How Many People Have A Midlife Crisis?

The best data suggests that between 5% - 12% of middle aged people suffer a "classic" midlife crisis -- defined as "personal turmoil and coping challenges in people age 39 through 50 brought on by fears and anxieties about growing older."

About the same percent have psychological upheaval in midlife that is not brought on by aging but (often) by major life events such as the death of a parent, divorce, or job loss.

This comes from the The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation's Research Network on Successful Midlife Development ("MIDMAC"), which studied this and other midlife issues from about 1994-2004.

Our analysis of their data shows that 26.8% of adults aged 40 - 60 reported ever having a midlife crisis, but this is broadly defined to include turmoil associated with a death in the family, marital difficulties, and other issues not specifically tied to middle age.

In a 1998 article, the Washington Post summed up the MIDMAC findings:

Nearly all 750 participants in one in-depth study recognized the term "midlife crisis," but only 23 percent had actually experienced one. When researchers analyzed their responses, they found that only 8 percent tied the emotional turmoil to the realization that they were aging. The remaining 15 percent said they had experienced a turbulent period in their middle years but the crisis was caused by significant life transitions--not by aging.

"When you look more closely, they are saying this is my crisis that occurred when I was 40 years old rather than what caused it was the fact that I was 40," said Elaine Wethington, a research team member who is a professor of sociology at Cornell University. Among the events that sent lives into a tailspin were divorce, loss of a job, the death of a child, the serious illness of a close relative or friend or severe financial problems.

Wethington and some colleagues wrote in 2004 that

... there is relatively little evidence to support the idea that most Americans experience a midlife crisis ... Brim's (1992) review of studies on midlife changes found that about 10 percent of adult males experience the period of emotional and personal turmoil called the midlife crisis, suggesting that serious emotional disturbance at midlife is not the modal (i.e., normal - ed.) experience for men (or women).

Earlier researchers -- in the 1960's and 1970's -- reported that midlife crisis was much more prevalent, affecting up to 80% of middle aged people. That is likely due to imprecise definitions of "crisis," the folk wisdom of the time that everyone suffers a midlife crisis, and possible experimenter bias.

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(This is part of our reference 20 Questions About Midlife Crisis)

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Sources:

"Midlife Myths," by Winifred Gallagher in The Atlantic, May 1993

CU researcher finds 'midlife crisis' is less common than many believe

Midlife Crisis / Transition (a roundup of current research for a 300 level psych class at Hope College)

Midlife Crisis: Recent Research (another roundup)

Survey results and online analysis: Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research

"Midlife Without A Crisis" in the Washington Post, April 19, 1999; Page Z20

"Turning Points in Adulthood" by Elaine Wethington et al, in the book "How Healthy Are We? A National Study of Well-Being At Midlife." Chapter available online here.