40 to 65 years of Midlife, the period of the lifespan between younger and older adulthood, has been described as a period of transition in women's lives. Investigators studying midlife have focused on women 40 to 65 years of age, who typically experience multiple social, psychological and biological transitions.
The midlife women’s challenges revealed one overarching theme, “Searching for balance in the midst of multiple co-occurring stressors while coping with losses and transitions, for some in a context of limited resources” and five themes: 1) Changing Family relationships, 2) Re-balancing Work and Personal Life, 3) Rediscovering Self, 4) Securing Enough Resources, and 5) Coping with Multiple Co-Occurring Stressors. Each theme was further divided into categories. If a response contained more than one challenge, the challenges were each counted individually as well as placed into the Multiple Co-Occurring Stressor category. For example, if a response conveyed parenting a teenager, husband’s health, and a parent’s death, there would be three separate types of challenges as well as the Multiple Co-Occurring Stressor challenge.
Searching for balance in the midst of multiple co-occurring stressors while coping with losses and transitions, for some in a context of limited resources
Data analysis revealed an overarching theme, “Searching for balance in the midst of multiple co-occurring stressors while coping with losses and transitions, for some in a context of limited resources,” that encapsulated the experiences of all study participants and permeated the themes and sub-themes that emerged from the data. Women reported challenges related to changing family relationships, including those with several generations of family members, e.g. children and parents, while also striving to rebalance their work and personal life. In addition, they struggled with rediscovering themselves, in the context of changing relationships. Securing sufficient financial resources posed challenges for many. A noteworthy set of challenges is related to coping with multiple co-occurring stressors. Each of these is discussed in greater detail below.
Changing family relationships
The theme of Changing Family Relationships refers to the changing relationships that women had with different family members: husband/partner, children, aging parents, siblings, and in-laws.
Changing relationships with partner
A number of women described changes in their long-term relationship with their partners as a primary life stressor. These changes ranged from a declining partner’s health and necessity to provide caregiving, to separation or divorce after many years together, to the untimely death of a partner. Some women, especially those who reported divorce/breaking up with partner, reported more than one challenge. For example, one woman explained that an all-encompassing life challenge was a combination of events she summed up as “my divorce, my children leaving home and my parents dying all in the same 2-year period.” Like others, another woman wrote, “The death of my brother in [year] and my divorce the same year” presented the most challenge. A partner’s declining health was another new life challenge for many study participants. Women disclosed having to deal with their partners’ declining health, including heart attacks, depression, disability, surgery, high blood pressure, reluctance to be more active, and alcoholism as a challenge. Like others, one study participant explained, “The most challenging has been watching my husband sink more and more into alcoholism and not being able to stop him.” Another woman shared, “The challenges have changed from year to year- [year] I had an ectopic pregnancy- and infertility before/after- 0 kids. [years]- Graduate school and full-time work was challenging. [year]- currently, my husband’s health problems and disability are most challenging.”
For other midlife women the most challenging experiences were around the transition from an old to a new partner relationship. Similar to others, for one woman the life-midlife turmoil included “Losses and transitions –death of both parents, divorce from long term partner, beginning a new life with a new partner and his child.”
Changing relationships with children
For many women in the study, changes in relationships included challenges with parenting that ranged from foster-parenting, parenting step-children, leaving children, children moving back in, to children moving out (Empty Nest), death of a child, or dealing with infertility. For some of the women many of these issues were intertwined. For most women in the study, problems with parenting teenage children presented a new challenge. For others, step-parenting or foster parenting was most difficult. One woman explained, “Foster-parenting teens, most often teens who have been victims of abuse.” Another one reflected parenting step-children was a new life challenge for her. She explained, “Dealing with being a blended family. Trying to parent stepchildren who would rather not have me around…” was quite difficult. For others, dealing with more than simply parenting teens added to the complexity of the parenting experience. Like many other women, one study participant listed multiple challenges, “My current job, my daughter from age 15-18, my mother’s death, my husband’s unemployment.”
Children leaving home (e.g., for college) and children moving back home were also challenging for some women. One woman explained, “Family life – Change from having little children to them all growing up and leaving – changing relationship with husband because of that and personal changes” was strenuous. A woman whose child came back home said, “getting older, stiffer, clumsier. Seeing my finances shift, caring for 2 elderly parents and having a grown child move home w/ no finances” was wearisome. One woman in the study shared, “My son dying in [year] from suicide” was her greatest midlife challenge.
What are side effects of Wegovy?
The most common side effects of Wegovy include nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, constipation, abdominal (stomach) pain, headache, fatigue, dyspepsia...
For childless women in the study, a midlife challenge represented a realization that biological parenthood will never be part of their life experience. One woman reflected, “The challenges have changed from year to year – [year] I had an ectopic pregnancy – and infertility before/after resulting in 0 kids. [years]– Graduate school and full-time work was challenging. Currently my husband’s health problems and disability is the greatest challenge.” Another woman indicated, “accepting that I would never be a biological parent, never have my ‘own’ kids, and possibly never become ‘important’ to my two step-children (now grown and living away). Everyone else’s pregnancies, baby showers, and ‘kid talk’ is also a challenge.”
