Life Cycle Squeeze and the Morale Curve

Morale is high when people know the ropes in a stable career context and are at a stage of the family life cycle where their resources and rewards balance their aspirations. For most modern workers that balance is least evident early and late in life, when morale sags, especially among solitary survivors or young couples with pre-school children. Empirical data reported here on the deviant case of professionals in a solid financial position, employed or unemployed, show more balance between rewards and aspirations over the life cycle but a modest loss of morale when childrenleave home. Unemployed professionals under severe financial pressure, however, fit the mass pattern; they are relieved when children leave. A greatrange of behavior and attitudes can be explained by use of the idea of “life cycle squeeze” and by attention to interlocking cycles of family life, work, consumption, social participation, and morale.