Death Of Spouse Research Articles

Midlife Marital Dissolution and the Onset of Cognitive Impairment.

Marital dissolution has become more common in midlife with the doubling of the divorce rate among middle-aged adults. Guided by the stress model that stipulates losing economic, social, and psychological resources lowers well-being, we posited that midlife adults who experienced divorce or widowhood were at greater risk of cognitive impairment than the continuously married. Subsequent repartnering was expected to negate the increased risk. We used data from the 1998-2016 Health and Retirement Study to estimate discrete-time event history models using logistic regression to predict cognitive impairment onset for men and women. Roughly 27% of men who experienced spousal death in midlife went on to experience mild cognitive impairment by age 65. For women, experiencing divorce or widowhood was associated with higher odds of cognitive impairment onset although these differentials were accounted for by economic, social, and psychological resources. Men and women who repartnered after marital dissolution did not appreciably differ from their continuously married counterparts in terms of their likelihoods of cognitive impairment onset. A stressful life event, midlife marital dissolution can be detrimental to cognitive well-being, placing individuals at increased risk of developing dementia in later life. The growing diversity of partnership experiences during the second half of life points to the continued importance of examining how union dissolution and formation shape health and well-being.

Health profiles of spouse caregivers: The role of active coping and the risk for developing prolonged grief symptoms.

1) To characterize distinct profiles of cancer caregivers' physical and mental health during the end-of-life caregiving period; 2) to identify the background and antecedent factors associated with the distinct profiles of caregivers; 3) to determine the relevance of caregiver profiles to the risk for developing prolonged grief symptoms. This study was a secondary analysis of spouses/partners (n=198) who participated in the Cancer Caregiver Study. Latent profile mixture modeling was used to characterize caregiver health profiles from data collected prior to their spouse's death. Regression analyses were used to determine the impact of caregiver health profiles on the risk of developing prolonged grief symptoms (PG-13 scale). Two health profiles were identified, one of which was comprised of a minority of caregivers (n=49; 25%) who exhibited higher anxiety and depressive symptoms, greater health impact from caregiving, more self-reported health problems, and greater difficulty meeting physical demands of daily activities. Caregivers who were observed in this poorer health profile had significantly lower levels of active coping (p<0.001) in adjusted models. Additionally, according to subsequent bereavement data, caregivers' preloss health profile was a significant predictor of developing prolonged grief symptoms (p=0.018), controlling for caregivers' age (p=0.040) and amount of active coping (p=0.049), and there was a mediating effect of caregiver health on the relationship between active coping and prolonged grief symptoms. Caregiving and bereavement should not be considered separately; caregivers adapt to bereavement with the resources and coping attained throughout the life course, culminating in the experience of providing end-of-life care. Interventions aimed at supporting caregivers and bereaved persons should focus on maintaining physical and mental health during stressful life transitions, and especially during the period in which they are providing care to a spouse at end-of-life.

Valuation of Equity Release Contracts in Czech Republic, Republic of Poland and Slovak Republic

An ageing European population and, therefore, a rising dependency ratio of retirees to the working population, strongly suggests that a pension funding gap will be a key social issue in future. Yet many older people have significant real estate assets that they could access using equity release products. They could sell their assets in exchange for lifelong or temporary monthly payments. Equity release products are relatively new to Poland, but are not yet offered by commercial banks in Czechia and Slovakia. This paper estimates the potential benefits of marriage reverse annuity, and reverse mortgage contracts, using the Svensson model function, and empirical property data from selected Czech, Slovak and Polish cities. The results are also compared to the average pension of inhabitants in the selected cities. It is shown that there is substantial scope for boosting retirement income in all the cases considered, though the precise size of the increase depends on factors such as contract buyers' age and life expectancy, the value of their assets, the payment consequences of a spouse's death, and contract suppliers' pricing policies.

Marital Matching, Economies of Scale, and Intrahousehold Allocations

We propose a novel nonparametric method to empirically identify economies of scale in multiperson household consumption. We assume consumption technologies that define the public and private nature of expenditures through Barten scales. Our method (solely) exploits preference information revealed by a cross-section of household observations while accounting for fully unobserved preference heterogeneity. An application to data drawn from the US Panel Study of Income Dynamics shows that the method yields informative results on scale economies and intrahousehold allocation patterns. In addition, it allows us to define individual compensation schemes required to preserve the same consumption level in case of marriage dissolution or spousal death.

