enced or anticipated. These immature defenses include projection,
schizoid fantasy , hypochondriasis, passive aggression, acting out, anddissociation. Neurotic defenses (Level III) include reaction formation,isolation, displacement, and regression. Mature defenses (Level IV),which integrate reality and private feelings, include humor, altruism,sublimation, suppression, and anticipation. Working with the GrantStudy of Adult Development, Vaillant and his colleagues studied the useof these mechanisms in a longitudinal sample of 95 Harvard alumni. Anextensive file had been maintained for each subject, including tran -
scripts about how they had dealt with recent problems and stressors.
Vaillant abstracted over 1,700 vignettes from these files, and raters,blind to the age and identity of the subject, evaluated each to determinethe kind of defense mechanism used. (It should be noted that in thepsychoanalytic tradition, virtually all behavior, even the most rationaland mature, is ultimately defensive, so all vignettes could be scored.)
When the responses were divided into three periods (less than 20,
20–35, and over 35), there were systematic changes in the use of the dif-ferent categories of defense mechanism. Between adolescence and earlyadulthood there were clear increases in the use of mature mechanismsand decreases in the use of immature mechanisms; neurotic mecha-nisms did not show differences. This trend continued, though moreweakly , in comparing early adulthood (20–35) with later adulthood(over 35). The data led Vaillant to see adult development in terms ofever more mature forms of defense. Note that this theory is supportedby data only for the early years of adulthood—indeed, it may providefurther evidence that full adulthood is not reached until age 30.Whether maturation of defenses continues into later life is still a matterof conjecture.
In the 1970s two major theories of adult development were gener -
ated at about the same time. (Sheehy’s Passages was based on early for -
mulations of these.) Daniel Levinson and his colleagues (1978) wrote
on the Seasons of a Man’s Life, whereas Roger Gould (1978) called his
work the study of T ransformations. Both hold that there are distinct
stages of personality development in young and middle adulthood, butthe differences between the two theories are as notable as the similari -
ties.
Levinson and his coworkers gave intensive interviews to 40 men—
10 executives, 10 workers, 10 biologists, and 10 novelists (his work onwomen, published posthumously [D. J. Levinson & J. D. Levinson,16 PERSONALITY IN ADULTHOOD