There has been significant research conducted on the experience of older people living in care but much less written on the experience of adult children who are so often intrinsically bound with the decision-making and transition process. The adult children represented in this book are in the midto late-midlife period of the life course and so it is important to consider the psychosocial challenges which impact on this period of the life course.

Midlife signifies an important stage of transition characterised by significant changes in personal circumstances, and although many of these changes are expected their impact can still come as a surprise, reawakening old threats and anxieties and creating new ones. The death of parents, children leaving home, changes at work, awareness of an ageing body – these changes are usually anticipated on a practical level but the emotional and psychological impact that they have can create a sense of instability and insecurity for the midlife adult. In this chapter we will examine some of the theories of the life course with particular focus on the midlife stage. We will see that one particular characterising feature of midlife is an increase in existential anxiety, heightened through an awareness of a generation shift which is, in part, characterised by the ageing and death of older parents.

The life course and its stages

In 1975, sociologist Glen Elder, Jr, distinguished ‘life course sociology’ as a distinct discipline, based upon five core principles which include (1) life span development which recognises that human development is a lifelong process shaped by (2) historical time and geographical place, and that (3) timings of events in an individual's life are significant. He suggests that human lives are (4) interlinked through relationships and shared social networks, and that finally individuals are able to construct their own life course through (5) agency but within the framework of opportunities and constraints. Gilleard and Higgs (2016, p 302) later characterised life course sociology in two distinct ways: first, as a series of life stages, each with its own particular set of challenges, obligations, and opportunities, and second as a stratification over the life course in which individual biographies are shaped by historical events, society, and embedded in social institutions.

One of the most well-known models of life span development was established by Erik Erikson and first outlined in his text Childhood and Society (1950).