgency) seeks methods to accurately forecast
the spread of
Whole Youtrade Healthcare Innovations Novel andFun Incentives to Encourage Regular Use of OralAppliances for Sleep Apnea
Deadline Feb 14 2015 Reward $15000 USD
The more you experience the more you enjoy lifeHealth issues can arise but you should still be free tosqueeze all the joy exci
More Challenges raquo
Powered By
ADVERTISEMENT
Latest from SA Blog Network
Is AI Dangerous That DependshellipLife Unbounded | 4 hours ago
Technology against Zeppelins 1915STAFF Anecdotes from the Archive | 4 hours ago
You Asked shy They Answered QampA with SmartWiresPlugged In | 5 hours ago
Gauss and Germain on Pleasure and PassionRoots of Unity | 7 hours ago
Why Romantic Illusions Are a Good ThingMIND Illusion Chasers | February 12 2015
sciam New Promise of Relief for MajorDepression httptcoTG5RlQopt1science20 minutes ago middot reply middot retweet middot favorite
sciam Dogs Can Tell Happy or AngryHuman Faces httptcoGeOxYalwBTscience20 minutes ago middot reply middot retweet middot favorite
seth_fletcher Knew David Carr was a greatreporter Didnt know until reading allthese tributes that he was the coolest guy onEarth What a loss35 minutes ago middot reply middot retweet middot favorite
More In This Article
Set in Our Ways WhyChange Is So Hard
Fit Body Fit Mind YourWorkout Makes YouSmarter
2132015 Science Debunks Midlife Myths shy Scientific American
httpwwwscientificamericancomarticlescienceshydebunksshymidlifeshymyths 36
score of 6 out of 10 might represent an allshytime high for a confirmed misanthrope buta crash for a starryshyeyed romantic HaiskenshyDeNew observed that happiness levelsdrop continuously if slightly throughout adulthood until theearly 60s after whichthey increase until age 75 and then plummet
Wrinkles in timeStill the subject of much debate is whether the cause of midlife strife lies in ourcreaturely selves or in our stars Some researchers argue that life events are mostimportant In a study published in 2000 sociologist Elaine Wethington of CornellUniversity conducted a telephone survey of 724 American adults between the ages of28 and 78 and found that more than a quarter of her respondentsmdashmen and womenalmost equallymdashadmitted to having had a midlife crisis The majority attributed thesespells to upsetting life events such as losing a job or parent and not to age leadingWethington to conclude that midlife crises are not a natural part of aging
Yet research into the biology of middle age suggests that at least part of ourvulnerability is built in In 2012 psychologist Alexander Weiss and his colleagues atthe University of Edinburgh reviewed accounts from zookeepers volunteersresearchers and caretakers who reported that middleshyaged chimpanzees andorangutans showed definite signs of disgruntlement compared with younger andolder apes These observations were subjective the animal keepers knew the ages ofthe animals and may have been interpreting their behavior based on expectationsNevertheless Weisss team concluded that the biology we share with our fellow greatapes could underpin our midlife doldrums
Gray hair and wrinkles aside many adjustments associated with aging can causepsychological distress The rates of cancer and cardiovascular disease among otherillnesses increase along with the risk of depression A 2012 report from the CentralResearch Institute of Ambulatory Health Care in Berlin revealed that depression casesclimb almost linearly until ones late 50s and peak again at around 85 for women and90 for men In the US statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Preventionreveal that the highest rates of depression among men and women fall between theages of 40 and 59
Physically too the brain begins to degrade more quickly after age 40 In 2010neuroscientist Antonio Giorgio of the University of Siena in Italy then working withcolleagues at the University of Oxford tested 66 subjects between the ages of 23 and81 using MRI and diffusionshytensor imaging Their results were consistent with earlierstudies The brains white matter volume increased continuously up to the early 40sand then decreased rather rapidly The volume of gray matter declined steadily overthe entire period in most brain regions
Older brains can usually compensate for these deficits offsetting lost firepower withgreater experience and knowledge But the effects of hormonal attrition are moreunsettling When male andropause sets in after about age 40 testosterone levels startto decline and both sexual interest and performance can suffer For women thedecline of estrogen levels in the 40s leads to menopause usually in the 50s and a hostof sometimes upsetting symptoms including insomnia memory problems anddepression
