„Nieważne, ile mam lat…” – subiektywny wiek 50-letnich kobiet w okresie menopauzalnym
“No Matter How Old I Am” – Subjective Age of 50-Year-Old Women in the Menopausal Period

Summary/Abstract: Self-esteem is an individual’s subjective belief about herself. It is not static in nature, hence it is legitimate to examine it during the menopausal period, when women face the physical and psychosocial reconstruction of their own self. Menopausal symptoms, depending on their severity, can affect an individual’s functioning on many levels. In addition to self-assessment, the subjective age of the respondents, that is their individual assessment of the number of years they have lived and their body appearance in relation to their chronological age, was examined. The purpose of the study was to describe the specificity of the relationship between the intensity of menopausal symptoms of 50-year-old women and their self-esteem, as well as to differentiate the level of self-esteem of the women surveyed by their subjectively perceived age. The study group consisted of menopausal women (N = 90) in the age range of 50–59 years (M = 52.72; SD = 2.56). The tools used in the study included the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (SES) in the Polish adaptation of Dzwonkowska, Lachowicz-Tabaczek and Łaguna and the Menopause Rating Scale (MRS). In order to examine the subjective age of female respondents, they were asked open-ended questions regarding their subjective feelings about their age and appearance. The results showed that the level of intensity of menopausal symptoms correlates with the respondents’ level of self-esteem. In addition, the existence of a correlation between subjective age and self-esteem was discovered, which may indicate the protective function of having a reduced subjective age.

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