A comparative study on the midlife problems of married women

• Main Author: Kunnel, George
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 1984
• Subjects: Married women > Social conditions; Comparative Psychology; Counseling Psychology
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_masteral/1041
• Institution: De La Salle University

A comparative descriptive study was made to identify the problems of middle aged married women and compare them with the problems of married women who are post and pre-middle aged. In studying the problems of the middle aged, effort was also made to compare the problem of those married before the age of 24 with those married after the age of 24, and of those married for more than 10 years with those married for less than 10 years. The questions which this study tried to answer were : 1) What are the problems of the middle aged married women as compared to the problems of those who are post and pre-middle aged?, 2) Is there a significant difference between the problems as experienced by the middle aged and as experienced by the post and pre-middle aged?, 3) Is there a significant difference between the problems experienced according to the age at the time of marriage and the number of years they are married? The problems were measured by a five point scale (always, often, sometimes, seldom, and never) having a corresponding score of 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1 for each scale point. The problems were categorized and placed under five areas, viz. in relation to: i) husband, ii) children, iii) health and physiological psychology, iv) finance, and v) occupation. Data was gathered through a questionnaire. The selected numbers of subjects which belonged to each group under study were: middle aged 116, post middle aged 36, pre-middle aged 95. Among the middle aged, those married before the age of twenty-four- 48, those married after the age of twenty-four - 68, those married for more than 10 years - 78, and those married for less than ten years - 38. The result showed that all married women irrespective of the age group, encounter similar problems, in all the five areas. However, when all the problems were considered together, significant differences were found among the three groups, in the frequency with which they encounter the problems. Middle aged, compared to the other groups, were found to be encountering problems with gr