To every seasonBut whatever its source midlife stress does not foredoom us to a life out of control
News From Our Partners
Worlds Oceans Clogged by Millions of Tons ofPlastic Trash
Darwins Finches Get Their GenomesSequenced
Dogs Can Tell Happy or Angry Human Faces
Battery Storage Needed to Expand RenewableEnergy
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
Science Jobs of the Week
Postdoctoral Research Associate in ImmunologyOregon Health amp Science University Department ofMolecular Microbiology amp Immunology
Post-Doctoral AssociateThe University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine
Associate Professor Professor of Plant Genomicsand Bayer CropScience ChairThe Department of Plant and Soil Science at Texas TechUniversity
More jobs from Naturejobscom raquo
2132015 Science Debunks Midlife Myths shy Scientific American
httpwwwscientificamericancomarticlescienceshydebunksshymidlifeshymyths 46
especially in our relationships A 2011 Kinsey Institute study of more than 1000couples in Germany Spain the US Japan and Brazil found that middleshyaged menand women rate their relationships and sex lives higher the longer they have beenmarried and that people entering middle age with a longshyterm partner have a goodchance of staying together citing earlier estimates that more than half of marriages inthe US and 92 percent in Spain will last more than 20 years Of the marriages that dobreak down the husband is not typically the one to walk out According to theNational Marriage Project at the University of Virginia women instigate two thirds ofall divorcesmdashmost likely not because they are having midlife crises but because theirhusbands are behaving badly
The emptyshynest syndrome appears to be a myth too Pasqualina PerrigshyChiello aprofessor of developmental psychology at the University of Bern in Switzerland foundin a 2001 study of 260 middleshyaged subjects that mothers frequently view theirchildrens departure optimistically Fathers more often have mixed feelings perhapswishing that they had spent more time with their children In a 2009 study sociologistBarbara A Mitchell of Simon Fraser University in British Columbia asked more than300 parents from different cultural backgrounds about their childrens departure fromhome Only a minoritymdashyounger parents with health problems and fewer childrenmdashreported emotional suffering Overall most parents reported positive feelings such aspride at having been successful in raising their children so that they could move out
Perhaps the biggest misconception of all is that the outlook at 40 is grim The John Dand Catherine T MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Successful MidlifeDevelopment a Harvard Universityndashbased interdisciplinary project run by 13scholars surveyed more than 7000 people in the US between the ages of 25 and 74on aspects of middle age The results which have spawned multiple books and scoresof research papers reveal midlife to be largely a period of calm and stability mostrelationships hold together most people stay healthy and many enjoy financialsecurity
And when Zurichs Freund asked older people what age they would most like to beagain the majority chose their midshy40s In some cultures such as Japan India Kenyaand Samoa the concept of the midlife crisis is entirely imported Maybe knowing thatour misgivings about midlife are usually exaggeratedmdashand temporarymdashcan make thepassage to late maturity just a bit more manageable
ABOUT THE AUTHOR(S)HANNA DRIMALLA is a psychologist and freelance journalist in Berlin
Further ReadingExpecting Stress Americans and the ldquoMidlife Crisisrdquo Elaine Wethingtonin Motivation and Emotion Vol 24 No 2 pages 85ndash103 June 2000
Is WellshyBeing UshyShaped over the Life Cycle David G Blanchflower andAndrew J Oswald in Social Science amp Medicine Vol 66 No 8 pages 1733ndash1749April 2008
Evidence for a Midlife Crisis in Great Apes Consistent with the UshyShape inHuman WellshyBeing Alexander Weiss et al in Proceedings of the NationalAcademy of Sciences USA Vol 109 No 49 pages 19949ndash19952 December 4 2012
2132015 Science Debunks Midlife Myths shy Scientific American
httpwwwscientificamericancomarticlescienceshydebunksshymidlifeshymyths 56
Share this Article
John D and Catherine T MacArthur Foundation Research Network on SuccessfulMidlife Development httpmidmacmedharvardedu
From Our Archives
Set in Our Ways Nikolas Westerhoff December 2008January 2009
Fit Body Fit Mind Christopher Hertzog Arthur F Kramer Robert S Wilson andUlman Lindenberger JulyAugust 2009
This article was originally published with the title Debunking Midlife Myths
Buy this digital issue or subscribe to access other articles from the March 2015 publication
