Occurrence and Characteristics

Occurrence : For the approximately 10% of middle aged adults who go through an age-related midlife crisis, the condition is most common ranging from the ages of 41-60 (a large study in the 1990s found that the average age at onset of a self-described midlife crisis was 45). Midlife crises last about 3–10 years in men and 2–5 years in women.
A midlife crisis could be caused by aging itself, or aging in combination with changes, problems, or regrets over:
• work or career (or lack thereof)
• spousal relationships (or lack thereof)
• maturation of children (or lack of children)
• aging or death of parents
• physical changes associated with aging Midlife crises seem to affect men and women differently.
An American cultural stereotype of a man going through a midlife crisis is that he buys a sports car and/or a gold chain. Researchers have proposed that the triggers for midlife crisis differ between men and women, with male midlife crises more likely to be caused by work issues and female crises by personal evaluations of their roles. Even though there are differences between why men and women go through a midlife crisis, the emotions they both encounter can be extremely frightening. Characteristics One of the main characteristics of a midlife crisis perspective is one assumes that their midlife is about to be eventful, usually in a negative way, and potentially stressful.

Additionally, they often see their life coming to a drastic decline. Individuals experiencing a midlife crisis have some of these feelings:
•search of an undefined dream or goal
•a deep sense of remorse for goals not accomplished
•a fear of humiliation among more successful colleagues
•desire to achieve a feeling of youthfulness
•need to spend more time alone or with certain peers.
They exhibit some of these behaviors:
•abuse of alcohol
•acquisition of unusual or expensive items such as motorbikes, boats, clothing, sports cars, jewelry, gadgets, tattoos, piercings, etc.
•depression
•having remorse for one's wrongs.
•paying special attention to physical appearance such as covering baldness, wearing youthful designer clothes, etc.
•entering relationships with younger people (whether sexual, professional, parental, etc.)
•placing overimportance (and possibly a psychologically damaging amount) on their children to excel in areas such as sports, arts, or academics

References
Brim, O. G., & Featherman, D. L. (2012). Midlife Development Inventory Affect Scales. doi:10.1037/t10822-000
Clay, R. (2003). Researchers replace midlife myths with facts. Washington, District of Columbia, US: American
Psychological Association (APA).
Intarakamhang, U., & Thongpukdee, T. (2010). Effects of Self Managing Life Crisis Based on the Oriental towards Life Crisis
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