The relationship of everyday life-style transitional stress to life satisfaction of older, single women : implications for adult education

Abstract

The purposes of this study were: to identify transitional stress events and life satisfaction of older, single women; to determine the relationship between stressful transitions and life satisfactions of older, single women; and based upon that relationship to identify the educational needs of older, single women. The population consisted of approximately 1,000 older, single women ages 60-96, who reside in Housing and Urban Development apartments in Texas. The sample of 90 women was obtained from the Woodlands, Longview, and Bryan, Texas. The data for this research were collected using three instruments: the Stokes/Gordon Stress Scale (Stokes & Gordon, 1987); the Life Satisfaction in the Elderly Scale (Salamon & Conte, 1984); and a Personal Interview Questionnaire. The data collected were analyzed using the following procedures: (a) fluency and percent distributions and means and standard deviations were calculated for each of the variables; (b) ANOVA summary tables were prepared to determine differences among the three groups across the scales; (c) The Pearson correlation coefficient for the eight sub-scales and total score on the LSES with the Stokes/Gordon Stress Scale; (d) Summary statistics of current and future educational and career needs of older, single women were obtained. Data analysis indicated the most frequent stressors were time with children/grandchildren, slowing down, and concern for world conditions. The respondents in the study were highly satisfied with social contacts, mood, and meaning, and least satisfied with health. A significant relationship between the Stokes/Gordon Stress Scale (SGSS) score and the score on Life Satisfaction in the Elderly Scale (LSES) was obtained. Six of the sub-scales and the total LSES score were found to have statistically significant correlations with the SGSS total score. The present educational needs identified were inspirational, leisure learning, and health topics. Future educational needs included basic skills and social studies. Additional analysis of data revealed that the 60-69 years age group had highest mean score on SGSS, lowest mean score for LSES, and the lowest health sub-scale score for LSES. Differences between the age groups with respect to stress and life satisfaction were observed.