Primetime: A New Vision for Midlife - Hardcover

by Margie Lachman (Author)

Leading lifespan psychologist Margie Lachman creates an inspiring new framework for midlife, based on her landmark thirty years of research and work on the MIDUS study, as the defining years of life.

We've all heard the term "midlife crisis" and the stereotypes that come with it. But what if everything you think you know about midlife is a myth?

In Primetime, Dr. Margie Lachman draws on her decades of research to debunk these myths and rebrand midlife as the optimal time for personal growth and satisfaction. A professor of psychology at Brandeis University and the director of the Lifespan Lab, Dr. Lachman has spent thirty years studying midlife from a lifespan developmental perspective. Her research reveals the myth of the midlife "crisis", and other misconceptions such as people in their middle years can't change and that it is the unhappiest time of life. In reality, only a small percentage of people report experiencing a midlife crisis; personality can change during midlife and many people have a higher sense of well-being and control. It is a time when most are still healthy, highly functioning, mentoring those younger and caring for those older combined with increased knowledge and experience and stronger emotion regulation.

This book reveals midlife as a critical time in the life cycle with high generativity and peak responsibility, as well as when we make choices that can impact our later years. With a focus on debunking myths, navigating changes, and planning for the future, she guides readers through making sense of the past and imagining future possibilities. She also covers the physical, psychological, cognitive, and social changes that accompany the middle years and illuminates the potential to harness a sense of control in the face of the challenges, constraints, and transitions.

Author Biography

Margie Lachman, PhD, is the Minnie and Harold Fierman Professor of Psychology at Brandeis University, where she directs the Lifespan Lab. She earned her AB from Boston University and her MS and PhD from The Pennsylvania State University. A leading expert on adult development and aging, Lachman is one of a small group of scholars who study midlife from a lifespan developmental perspective. Her honors include research awards from the American Psychological Association (APA) and the Gerontological Society of America. She has authored numerous scholarly articles and coedited key volumes, including Multiple Paths of Midlife Development, Handbook of Midlife Development, and the APA Handbook of Adult Development and Aging. Lachman was a member of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Successful Midlife Development, which launched the landmark Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) study. She is a coinvestigator on MIDUS and several other projects exploring cognition, health, and well-being in midlife and later adulthood. At Brandeis, she teaches courses on adult development and aging and lifespan psychology.