Towards a Psychological Model of Midlife Crisis

Abstract

Midlife crisis in men is seen as a process of intensive and subjectively difficult transition of the self dealing with a reinterpretation of time perspective, the confrontation with death as a future personal event, the re-evaluation of life values and goals, and planning the second half of life. Midlife crisis arises on the relationships between the changing sociopsychological situation and internal predispositions. This study was conducted in Poland, using a sample of 144 men (aged 35–45 years). Measures were the Midlife Crisis Questionnaire, the Time Orientation Scale, the Adjective Check List, the modified version of the Ways of Coping Checklist, and the Value Crisis Questionnaire. The findings indicated that the midlife crisis consists of three relatively independent dimensions, extracted by factor analysis, namely, (i) intensity of symptoms focused on changes in the self-concept, (ii) psychological maturity, and (iii) acceptance of time passing and death. Necessary and sufficient conditions of the crisis appeared to be (1) value crisis, understood as difficulties in hierarchization, integration, and realization of values, (2) emotion-focused coping versus problem-focused coping, (3) past versus future time orientation and lack of goals for the future, (4) sense of time pressure, (5) some conscientiousness, introversion, and openness to experience.