Marriage and Family Life: The Middle and LateYears(2004)foundpeoplewithhigher
educationallevelstendedtovalueself-
accomplishmentandhavehigherlevelsof
workandmaritalrelationshipstress.For
high-school-educatedindividuals,the
emphasiswasnotsomuchonpersonal
accomplishments,asitwasonfamilyand
maritalrelationships,financialsecurity,and
jobs;inotherwords,theyplacedless
emphasisonself-accomplishmentand
moreontheneedsandrequirementsof
thosewhostructuredtheireverydaylives
(Markusetal.,2004).Accordingto
LachmanandFirth(2004),peoplewith
highereducationallevelsfeelmorecontrol
thanthosewithlesseducation.Ahigher
senseof controlisrelatedtohigherlife
satisfactionandlowerlevelsof depression.
Themoresatisfiedcouplesarewiththeir
lives,themorelikelytheyaretobesatisfied
withtheirmarriages.Asoneages,the
perceivedsenseof controldecreases.In
olderadulthood,thisculminatesinthe
inabilitytocareforallof one’sownneeds.
Therefore,olderadultsexperienceless
internalcontrolandmoreexternal
control—whichcanbeasourceof
depressionintheelderly.
Social Class and Well-Being.Asweage,
our self-esteem isat least partially related
toour socialclass—socialclasshasa
mitigatingeffect on our self-esteem (Ryff,
Magee,Kling,&Kling,1999).In other
words,thehigher our socialclass,the
higher our self-esteem,andthehigher our
senseof well-being.Not only issocialclass
linkedtowell-being,it isalsoa factor in
thehealth of middleadultsandtheaging
process.It haslongbeen establishedthat
thehigher thesocialclass,thebetter the
overallhealth andlongevity of individuals
(Brunner,1997;Cherkaset al.,2006;
Sapolsky,2004;Stewart-Brown,1998).
Lower socialstatushasalsobeen shown to
speedtheagingprocess(Sample,2006).
Thestressesof beingpoor andthe
perceivedsenseof lack of controlover
one’senvironment arethought tobe
contributingfactors.
Middle adults are more influenced by
the contextual stressors in their lives than
younger or older adults (Mroczek,2004).
One explanation for this is careers,
relationships,and families dominate the
lives of middle adults more than these
factors dominate the lives of younger or
older adults.For example,many middle
adults are concerned with providing
financially for their family,making plans
for their own retirements,dealing with
shaky relationships which can begin to fall
apart,handling the demands involved in
parenting adolescents,worrying about
losing a partner in later life,juggling time
between work and family,and balancing
the work demands placed on more senior
workers.While higher social class doesn’t
mitigate all of these,it does reduce the
impact of financial strains,which allows
for a greater sense of well-being.
In light of these contextual stressors,it
is interesting to note that a positive