Development in Mid-Life

Over the last few years I have worked with Professor Gaylene Carpenter on analyses of data from a unique study that she developed and directed. The project, called “A Study of Leisure During Adulthood (ASOLDA), followed a sample of middle aged adults over a ten year period. Each year participants completed surveys that probed the nature of their life experiences over the preceding 12 months, their assessments of these events, and reflections on the direction in which their lives were (or were not) evolving. They also reported their perceptions or feelings associated with leisure, their most cherished values, and how these fit into their life patterns. The survey data were supplemented by extensive personal interviews. Over the years Dr. Carpenter and I published several articles based on these data. Recently, we published a book with Cambridge Scholars Publishing that includes much more extensive analyses. Citations to our publications with these data are below.

A Decade of Change and Continuity in Midlife. Gaylene Carpenter and Jean Stockard, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2020. Link to publisher

“Continuity and Change in Values in Midlife: Testing the Age Stability Hypothesis,” Jean Stockard, Gaylene Carpenter, and Lynn Kahle, Experimental Aging Research: An International Journal Devoted to the Scientific Study of the Aging Process, 2014, 40(2), 224-244. Read It

"The Role of Life Experiences on Perceptions of Leisure during Adulthood: A Longitudinal Analysis,” Megan C. Janke, Gaylene Carpenter, Laura L. Payne, and Jean Stockard, Leisure Sciences: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 33(1, 2011) 52-69. Read It

“Leisure and Health in Middle Age,” Gaylene Carpenter and Jean Stockard, Chapter 22 (pp. 239-247) in Leisure, Health and Wellness: Making the Connections, edited by Laura Payne, Barbara Ainsworth, and Geoffrey Godbey, 2010. Read It