Women on the river of life : a fifty-year study of adult development / Ravenna M. Helson, Valory Mitchell.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Helson, Ravenna M., 1925- author.

Mitchell, Valory, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Women--United States--Social conditions--Longitudinal studies.

Women.

Women--Conduct of life.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (386 pages)

Place of Publication:

Oakland, California : University of California Press, [2020]

Summary:

Commenced in 1958 with 142 young women who were seniors at Mills College, the Mills Study has become the largest and longest longitudinal study of women’s adult development, with assessments of these women in their twenties, forties, fifties, sixties, and seventies. Women on the River of Life synthesizes five decades of research to paint a picture of women’s personality and development across the lifespan. The book explores questions of family, work, life-path, maturity, wisdom, creativity, attachment, and purpose in life, unfolding in the context of a rapidly changing historical period with far-reaching consequences for the kinds of lives women would envision for themselves. Helson and Mitchell breathe life into abstract theories and concepts with the real-life stories and voices of the study’s participants. Woven throughout the book are the authors’ reminiscences on the profound endeavor of sustaining a longitudinal study of women’s lives through time.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction and Overview

1. How the Mills Study Came About

2. Transforming into a Study of Women’s Adult Development

3. Sustaining Fifty Years of the Mills Study

Part I. Early Adulthood

4. The Roots of Creativity in Women

5. The Social Clock Projects

6. Marriage and Motherhood

7. Illustrating Two Developmental Theories

8. Loevinger’s Theory of Ego Development

Part II. Major Influences

9. The Enormous Impact of Gender Expectations

10. The Sweep of History: Individualism, Gay Liberation, the Counterculture

11. The Astonishing Importance of Personality

Part III. Middle Age

12. The Social Clock in Middle Age

13. Ups and Downs in Middle Age

14. Whatever Happened to Creativity in Women?

15. Women’s Prime of Life

Part IV. Developmental Achievements

16. The Centrality of Attachment

17. Paths of Development: Three Conceptions of Positive Mental Health

18. Wisdom

19. Generativity and Individuation: Tasks of the Second Half of Life

Part V. The Crown Of Life

20. Answering Four Questions about Creative Personality

21. The Place of Purpose in Life in Women’s Positive Aging: Women with Low Purpose

22. The Place of Purpose in Life in Women’s Positive Aging: Women with High Purpose

23. Late Adulthood: The Third Age

Complete Published Work of the Mills Study

References

Index

Notes:

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780520971011

0520971019

OCLC:

1149277902