Sociologist Helen Rose Fuchs Ebaugh

Sociologist Helen Rose Fuchs Ebaugh (1988) developed the term role exit to describe the process of disengagement from a role that is central to one's self-identity and reestablishment of an identity in a new role. Drawing on interviews with 185 people---among them ex-convicts, divorced men and women, recovering alcoholics, ex-nuns, former doctors, retirees, and transsexuals--Ebaugh (herself a former nun) studied the process of voluntarily exiting from significant social roles.

Ebaugh has offered a four-stage model of role exit. The first stage begins with doubt-- as the person experiences frustration, burnout, or simply unhappiness with an accustomed status and the roles associated with this social position. The second stage involves a search for alternatives. A person unhappy with his or her career may take a leave of absence; an unhappily married couple may begin what they see as a temporary separation. The third stage of role exit is the action stage or departure. Ebaugh found that the vast majority of her respondents could identify a clear turning point that made them feel it was essential to take final action and leave their job, end their marriage, or engage in another type of role exit. However, 20 percent of respondents saw their role exit as a gradual, evolutionary process that had no single turning point. the last stage of role exit involves the creation of a new identity.