Already have an account Sign In
Digital Issue
$599
Add To Cart
Digital Issue + Subscription
$3999
Subscribe
You May Also Like
CommentsOldest shy Newest
You must sign in or register as a ScientificAmericancom member to submit a comment
Scientific AmericanMind Archive Single
Issue
Scientific AmericanMind Archive Single
Issue
Scientific AmericanMind Single Issue
Scientific AmericanMind Single Issue
Scientific American MindDigital
Get 6 bi-monthly digital issues+ 1yr of archive access for just $999
Hurry this offer ends soon gt
X
Next Article
New Promise of Relief for MajorDepressionRead More raquo
2132015 Science Debunks Midlife Myths shy Scientific American
httpwwwscientificamericancomarticlescienceshydebunksshymidlifeshymyths 26
only 10 percent of the population accordingto a review in the early 1990s or 26 percentaccording to a 2000 study For some of thatgroup these upheavals lead not to ruin butto a welcome second act And the reasonscertain people do fall victim may have moreto do with personality and culturalexpectations than age
A life halfshyemptyIf the midlife crisis seems to defy precise definition consider that midlife itself is anebulous concept In 2011 researchers at Florida State University analyzed aquestionnaire given to several thousand Americans in the 1990s and found that mostparticipants defined midlife as running from age 44 to 59 Ten years later the sameparticipants described midlife as age 46 to 62 The older the respondentsmdashwomen inparticularmdashthe later they envisioned the debut of their dotage
Our notion of midlife may be a moving target but once it starts our perspective ontime shifts Instead of counting the years from our birth we begin guessing at howmany years we have left Psychologist Laura Carstensen founding director of theCenter on Longevity at Stanford University has shown that this subjective sense of alife halfshyempty influences our goals The fewer years we think we have the lessexpansive our plans become Instead some individuals focus on family and friendsmdashjust as young and old alike seek familiar comforts when epidemics or terrorist attacksremind us of how finite life is
Other people though begin to take stock of their lives and revisit unrealized dreamsldquoWe retrieve our youthful goals from 20 years before and check off one by one whatwe have achievedrdquo explains Alexandra Freund a professor of applied psychology atthe University of Zurich She has found that older people typically try to maintainwhat they have now to avoid future losses and that they focus less on their careersDuring this transition our sense that the demands of work exceed our ability to copecan increase Occupational psychologist Amanda Griffiths and her colleagues at theUniversity of Nottingham in England have reported that this perceived job stresspeaks between the ages of 50 and 55
Such changes in focus and aspiration may render us less satisfied with life In 2008labor economists David G Blanchflower of Dartmouth College and Andrew J Oswaldof the University of Warwick in England reviewed data about wellshybeing collectedfrom half a million people of various ages in 72 countries They concluded that thehappiness level throughout an individuals life span frequently follows a Ushyshapedcurve bottoming out in the early to midshy40s In some locations this emotional nadirdid not appear in the raw data but emerged once Blanchflower and Oswald reanalyzedthe numbers to consider the potentially confounding contributions of marital statusincome education and other factors on contentment
Complicating the picture other researchers have noted the presence of peaks andplateaus of happiness within the midlife period In 2012 economist John HaiskenshyDeNew of the University of Melbourne reviewed life satisfaction among Germansusing data from the German SocioshyEconomic Panel a 30shyyearshyold longitudinal studythat surveys some 30000 people annually The length of the study allowed HaiskenshyDeNew to account for individual differences in optimism For instance a happiness
More raquo
See what were tweeting aboutScientific American Contributors
Solve Innovation Challenges
DARPA Forecasting Chikungunya ChallengeDeadline Feb 16 2015 Reward See Details
DARPA(Defense Advanced Research ProjectsAgency) seeks methods to accurately forecast
the spread of
Whole Youtrade Healthcare Innovations Novel andFun Incentives to Encourage Regular Use of OralAppliances for Sleep Apnea
Deadline Feb 14 2015 Reward $15000 USD
The more you experience the more you enjoy lifeHealth issues can arise but you should still be free tosqueeze all the joy exci
More Challenges raquo
Powered By
ADVERTISEMENT
Latest from SA Blog Network
