ABSTRACT
This chapter documents two of the major changes of late life as both individual and network events. It criticises negative views about late life changes. Project data are analysed which show that most people successfully adjust to retirement and, eventually, to widowhood. The causes of adjustment problems, for the minority who have them, are analysed but these cannot be generalised to apply to all undergoing such changes. Transitions, like widowhood and retirement, are changes in one’s ‘life space’ which are permanent, rapid and have major impact. They shatter one’s assumptions about the world. The inevitable disruption of transitions as a part of life change must be distinguished from subsequent maladjustment—the failure to meet new demands and re-establish well-being. The model specifies the ‘bare bones’ of the adjustment process in a way that allows testing with survey data.
