Analysis Of Gabriel Levinson's Seasons Of Life

The individual that I’ve chosen to interview is my 49-year-old father, Gabriel Nava. He’s always been similar to an instructor, by cultivating important values of reliability, integrity, and kindness through the simple eloquence of his example, hence I’ve become more confident. While my father is in middle adulthood, I fall under the adolescence period of development. Through calling and disclosing the purpose of the evaluation I was able to secure his authorization for the interview, shockingly he willingly agreed to be my interviewee.

Born on March 12, 1966, in Tula Tamaulipas, Mexico, Nava becomes the eldest of 12 brothers and sisters, whom he financially cared for since his father became sickly and mother incapable of working. At the

After months of searching for him, he finally gave into the fact that he had died. This event had a specific toll on Nava, for he began to exhibit depression and constantly blamed himself for what occurred. Even to this day he still regrets taking his brother with him to Mexico City, for if he hadn’t his brother would still be alive. While conducting the interview, Nava had similar aspects of Levinson’s Seasons of Life research. According to Levinson “to reassess and rebuild their life structure, middle-aged adults must confront four developmental tasks. Each requires the individual to reconcile two opposing tendencies within the self, attaining greater internal harmony.” (Levinson, p.425) Nava describes how he grew up playing soccer, even in his early forties he was participating in a veteran soccer club. However, noticing that his body would be prone to injuries, he begins to realize that he should pick up a new hobby. As a result, he begins to learn about computers and the internet since he wasn’t an expert with technology. From Levinson’s research, Nava is adhering to the young-old developmental task.

The stage that Nava is currently in is the masculinity-femininity developmental task. He describes how he has transformed into a caring man towards those he surrounds himself with. Levinson details, “the middle-aged person must create a better balance between “masculine” and “feminine” parts of self.” (Levinson, pg. 425) Nava explains how he wasn’t very affectionate when his children were young, however, he has taken a greater nurturing role as a father. According to Erickson’s theory, Nava is in the generativity versus stagnation stage of development. During this stage, “society imposes a social clock for generativity in midlife, requiring adults to take responsibility for the next generation through their roles as parents, teachers, mentors, leaders, and coordinators.” (McAdams & Logan, pg. 424) While conducting the interview, Nava mentions how he has recently been participating in a church for around four years, during