Women in Midlife In Western society aging for women is much

Last updated: 2/3/2024

Women in Midlife In Western society aging for women is much more stressful than for men as society emphasizes youthful beauty and attractiveness Slevin 2010 The description that aging men are viewed as distinguished and aging women are viewed as old is referred to as the double standard of aging Teuscher Teuscher 2006 Since women have traditionally been valued for their reproductive capabilities they may be considered old once they are postmenopausal In contrast men have traditionally been valued for their achievements competence and power and therefore are not considered old until they are physically unable to work Carroll 2016 Consequently women experience more fear anxiety and concern about their identity as they age and may feel pressure to prove themselves as productive and valuable members of society Bromberger Kravitz Chang 2013 Attitudes about aging however do vary by race culture and sexual orientation In some cultures aging women gain greater social status For example as Asian women age they attain greater respect and have greater authority in the household Fung 2013 Compared to white women Black and Latina women possess less stereotypes about aging Schuler et al 2008 Lesbians are also more positive about aging and looking older than heterosexual women Slevin 2010 The impact of media certainly plays a role in how women view aging by selling anti aging products and supporting cosmetic surgeries to look younger Gilleard Higgs 2000 Religion and Spirituality ndition Grzywacz and Keyes 2004 found that in addition to personal health behaviors such as regular exercise healthy weight and not smoking social behaviors including involvement in religious related activities have been shown to be positively related to optimal health However it is not only those who are involved in a specific religion that benefit but so too do those identified as being spiritual According to Greenfield Vaillant and Marks 2009 religiosity refers to engaging with a formal religious group s doctrines values traditions and co members In contrast spirituality refers to an individual s intrapsychic sense of connection with something transcendent that which exists apart from and not limited by the material universe and the subsequent feelings of awe gratitude compassion and forgiveness Research has demonstrated a strong relationship between spirituality and psychological well being irrespective of an individual s religious participation Vaillant 2008 Additionally Sawatzky Ratner Chiu 2005 found that spirituality was related to a higher quality of life for both individuals and societies Based on reports from the 2005 National Survey of Midlife in the United States Greenfield et al 2009 found that higher levels of spirituality were associated with lower levels of negative affect and higher levels of positive affect 356 Figure 8 40 Source personal growth purpose in life positive relationships with others self acceptance environmental mastery and autonomy In contrast formal religious participation was only associated with higher levels of purpose in life and personal growth among just older adults and lower levels of autonomy In summary it appears that formal religious participation and spirituality relate differently to an individual s overall psychological well being Worldwide To measure the religious beliefs and practices of men and women around the world the Pew Research Center 2016 conducted surveys of the general population in 84 countries between 2008 and 2015 Overall an estimated 83 of women worldwide P Age Older individuals identify religion spirituality as being more important in their lives than those younger Beit Hallahmi Argyle 1998 This age difference has been explained by several factors including that religion and spirituality assist older individuals in coping with age related losses provide opportunities for socialization and social support in later life and demonstrate a cohort effect in that older individuals were socialized more to be religious and spiritual than those younger Greenfield et al 2009 Gender In the United States women report identifying as being more religious and spiritual than men do de Vaus McAllister 1987 According to the Pew Research Center 2016 women in the United States are more likely to say religion is very important in their lives than men 60 vs 47 American women also are more likely than American men to say they pray daily 64 vs 47 and attend religious services at least once a week 40 vs 32 Theories to explain this gender difference include that women may benefit more from the social relational aspects of religion spirituality because social relationships more strongly influence women s mental health Additionally women have been socialized to internalize the behaviors linked with religious values such as cooperation and nurturance more than males Greenfield et al 2009 Figure 8 41 identified with a religion compared with 80 of men This equaled 97 million more women than with lion Th men identifying with a religion There were no countries in which men were more religious than women by 2 percentage points or more Among Chri Christians women reported higher rates of weekly church attendance and higher rates of daily prayer In contrast Muslim women and Muslim men showed similar levels of religiousness except frequency of attendance at worship services Because of religious norms Muslim men worshiped at a mosque more often than Muslim women Similarly Jewish men attended a synagogue more often than Jewish women In Orthodox Judaism communal worship services cannot take place unless a minyan or quorum of