fournal of Adult Development, Vol. 4, No. 1, 1997

Book Review The Seasons of a Woman's Life. By Daniel J. Levinson.

New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1996. same sequences of periods in adult life structure development and at the same ages. (Levinson, 1996, p. 413)

Reviewed by Steven K. Baum 1,z Over two decades ago Yale social psychologist Daniel J. Levinson along with psychiatrists Roger Gould and George Vaillant put adult development on the map. Suddenly the "mid-life crisis" served as an explanation for who stayed and who left marriages, for popular books being published (i.e., Gail Sheehy's Passages), and for Madison Avenue types to focus on sports cars and new apparel purchases. Today the mid-life crisis is fairly well documented, although controversy rages on as to the nature and extent that mid-life and other adulthood passages have on the life span (Hedlund & Ebersole, 1983; Merriam, 1983), including large differences with regard to incidence and prevalence 3 (see Brim, 1992; Graber, 1992). One of the prevailing controversies has to do with sex differences. At the time, both Levinson and VaiUant employed exclusively male samples and Gould did not examine sex differences per se. Now, Levinson has focused on women with the same design as his previous work. Sampling consisted of 45 women from the three primary domains of modern life (i.e., business, academics, homemaking) and was based on interviews (15-20 hours individually taped) that were structured by his intensive biographical method. Not surprisingly, what evolved was repeat findings that roughly paralleled the men's book:

In searching for a "gender-free conception of adult development" (p. X, preface), there were, by his own admission, obvious attempts to link findings to theory. For example, Levinson maintains that women go through the same sequence of eras and periods as men and at the same ages concluding, "there is in short, a single human life cycle through which all of our lives evolve with myriad variations related to gender, class, race, culture, historical epoch, specific circumstances and genetics" (p. 5). Yet, he later acknowledges that gender splitting varies widely among cultures and historical periods. Parenthetically, the Levinsonian ladder of adult development is not wholly supported by many researchers, some within his own camp. There have been at least a dozen doctoral dissertations by others demonstrating findings to the contrary (for a partial review, see Roberts & Newton, 1987), with one of the earliest attempts of a women's sample demonstrating glaring inconsistencies with the male version (Stewart, 1976). Instead of adjusting the theory to incorporate disparate cultural and gender findings, the findings are left to roam while the theory remains at the homestead, privileged and protected. Noteworthy however, are several other conclusions:

The findings of this study support and amplify a view of the human life cycle as an overlapping sequence of eras: childhood (0-22), early adulthood (17--45), late adulthood (60-85), and late late adulthood (85+). For women as for men the eras are separate seasons each with its own distinctive character. Within each era women and men go through the

9 Working women are better off than homemaker counterparts; 9 Career women were happier than traditional counterparts; 9 The above occur despite difficulties they face in balancing career, home, and motherhood.

iFamily Center, Mercy Memorial Hospital, Monroe, Michigan. 2Correspondence should be directed to Steven K. Baum, 1878 Stanley Avenue, Birmingham, Michigan 48009. 3Mid-life crisis prevalence at 5% (Brim, 1992); mid-life crisis prevalence at 27% to 50% according to Gallop Poll (Graber, 1992).

The book is reminiscent of the men's in that at times it is often eloquent, written from a larger perspective and overview: 55 1068-0667/97/0100-0055512.50/09 1997PlenumPublishingCorporation

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Baul It is a paradox of the human existence that we are impelled to create noble ideals and to work for their realization while acknowledging that the ideas may be unattainable and perhaps illusory. The ideas of gender equality and adult development are now in our cultural awareness and have been tentatively placed on our cultural agenda. They also evoke great anxiety and run counter to our traditional ways of thinking. Despite our'individual and institutional reluctance to examine them more deeply, we must make the effort to find and smooth a path for the generations of daughters and sons who will come after us. (Levinson, 1996, p. 421)

Other strengths of the book include the recognition that at times women experience a "psychological" divorce as opposed to a legal one. Long overdue is also the recognition of how substance abuse is a realistic part of certain individuals' life structure maintenance. Levinson's recognition of the fact is an important contribution here. In essence, The Seasons of a Woman's Life is important because it serves as a tribute to Daniel Levinson's life work and his last writing. (The book was completed posthumously by psychologist wife

Judy Levinson after Daniel's death in April of 1994 From a man whose early work began with the sem nal authoritarian personality and culminated with th burgeoning arena of adult development, one cann( but be humbled by his contributions to the field an by the fact that he will be sorely missed.

REFERENCES Brim, G. (1992). New perspectives on midlife development. Pape presented at the 25th International Congress of Psycholog) Brussels. Graber, A. (1992). Female lifespan development (Doctoral disser tation, Northern Arizona University, 1992). Dissertation Ab stracts Intemationas 52, 3105. Hedlund, B., & Ebersole, P. (1983). A test of Levinson's mid-life re-evaluation. Journal of Genetic Psychology, 143, 189-192. Merriam, S. (1983). Mentors and proteges: A critical review o: the literature. Adult Education Quarterly, 33, 161-173. Roberts, P. & Newton, P. (1987). Levinsonian studies of women'., adult development. Psychology and Agin~ 2, 154-163. Stewart, W. A. (1976). The formation of the early adult life structure in women. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Teachers College, Columbia University.