Patterns of midlife career development project

Samuel Osherson conducted the Patterns of Midlife Career Development Project in order to understand adaptation to occupational changes in midlife and its relation to adolescent career preparedness. The objectives of the study were to understand both the stressors and changes of midlife experienced by highly educated professional men and the way those men dealt with such stressors; the relationship of early adult adjustment to midlife adaptation to stress and change; the links between work and stress in different domains at different points in life; and the varient patterns of normal development at midlife with respect to work and family. The study involved 370 professional men, all of whom had participated in the Harvard Student Study, either in the large, 510 student sample or subsample of 50. Participants completed a questionnaire concerning graduate education, occupational history and perceptions of work success and satisfaction. Fifty of these participants (a second subsample) were chosen for intensive interviews examining family and career domains, with emphasis on events surrounding key choices in participants' lives. Variables assessed include work satisfaction, perceived success relative to peers, work stress level, marital stress and satisfaction, perception of the future and personal disorganization. The Murray Center has computer and paper data available, including original surveys and interview transcripts, from both the larger sample and the smaller subsample of the Patterns of Midlife Career Development.