Women on the River of Life

Commenced in 1958 with 142 young women who were seniors at Mills College, the Mills Study has become the largest and longest longitudinal study of women’s adult development, with assessments of these women in their twenties, forties, fifties, sixties, and seventies. Women on the River of Life synthesizes five decades of research to paint a picture of women’s personality and development across the lifespan. The book explores questions of family, work, life-path, maturity, wisdom, creativity, attachment, and purpose in life, unfolding in the context of a rapidly changing historical period with far-reaching consequences for the kinds of lives women would envision for themselves. Helson and Mitchell breathe life into abstract theories and concepts with the real-life stories and voices of the study’s participants. Woven throughout the book are the authors’ reminiscences on the profound endeavor of sustaining a longitudinal study of women’s lives through time.

Ravenna M. Helson is a Research Psychologist, Emeritus, at the Institute of Personality and Social Research at the University of California, Berkeley, and received a Legacy Award from the Society of Personality and Social Psychology in 2017. 

Valory Mitchell is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Psychology at the California School of Professional Psychology at Alliant University. In addition, she maintains a psychotherapy practice in Berkeley.

Acknowledgments

Introduction and Overview 
1. How the Mills Study Came About
2. Transforming into a Study of Women’s Adult Development
3. Sustaining Fifty Years of the Mills Study

Part I. Early Adulthood
4. The Roots of Creativity in Women
5. The Social Clock Projects
6. Marriage and Motherhood
7. Illustrating Two Developmental Theories
8. Loevinger’s Theory of Ego Development

Part II. Major Influences
9. The Enormous Impact of Gender Expectations
10. The Sweep of History: Individualism, Gay Liberation, the Counterculture
11. The Astonishing Importance of Personality

Part III. Middle Age
12. The Social Clock in Middle Age 
13. Ups and Downs in Middle Age
14. Whatever Happened to Creativity in Women?
15. Women’s Prime of Life

Part IV. Developmental Achievements
16. The Centrality of Attachment
17. Paths of Development: Three Conceptions of Positive Mental Health
18. Wisdom
19. Generativity and Individuation: Tasks of the Second Half of Life 

Part V. The Crown of Life
20. Answering Four Questions about Creative Personality 
21. The Place of Purpose in Life in Women’s Positive Aging: Women with Low Purpose
22. The Place of Purpose in Life in Women’s Positive Aging: Women with High Purpose
23. Late Adulthood: The Third Age

Complete Published Work of the Mills Study
References 
Index