Is AI Dangerous That DependshellipLife Unbounded | 4 hours ago
Technology against Zeppelins 1915STAFF Anecdotes from the Archive | 4 hours ago
You Asked shy They Answered QampA with SmartWiresPlugged In | 5 hours ago
Gauss and Germain on Pleasure and PassionRoots of Unity | 7 hours ago
Why Romantic Illusions Are a Good ThingMIND Illusion Chasers | February 12 2015
sciam New Promise of Relief for MajorDepression httptcoTG5RlQopt1science20 minutes ago middot reply middot retweet middot favorite
sciam Dogs Can Tell Happy or AngryHuman Faces httptcoGeOxYalwBTscience20 minutes ago middot reply middot retweet middot favorite
seth_fletcher Knew David Carr was a greatreporter Didnt know until reading allthese tributes that he was the coolest guy onEarth What a loss35 minutes ago middot reply middot retweet middot favorite
More In This Article
Set in Our Ways WhyChange Is So Hard
Fit Body Fit Mind YourWorkout Makes YouSmarter
2132015 Science Debunks Midlife Myths shy Scientific American
httpwwwscientificamericancomarticlescienceshydebunksshymidlifeshymyths 36
score of 6 out of 10 might represent an allshytime high for a confirmed misanthrope buta crash for a starryshyeyed romantic HaiskenshyDeNew observed that happiness levelsdrop continuously if slightly throughout adulthood until theearly 60s after whichthey increase until age 75 and then plummet
Wrinkles in timeStill the subject of much debate is whether the cause of midlife strife lies in ourcreaturely selves or in our stars Some researchers argue that life events are mostimportant In a study published in 2000 sociologist Elaine Wethington of CornellUniversity conducted a telephone survey of 724 American adults between the ages of28 and 78 and found that more than a quarter of her respondentsmdashmen and womenalmost equallymdashadmitted to having had a midlife crisis The majority attributed thesespells to upsetting life events such as losing a job or parent and not to age leadingWethington to conclude that midlife crises are not a natural part of aging
Yet research into the biology of middle age suggests that at least part of ourvulnerability is built in In 2012 psychologist Alexander Weiss and his colleagues atthe University of Edinburgh reviewed accounts from zookeepers volunteersresearchers and caretakers who reported that middleshyaged chimpanzees andorangutans showed definite signs of disgruntlement compared with younger andolder apes These observations were subjective the animal keepers knew the ages ofthe animals and may have been interpreting their behavior based on expectationsNevertheless Weisss team concluded that the biology we share with our fellow greatapes could underpin our midlife doldrums
Gray hair and wrinkles aside many adjustments associated with aging can causepsychological distress The rates of cancer and cardiovascular disease among otherillnesses increase along with the risk of depression A 2012 report from the CentralResearch Institute of Ambulatory Health Care in Berlin revealed that depression casesclimb almost linearly until ones late 50s and peak again at around 85 for women and90 for men In the US statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Preventionreveal that the highest rates of depression among men and women fall between theages of 40 and 59
Physically too the brain begins to degrade more quickly after age 40 In 2010neuroscientist Antonio Giorgio of the University of Siena in Italy then working withcolleagues at the University of Oxford tested 66 subjects between the ages of 23 and81 using MRI and diffusionshytensor imaging Their results were consistent with earlierstudies The brains white matter volume increased continuously up to the early 40sand then decreased rather rapidly The volume of gray matter declined steadily overthe entire period in most brain regions
Older brains can usually compensate for these deficits offsetting lost firepower withgreater experience and knowledge But the effects of hormonal attrition are moreunsettling When male andropause sets in after about age 40 testosterone levels startto decline and both sexual interest and performance can suffer For women thedecline of estrogen levels in the 40s leads to menopause usually in the 50s and a hostof sometimes upsetting symptoms including insomnia memory problems anddepression
To every seasonBut whatever its source midlife stress does not foredoom us to a life out of control
News From Our Partners
Worlds Oceans Clogged by Millions of Tons ofPlastic Trash
Darwins Finches Get Their GenomesSequenced
Dogs Can Tell Happy or Angry Human Faces
Battery Storage Needed to Expand RenewableEnergy
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
Science Jobs of the Week
