The Long-term effects of spousal caregiving on survivors’ well-being in widowhood
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
9-2005
Publication Title
Social Science Quarterly
Volume
86
Issue
3
First page number:
664
Last page number:
682
Abstract
Objective. Previous research suggests that bereavement and adjustment to widowhood are long term and should be studied as processes rather than as static outcomes. We analyze how spousal care giving affects survivors' depressive symptoms 18 and 48 months into widowhood.
Method. We use three waves of data from the Changing Lives of Older Couples (CLOC) Survey and estimate OLS regression equations to determine the long-term effects of spousal care giving on widow(er)s' well-being.
Results. At 18 months, more burdensome spousal care giving predicted higher levels of depressive symptoms, while greater caregiver stress predicted lower levels. Specific characteristics of the caregiving situation were no longer significant predictors of well-being 48 months into widowhood, although care giving itself had an ameliorative effect on level of symptoms.
Conclusions. The results highlight the dynamic nature of bereavement and suggest that the effects of spousal care and characteristics of the care situation on depressive symptoms during widowhood are not linear over time. We discuss the implications of our findings for the conceptualization of the relationship between care giving and bereavement.
Keywords
Bereavement; Caregivers; Spouses; Widowhood
Disciplines
Family, Life Course, and Society | Psychology | Social Psychology and Interaction
Language
English
Permissions
Use Find in Your Library, contact the author, or use interlibrary loan to garner a copy of the article. Publisher copyright policy allows author to archive post-print (author’s final manuscript). When post-print is available or publisher policy changes, the article will be deposited
Publisher Citation
Prokos, A. H. and Keene, J. R. (2005), The Long-Term Effects of Spousal Care Giving on Survivors' Well-Being in Widowhood. Social Science Quarterly, 86: 664–682. doi: 10.1111/j.0038-4941.2005.00323.x
Repository Citation
Prokos, A. H.,
Keene, J. R.
(2005).
The Long-term effects of spousal caregiving on survivors’ well-being in widowhood.
Social Science Quarterly, 86(3),
664-682.
https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/sociology_pubs/17