Reconsidering Stage Theories of Adjustment

A detailed analysis of the stages that are suggested by over 100 stage theories of adjustment to life-course transitions is made. At a glance, this analysis suggested several common aspects across most of these theories, including the notion that in spite of the common critic of stage theories, in the context of adjustment to transitions, the constant stream of (mini-scale) stage theories is unignorable. In addition, in most of these theories, the number of transitional stages is limited and ranges between three and six. However, most important is the insight that researchers use transitional stage models that were developed by scholars in other transitional contexts. Namely, that regardless of the differences among the various types of transitions, people who encounter a transitional event share some common cognitive/emotive/behavioral experiences.