Life event timing and the emotional consequences of surgical menopause for Asian-Pacific women in Guam.

Using Behavior Risk Factor Survey data (N = 398), this study tests the age-norms hypothesis by examining the emotional consequences of the timing of surgical menopause for women in Guam's Asian-Pacific community. The results of the study are supportive of the hypothesis that off-scheduled life events result in considerable emotional trauma, and show that women in Guam who are 44 years of age or younger are significantly more likely than older women to suffer psychological distress and unhappiness when they report experiencing surgical menopause. We discuss the potential implications of these findings for theory and future research.