New Research: Mid-Life Crisis is Myth

(NewsCore) – The idea of a mid-life crisis has been blamed for all manner of odd behavior by those regarded as being old enough to know better, but new research suggests the concept may be a myth after all.

The middle-aged years are actually among the happiest in a person's life, a study has found.

"We have surveys of around 1,500 middle-aged people," Tel Aviv University psychologist Carlo Strenger told LiveScience.

"Most of them say that they are better off and happier and more balanced than they were when they were 20 years younger. It's quite surprising."

Professor Strenger believes people should consider the first half of their life as good training for the second.

Not only has a greater emphasis on personal fulfillment turned the myth of the mid-life crisis on its head, he says, research has disproved the notion that the brain deteriorates after 40.

"A rich and fruitful life after 50 is a much more realistic possibility," he insists.

Strenger detailed his ideas in a recent issue of the journal Psychoanalytic Psychology.

Psychologist Elliot Jacques coined the term mid-life crisis some 40 years ago, when the average lifespan was 70 years, and claimed that quality of life started going down after age 35.

But these days being in your 40s or 50s is a time of contentment, New York psychologist Peter S. Kanaris says.

"People in mid-life have reached a time where they are a little more settled and established," he said.

"Prior to mid-life, people are building families, paying mortgages, developing careers at a time when there is much more uncertainty than usual.

"By the time people are middle-aged they typically have less financial stress."