Middle-Age Problems And Females
The female in middle age must cope with both psychological and physiological changes. Many strains and inconsistencies are built into the system that casts them in various roles. The insistence on glamour in our youth-oriented society is one example of the pressures on the middle-aged woman.
Most of us have a feeling for the concept of role. We see it being played out all around us-at home, on campus, and at work. Understanding middle-age problems relates to three general classes of roles. First, we have the prescribed role which is expected of us in any given situation. Throughout history it was generally accepted that man was head of the household; thus, the role of woman fell beneath him. Second, we have the subjective role. Here both male and female perceive their own positions, "and what we perceive may be in conflict with what we would choose. Third, we have the enacted role, in which the individual behaves in some given way. Sometimes we play roles in a given way because we have to, or because we want to, or because we feel we should. The "have to" role often is the one that hurts.
When we run in to role-playing situations that poin t up inconsistencies between roles that one has assumed, or been forced into, we sometimes revolt. Some unanswered questions may bother us. Are personality differences, at least in part, sex-related? Are women, in general, more docile and dependent than men? Are men more success-oriented than women? Do some roles come more naturally for females? The current emphasis on the liberation of women is raising anew some basic problems about sex differences and the roles we all play. The "biological" and "social" seem to come together naturally when our thinking turns to questions of sex differences. One thing we do know is that menopause is not only real but forms a base for middle-age revolt in the female, comparable to, or even stronger than, the revolt in the male.
Some women use menopause as a reason to go from one physician to another looking for medication. They search out diets, exercises, and sometimes the occult. The biological change becomes further complicated in our culture by the exaggeration of psychological conflicts. The woman in middle age often sees her beauty and sexual attractiveness fading and social success becoming more restricted. As children grow up and go out on their own, there is psychological loss of maternal influence. The muscular cramps, dizzy spells, and "hot flash'es" th:lt accompany the change of life for the female add to the emotional problems of middle age.
There is a physiological basis for the emotional problems that start in the late thirties. For exmmple, there is some breakdown of hormones produced by the adrenal glands, along with other biological changes. Middle age in the female, as in the male, is characterized by periods of anxiety and depression. It is a time when both sexes refuse to accept a revised· self image. And let us repeat what we have indicated about the male: the emotional upsets of middle age in the female are normal; most women are affected by them. But there is also the positive side. By the time of middle age, we have already established some habits of self-control that not only support us, but also give us some understanding of the frailties of human nature.
