Women During Midlife: Is It Transition or Crisis?

Abstract

Increased longevity has expanded the period known as midlife. During midlife, women tend to experience changes in health and family roles that can lead to increased stress and/or depression or alternatively to feelings of well‐being. The purpose of this paper was to review the research on women at midlife. The review of literature revealed several smaller studies and one large comprehensive study, the Melbourne Study, which was a 10‐year longitudinal study conducted in Australia. The authors suggest that there is a need for “life transition” courses for women who are interested in understanding how to improve their health and well‐being.