Changing relationships with aging parents
Caregiving for parents, death of parents, parents’ health problems, and relationships with parents encompassed the women sharing about their relationships with aging parents. Like others, one woman shared, “Caregiving for parents and losses are challenging – Losing father [year], father-in-law [year], mother-in-law [year], and only having my mother still living.” For some study participants, death of a parent was the most challenging part of their midlife experience. Others described, “Losing my Dad to brain cancer,” and “Experiencing my parents’ death” as the most challenging part of midlife. One woman remembered, “Within four months, my mother had a severe stroke, my father died and a month later (to the day) my mother passed away.” For other study participants who still had their parents, “parents getting old” and “Dad’s health” were cited as the most challenging.
Changing sibling relationships
The issues surrounding women’s changing relationships with siblings consisted of three key narratives: death of a sibling, relationship problems with siblings, and seeking harmonious sibling relationships. Women recounted, “the death of my brother in [year] and my divorce the same year” and “Dealing with not getting along with my older sister” as some examples of the most challenging part of midlife.
Changing relationships with in-laws
With aging in-laws, for some women in the study challenges came from having to move in together. One woman reported, “Moving in and living with all of my In-Laws” was the most challenging thing she had to do.
Re-balancing work and personal life
For many women in the current study, stressful job/career, unemployment, balancing multiple roles, job change/ career change, job loss/ unemployment, finding a job with health benefits, and facing retirement necessitated re-balancing work and personal life. Only three out of 81 women in the study cited their job as the most challenging part of midlife. For the majority of women, feeling overworked, and having to balance multiple roles was difficult. Like others, one woman explained: “Balancing all aspects of my life - as a mother, as a wife, as a teacher and as a woman and as the major head of the household (cooking, cleaning, etc.) currently is the greatest challenge of my life.” For others, the greatest challenges came from “Getting into a more interesting career,” dealing with personal health issues such as a breast cancer diagnosis, going through a divorce, or losing a partner, losing a job and seeking new employment with benefits. One woman elaborated,
“Finding and sustaining suitable employment with health care benefits. Having intermittent medical coverage caused me to postpone a surgery (hyperparathyroid) for 3 years” as the most significant issue she had to deal with in midlife.
Re-discovering self
Re-discovering self was important to many women in the current study. Health problems, existential issues, self-esteem/ self-acceptance, returning to school, the menopausal transition, and personal changes were the five sub-themes related to the self. Many women commented about health problems they had. Health problems included heart surgery, arthritis, physical disability due to arthritic pains, chronic pain, breast cancer, motor vehicle accident resulting in the diminished use of the woman’s right hand, blot clot in the leg, and as one woman summarized: “getting older, stiffer, clumsier.”
Women focused on making meaning of or appraising various aspects of their lives. Some of the women focused on accepting not being able to achieve their goals in life, realizing that the number of active years is limited, others on seeking new relationships. A number of women remarked about the newly found comfort with whom they were and self-acceptance. Similar to others, one study participant concluded, “Becoming more comfortable with myself. Accepting myself & having better self-esteem…” was most challenging. In order to re-discover oneself, some women returned to graduate school or decided to finish the university degree they once started. Surprisingly, only four out of 81 women in the current study commented on their menopausal transition symptoms as being the most challenging aspect of midlife, which included hot flashes, mood swings, difficulty remembering things, and excessive uterine bleeding.
How many lemon water should I drink to lose weight?
In order to lose weight, you can consume 2 glasses of warm lemon water, i.e. once in the morning and once in the evening. You can also add a bit of...
Generating enough resources was an all-encompassing task for many study participants. The women found financial challenges, partner’s unemployment, and lack of health insurance as very stressful life issues.
Some women revealed financial challenges such as supporting children in private schools with a partner’s sporadic job situation, financing college, and becoming financially secure as stressful. Many of them described how they coped with such situations in life. For example, one woman enumerated, “I have to work 2 jobs and long hours to support my children, but never seem to get ahead…” Another woman explained, “having to close a business, including laying off people, not paying business debts, selling off furniture, etc., and then having to sell our home to pay off a bank loan” as most challenging. For some women the difficult financial decisions were related to their partner’s unemployment. One example was “…Constant threat of strikes or job lay off for my husband and eventually job loss was difficult.”
Lack of health insurance was also a great concern to women. One woman related that “Finding and sustaining suitable employment with health care benefits” and “Having intermittent medical coverage” were the greatest challenges for her.
Coping with multiple co-occurring stressors
As stated in the preceding paragraphs many women in the current study had to deal with multiple life stressors in their midlife years, many of them occurring at or around the same time. The majority of women identified multiple co-occurring stressors as they described their most challenging experiences. One woman commented, “Dealing with stress – job stress, health stress, social stress, family stress, etc. For a time, it seemed to snowball with no end in site.” Some women explained that being overworked and balancing multiple roles were the most challenging part of midlife. Two examples were, “Fulfilling obligations of work and family” and “Balancing all aspects of my life - as a mother, as a wife, as a teacher and as a woman and as the major head of the household (cooking, cleaning, etc.).”
Tropical Weight Loss
Photo: Anastasia Shuraeva
Promotion
Promotion
Promotion
Promotion
