By Dorian Martin, I Start Wondering Founder
The Seattle Midlife Women’s Health Study, a longitudinal study that followed a group of women for over 20 years, found that women ages 40-65 increasingly struggle with life balance due to dealing with multiple co-occurring stressors. These findings were published in Women’s Midlife Health in 2018.
Respondents mentioned the following as their top challenges:
Changing family relationships, such as the death of parents, divorce or breaking up with a partner, domestic violence, and challenges with adolescent children.
Rebalancing work/personal life, such as difficulty finding work, workplace conflicts, and downsizing.
Rediscovering the self, such as personal health issues or frustrated goal attainment.
Securing resources, such as financial resources.
Dealing with multiple stressors that happen at the same time.
Interestingly, going through the menopausal transition didn’t rank highly on this list.