Elizabeth Douvan, 76; Social Psychologist Studied U.S. Trends

Elizabeth Douvan, 76, a social psychologist who assessed changes in the American psyche in the mid-20th century, including shifts from traditional selfless to self-fulfilling roles, died June 15. Douvan, who taught and did research at the University of Michigan from 1950 until recently, died at her home in Ann Arbor, Mich., after a long illness.

Born in South Bend, Ind., and educated at Vassar College and the University of Michigan, Douvan wrote or co-wrote such books as “The Adolescent Experience” in 1966, “Feminine Personality and Conflict” in 1970, “The Inner American” and “Mental Health in America,” both published in 1981, and “Marital Instability” in 1995.

Douvan was a study director and program director in various periods for the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research and taught for a time at the Fielding Graduate Institute in Santa Barbara.

Her research beginning in the mid-1950s helped show marked trends from culturally established roles to the me-first behavior of the latter half of the century.

Married for 55 years and the mother of two, Douvan considered a stable marriage important to psychological well-being. As director of the Family and Sex Role Program within her university institute, Douvan was intrigued by the development and changing roles of women and in the early 1970s worked to establish one of the country’s first women’s studies programs.