Postdoctoral Research Associate in ImmunologyOregon Health amp Science University Department ofMolecular Microbiology amp Immunology
Post-Doctoral AssociateThe University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine
Associate Professor Professor of Plant Genomicsand Bayer CropScience ChairThe Department of Plant and Soil Science at Texas TechUniversity
More jobs from Naturejobscom raquo
2132015 Science Debunks Midlife Myths shy Scientific American
httpwwwscientificamericancomarticlescienceshydebunksshymidlifeshymyths 46
especially in our relationships A 2011 Kinsey Institute study of more than 1000couples in Germany Spain the US Japan and Brazil found that middleshyaged menand women rate their relationships and sex lives higher the longer they have beenmarried and that people entering middle age with a longshyterm partner have a goodchance of staying together citing earlier estimates that more than half of marriages inthe US and 92 percent in Spain will last more than 20 years Of the marriages that dobreak down the husband is not typically the one to walk out According to theNational Marriage Project at the University of Virginia women instigate two thirds ofall divorcesmdashmost likely not because they are having midlife crises but because theirhusbands are behaving badly
The emptyshynest syndrome appears to be a myth too Pasqualina PerrigshyChiello aprofessor of developmental psychology at the University of Bern in Switzerland foundin a 2001 study of 260 middleshyaged subjects that mothers frequently view theirchildrens departure optimistically Fathers more often have mixed feelings perhapswishing that they had spent more time with their children In a 2009 study sociologistBarbara A Mitchell of Simon Fraser University in British Columbia asked more than300 parents from different cultural backgrounds about their childrens departure fromhome Only a minoritymdashyounger parents with health problems and fewer childrenmdashreported emotional suffering Overall most parents reported positive feelings such aspride at having been successful in raising their children so that they could move out
Perhaps the biggest misconception of all is that the outlook at 40 is grim The John Dand Catherine T MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Successful MidlifeDevelopment a Harvard Universityndashbased interdisciplinary project run by 13scholars surveyed more than 7000 people in the US between the ages of 25 and 74on aspects of middle age The results which have spawned multiple books and scoresof research papers reveal midlife to be largely a period of calm and stability mostrelationships hold together most people stay healthy and many enjoy financialsecurity
And when Zurichs Freund asked older people what age they would most like to beagain the majority chose their midshy40s In some cultures such as Japan India Kenyaand Samoa the concept of the midlife crisis is entirely imported Maybe knowing thatour misgivings about midlife are usually exaggeratedmdashand temporarymdashcan make thepassage to late maturity just a bit more manageable
ABOUT THE AUTHOR(S)HANNA DRIMALLA is a psychologist and freelance journalist in Berlin
Further ReadingExpecting Stress Americans and the ldquoMidlife Crisisrdquo Elaine Wethingtonin Motivation and Emotion Vol 24 No 2 pages 85ndash103 June 2000
Is WellshyBeing UshyShaped over the Life Cycle David G Blanchflower andAndrew J Oswald in Social Science amp Medicine Vol 66 No 8 pages 1733ndash1749April 2008
Evidence for a Midlife Crisis in Great Apes Consistent with the UshyShape inHuman WellshyBeing Alexander Weiss et al in Proceedings of the NationalAcademy of Sciences USA Vol 109 No 49 pages 19949ndash19952 December 4 2012
2132015 Science Debunks Midlife Myths shy Scientific American
httpwwwscientificamericancomarticlescienceshydebunksshymidlifeshymyths 56
Share this Article
John D and Catherine T MacArthur Foundation Research Network on SuccessfulMidlife Development httpmidmacmedharvardedu
From Our Archives
Set in Our Ways Nikolas Westerhoff December 2008January 2009
Fit Body Fit Mind Christopher Hertzog Arthur F Kramer Robert S Wilson andUlman Lindenberger JulyAugust 2009
This article was originally published with the title Debunking Midlife Myths
Buy this digital issue or subscribe to access other articles from the March 2015 publication
Already have an account Sign In
Digital Issue
$599
Add To Cart
Digital Issue + Subscription
$3999
Subscribe
You May Also Like
CommentsOldest shy Newest
You must sign in or register as a ScientificAmericancom member to submit a comment
Scientific AmericanMind Archive Single
Issue
Scientific AmericanMind Archive Single
Issue
Scientific AmericanMind Single Issue
