Hot Flashes, Stress, & The Perceptions of Aging: A Biosocial Approach to the Menopause Transition

• In Event: Aging and the Life Course Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (90 minute): 3: Life Course Experiences and Exposures and Long-Term Health Trajectories

Abstract

The menopause transition is an important aging process for women which typically lasts around 4 to 7 years and is associated with hormone fluctuations and marked with symptoms, such as hot flashes and night sweats. At the same time, midlife for women, when the menopause transition occurs, is often a significant time in which social conditions across the life course accumulate and intersections emerge between social factors (i.e., parental death, divorce) and biological processes (i.e., hormonal fluctuations). Biological and sociological research on menopause is often at odds, with biological approaches to the menopause experience ignoring social factors and implications, while sociological research emphasizes that the perception of menopause varies greatly among women and that this is distinct from any biological definitions which medicalizes menopause as an illness. While both approaches offer merit, this paper provides a biosocial approach to our understanding of menopause by assessing the relationship between symptoms and perceptions of menopause and exploring the role of stressor exposure. Preliminary results show that both the sociological and biological experience of the menopause transition are associated with one another and can be shaped by stressor exposure that is often unequally distributed across society.

Author

• KJ Davidson-Turner, University of Southern California