The purpose of this study was to gain a deeper understanding of how women experience midlife. Social constructionism, which fits within the postmodern tradition, was the epistemological framework informing this study. Participants were asked to provide their life stories in text form. Texts were interpreted using the hermeneutic method of analysis. The researcher attempted to understand the midlife experience from the perspective of each participant whose meaning, attitudes and ideas have developed within a social context, keeping in mind that the researcher's own social context, ideas and values affected the interpretation of the texts. The research results add a new perspective to the `grand narrative' of midlife as a `crisis'. The new `voice' speaks of the possibility of positive development - of overcoming adversity; taking control; re-assessing life; breaking old patterns; discovering peace; putting down roots; confronting reality; gaining independence and finding new meaning. / Psychology / MA (Clinical Psychology)

The purpose of this study was to gain a deeper understanding of how women experience midlife. Social constructionism, which fits within the postmodern tradition, was the epistemological framework informing this study. Participants were asked to provide their life stories in text form. Texts were interpreted using the hermeneutic method of analysis. The researcher attempted to understand the midlife experience from the perspective of each participant whose meaning, attitudes and ideas have developed within a social context, keeping in mind that the researcher's own social context, ideas and values affected the interpretation of the texts. The research results add a new perspective to the `grand narrative' of midlife as a `crisis'. The new `voice' speaks of the possibility of positive development - of overcoming adversity; taking control; re-assessing life; breaking old patterns; discovering peace; putting down roots; confronting reality; gaining independence and finding new meaning. / Psychology / MA (Clinical Psychology)

This exploratory qualitative study seeks to describe and understand the career decision-making process of unemployed American women who make up the younger cohort of the baby boom generation, namely those born between 1955 and 1964. Career decision making is a complex process involving a number of generational characteristics as well as personal and economic considerations. Unemployment further complicates this process, especially in the decade prior to receiving retirement benefits. This study uses interpretative phenomenological analysis to analyze semi-structured interviews with eight unemployed younger baby boom women to investigate how their thoughts, assumptions, and opinions affect their career decision-making experience. Bronfenbrenner's bioecological model (2005), Erikson's lifespan theory (1959), and selected career development theories provide lenses through which these women's experiences can be understood. Eight themes emerged from the data, including the following: unemployment as a preparation period; career aspirations; digital natives; age discrimination; bioecological systems influence; generativity vs. stagnation; identity expressed in career decision making; and influence of intuition, chance, and personal factors. The findings suggest that the women used the period of unemployment to become self-aware and thoughtful about future career decision making, and enhance their computer as well as career decision making skills. Implications for theory and counseling practice as well as suggestions for future research are provided. / School of Education; / Counselor Education and Supervision (ExCES) / PhD; / Dissertation;

Thesis advisor: Ruth McRoy / Historically, many midlife African American women have served as kinship care providers for children in the family. These parenting responsibilities present even greater challenges for the increasing and disproportionately high number of African American women in this age group who also are living with HIV/AIDS. Even though there have been technological innovations in treating and managing HIV infection, HIV is the fourth leading cause of death among midlife African American women. Despite the existing research on African American women with HIV/AIDS and on African American kinship caregivers, significant research with a specific focus on resiliency within this population has not been conducted. To fill this gap, using a resiliency model as a conceptual framework, the researcher conducted semi-structured in-depth interviews with a convenience sample of 24 middle-aged African American women with HIV/AIDS who are providing informal kinship care. Implications for policy, research, and practice are provided and suggestions for health care providers and child welfare professionals regarding how to support these women and children through enhanced services and other interventions. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2012. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Social Work. / Discipline: Social Work.

Over the past 50 years, women have become important participants in the labor market. With the increase in the number of middle-aged women going through the menopause transition, the question arises as to the effect of this transition on the labor market. Previous studies have shown that reproductive cycles have a non-trivial negative effect on women’s labor market outcomes. Thus, the cessation of these reproductive cycles (menopause) should bring relief for these women. However, another body of literature asserts that the menopause transition itself has a negative effect on women’s mental and physical health and so may have a negative effect on labor market outcomes. This study seeks to explore the effect of the menopause transition on labor market outcomes. The empirical analyses are done using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Young Women, with the key explanatory variables being the menopause transition stages: premenopause, perimenopause, surgical menopause and natural postmenopause. The regressions include a control for whether the woman experienced early menopause and whether she had a hysterectomy. The first part of the study examines the impact of the menopause transition on health using depression and the scores on the activities of daily living as the measures of health status. These analyses use cross sectional data drawn from the 1995 wave of the survey for activity limitations and the 2003 wave for the depression measure. The findings of these analyses indicate that the menopause transition increases the likelihood of depression and functional limitations. The main part of the study explores the effect of the menopause transition on the following labor market outcomes: labor force participation, hours worked, full time employment, wages, and self-employment. Ordinary Least Squares, the fixed effects model, the random effects model, and the family fixed effects (siblings) model are used to examine these questions. The analysis also uses 2SLS to correct for endogeneity of the menopause variables and the Heckman two-step procedure to correct for sample selection bias. The findings show that women in premenopause are less likely to be in the labor force than women in natural postmenopause, even after controlling for life-cycle variables. The results also indicate that there are certain benefits from using hormone replacement therapy (HRT), as women who had surgical menopause and are using hormones are more likely to be in the labor force than women with surgical menopause who are not using HRT. Women in premenopause and women in perimenopause are less likely to work full-time compared to women who experienced natural postmenopause. The findings also show that there are no significant differences in hours worked by women in the different menopause stages. Women in premenopause typically earn more than women in natural postmenopause. Furthermore, women in perimenopause and women with surgical menopause are more likely to be self employed. The findings indicate that, among a generally healthy population, the menopause transition results in an increase in labor supply. However, a wage penalty is observed among women in postmenopause, when compared to women who are premenopause. The implications of the findings are that menopause should not be medicalized but should be viewed in a social and cultural context as the changes that occur during the transition may open up possibilities for positive individual development. Thus the cessation of menstrual cycles brings relief for women and results in an increase in labor supply, albeit one associated with a wage penalty.

