Centre for Policy on Ageing



Marital quality and psychological adjustment to widowhood among older adults — a longitudinal analysis
Author(s)	Deborah Carr, James S House, Ronald C Kessler
Journal title	Journals of Gerontology: Series B, Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, vol 55B, no 4, July 2000
Pages	pp S197-S207
Keywords	Widows ; Bereavement ; Adjustment ; Longitudinal surveys ; United States of America.
Annotation	This study examined whether psychological adjustment to widowhood is affected by three aspects of marital quality - warmth, conflict, and instrumental dependence - assessed prior to the loss. The Changing Lives of Older Couples (CLOC) study of more than 1,500 married Americans aged 65+ includes baseline data on marital quality and mental health, and data on grief, anxiety, and depression collected 6, 18 and 48 months after the loss of a spouse. Widowhood was associated with elevated anxiety among those who were highly dependent on their spouses, and lower levels of anxiety for those who were not. Levels of yearning were lower for those widowed whose relationships were characterised by conflict, and higher for those reporting high levels of marital closeness and dependence on their spouses. The findings suggest a more complex relationship between bereavement and characteristics of the marriage. (RH).
Accession Number	CPA-000825237 A
Classmark	SP: DW: DR: 3J: 7T
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing

...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing.