McBeath Institute Aging Women Project

The Aging Women Project began in the fall of 1977 at the Faye McBeath Institute on Aging and Adult Life at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The project grew out of the need for multidisciplinary collaboration in research on aging, and the need for a concerted effort to examine issues affecting older women. A random sample of 480 women of age 50 and older was drawn from five Madison census tracts. The women represented a range of ages, marital statuses, living situations, income, and educational backgrounds. In the first wave of data collection, which took place in the summer of 1978, 480 women were interviewed in their homes and also completed some questionnaires on their own. The multidisciplinary interview was divided into two schedules. The two schedules had a core of common questions, and each had a battery of questions focusing on a different area. One-half of the 480 women were randomly assigned to receive the first schedule and the other half, the second. Variables assessed in this wave included demographic data, mental and physical health, singlehood, work history, marriage and family, living arrangements, friendships, equity in relationships, use of services, major life changes, organizational affiliations, and political attitudes. The second wave of data collection was carried out in the summer of 1979. Four hundred (83%) of the original participants agreed to be reinterviewed. The single interview schedule and self-administered questionnaire were both designed to fill gaps from the first year's data, especially around the relative contribution of personality factors and social connectedness to coping abilities, and the general well being of aging women. Variables assessed included demographic data, mental and physical health, view of past year, winter as a life stress, meaning of aging, death and dying, attitudes and obligations toward family, divorce and family relationships, friendships, attitudes toward education, and programs for the elderly. This sample was followed-up in 1992 (see Roberto, A1009). The Murray Center holds all computer-accessible data from the study. Paper data are held by the McBeath Institute and are available through the contributor.