Baby Boomer Women - A Depressed Generation; Beneath the Surface of Achievement and Power, an Epidemic of Depression.

Lifestyle Editors/Feature Editors

NASHVILLE, Tenn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 20, 2003

Depressed? Odds are, you're a woman. Odds are, you're in midlife.

Women suffer depression twice as often as men throughout their lives. In midlife, hormonal changes and life stresses, typical triggers for depression, come to a peak.

"This is not what we expected," says Amy Lynch, publisher of OurSelves, a new publication for Baby Boomer women. "We are the generation that had all sorts of options. We went to college in huge numbers. Career doors opened for us. You'd expect us to be on top of the world in midlife--but we're not."

On the contrary, evidence is mounting that significant numbers of Baby Boomer women are in trouble.

One of the more striking studies was published last year by Dr. Norella Putney at the University of Southern California. Putney compared the psychological well-being of today's midlife women with that of their mothers, a group known as The Silent Generation. She concluded that Baby Boomer women are significantly more depressed and have lower self-esteem in midlife than their mothers did.

Add to that a recent report in The New York Times indicating that anorexia and other eating disorders (problems we once associated only with adolescent girls) are growing among midlife women. Typically, disordered eating is an indicator that a woman feels her life is out of control.

Marital dissatisfaction is also cited as an issue that affects levels of depression in this generation. Because of the times in which they grew up, Baby Boomer women set idealistic standards for their marriages--expecting both equality and a high degree of intimacy. Research shows that they are less satisfied with their marriages than their mothers were, and

this contributes significantly to the incidence of depression among women in their 40s and 50s.

The economy is another factor. Because of parenting and caretaking, women are more likely than men to work part-time or to leave work for periods of time. An erratic work history leaves women with lower-paying jobs and without sufficient retirement funds. And the present economic slump makes it even less likely that Baby Boomer women will amass enough money for comfortable retirement. In this country, women represent 75% of the elderly poor.

"We're arriving at 45 or 50 expecting to have it made. But instead, it feels as if the skids just got kicked out from under us," Lynch says. "Midlife is not easy to begin with--that's why they call it a crisis--but it's especially hard for this generation." The August issue of OurSelves features an in-depth article that will help women identify midlife depression and find solutions for working through it.

OurSelves (www.ourselves.com) is published 10 times a year in a format that busy women will actually have time to read. Eight ad-free pages are full of insight, information and news. The newsletter has the colorful appeal of a magazine with the focus of a newsletter and the value of a reference tool.

OurSelves Newsletter

www.ourselves.com

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