Major life events can trigger turning points in adult life. Such catalysts can provide us with opportunities to recast self-conceptions, values, and beliefs. Some of the most common predictable life events of adulthood include marriage, the birth of a child, and widowhood. Over the last hundred years, the timing and occurrence of these major events of adulthood have become much less predictable. During the same period, however, the death of a parent has become much more predictable as an event of middle adulthood. In fact, today the death of a parent is the most predictable major life event of people aged thirty-five to sixty.

The occurrence of a major life event can evoke dramatic self-reassessment and change.