Patterns of Personality Development in Middle-Aged Women: A Longitudinal Study

Personality development was examined in two groups of women studied since adolescence who were judged psychologically healthy at age fifty: 1) Independents, whose health improved from forty to fifty, were ambitious and intellectual. 2) Traditional, healthy at both ages, were gregarious and nurturant. Traditionals showed steady personality growth since adolescence. Independents were constricted at age forty but recovered by fifty. These patterns are compared in terms of the fit between personality and sex role. Traditional personalities fit conventional feminine roles, accounting for their health throughout the middle years. Independents improved when disengaging from mothering freed them to develop their more assertive skills.