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.
"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
386 pp.6 x 9Illus: 14 b/w photographs, 5 charts
9780520299153$95.00|£80.00Hardcover
Nov 2020