DEVELOPMENTAL CRISIS IN EARLY ADULTHOOD: A ...

university to do a degree in psychology, while Lynne takes a more informal approach
by going to writing classes to develop her poetry and prose writing skills.
Further study may be partially a functional step towards a new career, but it is
also an expression of empowerment. Angela in the following quote revealingly says
that university doesn’t just happen to you, it has to come from one’s own committed
personal decision. For Angela, studying art is a statement of personal control, as well
as a positive move toward a new career:
“It doesn’t just happen to you – university doesn’t tap you on the shoulder. You have
to go out and try things and do things and find out what is right for you, so that is
what I am doing.” (Angela, p.5)
Camilla says it was a decision that she could take that her partner could not veto:
“I took up a diploma level psychology course…I wasn’t getting much freedom
because there were less and less people who I could see without getting grief, so I
thought well I’ll do something that I can study and he can’t say anything about that,
and I wouldn’t feel bad about doing something like that.” (p.7)
In all cases these new programmes of study link to the earlier passion which had been
sidelined for the pre-crisis practicalities of being a career woman.
Phase 4 – Post-Crisis: Resolution
In this cluster, the crisis does not lead to a newly adopted domestic role that
the women had lacked in their career roles. Balance and resolution is found in a new
career that reflects their own sense of self, and that allows a more balanced,
equilibrated lifestyle, alongside nourishing leisure activities and friendships.
Beyond the Corporate Self
Prior to their crisis episodes, the members of this cluster gained much of their
identity from the structure of a corporate role, and from proving themselves through
performance in this role. Self-worth was indexed by promotions and raises. The
corporate self that these women constructed to adapt to the workplace was limited to
the corporate domain, therefore minimal identity or value was invested in non-work
activities or home life. Over the course of crisis, all four described a change away
from this corporate self, to a new kind of identity with a wider range of expressions.
Lynne reminisces about her career-obsessed years and concludes she was
continually trying to prove herself. She says that she was “being this kind of striving
little girl trying to please everybody… I think I had got to a point in my life where I
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