Centre for Policy on Ageing



Gender differences in the depressive effect of widowhood in later life
Author(s)	Gary R Lee, Alfred DeMaris, Stefoni Bavin
Journal title	Journals of Gerontology: Series B, Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, vol 56B, no 1, January 2001
Pages	pp S56-S62
Keywords	Widows ; Widowers ; Depression ; Older men ; Older women ; United States of America.
Annotation	Cross-sectional data for 1,686 married and widowed people aged 65+ from the US National Survey of Families and Households for 1987/88 was used to test possible explanations as to why widowhood is more distressing for men than for women. It was found to be due primarily to the fact that married men were much less depressed than married women; widowed men and women were comparably depressed. Other contributors to the stronger effect of widowhood for men included men's shorter average time since widowhood, lower frequency of church attendance, stronger dislike of housework, and lessened ability to help their children. In the long run most people, but particularly women, adapt relatively well. (RH).
Accession Number	CPA-010307229 A
Classmark	SP: SPA: ENR: BC: BD: 7T
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing

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