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 Widows, at least in Switzerland, have fewer financial troubles and
more social connections than their counterparts in 1979, but
widowers still complain of loneliness, researchers found.
The authors wanted to see if the negative effects of widowhood on
psychological and physical health had changed over time.
“Public knowledge about spousal loss in old age has in general a
negative connotation -- bereavement is usually seen as an individual
issue,” Pasqualina Perrig-Chiello told Reuters Health by email.
“However bereaved individuals vary considerably in their reactions
to loss, and little is known on how the historical context
contributes to adaptation to spousal loss,” said Perrig-Chiello of
the University of Bern who led the study.
Past research has shown that men and women react differently to the
loss of a spouse. Widowers tend to be vulnerable to loneliness,
whereas widows tend to be more distressed by economic issues,
especially if their husband took care of family finances.
For their study, published in The Journals of Gerontology: Series B,
Perrig-Chiello and colleagues examined health and depression
information from two separate Swiss studies involving adults aged 65
years and older, most of them women.
The studies took place in 1979 and 2011 and included a total of 753
widows and widowers, as well as 1,517 married people to act as a
comparison group.
In both studies, the participants were asked to rate their own
physical and mental health and to describe any difficulties related
to the loss of a spouse, such as losing a sense of purpose in life,
needing to do everything alone, feelings of loneliness and dealing
with social and financial problems.
The researchers found that subjective reports of health improved
over time for both married and widowed participants but widowed
people fared worse than marrieds in both time periods.
Widowed people in 2011, especially women, reported fewer social and
financial difficulties than their counterparts in 1979, however.
Rates of depression among widows did not differ over time.
“Men reported more complaints about loneliness than women at both
time points, whereas widows in 2011 reported significantly less
loneliness than their counterparts in 1979,” Perrig-Chiello said.
She thinks that women seem to take greater advantage of new and
enhanced social service programs that began in Switzerland between
the two time points.
These programs provide educational, recreational and psychological
services for older people, she said.
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Perrig-Chiello said most bereaved people adapt well to the new
situation, “however the adaptation to the new situation needs time
for finding a new daily routine, but also a personal, deliberate
effort for defining a new identity, investment for keeping or
redefining social contacts.”
She added that family members, friends and also social groups can
help provide support.
Perrig-Chiello noted that only a minority of widows and widowers
exhibit chronic or complicated grief and require professional help
from psychologists, psychiatrists or pastoral counselors.
“But also the help of a social worker in case of precarious
financial situations can be a help, since - as our results show -
sufficient financial resources may help to relieve secondary
stressors,” she said.
Karen Holden said she thinks that today there’s much more support
for women, socially and in the form of information, which helps in
times of financial stress.
“I think with the increase in divorce, singlehood through marital
dissolution is more common, so you get much more information – so
there’s also much more information for widows,” Holden told Reuters
Health.
“Also, marriages are much more shared financially, so you don’t get
the disorientation of suddenly having to manage on your own,” said
Holden, who studies poverty and aging at the University of Wisconsin
in Madison and was not involved in the study.
She added that today men are much less likely to shield their wealth
from their wives compared to the past.
Holden said the study findings may show that we’re managing
financial distress better now, not only after widowhood but also
during the process of the husbands’ death so that women are less
stressed when they actually are widowed.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/1BGqN3p
The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, online March 1, 2015.
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