This study was a 10-year panel study of middle-aged men and women. Through yearly surveys it examined change and continuity of individuals' values, perceptions of leisure, and life structure and the association of these perceptions with life experiences. Data collection occurred from 1987 through 1996 with an initial sample size of 84 middle-aged adults, primarily of Euro-American descent. Respondents represented 3 different generations within the broad span of years considered part of middle age: those born shortly before or during the Great Depression and in the later years of middle age (aged 47 to 60) at the start of the study, those born shortly before or during World War II; and those born in the early years of the post-World War II baby boom. Twenty-two of the participants were in committed relationships with another person in the study, and 6 of these 11 relationships involved same-sex partnerships. The most extensive analyses and methodological details are in Carpenter and Stockard (2020). A decade of change and continuity in midlife. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
