Several theories of personality development stress that adulthood and aging are periods of qualitative change, of discontinuity, and of transformations of earlier life patterns. These changes are believed to arise in relation to the demands of the person’s changing biological status and social context—the family, the workplace, and society in general. Thus, personality development is both an individual and a social phenomenon.

In the view of Erik Erikson, certain psychosocial demands, or crises, confront the individual at distinct intervals throughout life. The young adult, for instance, is expected to enter into an institution—i.e., marriage and family—that will perpetuate the society. The degree to which the basic need for intimacy on all levels—physical, emotional, and others—is met in such a relationship determines in most individuals the conception of the self as belonging or as isolated. In middle adulthood the crisis develops between the sense of generativity and the sense of stagnation. In this stage the individual is expected to play the role of a contributing, generative member of society. Generativity can take the form of providing the goods and services by which society functions or of producing, rearing, and socializing future members of society. The inability to develop a productive self-conception results in a feeling of stagnation. In maturity, according to Erikson, a crisis arises with regard to the sense of ego integrity versus the sense of despair. In this stage, individuals realize that they are reaching the end of life. If they have successfully progressed through the previous stages of development, they can face old age with satisfaction in the feeling that a full and complete life has been led. Individuals for whom this integrity of life is lacking often feel a sense of despair over “wasted” opportunity.

The American psychologist Daniel J. Levinson also divides adult life into qualitatively distinct periods. Confining his study to men, Levinson identified five eras within their lives that are not stages of biological, psychological, or social development but that together constitute a life-cycle structure. The eras are (1) preadulthood (birth to age 22), (2) early adulthood (age 17 to 45), (3) middle adulthood (age 40 to 64), (4) late adulthood (age 60 to 85), and (5) late late adulthood (age 80 and over). Each of these eras is in turn made up of a series of developmental periods and transitions. For example, in early adulthood a first major transition, ordinarily beginning at age 17 to 18 and extending until age 22 to 23, represents a developmental link between preadulthood and early adulthood. The young man in this early adult transition faces two major tasks. The first task is to modify relationships with his family and with other persons, groups, and institutions significant to his preadult world. The second task is to take a preliminary step into the adult world. This requires making initial explorations and choices for adult living. Major life events within this transition may include graduating from high school, moving out of the family home, seeking gainful employment, or attending college. Entering the adult world begins in the early 20s and extends until the late 20s. The focus of this period is on exploration and provisional commitment to adult roles and responsibilities. The young man faces two antithetical tasks. On the one hand, he must explore alternate possibilities for adult living, keeping options open and avoiding strong commitments. On the other hand, he must create a stable life structure, becoming responsible and “making something” of himself. Crucial life events during this period include occupational choice, first job, marriage, and the birth of children.

The age range of 28 to 33 years represents a transition between the period of entering the adult world and the next period of settling down. This transition provides the young man with an opportunity to adjust and enrich the provisional adult life structure that he created earlier. For most men, however, a moderate to severe crisis is common; divorce and occupational change are frequent during this time. A settling-down period then follows, beginning in the early 30s and extending until about age 40. This period, during which the man’s task is to become a full-fledged adult, emphasizes stability and security. The individual makes deeper commitments to his occupation, family, or whatever enterprises are significant to him. In addition, he often concentrates on “making it.” This involves long-range planning toward specific goals with a timetable for their achievement. Most men fix on a key life event, such as a promotion, as representative of ultimate affirmation by society. During the last years of the settling-down period, there is a distinctive phase designated as “becoming one’s own man,” ordinarily occurring at age 36 to 40. The man’s major task during this phase is to achieve greater independence and authority by striving for the goals of his various enterprises.

The midlife transition spans four to six years, reaching a peak in the early 40s. It forms a developmental link between early adulthood and middle adulthood and, being part of both eras, represents a beginning and ending, a meeting of past and future. A task of the midlife transition is to work on and partially resolve this discrepancy between what is and what might be. The transition may be fairly smooth, but it is more likely to involve considerable turmoil. The period of entering middle adulthood begins at about age 45 and extends until about age 50. Sometimes the start of this new life structure is marked by a significant life event, such as a change in job or occupation or a divorce or love affair. In other cases, the changes are more subtle.

Research evidence does not unequivocally support the discontinuous, stagelike changes in adult personality proposed by theorists such as Erikson and Levinson. In fact, several major studies of personality development during the adult and aged years present evidence for both change and constancy. For instance, studies of healthy adults between the ages of 40 and 80 residing in the area of Kansas City, Mo., U.S., during the 1950s found evidence for both continuity and change of adult personality. On the one hand, personality structure was stable; four personality types—integrated, defended, passive-dependent, and unintegrated—emerged among respondents regardless of age. Similarly, characteristics dealing with the socioadaptational aspects of personality (e.g., goal-directed behaviour, coping styles, and life satisfaction) were not age-related. It seems, therefore, that the ways in which healthy adults interact with the environment may be stable even though the roles they adopt alter with age. On the other hand, individual styles of coping with the inner world of experience showed marked age differences. For example, 40-year-olds felt in charge of their environment, viewed the self as a source of energy, and were positive about risk taking, whereas 60-year-olds saw the environment as threatening and even dangerous and viewed the self as passive and accommodating.

Other studies of personality development from birth through early adulthood have also found evidence for constancy and change. For example, behavioral dispositions of the early school years, including passive withdrawal from stressful situations, dependency on family, arousal of anger, involvement in intellectual mastery, sexual behaviour and sex-role identification, and anxiety over social interaction, have been found to carry over into adulthood. The degree of stability in these behaviours exhibited from childhood to adulthood seems to be closely related to cultural expectations of appropriate sex-role behaviour. If a pattern of childhood behaviour is consistent with sex-role expectations, it will more likely remain stable over time.

Other studies, concentrating on the development from adolescence into adulthood among people born in California in the late 1920s and early 1930s, found different personality types for males and females that showed substantial stability over time. Personality characteristics reflecting socialization and self-presentation, for example, tended to remain stable. On the other hand, two major types of personality characteristics, those reflecting information processing and those reflecting interpersonal relations, tended to change. There were differences between the sexes both in what was constant and in what changed across life. For example, lifestyle patterns among the parents of the California children were more continuous between young adulthood and old age for fathers than they were for mothers. Fathers who in early adulthood were unwell and disengaged from their families showed these same characteristics in late adulthood. In regard to personality, however, there was more apparent continuity between young adulthood and old age among mothers than among fathers. For example, mothers who were group-centred showed a more psychologically healthy personality and had a more satisfying life in later years than in earlier years, whereas non-group-centred mothers were happy and healthy at age 30 but lost their health and physical stamina by age 70.

In general, older adults tend to engage in greater introspection and self-reflection than younger adults, showing a general movement from the outer world toward the inner world. They tend to withdraw emotional investments, be less assertive, and avoid challenges. Adulthood and old age involve both constancy and change. These periods of life are continuations of the past as well as new phases in their own right.