Improving external and internal validity of a model of midlife women's maternal-student role stress.

This study's purpose was to improve both the external and internal validity of Gigliotti's model of maternal-student role stress in midlife women. It was found that the model is generalizeable to midlife women who are non-degreed undergraduate students of varied marital and immigration status and varied college major, thus improving external validity. It was also found that investigating particular types of children's situation-specific social support improved internal validity. These results support the propositions of the Neuman systems model as well as Meleis and others' transition framework. An interventional study is proposed as the next step in this program of research.