PS375 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Longitudinal Study
Document Summary
Aging and identity: how women face later life transitions. In this area, two major transitions are most likely to affect women"s identities: empty nest and. Empty nest: mothers experience grief, sadness, depressive symptoms and sometimes an increase in anxiety, guilty, and stress related to concern over their children. The women who were most susceptivle to this syndrome were those who experienced the change as losing their role as a mother and did not have other significnt roles which they could identitfy themselves. However contemporary research is finding most women do not experience this but rather pride in their children"s independence and freedom to pursue their own interests. In a longitudinal study, children leaving the home was found to lead to significant improvement in women"s happiness and overall wellbeing however women who worried about their children leaving home beforehand did not experience these same benefits. Findings on empty nest appears to generalize across cultures.
