Women stop worrying as they grow old
Ability to cope with life stressors makes them confident, in turn making them enjoy life more
In a new study, researchers found that women reported less perceived stress, a measure of confidence, control, and ability to cope with life’s stressors, over a 15-year period during midlife. The study also found that menopausal status wasn’t a factor, which challenges the notion that menopause is associated with higher stress and depression.
The results come from data collected from more than 3,000 women who were recruited between the ages of 42-53 for the Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation. The researchers’ goal was to assess the effects of age, menopausal status, and sociodemographics on stress over time. Elizabeth Hedgeman, a doctoral graduate of the University of Michigan School of Public Health, did the work while in the lab of Sioban Harlow, professor of epidemiology.
By the end of the study period, the mean age was 62 and stress declined with age across nearly all sociodemographic categories. Compared to similar black, white, and Chinese women, stress decreased in a more attenuated fashion for Japanese women. After adjusting for other sociodemographic variables, race and ethnicity was a significant predictor of increased stress only for Japanese women.
Education, employment, and financial hardship were stronger predictors of perceived stress over midlife than the menopause transition, and this may suggest that women experience the menopausal transition as a series of acute stressors (hot flashes, sleep disturbances) that can be muted by chronic, socioeconomic-based life stressors.
The only groups that reported increased perceived stress over the study were Hispanic and white women from New Jersey, but Hedgeman says these are outlier results that needed to be replicated. Additionally, there were extenuating circumstances at the New Jersey site that may have contributed.
Despite reporting decreased levels of stress throughout life, women who reported higher stress at the start of midlife continued to report higher stress levels than their peers as they aged. This is important because stress is a known health risk.