"The midlife crisis notion is pretty much a dead duck ... It's a myth."

So says Michael Kimmel, of the State University of New York at Stony Brook (he's also the author of Manhood in America: A Cultural Odyssey).

That quote is in the lead story of a fourteen page Los Angeles Times special section on men's health at midlife. Consistent with LifeTwo's position, Josh Fischman's article argues:

The "midlife crisis" so often portrayed in the media — a period of emotional tumult and strain, when men get divorced, buy a red Corvette, sleep with women half their age and get hair and pectoral implants — is actually quite rare, researchers say.

... This doesn't mean that every man at midlife is Mr. Maturity. "We probably all know someone who bought the little red sports car, dumped his wife, and all that," says Sam Cochran, a clinical psychologist at the University of Iowa and editor of the scientific journal Psychology of Men & Masculinity. "I just don't think there are that many of them."

The good news, according to the article, is that men at midlife are less stressed than when they were younger, and are better able to cope with the changes brought on by aging.

That's confirmed by research we've reported on elsewhere here at LifeTwo.

The LAT's special section covers all aspects of life at middle age: friendships, sex, physical condition, health issues, brain health, hair loss, and even gadget obsession. It's quite extensive and definitely worth a read.