Early Mid-Life Women: A Study of Self-Reported Mid-Life Crisis Among Evangelical Women Age 34--45 and Their Likelihood to Participate in Learning Experiences
Conway, James Floyd
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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/69118
Description
Title
Early Mid-Life Women: A Study of Self-Reported Mid-Life Crisis Among Evangelical Women Age 34--45 and Their Likelihood to Participate in Learning Experiences
Author(s)
Conway, James Floyd
Issue Date
1987
Department of Study
Education
Discipline
Education
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Keyword(s)
Education, Educational Psychology
Abstract
A survey study was conducted of 373 women from the United States, but primarily from California and Arizona, who were highly educated, white women with moderately high incomes from an evangelical religious sub-grouping. The study revealed that 41.4% of the total sample were having or have had a mid-life crisis. The mean age for beginning of the mid-life crisis was 39.947. The mean ending age was 42.615.
Eleven of twelve variables were found to be contributing factors to mid-life crisis using multiple regression procedures. The eleven factors were low satisfaction with work, fear of getting older, problems of raising children, low self-esteem, marriage problems, financial pressures, husband's affair, menopausal stress, the woman's divorce, general restlessness and confusion, and aging parents.
The study further asked if a woman has experienced a mid-life crisis, what learning resources was she likely to use to help reduce the intensity of that mid-life crisis. Sixteen learning resources were identified as helpful to some of the women. Resources identified were attending church school, reading a book or magazine, professional counseling, talking with relatives, taking a college class, participating in a small group, taking a high school class, thinking alone, talking with friends, listening to radio or television, attending a retreat, prayer, attending a seminar, listening to sermons, attending a church service, and reading the Bible. Two of these learning resources, taking a college class and professional counseling, were significant as identified by Pearson correlations and multiple regression procedures.
This study suggests that women in their late thirties and early forties are experiencing a significant developmental change which affects their total life and activity. These changes are approximately ten years earlier than the menopausal changes which have frequently been identified as the most important change point for the mid-life woman.
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