Male Midlife Crisis

Understanding the experiences of being fiftysomething.

Americans at Midlife is an exploration of the middle years within the framework of trends in the larger society, including longer life expectancy and an aging population; changes in marriage, divorce, and family composition; increased participation of women in the labor force; and the growth of two-income families.

The median age of workers in the U.S. will reach 36 by the year 2000. The number of workers between the ages of 35 and 47 will increase by 38%, while those aged 48 to 53 will grow by a staggering 67%. As a result, human resources managers will have to deal increasingly with the unique employee issues and personal mid-life stresses which affect work performance. Waskel discusses this "middle-aging" of the work force, and its impact on workplace productivity. Not only does Waskel's book explain the symptomology of mid-life and its effects, but also suggests programs and counseling groups, to which employees can be referred.

Bookman takes a detailed look at the goals and motivations of high-income middle-aged women who want to enter the labor force after having spent most of their adult lives tending their homes, raising children, and volunteering in the community. It examines the supply of their labor, their incentives, their motivations, and the fears they face as they evaluate their future options. Bookman also discusses the demand for their skills by reviewing the opportunities available to them in the labor market and by detailing what they can realistically aspire to and what obstacles they are likely to encounter. By describing the changes in the workplace that are likely to affect middle-aged women, the book offers a compelling labor market study with regard to this unique group of workers.

Medical and technological breakthroughs have given most of us the equivalent of a thirty-year life bonus. As a result, we face a new period in the middle of our lives, what Europeans call the third age, which challenges us to change the way we live and transform the way we age. But rediscovering a youthful spirit and staying truly involved in life demands an attitudinal shift, a resistance to outdated stereotypes, and an effort to balance the seemingly paradoxical pulls on our time and energy. Practically instructive and powerfully inspiring, The Third Age expertly guides us toward and through the second half of our lives.