Midlife adults who have divorced or never married represent a growing demographic in North America. Despite this fact, little research has examined the dating and sexual behaviours of these individuals. Research has instead focused on the dating and sexual lives of young adults, particularly undergraduate students. The current research program examined young (aged 18-24 years) and midlife (aged 35-54 years) single (or recently single) heterosexual North American adults’ typical first date scripts and their retrospective perceptions of their first date experiences. More specifically, Study 1 examined young and midlife adults’ typical first date scripts. Participants were asked to list at least 20 actions that a woman would typically perform on a first date with someone new, from the beginning of the date to its end, putting the actions in the order in which they would occur. Participants were then instructed to carry out the task a second time, focusing on the actions that a man would typically perform on a first date with someone new. Study 2 examined young and midlife adults’ retrospective accounts of their actual first date scripts, as well as their actual first date sexual behaviour. Participants were asked to list at least 20 actions that they performed on their most recent first date, from the beginning of the date to its end, putting them in the order in which they occurred. They were also asked to complete a revised Guttman scale of sexual behaviours, checking off from a list the behaviours that occurred on their most recent first date. Across both studies, analyses revealed three key patterns with respect to gender roles. First, contrary to expectations, young adults tended to be more traditional than midlife adults with respect to first dates. Second, midlife adult women tended to be less traditional than expected with respect to first dates. Lastly, in keeping with expectations, women were depicted as taking a passive role and men were depicted as taking a more active role in the scripts. Implications of the findings and recommendations for future research follow.

Hypertension, diabetes, depressive symptoms, and smoking are predictors of cognitive decline in late life. However, it is not known if these risk factors are associated with cognition during midlife orif the associations between these risk factors and cognition vary by race. This longitudinal study hypothesized that (1) the risk factors would predict cognitive decline in midlife, (2)African Americans would have greater cognitive decline than European Americans and East Asians, and (3) there would be stronger associations between risk factors and cognition for African American women compared to European American and East Asian women. Participants (aged 42-52) were European American (n= 1,000), African American (n= 516), and East Asian (n= 437) women from the Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation who were studied for 8 years. Risk factors (i.e., diabetes, hypertension, smoking, and depressive symptoms) and cognitive outcomes (i.e., episodic memory, processing speed, and working memory) were measured at multiple timepoints. Two-level hierarchical linear models tested change in cognition over time controlling for income, education, and age. African Americans had lower scores than European Americans and East Asians on all cognitive outcomes. East Asian smokers had greater episodic memory decline compared to European American smokers. Depressive symptoms did not adversely impact processing speed for East Asian relative to European Americans. Contrary to our hypothesis, hypertension was associated with improved processing speed over time for African Americans compared to European Americans. Racial disparities in cognition were evident for African American women.

Although previous research on singlehood has often focused on middle-class career women, little is known about the life experiences of non-career path single women. This study examined the core marriage beliefs of never-married and once-married child-free, midlife women and the ways in which those beliefs have evolved over time. The sample consisted of 10 women, 5 never-married and 5 once-married between the ages of 35 and 48. For the purposes of this inquiry, non-career path was co-determined on the basis of occupation and educational background. The theoretical framework that guided this study combined a life course approach with a feminist perspective. Respondents were recruited through extensive networking and the sampling technique of snowballing. A qualitative methodology was employed utilizing the research strategy of in-depth interviewing. Data were analyzed on the basis of emergent themes and patterns. This study produced 3 salient findings. First, the process of forming core marriage beliefs is similar between never-married and once-married women. Although an experience of marrying (or an experience of not marrying) may change the way a woman views herself within the context of her marital beliefs, those core marital beliefs do not necessarily change. Second, whether never-married or once-married, single midlife women live ambivalent lives: acknowledging their singlehood status while simultaneously remaining hopeful of attaining a marital union. Finally, women made a clear distinction between getting married and marrying successfully. While most believed that getting married was a choice, having a successful marriage was a result of chance. Despite this appraisal, the ideal of marriage remained pervasive regardless of age or past experience. / Master of Science

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