How Healthy Are We?: A National Study of Well-Being at Midlife

Published by University of Chicago Press 2003

How Healthy Are We?

A National Study of Well-Being at Midlife

Edited by: Orville Gilbert Brim , Carol D. Ryff and Ronald C. Kessler

In the series The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Series on Mental Health and Development, Studies on Successful Midlife Development

https://doi.org/10.7208/9780226074764

Overview
Contents

About this book

Childhood, adolescence, even the "twilight years" have been extensively researched and documented. But the vast terrain known as midlife—the longest segment of the life course—has remained uncharted. How physically and psychologically healthy are Americans at midlife? And why do some experience greater well-being than others?

The MacArthur Foundation addressed these questions head-on by funding a landmark study known as "Midlife in the U.S.," or MIDUS. For the first time in a single study, researchers were able to integrate epidemiological, sociological, and psychological assessments, as well as innovative new measures to evaluate how work and family life influence each other.

How Healthy Are We? presents the key findings from the survey in three sections: physical health, quality of life and psychological well-being, and the contexts (family, work) of the midlife. The topics covered by almost forty scholars in a wide variety of fields are vast, including everything from how health and well-being vary with socioeconomic standing, gender, race, or region of the country to how middle-aged people differ from younger or older adults in their emotional experience and quality of life. This health—the study measures not only health-the absence of illness—but also reports on the presence of wellness in middle-aged Americans.

The culmination of a decade and a half of research by leading scholars, How Healthy Are We? will dramatically alter the way we think about health in middle age and the factors that influence it. Researchers, policymakers, and others concerned about the quality of midlife in contemporary America will welcome its insights.

* Having a good life means having good relationships with others to almost 70% of those surveyed. Less than 40% mentioned their careers.

* Reports of disruptive daily stressors vary by age, with young adults and those in midlife experiencing more than those in later adulthood.

* Men have higher assessments of their physical and mental health than woman until the age of 60.

Author / Editor information

Orville Gilbert Brim is the former director of the MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Successful Midlife Development. Carol D. Ryff is a professor of psychology and director of the Institute on Aging at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Ronald C. Kessler is a professor in the Department of Health Care Policy at the Harvard Medical School.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Chapter One. The MIDUS National Survey: An Overview Orville Gilbert Brim, Carol D. Ryff and Ronald C. Kessler Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
I. Midlife Perspectives on Physical Health
Chapter Two. Sex Differences in Health over the Course of Midlife Paul D. Cleary, Lawrence B. Zaborski and John Z. Ayanian Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	37
Chapter Three. Socioeconomic Position and Health across Midlife Michael G. Marmot and Rebecca Fuhrer Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	64
Chapter Four. Social Inequalities in Health and Well-Being: The Role of Relational and Religious Protective Factors Carol D. Ryff, Burton H. Singer and Karen A. Palmersheim Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	90
Chapter Five. Health, Well-Being, and Social Responsibility in the MIDUS Twin and Sibling Subsamples Ronald C. Kessler, Stephen E. Gilman, Laura M. Thornton and Kenneth S. Kendler Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	124
Chapter Six. The Menopausal Transition and Aging Processes Alice S. Rossi Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	153
II. Emotion, Quality of Life, and Psychological Well-Being in Midlife
Chapter Seven. Positive and Negative Affect at Midlife Daniel K. Mroczek Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	205
Chapter Eight. Age and Depression in the MIDUS Survey Ronald C. Kessler, Kristin D. Mickelson, Ellen E. Walters, Shanyang Zhao and Lana Hamilton Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	227
Chapter Nine. The Quality of American Life at the End of the Century William Fleeson Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	252
Chapter Ten. In Their Own Words: Well-Being at Midlife among High School-Educated and College-Educated Adults Hazel Rose Markus, Carol D. Ryff, Katherine B. Curhan and Karen A. Palmersheim Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	273
Chapter Eleven. The Adaptive Value of Feeling in Control during Midlife Margie E. Lachman and Kimberly M. Prenda Firth Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	320
Chapter Twelve. Social Well-Being in the United States: A Descriptive Epidemiology Corey L. M. Keyes and Adam D. Shapiro Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	350
Chapter Thirteen. Ethnic Conservatism, Psychological Well-Being, and the Downside of Mainstreaming: Generational Differences Randall Horton and Richard A. Shweder Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	373
Chapter Fourteen. Psychological Well-Being in MIDUS: Profiles of Ethnic/Racial Diversity and Life-Course Uniformity Carol D. Ryff, Corey L. M. Keyes and Diane L. Hughes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	398
III. Contexts of Midlife: Work and Family Experience, Neighborhood, and Geographic Region
Chapter Fifteen. Is Daily Life More Stressful during Middle Adulthood? David M. Almeida and Melanie C. Horn Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	425
Chapter Sixteen. Psychological Well-Being across Three Cohorts: A Response to Shifting Work–Family Opportunities and Expectations? Deborah Carr Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	452
Chapter Seventeen. Work, Family, and Social Class Alison Earle and S. Jody Heymann Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	485
Chapter Eighteen. Family Roles and Well-Being during the Middle Life Course Nadine F. Marks, Larry L. Bumpass and Heyjung Jun Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	514
Chapter Nineteen. Social Responsibility to Family and Community Alice S. Rossi Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	550
Chapter Twenty. Turning Points in Adulthood Elaine Wethington, Ronald C. Kessler and Joy E. Pixley Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	586
Chapter Twenty One. Well-Being in America: Core Features and Regional Patterns Hazel Rose Markus, Victoria C. Plaut and Margie E. Lachman Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	614
Contributors Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	651
Author Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	659
Subject Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	675

Language: English
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 688
Illustrations
- Other: 74 figures, 104 tables
Keywords: health; wellness; national; midlife; aging; growing old; study; academic; scholarly; research; physical; psychology; psychological; america; american; united states; cognition; cognitive; macarthur foundation; midus; epidemiology; sociology; assessment; interdisciplinary; fieldwork; quality of life; well being; context; contextual; family; work; career; socioeconomic; gender; region; survey

eBook

Published: June 25, 2019
ISBN: 9780226074764