Marriage, Stress and Menopause: Midlife Challenges and Joys

This study investigated the relationship of two contextual variables (the marital relationship and stress) with the experience of menopause for 224 married midlife women. These women completed the Dyadic Adjustment Scale, the Quality of Relationship Inventory, the Women’s Health Questionnaire, the Index of Sexual Satisfaction, and the Life Events Questionnaire for Middle-Aged Women. Marital quality, marital satisfaction, and stress predicted menopausal symptomatology. Women in dissatisfying marriages, characterized by less social support, less depth, and higher conflict, reported increased stress and more menopausal symptomatology than did women in satisfying marriages. Sexual satisfaction was positively related to marital satisfaction. No differences were found due to menopausal stage. These findings suggest that relationship variables may override menopausal status in importance as midlife women move through the menopausal transition.