Women's images of midlife: observations from the Seattle Midlife Women's Health Study.
Our purpose in conducting this study was to determine how a cohort of women born between 1935 and 1955 defined midlife, and what midlife events they viewed as important, distressing, and satisfying. A random sample of women enrolled in the Seattle Midlife Women's Health Study (n = 131) participated in a telephone interview about the meaning of midlife and important events occurring during the past year. They described midlife similarly to women from earlier birth cohorts with one important exception: the centrality of work and personal achievements in their lives. Contemporary midlife women's views of midlife reflect their roles in society.
Woods
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Department of Family and Child Nursing, University of Washington, Seattle 98195-7261, USA. nfwoods@u.washington.edu
Mitchell
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D000328:Adult; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D001294:Attitude to Health; D005260:Female; D006040:Goals; D006801:Humans; D008016:Life Change Events; D008875:Middle Aged; D008960:Models, Psychological; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D012494:Sampling Studies; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014930:Women / Q000523:psychology*; D016387:Women's Health