Study Puts to Rest Notion of ‘Midlife Crisis’

Far from being a time of failing health, personal turmoil and the “midlife crisis,” middle age for many is the most fulfilling time of life, according to a new study.

“People in the middle decades generally have a greater sense of physical, emotional and mental well-being than was previously believed,” said Orville Gilbert Brim, who directed the research project for the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. “People like their marriages, they like their children and they feel secure in their work.”

The 10-year study, made public Tuesday, included telephone and mail surveys of more than 7,800 adults age 25 to 74, and interviews with more than 3,000 people.

Many of those in midlife, often described as the years from age 40 to 60, viewed their marriages or relationships as stable and relatively happy. Although the women surveyed were less sanguine about their relationships than the men, a total of 72% rated their relationships as good to excellent, and 90% thought it unlikely they would break up.

One myth the study demolished was that of the middle-age man who abandons his family in favor of a red sports car and a woman half his age--the proverbial midlife crisis. Of the people surveyed for the study, 90% said they never experienced one.

More than 70% of the people in the study considered themselves in excellent health--though one warning sign was that few said they worked hard at it, raising questions about health farther along in life.

Respondents, however, felt they didn’t have enough of two things: sex and money.