Scientific AmericanMind Single Issue
Scientific American MindDigital
Get 6 bi-monthly digital issues+ 1yr of archive access for just $999
Hurry this offer ends soon gt
X
Next Article
New Promise of Relief for MajorDepressionRead More raquo
2132015 Science Debunks Midlife Myths shy Scientific American
httpwwwscientificamericancomarticlescienceshydebunksshymidlifeshymyths 36
score of 6 out of 10 might represent an allshytime high for a confirmed misanthrope buta crash for a starryshyeyed romantic HaiskenshyDeNew observed that happiness levelsdrop continuously if slightly throughout adulthood until theearly 60s after whichthey increase until age 75 and then plummet
Wrinkles in timeStill the subject of much debate is whether the cause of midlife strife lies in ourcreaturely selves or in our stars Some researchers argue that life events are mostimportant In a study published in 2000 sociologist Elaine Wethington of CornellUniversity conducted a telephone survey of 724 American adults between the ages of28 and 78 and found that more than a quarter of her respondentsmdashmen and womenalmost equallymdashadmitted to having had a midlife crisis The majority attributed thesespells to upsetting life events such as losing a job or parent and not to age leadingWethington to conclude that midlife crises are not a natural part of aging
Yet research into the biology of middle age suggests that at least part of ourvulnerability is built in In 2012 psychologist Alexander Weiss and his colleagues atthe University of Edinburgh reviewed accounts from zookeepers volunteersresearchers and caretakers who reported that middleshyaged chimpanzees andorangutans showed definite signs of disgruntlement compared with younger andolder apes These observations were subjective the animal keepers knew the ages ofthe animals and may have been interpreting their behavior based on expectationsNevertheless Weisss team concluded that the biology we share with our fellow greatapes could underpin our midlife doldrums
Gray hair and wrinkles aside many adjustments associated with aging can causepsychological distress The rates of cancer and cardiovascular disease among otherillnesses increase along with the risk of depression A 2012 report from the CentralResearch Institute of Ambulatory Health Care in Berlin revealed that depression casesclimb almost linearly until ones late 50s and peak again at around 85 for women and90 for men In the US statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Preventionreveal that the highest rates of depression among men and women fall between theages of 40 and 59
Physically too the brain begins to degrade more quickly after age 40 In 2010neuroscientist Antonio Giorgio of the University of Siena in Italy then working withcolleagues at the University of Oxford tested 66 subjects between the ages of 23 and81 using MRI and diffusionshytensor imaging Their results were consistent with earlierstudies The brains white matter volume increased continuously up to the early 40sand then decreased rather rapidly The volume of gray matter declined steadily overthe entire period in most brain regions
Older brains can usually compensate for these deficits offsetting lost firepower withgreater experience and knowledge But the effects of hormonal attrition are moreunsettling When male andropause sets in after about age 40 testosterone levels startto decline and both sexual interest and performance can suffer For women thedecline of estrogen levels in the 40s leads to menopause usually in the 50s and a hostof sometimes upsetting symptoms including insomnia memory problems anddepression
To every seasonBut whatever its source midlife stress does not foredoom us to a life out of control
News From Our Partners
Worlds Oceans Clogged by Millions of Tons ofPlastic Trash
Darwins Finches Get Their GenomesSequenced
Dogs Can Tell Happy or Angry Human Faces
Battery Storage Needed to Expand RenewableEnergy
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
Science Jobs of the Week
Postdoctoral Research Associate in ImmunologyOregon Health amp Science University Department ofMolecular Microbiology amp Immunology
Post-Doctoral AssociateThe University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine
Associate Professor Professor of Plant Genomicsand Bayer CropScience ChairThe Department of Plant and Soil Science at Texas TechUniversity
More jobs from Naturejobscom raquo
2132015 Science Debunks Midlife Myths shy Scientific American
httpwwwscientificamericancomarticlescienceshydebunksshymidlifeshymyths 46
