parents to face each other again, the stark silence reminding them that
they were growing old. Some parents do react badly to the departure oftheir sons and daughters, but in one of the few systematic studies of thisstage in the family Lowenthal and Chiriboga (1972) reported that, ifanything, parents were somewhat happier in the empty nest.
“But this proves nothing!” say the critics. “These studies all em -
ployed paper-and-pencil tests. What is needed is the insight, probing,The Personal Interview 181
FIGURE 8. Mean levels of Neuroticism, Extraversion, and Openness to Experi -
ence for 1-year age groups of men and women aged 35–54. Adapted from Costa,
McCrae, et al. (1986).