The mid-life journey : a qualitative study of women's stories
- Authors: Cameron-Smith, Celia
- Date: 2011-11-10
- Subjects: Midlife crisis , Middle aged women
- Type: Thesis
- Identifier: uj:7278 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/3952
- Description: M.A. , The mid-life transition is the focus of this research. It is an in-depth qualitative study based on a small sample of women between forty to sixty years of age. The research also examines the significance of the story medium as a means of generating psychological data concerning the experience of the mid-life transition. This data was analysed using grounded theory methodology. The results suggest that there is a merging of the cognitive and affective functions during the mid-life transition causing disequilibrium and the shifting of elements within the psychic structure. The data further suggest that mid-life is a meaning generating process at two levels. There is a clarification of goals, values and life direction. At a deeper level there is a search for an inner purposiveness or soul centredness. Themes centred around questions of identity and relationship. Identity issues surfaced with regard to appearance, roles, future and the death/rebirth motif Relationship issues concerned relationship to marriage, motherhood, work and money. Ultimately, at mid-life, there is an inner search for soul purposiveness.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Cameron-Smith, Celia
- Date: 2011-11-10
- Subjects: Midlife crisis , Middle aged women
- Type: Thesis
- Identifier: uj:7278 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/3952
- Description: M.A. , The mid-life transition is the focus of this research. It is an in-depth qualitative study based on a small sample of women between forty to sixty years of age. The research also examines the significance of the story medium as a means of generating psychological data concerning the experience of the mid-life transition. This data was analysed using grounded theory methodology. The results suggest that there is a merging of the cognitive and affective functions during the mid-life transition causing disequilibrium and the shifting of elements within the psychic structure. The data further suggest that mid-life is a meaning generating process at two levels. There is a clarification of goals, values and life direction. At a deeper level there is a search for an inner purposiveness or soul centredness. Themes centred around questions of identity and relationship. Identity issues surfaced with regard to appearance, roles, future and the death/rebirth motif Relationship issues concerned relationship to marriage, motherhood, work and money. Ultimately, at mid-life, there is an inner search for soul purposiveness.
- Full Text:
The story of the self: a grounded theory perspective
- Authors: Cameron-Smith, Celia
- Date: 2008-10-31T09:09:36Z
- Subjects: Identity (Philosophical concept) , Grounded theory , Self
- Type: Thesis
- Identifier: uj:13909 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/1425
- Description: D.Litt. et Phil. , The aim of this research was to examine the nature of the western self, using a grounded theory approach. The life narratives of a group of mid-life women were analysed utilising the method outlined by Strauss and Corbin (1990) and the data provided fertile ground for the development of a substantive theory of the self. In the past, midlife was considered a part of old age. Changes in western society have meant that midlife has become a significant life period. An examination of the nature of selfhood in historical periods as well as in Prehistory constituted the literature review. Modern and Postmodern approaches to the self were also examined. For the participants, the self occupied the area between identity and soul. The participants considered the soul to be the core of the individual. Identity was described in terms of gender, physical appearance as well as date and place of birth. Closely allied to the soul is said to be the individual value system. The participants regarded the self as having certain features including cognitive, affective, spiritual and physical components as well as unconscious elements. Moreover, the self is dynamic and has an inherent directorial capacity based particularly on individual thinking and feeling components. The substantive theory of the self suggests that the self constitutes a sense of existence resulting from conscious awareness of inherent personal capacity and awareness of the immediate present, personal past and projected future. The purpose of the self is to promote the survival of the individual. The core of the self is represented by the need to survive and is experienced as a feeling of continuity contained within the personal narrative. Survival is furthered by purposeful activity and the creation and development of meaning structures. The self rests on inter-related physical, cognitive, emotional-affective pillars, and responds to environmental currents. Thus the self is essentially a process and is given the feeling of form through the narrative capacity inherent in the individual. The self is situated in a self-space created by the interrelationship of the physical, cognitive and affective components in relation to the environment. Today, mainly through technological developments, the self-space has increased in size, and greater demands are placed on the individual self.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Cameron-Smith, Celia
- Date: 2008-10-31T09:09:36Z
- Subjects: Identity (Philosophical concept) , Grounded theory , Self
- Type: Thesis
- Identifier: uj:13909 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/1425
- Description: D.Litt. et Phil. , The aim of this research was to examine the nature of the western self, using a grounded theory approach. The life narratives of a group of mid-life women were analysed utilising the method outlined by Strauss and Corbin (1990) and the data provided fertile ground for the development of a substantive theory of the self. In the past, midlife was considered a part of old age. Changes in western society have meant that midlife has become a significant life period. An examination of the nature of selfhood in historical periods as well as in Prehistory constituted the literature review. Modern and Postmodern approaches to the self were also examined. For the participants, the self occupied the area between identity and soul. The participants considered the soul to be the core of the individual. Identity was described in terms of gender, physical appearance as well as date and place of birth. Closely allied to the soul is said to be the individual value system. The participants regarded the self as having certain features including cognitive, affective, spiritual and physical components as well as unconscious elements. Moreover, the self is dynamic and has an inherent directorial capacity based particularly on individual thinking and feeling components. The substantive theory of the self suggests that the self constitutes a sense of existence resulting from conscious awareness of inherent personal capacity and awareness of the immediate present, personal past and projected future. The purpose of the self is to promote the survival of the individual. The core of the self is represented by the need to survive and is experienced as a feeling of continuity contained within the personal narrative. Survival is furthered by purposeful activity and the creation and development of meaning structures. The self rests on inter-related physical, cognitive, emotional-affective pillars, and responds to environmental currents. Thus the self is essentially a process and is given the feeling of form through the narrative capacity inherent in the individual. The self is situated in a self-space created by the interrelationship of the physical, cognitive and affective components in relation to the environment. Today, mainly through technological developments, the self-space has increased in size, and greater demands are placed on the individual self.
- Full Text:
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