The effect of widowhood on older adults' social participation: an evaluation of activity, disengagement, and continuity theories.

PURPOSE This study evaluated how levels of social participation change as a result of late-life widowhood. Social participation is a multidimensional construct incorporating both formal (e.g., meeting attendance, religious participation, and volunteer obligations) and informal (e.g., telephone contact and social interactions with friends) social roles. DESIGN AND METHODS Using data from the Changing Lives of Older Couples study, analyses compared widowed persons to continuously married control participants to evaluate whether widowhood affects older adults' levels of social participation. RESULTS Widowed persons had higher levels of informal social participation than nonwidowed persons, whereas formal social participation levels were comparable between the two groups. Social participation levels decrease before the death of a spouse, primarily because of poor spousal health, and increase following the loss, because of increased support from friends and relatives. IMPLICATIONS Maintaining continuity in the realm of social participation is a strategy older adults use to cope with spousal loss; however, not all widowed persons have the same resources to alter their levels of social participation.

[1]  L. Thompson,et al.  Psychosocial Factors Affecting Adaptation to Bereavement in the Elderly , 1982, International journal of aging & human development.

[2]  W. Lancee,et al.  Predictors and correlates of adaptation to conjugal bereavement. , 1982, The American journal of psychiatry.

[3]  Robert L. Kahn,et al.  Convoys over the life course: attachment, roles, and social support , 1980 .

[4]  W. Swann.  Identity negotiation: where two roads meet. , 1987, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[5]  H. Lopata,et al.  Current Widowhood: Myths and Realities. , 1996 .

[6]  R. Cavan,et al.  Personal adjustment in old age , 1949 .

[7]  Personal Adjustment in Old Age , 1949 .

[8]  J. Matras.  Dependency, Obligations, and Entitlements: A New Sociology of Aging, the Life Course, and the Elderly , 1989 .

[9]  J. Jackson,et al.  Social support, interpersonal efficacy, and health: A life course perspective. , 1987 .

[10]  L. Farrand.  THE AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION. , 1897, Science.

[11]  J. House.  Social support and social structure , 1987 .

[12]  C. Longino,et al.  Migration patterns among the elderly: a developmental perspective. , 1987, The Gerontologist.

[13]  J. Rodin.  Personal control through the life course. , 1987 .

[14]  G. Elder,et al.  The life course as developmental theory. , 1998, Child development.

[15]  D. A. Arens.  Widowhood and Well-Being: An Examination of Sex Differences within a Causal Model , 1983, International journal of aging & human development.

[16]  J. Rowe,et al.  Successful aging. , 1998, Aging.

[17]  L. Waite,et al.  The Case for Marriage: Why Married People are Happier, Healthier, and Better off Financially , 2000 .

[18]  G. Hagestad.  The Aging Society as a Context for Family Life , 1992 .

[19]  R. Kessler,et al.  Widowhood and depression: explaining long-term gender differences in vulnerability. , 1992, Journal of health and social behavior.

[20]  S. Beck,et al.  Involvement in Activities and the Psychological Well-Being of Retired Men , 1988 .

[21]  R. Atchley.  A continuity theory of normal aging. , 1989, The Gerontologist.

[22]  J. House,et al.  Social relationships and health. , 1988, Science.

[23]  L. Radloff.  The CES-D Scale , 1977 .

[24]  M. Lowenthal,et al.  Interaction and adaptation: intimacy as a critical variable. , 1968, American sociological review.

[25]  V. Bengtson,et al.  Are Theories of Aging Important? Models and Explanations in Gerontology at the Turn of the Century , 2000 .

[26]  Tc. Antonucci,et al.  Social Supports, and Social Relation-ships , 1990 .

[27]  Multiple Role Involvements and the Adjustment to Conjugal Bereavement: An Exploratory Study , 1990 .

[28]  T. B. Anderson.  Widowhood as a Life Transition: Its Impact on Kinship Ties. , 1984 .

[29]  J. House,et al.  Marital quality and psychological adjustment to widowhood among older adults: a longitudinal analysis. , 2000, The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences.

[30]  E. Maccoby,et al.  Gender and relationships. A developmental account. , 1990, The American psychologist.

[31]  P. Thoits.  Multiple identities and psychological well-being: a reformulation and test of the social isolation hypothesis. , 1983, American sociological review.

[32]  J. House,et al.  Psychological adjustment to sudden and anticipated spousal loss among older widowed persons. , 2001, The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences.

[33]  T. Parsons,et al.  Growing Old: The Process of Disengagement. , 1962 .

[34]  G. Alter,et al.  Gender differences in mortality , 2004 .

[35]  Malcolm L. Johnson,et al.  Handbook of Theories of Aging , 1999 .

[36]  H. Markus,et al.  THE DYNAMIC SELF-CONCEPT: A Social Psychological Perspective , 1987 .

[37]  Dennis P. Hogan,et al.  Sources of Emergency Help and Routine Assistance in Old Age , 1995 .

[38]  Helena Znaniecka Lopata,et al.  Current Widowhood: Myths and Realities , 1996 .

[39]  Ethel Shanas,et al.  Handbook of Aging and the Social Sciences , 1991 .

[40]  W. Stroebe,et al.  Handbook of bereavement research: Consequences, coping, and care , 2001 .

[41]  K. Ferraro.  Widowhood and Social Participation in Later Life , 1984 .

[42]  Correlates of morale among the newly widowed. , 1980 .

[43]  L. Thompson,et al.  Effects of bereavement on self-perceptions of physical health in elderly widows and widowers. , 1984, Journal of gerontology.

[44]  R. Lerner,et al.  Family systems and life-span development , 1992 .

[45]  D. Dunphy.  The social structure of urban adolescent peer groups. , 1963 .

[46]  E. Bankoff.  Social Support and Adaptation to Widowhood , 1983 .

[47]  William B. Swann,et al.  When our identities are mistaken: Reaffirming self-conceptions through social interaction. , 1982 .

[48]  J. Logan,et al.  The Influence of Parent and Child Needs on Coresidence in Middle and Later Life. , 1992 .

[49]  C. Barrett,et al.  An Empirical Search for Stages of Widowhood , 1981 .

[50]  F. Goldscheider.  The Aging of the Gender Revolution , 1990, Research on aging.

[51]  E. Cumming,et al.  Growing old : the process of disengagement , 1963 .

[52]  L P Lipsitt,et al.  Life-span developmental psychology. , 1980, Annual review of psychology.

[53]  T. H. Holmes,et al.  The Social Readjustment Rating Scale. , 1967, Journal of psychosomatic research.

[54]  I. Rosow.  Social integration of the aged , 1968 .

[55]  R. Morrison.  Mind, Self and Society from the Standpoint of a Social Behaviorist , 1936 .

[56]  J. House,et al.  Psychological adjustment to sudden and anticipated spousal death among the older widowed , 2001 .

[57]  G. Mead.  Mind, Self, and Society: From the Standpoint of a Social Behaviorist (Works of George Herbert Mead, Vol. 1) , 1934 .

[58]  L. Carstensen.  Social and emotional patterns in adulthood: support for socioemotional selectivity theory. , 1992, Psychology and aging.

[59]  S. M. Chambré.  Is volunteering a substitute for role loss in old age? An empirical test of activity theory. , 1984, The Gerontologist.

[60]  Personality in the life course. , 1987, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[61]  N. Gerstel,et al.  Kinkeeping and friend keeping among older women: the effect of marriage. , 1993, The Gerontologist.