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.

About the Author

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.

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How a 50-year Study of Women Shaped Our Understanding of Personality Development

By Valory Mitchell, co-author of Women on the River of Life: A Fifty-Year Study of Adult DevelopmentThere is something about the long-term study of lives that is breathtaking. Perhaps it is that, by making the whole life the “unit of study” we allow ourselves to touch on the mystery of life.

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

Reviews

"Here, finally, is a book that really brings to life many of the fascinating concepts from personality and lifespan development."—Geraldine Moane, author of Gender and Colonialism: A Psychological Analysis of Oppression and Liberation

"This is a fascinating and well-written integration of decades of research on women’s personality and development. It is astonishing how well the authors have smoothed the edges and made the studies cohere into a holistic picture of these women over time."—Ruthellen Josselson, author of Paths to Fulfillment: Women’s Search for Meaning and Identity

"A pathbreaking fifty-year study of women's development across adulthood, and the astonishing ways in which personality and creativity shaped experiences with family, work, illness, and retirement. An absorbing read, especially in the latter chapters as the women head into their 70s, and a potent stimulus for self-reflection."—Avril Thorne,Professor Emerita of Psychology, University of California, Santa Cruz

Awards

Florence Denmark Award for Contributions to Women and Aging, APA Division 35, Society for the Psychology of Women
Florence Denmark Award for Contributions to Women and Aging 2021, APA Division 35, Society for the Psychology of Women
Association for Women in Psychology Distinguished Publication Award 2021, Association for Women in Psychology
Association of Women in Psychology Career Award 2021, Association of Women in Psychology

Media

In this interview, co-author Valory Mitchell explains the story behind the book.

About the Book