Self-reported climacteric symptoms as a function of the relationships between marital adjustment and childrearing stage.

The relationship between reported climacteric complaints of 185 healthy middle-class women between 40 and 60 years of age and marital adjustment and stages of childrearing were studied. Women low on marital adjustment had significantly more frequent and severe symptoms than women high on marital adjustment, but no differences in climacteric symptoms were reported for stage of childrearing or for the interaction between marital adjustment and stage of childrearing. Physical and psychosocial factors that may be related to the symptoms should be assessed before intervention strategies for midlife complaints are begun.