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Abstract
Hitherto the bulk of psychosocial and sociological research on the menopause has been
based on cross-sectional studies, in which the research strategy has been to compare
women of different ages and/or different menopausal status by reference to various
parameters. This paper summarizes the main findings of these studies, which relate
to a variety of countries. A consistent finding has been that much of the variance
in the symptoms and complaints reported by women during the climacteric can in fact
be accounted for by a number of different adverse sociodemographic and psychosocial
factors. It is postulated that the mechanism whereby these factors exercise their
effect can best be conceptualized in terms of a vulnerability model. Although cross-sectional
studies, have obvious limitations, their findings have now been complemented by those
from a number of ongoing longitudinal studies in which the same cohort of women is
being followed through this transitional period of their lives.
Keywords
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© 1992 Published by Elsevier Inc.
