Levinson Seasons Of Life Analysis

The transition from adolescent to adulthood, is one that has been discussed and debated upon since humans could understand the age differences between children, adolescences and adults. There are various theories which state the mental, physical and psychological changes within people as they age, one such theory is the “Theory of the Seasons of Life”, by Daniel Levinson. Within this, Levinson states that there are six stages of adulthood that everyone goes through. Each stage, corresponds with the individual’s dream and the importance of their life structure; the dream is what the individual believes to be the ideal life, this, is constantly modified and revisited as the entity’s perception of reality changes. The life structure, on the other

The six stages are as follows; the first stage is the early adult transition, in which the person is between the ages of 17 and 22, they are now leaving adolescence and are starting to make the preliminary choices for adult life. Following this, the second stage is entering the adult world, now the person is between the ages of 22 and 28, they start to form relationships, lifestyle goals, occupation choices and third own set of values. Surpassing this, is the third stage: the age 30 transition, the individual is among the ages of 28 and 33, here their life structure changes, this can be a slow change or a severe one that leads to a stressful crisis. The following fourth stage is called settling down, this brings a timetable in the individual’s personal and professional lives this occurs when the human is between 33 and 40 years old. The next transition comes when the individual is between the ages of 40 and 45, this is a crucial transition point as now, the life structure comes into question, and normally this happens when there is a crisis. The sixth and final stage is entering middle adulthood, this ensues from the ages of 45 to 50, in which a new life structure is

The stage that I believe I conform with is the early adult transition. Based on my physical age of 17 years old, I am at the beginning of this transition. I have just started to consciously make decisions regarding my future; plans of where I want to go for university, how can I get a job to start becoming financially independent and which loans I would require to pay for my university tuition. However, I believe that mentally, I am at the stage of entering the adult world. This is because, during this stage, like mentioned above, the dream is formed and new relationships are created; such as, peer relations, mentor relations and romantic relations. I have already formed many new peer relations due to the various people that I have met during university open houses and seminars. I have the opportunity of getting to meet various individuals who have inspired me for my life after secondary school. Further, I have also developed mentor relations over the last four years of university. Two of my teachers have truly guided me in my years of schooling and I am assured that they will continue to be my mentors, even after I graduate. My speculation upon this theory, is that there are two ways to determine which stage an individual is at. Their physical age does come into consideration, however, the biological clock is not a sound measure of adulthood. One may be mature physically but it is their