Spurred by curosity about the path of her own life, Dr. Norella Putney was motivated to study the changing life paths of women and the consequences of historical change on female psychological well-being over the last half-century. As a member of the Silent Generation, born between 1931 and 1945, Putney had always wondered if she had been born too early. Married and involved in childrearing during the mid-60s, when women’s opportunities opened up, she was curious if she had missed out on the revolutionary life change for women during that time. “It seems my youngest sister, a Baby Boomer, had come of age at the right time,” she said.
     Using data from the Longitudinal Study of Generations collected over 26 years (1971 through 1997), Putney contrasted the life paths of Baby Boom women (born 1946 to 1964) with Silent Generation women. Four factors relevant to women’s mental health outcomes were examined: work/family balance, the quality of women’s relations with parents, changing norms of egalitarianism and familism, and changes in marital stability
     Baby Boom women had more advantages than any other generation of women before them. Growing up during a period of unprecedented economic prosperity, in early adulthood they enjoyed opportunities for higher education and professional achievement, and changing gender norms, allowing them many more choices in career and family roles.
     But with all of these advantages, were Baby Boom women in midlife better off in terms of their psychological well-being? The answer is no. Findings indicate that Baby Boom women were significantly more depressed and had lower self-esteem in midlife than Silent Generation women.
     Several factors contributed to Baby Boom women’s lower psychological functioning. Baby Boom women experienced greater stress in trying to balance the demands of work and family, and this contributed to more instances of depression. As one Baby Boom mother put it, “I feel too much pressure between work and family.”
     Having a supportive relationship with parents positively affected women’s professional achievement and psychological well-being. For Baby Boom women, weak affective bonds with their fathers in late adolescence contributed to lower self-esteem and higher depression when in young adulthood. Twenty years later, on the other hand, affective closeness with a father in late adolescense contributed to positive mental health. In midlife, the quality of Baby Boom women’s relations with their fathers remained a predictor of their psychological well-being. Those who had weaker affective bonds with their fathers were significantly more depressed.
Consistent with other research, findings indicate that parental divorce adversely affected the quality of Baby Boom women’s relations with their fathers in midlife.
     Marital dissatisfaction contributed significantly to Baby Boom women’s higher levels of depression. In contrast to Silent Generation women, Baby Boom women were not only less satisfied with their marriages in midlife, but their marital satisfaction had significantly declined from what it was in young adulthood. Being dissatisfied with their marriages contributed to midlife Baby Boom women being much more depressed than Silent Generation women were at a comparable level of marital dissatisfaction, suggesting the expectations of marriage may have shifted for younger generations.
     Stronger egalitarian views contributed to younger age groups’ professional achievement and psychological well-being. This was especially the case for Baby Boom, and also for Silent Generation women. In the last decade, all women in the study became slightly more traditional in their gender role views although younger women remained more egalitarian than older women. Familism (beliefs about the importance of family) increased among Baby Boom women in the past decade, and familism is associated with higher self-esteem.
     Both biographical and historical timing appear to have mattered for the mental health outcomes of Silent Generation and Baby Boom women in midlife. Both groups were affected by the rapid social and economic changes of the 70s and 80s. However, each encountered these changes at different stages in their life course. Silent Generation women, having completed their childrearing responsibilities, did not have to juggle the demands of work and family in the same way as Baby Boom women. Having started their childbearing at a later age, Baby Boom women were confronted by a changing economy and dilemmas they could not anticipate: intensified demands of work and family and the increasing uncertainty of employment and marriage.
     Dr. Norella Putney plans to expand her study of the changing life paths of Generation X, Baby Boom and Silent Generation women using data collected from LSOG participants in 2000 and 2003. With six children and five grandchildern, Putney values her close inter-generational family relations.

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