David Levinson: Seasons' Of A Man's Life

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in their world and various aspects of themselves) is the
major component in Levinson's theory. The life structure for each person
evolves through the developmental stages as people's age.
Two key concepts in Levinson's model are the stable period and the
transitional period in a person's development. The stable period is the time
when a person makes crucial choices in life, builds a life structure around the
choices and seeks goals within the structure. The transitional period is the
end of a person's stage and the beginning of a new stage.
Levinson's model contains five main stages. They are the pre-adulthood
stage (age 0 - 22), the early adulthood stage (age 17 - 45), the middle adult
stage (age 40 - 65), the late adulthood stage (age 60 - 85) and the late late
adult stage (age 80 plus). Levinson states "the shift from one era to the next
is a massive development step and require transitional period of several
years."(Levinson, 1977) This would explain why ...

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in starting a family and
settling down. In Levinson's own words, the Age 30 transition "provides an
opportunity to work on the flaws and limitations of the first adult life
structure and to create the basis for a new and more satisfactory structure with
which to complete the era of early adulthood." (Levinson, 1977) This Age 30
transition parallels Erikson's autonomy versus shame and doubt stage which
Erikson applies to toddlers. The second part of the Age 30 transition period is
the settling down stage. It is in this stage that the person feels a need to
establish a role in society, whether in their career or their family life, which
ever is the most central part of their life ...

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