Centre for Policy on Ageing



Widowhood, gender and depression — a longitudinal analysis
Author(s)	Gary R Lee, Alfred DeMaris
Journal title	Research on Aging, vol 29, no 1, January 2007
Pages	pp 56-72
Keywords	Depression ; Well being ; Widows ; Widowers ; Older men ; Older women ; Longitudinal surveys ; United States of America.
Annotation	Many cross-sectional surveys have found that widowhood is psychologically a more difficult experience for men than women. However, most longitudinal studies have found either no gender difference of a slightly greater effect for women. The authors attempted to resolve this paradox with data from the first two waves of the US National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH). They found that men whose wives died between the two waves were already depressed at Time 1 compared with men whose wives survived until Time 2. There was no such anticipatory effect for women. Attempts to explain men's elevated depression before widowhood, with predictors involving wife's health, caregiving and marital quality at Time 1 were largely unsuccessful. However, the authors suggest that longitudinal studies that examine change in depression after widowhood may miss the increase in depression for men that appears to occur before their wives' deaths. (RH).
Accession Number	CPA-070131206 A
Classmark	ENR: D:F:5HH: SP: SPA: BC: BD: 3J: 7T
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...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing.