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

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.

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

Department of Psychology

Year dc:date.issued

1990

Author dc:creator

• Sidi, Gila

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Kellerman, A M

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/11427/13542

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/13542