Scholars have shown a continuing concern with the extent to which position in the occupational structure affects psychological development. This book examines whether work experiences and age interact such that the effects of occupational conditions on the person change in different phases of the life cycle.

Jeylan T. Mortimer is Professor of Sociology at the University of Minnesota.

Introduction -- Work and Psychological Development in Youth -- Working in Teenage America -- The Process of Becoming a Worker1 -- The Influence of Work on the Psychological Development of Men and Women in Adulthood -- Continuity of Learning Generalization: The Effect of Job on Men's Intellective Process in the United States and Poland -- Work Experience and Job Satisfaction: Variation by Age and Gender1 -- Implications of the Dual Roles of Adult Women for Their Health1 -- Midcareer and Older Workers -- Vitality of Midcareer and Older Professionals: Problems and Prospects -- Social Psychological Dimensions of Job-Related Disability -- Policy Endnote