Levinson's Model as a Predictor of the Adult Development of Policemen

Abstract

In the early 1970s Levinson and his associates completed a landmark study of adult development Based on the interviewing and testing of forty men, Levinson proposed a comprehensive model of adult growth. Although his sample contained men of diverse occupational groups, it did not include policemen or other workers who faced physical danger in their job. We interviewed twenty-three male policemen and found that, in general, the policeman's lives corresponded to Levinson's theory. Participants experienced a series of psychosocial stages, including some stressful transitional periods, but the nature of these stages was similar to Levinson's model for some age periods (e.g., Age 30 Transition), and not for others (e.g., Midlife Transition).