especially in our relationships A 2011 Kinsey Institute study of more than 1000couples in Germany Spain the US Japan and Brazil found that middleshyaged menand women rate their relationships and sex lives higher the longer they have beenmarried and that people entering middle age with a longshyterm partner have a goodchance of staying together citing earlier estimates that more than half of marriages inthe US and 92 percent in Spain will last more than 20 years Of the marriages that dobreak down the husband is not typically the one to walk out According to theNational Marriage Project at the University of Virginia women instigate two thirds ofall divorcesmdashmost likely not because they are having midlife crises but because theirhusbands are behaving badly
The emptyshynest syndrome appears to be a myth too Pasqualina PerrigshyChiello aprofessor of developmental psychology at the University of Bern in Switzerland foundin a 2001 study of 260 middleshyaged subjects that mothers frequently view theirchildrens departure optimistically Fathers more often have mixed feelings perhapswishing that they had spent more time with their children In a 2009 study sociologistBarbara A Mitchell of Simon Fraser University in British Columbia asked more than300 parents from different cultural backgrounds about their childrens departure fromhome Only a minoritymdashyounger parents with health problems and fewer childrenmdashreported emotional suffering Overall most parents reported positive feelings such aspride at having been successful in raising their children so that they could move out
Perhaps the biggest misconception of all is that the outlook at 40 is grim The John Dand Catherine T MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Successful MidlifeDevelopment a Harvard Universityndashbased interdisciplinary project run by 13scholars surveyed more than 7000 people in the US between the ages of 25 and 74on aspects of middle age The results which have spawned multiple books and scoresof research papers reveal midlife to be largely a period of calm and stability mostrelationships hold together most people stay healthy and many enjoy financialsecurity
And when Zurichs Freund asked older people what age they would most like to beagain the majority chose their midshy40s In some cultures such as Japan India Kenyaand Samoa the concept of the midlife crisis is entirely imported Maybe knowing thatour misgivings about midlife are usually exaggeratedmdashand temporarymdashcan make thepassage to late maturity just a bit more manageable
ABOUT THE AUTHOR(S)HANNA DRIMALLA is a psychologist and freelance journalist in Berlin
Further ReadingExpecting Stress Americans and the ldquoMidlife Crisisrdquo Elaine Wethingtonin Motivation and Emotion Vol 24 No 2 pages 85ndash103 June 2000
Is WellshyBeing UshyShaped over the Life Cycle David G Blanchflower andAndrew J Oswald in Social Science amp Medicine Vol 66 No 8 pages 1733ndash1749April 2008
Evidence for a Midlife Crisis in Great Apes Consistent with the UshyShape inHuman WellshyBeing Alexander Weiss et al in Proceedings of the NationalAcademy of Sciences USA Vol 109 No 49 pages 19949ndash19952 December 4 2012
2132015 Science Debunks Midlife Myths shy Scientific American
httpwwwscientificamericancomarticlescienceshydebunksshymidlifeshymyths 56
Share this Article
John D and Catherine T MacArthur Foundation Research Network on SuccessfulMidlife Development httpmidmacmedharvardedu
From Our Archives
Set in Our Ways Nikolas Westerhoff December 2008January 2009
Fit Body Fit Mind Christopher Hertzog Arthur F Kramer Robert S Wilson andUlman Lindenberger JulyAugust 2009
This article was originally published with the title Debunking Midlife Myths
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New Promise of Relief for MajorDepressionRead More raquo
2132015 Science Debunks Midlife Myths shy Scientific American
httpwwwscientificamericancomarticlescienceshydebunksshymidlifeshymyths 46
especially in our relationships A 2011 Kinsey Institute study of more than 1000couples in Germany Spain the US Japan and Brazil found that middleshyaged menand women rate their relationships and sex lives higher the longer they have beenmarried and that people entering middle age with a longshyterm partner have a goodchance of staying together citing earlier estimates that more than half of marriages inthe US and 92 percent in Spain will last more than 20 years Of the marriages that dobreak down the husband is not typically the one to walk out According to theNational Marriage Project at the University of Virginia women instigate two thirds ofall divorcesmdashmost likely not because they are having midlife crises but because theirhusbands are behaving badly
