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Sex Roles (2013) 68:7790DOI 10.1007/s11199-011-0002-9
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
The Baby Boomers Meet Menopause: Fertility, Attractiveness, and Affective Response to the Menopausal Transition
Judy R. Strauss
Published online: 12 May 2011# Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2011
Abstract The purpose of this study was to identify social factors that affect womens concerns about menopause. Data from a sample of 1,037 baby-boomer women who took part in two waves of the Midlife in the United States survey (MIDUS) were utilized. Two waves of survey data were collected in 1996 and 2005 from a nationally representative sample of women born between 1946 and 1964 residing in the United States. Womens concerns about the effects of menopause on attractiveness, fertility, and the cessation of menstruation were examined. Analyses were replicated in Wave I and II of the study. Women who occupied multiple roles had fewer concerns about the loss of fertility. Women who had more symptoms were significantly more concerned about the effects of menopause on attractiveness. Concerns about the effects of menopause were also related significantly to womens age, education, and financial security.
Keywords Womens roles . Menopause . Attitudes .
Longitudinal study. Baby boomer generation
Introduction
In the United States and many other industrialized societies, the middle years are known to be a time of upheaval as women change, add, or let go of roles (Brody 2004).
Divorce or loss of a spouse becomes more common between age 40 and 60. Children are usually leaving home at this time or, in some cases, adult children are coming back home to live, while other women in midlife are often called upon to care for elderly and sick family members (McQuaide 1998; Brody 2004). The purpose of the present study was twofold: first, to examine the relationship of attitudes to menopause and womens number of life roles and assumed role combinations. Second, the study examined the ways in which attitudes to menopause were shaped by womens age, experience of menopausal symptoms, education, and financial security. The present investigation will draw upon earlier investigations of factors that affect the menopausal transition among women in the United States in order to understand how social factors can shape attitudes to menopause among women in the baby-boomer generation. This study will build on prior studies...