More On The Midlife Crisis You May Never Have

One study in the research we highlighted here found that less than a quarter of middle-aged respondents experienced what they felt was a midlife crisis -- and for many of those, the crisis was not associated with aging. More detail is in this article, where one of the researchers emphasized that an age-related midlife crisis is not that common -- but midlife challenges are:

Most people who told the researchers they had had a midlife crisis, however, were describing stressful life events that had occurred before age 39 or after age 50, rather than the type of turmoil defined as a midlife crisis.

Wethington noted that the stressful life event identified by many respondents is a challenging situation brought on by specific transitions or events that may or may not be associated with typical aging, such as a life-threatening illness or job insecurity.

Wethington reported that one-fourth of her adult population sample said they had experienced a midlife crisis; of those aged between 40 and 53, however, about one-third thought they had had one. The average age of the "crisis" was 46. About one-fifth of those who said they had suffered a midlife crisis said it was the result of their awareness that they were aging and time was passing them by. Few connected the crisis to feelings of impending mortality or approaching death.

Nevertheless, the midlife crisis is not universal for either men or women. "Most Americans readily recognize the term 'midlife crisis' and pretty much agree that such a crisis occurs on a widespread basis in people's 40s," said Wethington. "Yet, previous studies, including our own, debunk the midlife crisis as an inevitable, nearly universal experience of psychological turmoil in the 40s, or at any age for that matter."