The emptyshynest syndrome appears to be a myth too Pasqualina PerrigshyChiello aprofessor of developmental psychology at the University of Bern in Switzerland foundin a 2001 study of 260 middleshyaged subjects that mothers frequently view theirchildrens departure optimistically Fathers more often have mixed feelings perhapswishing that they had spent more time with their children In a 2009 study sociologistBarbara A Mitchell of Simon Fraser University in British Columbia asked more than300 parents from different cultural backgrounds about their childrens departure fromhome Only a minoritymdashyounger parents with health problems and fewer childrenmdashreported emotional suffering Overall most parents reported positive feelings such aspride at having been successful in raising their children so that they could move out
Perhaps the biggest misconception of all is that the outlook at 40 is grim The John Dand Catherine T MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Successful MidlifeDevelopment a Harvard Universityndashbased interdisciplinary project run by 13scholars surveyed more than 7000 people in the US between the ages of 25 and 74on aspects of middle age The results which have spawned multiple books and scoresof research papers reveal midlife to be largely a period of calm and stability mostrelationships hold together most people stay healthy and many enjoy financialsecurity
And when Zurichs Freund asked older people what age they would most like to beagain the majority chose their midshy40s In some cultures such as Japan India Kenyaand Samoa the concept of the midlife crisis is entirely imported Maybe knowing thatour misgivings about midlife are usually exaggeratedmdashand temporarymdashcan make thepassage to late maturity just a bit more manageable
ABOUT THE AUTHOR(S)HANNA DRIMALLA is a psychologist and freelance journalist in Berlin
Further ReadingExpecting Stress Americans and the ldquoMidlife Crisisrdquo Elaine Wethingtonin Motivation and Emotion Vol 24 No 2 pages 85ndash103 June 2000
Is WellshyBeing UshyShaped over the Life Cycle David G Blanchflower andAndrew J Oswald in Social Science amp Medicine Vol 66 No 8 pages 1733ndash1749April 2008
Evidence for a Midlife Crisis in Great Apes Consistent with the UshyShape inHuman WellshyBeing Alexander Weiss et al in Proceedings of the NationalAcademy of Sciences USA Vol 109 No 49 pages 19949ndash19952 December 4 2012
2132015 Science Debunks Midlife Myths shy Scientific American
httpwwwscientificamericancomarticlescienceshydebunksshymidlifeshymyths 56
Share this Article
John D and Catherine T MacArthur Foundation Research Network on SuccessfulMidlife Development httpmidmacmedharvardedu
From Our Archives
Set in Our Ways Nikolas Westerhoff December 2008January 2009
Fit Body Fit Mind Christopher Hertzog Arthur F Kramer Robert S Wilson andUlman Lindenberger JulyAugust 2009
This article was originally published with the title Debunking Midlife Myths
Buy this digital issue or subscribe to access other articles from the March 2015 publication
Already have an account Sign In
Digital Issue
$599
Add To Cart
Digital Issue + Subscription
$3999
Subscribe
You May Also Like
CommentsOldest shy Newest
You must sign in or register as a ScientificAmericancom member to submit a comment
Scientific AmericanMind Archive Single
Issue
Scientific AmericanMind Archive Single
Issue
Scientific AmericanMind Single Issue
Scientific AmericanMind Single Issue
Scientific American MindDigital
Get 6 bi-monthly digital issues+ 1yr of archive access for just $999
Hurry this offer ends soon gt
X
Next Article
New Promise of Relief for MajorDepressionRead More raquo
2132015 Science Debunks Midlife Myths shy Scientific American
httpwwwscientificamericancomarticlescienceshydebunksshymidlifeshymyths 56
Share this Article
John D and Catherine T MacArthur Foundation Research Network on SuccessfulMidlife Development httpmidmacmedharvardedu
From Our Archives
Set in Our Ways Nikolas Westerhoff December 2008January 2009
Fit Body Fit Mind Christopher Hertzog Arthur F Kramer Robert S Wilson andUlman Lindenberger JulyAugust 2009
This article was originally published with the title Debunking Midlife Myths
Buy this digital issue or subscribe to access other articles from the March 2015 publication
Already have an account Sign In
Digital Issue
$599
Add To Cart
Digital Issue + Subscription
$3999
Subscribe
You May Also Like
CommentsOldest shy Newest
You must sign in or register as a ScientificAmericancom member to submit a comment
Scientific AmericanMind Archive Single
Issue
Scientific AmericanMind Archive Single
Issue
Scientific AmericanMind Single Issue
Scientific AmericanMind Single Issue
Scientific American MindDigital
Get 6 bi-monthly digital issues+ 1yr of archive access for just $999
Hurry this offer ends soon gt
X
Next Article
New Promise of Relief for MajorDepressionRead More raquo
