Table of contents:
- The midlife crisis is believed to be the fear of death
- Some researchers consider the midlife crisis to be a myth
- Not all who enter middle age will experience a crisis
- Maybe it has nothing to do with age
When we think of a 'midlife crisis' aka midlife crisisOften the first thing that comes up is an image of a middle-aged man or woman making unexpected decisions, such as quitting a job, dressing up as a young person, buying a luxury sports car, or even flirting with a young woman.
But what really caused this crisis?
The midlife crisis is believed to be the fear of death
The idea of this midlife crisis originated with Elliot Jacques who thought that at middle age, everyone would be haunted by the fear of death. With the imminent shadow of death, according to Jacques, people began to feel dissatisfied with their accomplishments and worried about their ability to achieve their dream goals.
To support Jacques' idea, a research team from the University of Melbourne pointed out that the vast majority of humans are unhappy with their lives, especially in their early 40s. Lifelong self-gratification, they argue, follows a U-curve pattern that reaches its lowest point around the age of 40 and then starts to rise again thereafter. Researchers claim that dissatisfaction in middle age only comes from changes in the quality of life of each participant, not the results of comparing with others.
Some researchers consider the midlife crisis to be a myth
However, the idea of a midlife crisis was met by many critics. One of them was from a research team of psychologists at the University of Zurich in 2009 who stated that, although many people feel upset in middle age, this is an ongoing process and occurs at all stages and ages. In addition, there is a lot of diversity in how each person handles this stage of life.
Reporting from the Medical Daily, a research team from the University of Alberta in Canada revealed that the midlife crisis is just a myth, after ending a period of 25 years of research. The academic journal Developmental Psychology published a study in which researchers tracked 1,500 participants who were divided into two study groups for more than 25 years.
One group was the number of high school students from Edmonton with an average age of 18, until they were 43, while the others were university seniors whose ages ranged from 23 to 37.During the study period, the researchers asked participants for a variety of possible factors. affect their level of happiness such as personal health, work, relationships and marriage.
The findings reveal that both groups' levels of happiness increased when they reached their 30s. Overall, participants felt happier in their early 40s than they did at age 18 - even if the high school cohort started to experience a slight decline around age 43.
Not all who enter middle age will experience a crisis
Quoting from The Atlantic, the U curve tends to show itself more often in developed countries, where residents live longer and enjoy better health in old age. In many cases, the U curve only appears after the researcher adjusts for a number of variables, such as income, marital status, occupation, and so on, so that the observation of the level of happiness is only controlled from the aspect of age.
University of Alberta research reveals that the happiness of life does not follow the shape of the U curve as it has been believed, but continues to climb even through middle age. This study looked at each of the same individuals over time, in order to get detailed observations about how they change as they get older, said one of the researchers, Harvey Krahn. Furthermore, he said, a number of previous studies only looked at participants' happiness levels only when they were being observed.
The upward portrayal of happiness from this study is characterized by the hardships experienced by people during the adolescent and young adult phases, where job-seeking and life stability are major issues filled with uncertainty. As people age, this problem tends to be resolved because in middle age, people are more established and stable, marked by the achievement of certain milestones in life, such as achieving better health, stable careers, and marriage.
Apart from the above factors, happiness also depends on the mental attitude of the individual. According to one study, groups of emotionally stable adults are more likely to be happier in their retirement years, compared to groups of individuals who close themselves off and experience a lot of fluctuating fluctuations in the young adult stage. This suggests that personality characteristics in youth have a lasting effect on well-being in later life.
Maybe it has nothing to do with age
Midlife crises are often defined by the perceptions of others rather than ourselves. Many stereotypes, such as the impulsivity of buying a new luxury sports car, may have more to do with improving financial status than to validating staying young. They, in the end, were able to obtain the material they had only dreamed of.
The concept of a midlife crisis sometimes serves as a mere excuse for behavior that only occurs in the 40-50s. Career dissatisfaction? Husband and wife relationship problems? There are many possible reasons behind all of this - and while it seems easy to say that the midlife crisis is the cause, it is likely that age has nothing to do with it.
