OLDER WOMEN,THE STUDENT ROLE AND MENTAL HEALTH |
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| Authors: | Judith O Hooper Jane A Traupmann |
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| Institution: | University of Wisconsin , Madison |
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| Abstract: | Returning women students over 50, although growing in number, have been largely ignored as a unique group by both educational gerontologists and scholars interested in non‐traditional women students. Matched groups (N = 106) of student (outwardly oriented) and non‐student (home oriented) women (mean age = 55.67, s.d. = 5.25) were compared on measures of subjective age and attitudes toward age, perceived happiness and satisfaction, perceived physical health, number and severity of depressive symptoms, self‐esteem and autonomy. The student group was found to report better health, fewer and less severe depressive symptoms and higher autonomy. Psychological transitions facing mid‐life women are discussed. Possibilities of educational participation as preventive of mid‐life depression for women are discussed. Future longitudinal, cohort‐sequential research should focus on mid‐life and older women students as a unique group. |
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