The bond of silence : women in the transition to the second half of life

Sidi, Gila

The bond of silence : women in the transition to the second half of life

Doctoral Thesis

1990

Publisher

University of Cape Town

Department

Department of Psychology

Faculty

Faculty of Humanities

Abstract

Adulthood, and particularly, women's adult developmental stages are still an undeveloped area of research (Levinson, 1978; Chiriboga, 1981, 1989). There are studies about the menopause, the "empty nest syndrome", the "double standard" of aging, as well as middle-aged women's need for growth and expansion. However, these issues are controversial (Bart, 1971; Chiriboga, 1981, 1989; Datan, Antonovsky & Maoz, 1981; Downing, 1987a; Neugarten, 1969; Rubin 1979). 1968a, Achieving a greater understanding of the experience of this phase in a woman's life became therefore the core purpose of this study. Glaser and Strauss's (1967) Grounded Theory was chosen as the method because it is geared towards discovering new theories in relatively unknown areas of human behaviour. The sample which evolved as the study proceeded, reached saturation point and ended with a sample of 79 white middle class women. In the process of constantly analyzing and comparing the data, five different groups of women emerged: a group of housewives and four categories of working women, viz. career women, traditional workers, late bloomers and early retired. An additional division according to their menopausal status ended with four groups: pre-, peri- and post menopausal women, and a group of women who had undergone hysterectomies.

Description

Bibliography: leaves 385-404.

Keywords

Psychology

Reference:

Collections

PhD / Doctoral

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