Looking for life's MIDUS touch.

• Position: Sociology - Midlife Development in the U.S.

There are no shortcuts: to get to old age, one has to steer through midlife. Sometimes that path is filled with joys of family, friendships, good health, and career success. Other times, there is hardship, illness, or loss, and the journey becomes more about how to survive in a complex world and being resilient--bouncing back from stressful experiences quickly and effectively.

Yet, with either path, common themes are emerging as important stepping stones to well-being. In fact, it is one of the most-important developments in health research in recent years--proof that well-being matters--and it is one of many findings emerging from the Midlife Development in the U.S. study, also known as MIDUS, a national longitudinal study on aging explicitly focused on midlife, including transitions from young adulthood to midlife, and from midlife into old age.

Alongside detailed medical histories, MIDUS has gathered exhaustive data about the stresses and rewards of balancing work and home life, building and maintaining relationships, and the challenges of raising children with developmental disorders.

"What we usually study in health research is illness, disease, and disability," says principal investigator Carol Ryff, professor of psychology and director of the Institute on Aging at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. 'Those need to be studied, but people have strengths, and psychological and social resources, that make them resilient and that keep them healthy despite difficult life situations that often accompany economic inequality, unexpected stresses, or the challenges of aging."

The goal is to better understand unfolding profiles of health as an integrative process that takes into account relationships among factors that are all known to matter--namely, behavioral, biological, psychological, and social factors. "We are learning a lot about what makes people vulnerable, but we are learning about what makes people resilient as well."

Many who have participated in the study never before were asked about the details of their lives, sometimes stirring up tough memories of job or personal loss, episodes of discrimination, battling illness, or struggles with loneliness and spirituality. They were asked what gives their life purpose, if they are satisfied with their lives, and what is worthwhile to them.

The answers, while sometimes hard to hear, have been revealing and led to a robust data set that has attracted widespread interest from the scientific...