Levinson (1986) through a series of thorough interviews with both men and women developed a comprehensive theory of adult development. He proposed a theory based on a series of phases that adults’ experience as they develop. The highlight of Levinson’s theory is the life structure, which is the fundamental pattern of a person’s life at any particular time. An individual's life structure is generally formed by the social and physical surroundings, where for most individuals, life is primarily structured by family and work in addition to religion, economic status and race. Levinson contends that the human life cycle comprises a sequence of four eras (lasting for approximately twenty-five years each). The four seasonal cycles described by Levinson
