8 Middle Adulthood 211fibromyalgia indicates that women learn to live with their chronic illness over
time and find new ways to restore balance to their lives (Friedberg, 2006).
Chronic illness, new diagnosis, or disability forces individuals to adapt to
changed physical abilities and new limitations. This seems to provoke a reas-
sessment of life priorities that mesh well with the midlife developmental urge
to “take stock” and reassess one’s life.
Loss/Transition of Employment
During midlife, people act in generative ways mainly in the family and the
workplace. Work occupies most waking hours and is often where midlife
adults are most creative. Many strive to meet new demands for skill in leader-
ship, mentorship, and the expansion of personal relationships. During midlife
some adults recognize that contributions they thought they could make are
simply not possible through their chosen work. Others may recognize that
they have achieved as much as possible in a given career and may decide to
retrain for new kinds of work.
Due to the restructuring of the labor market in response to globalization
and the recession of the late 2000s, many midlife adults with histories of steady
employment, including increased responsibility and advancement, have faced
job loss (see Kudu’s reading at the end of this chapter). Data (Huffington Post,
2014b) show huge job losses over the last decade (see this interactive map
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/30/geography-of-jobs_n_6069856.html)..)
Many U.S. adults experience long periods of joblessness or underemployment
and this can lead to poverty and/or a need to rely on ever more paltry social
welfare programs. Although recent job numbers are improving, midlife adults
are often in precarious circumstances, sometimes supporting both aging par-
ents and emerging adult children.
Many adults do not have control over changing job circumstances and
are laid off and have difficulty finding comparable work. This can be a severe
loss, as they are out of work at a time when many are reaching the peak of a
career and their greatest responsibility for assisting emerging adult children.
Further, due to the American cultural emphasis on work as a principal dimen-
sion of identity (for both men and women), chronically unemployed adults in
midlife may experience guilt, shame, and anger. Joblessness often has a major
impact on a midlife adult’s sense of self-worth and hope for the future that
can lead to depression, passivity, and social withdrawal (Neimeyer, 1998). At
the end of this chapter, Kudu describes how both she and her husband suf-
fered simultaneous job losses and had a very hard time retaining a sense of
self and confidence, an important matter when trying to present their best pro-
fessional selves during job interviews. Job loss is challenging because while
it requires mourning and time to cope with confusing feelings, there is little
recognition for those needs. Social expectations complicate this further:
Unemployed adults should be energetic and confident when seeking new
work at the same time they are depressed, self-doubting, and confused about
how to move forward.
Many secondary losses follow the loss of work. Job loss is usually asso-
ciated with financial deprivation and increases in marital conflict. The entire
family may feel ashamed and alienated from the society and its institutions