Stressful life events, socioeconomic status, and the risk of neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder: A population-based case-control study

BackgroundNeuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD) is a multifactorial autoimmune disease caused by genetic susceptibility and exposure to environmental factors. There is not sufficient evidence to estimate potential environmental risk factors for NMOSD; therefore, many predisposing factors may remain unknown. ObjectiveThe present study assessed the possible associations of ethnicity, socioeconomic status (SES), and stressful life events with NMOSD risk after adjustment for sex and age in an Iranian population. MethodsThis population-based case-control study included NMOSD cases and healthy controls in Tehran, Iran. Diagnosis of disease was confirmed by neurologists based on the 2015 International Consensus Criteria (ICC). Controls were sex-matched with cases and had no history of any neurological disorders. The telephone interviews were administered to gather pertinent data. Matched logistic regression was used to estimate unadjusted and adjusted odds ratio (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) using SPSS. ResultsThis study recruited 153 NMOSD cases and 400 controls with the case-control ratio of 1: 2.61 and mean ages (SD) of 37.11 (10.90) and 33.67 (8.37) years, respectively (p < 0.001). Depression history (OR = 3.79; 95% CI (1.50 – 9.58), p = 0.01) and stressful life events including death of first-degree relatives (OR = 5.10; 95% CI (1.78 – 14.61), p < 0.01), family disruption (OR = 12.68; 95% CI) 3.53 – 45.46), p < 0.001), homelessness periods(OR = 4.35; 95% CI (1.18 – 14.74), p = 0.02), joblessness (OR = 4.24; 95% CI (1.91 – 5.15), p = 0.01), and divorce (OR = 14.18; 95% CI (1.91 – 23.15), p = 0.01) were more common among NMOSD cases than matched controls and may play a role in increasing risk of disease occurrence. Marriage (OR = 0.10; 95% CI (0.03 – 0.35), p < 0.001) and Conquer (Iranian national exam for university entrance) (OR = 0.31; 95% CI (0.11 – 0.88), p = 0.02) had a negative association with NMOSD risk. Other stressful life events including jail term, close family members’ serious disease or suicide, death of spouse, being in debt, getting fired from work, migration, and retirement had no relation with NMOSD risk (P > 0.05). The total stress number and load were not significantly associated with the risk of NMOSD (P > 0.05). Self-rated health status was significantly higher in controls (p < 0.001). Socioeconomic status (SES), parental ethnicity, and parental educational level during subjects’ adolescence were not among the significant predictors of NMOSD risk (P > 0.05). ConclusionNo association was identified between ethnicity, SES, and parental educational levels as risk factors for developing NMOSD in an Iranian population. The obtained evidence showed the association of some individual stressful life events like death of first-degree relatives, family disruption, homelessness periods, joblessness, and divorce with the risk of developing NMOSD while marriage had a negative association. Depression history was more common among cases than healthy controls and may play a role in increasing risk of NMOSD.

The distance to death perceptions of older adults explain why they age in place: A theoretical examination

Older persons prefer to age in place or stay put in their current dwellings and move less frequently than any other age group. However, current residential mobility theories do not fully account for these preferences and behaviors because they focus on why older people move rather than on why they remain in their dwellings and do not consider the temporal or human developmental context of these residential decisions. It is essential to understand why older persons are reluctant to move because their ability to age successfully—have healthy, independent, active, and enjoyable lives—depends on where they live. When they stay put, they also rely more on family caregivers and paid home care providers to maintain their independence, rather than on the supportive services offered by senior group facilities, such as assisted living. They demand more home modification and financial service products, and their residential decisions influence the supply of housing that younger populations can potentially buy or rent. This paper's theoretical analysis proposes that Carstensen's socioemotional selectivity theory (SST), a lifespan theory of motivation, improves our understanding of why older persons age in place—either in their dwellings or more broadly in their communities. It offers an alternative interpretation of how life-changing events, such as retirement, lower incomes, spousal death, physical limitations, and health declines, influence their residential decisions. Whereas residential mobility theories view these transitions as disruptions that change the appropriateness or congruence of where older people live, SST proposes that older persons perceive these events as signs or cues that they are closer to death and must differently prioritize their goals and emotional experiences. Feeling their time is “running out,” older persons are motivated to stay put because moving requires preparations that are physically and emotionally trying and they are able to adapt to their current housing shortcomings. Their residential environments are now also a source of difficult-to-replace positive emotions and provide them with a supportive network of intimate and reliable interpersonal relationships. It is challenging for them to learn how to safely and efficiently conduct their usual activities and routines in another location and to establish new residential attachments and social connections. They would benefit from any net positive emotional payoffs only in a distant future, an unattractive prospect when they perceive a limited time left to live. Empirical studies must test the theoretical propositions presented in this paper. However, the disproportionally large projected future growth of the age 75 and older population with a heightened awareness of their limited time left to live should be a strong rationale for such investigations.

Spouses bereaved by suicide: A population-based longitudinal cohort comparison of physician-diagnosed mental disorders and hospitalized suicide attempts

BackgroundThis study compares a longitudinal population-based sample of spouses bereaved by suicide and those bereaved by other sudden deaths to determine if suicide-bereaved spouses (SBS) experience greater rates of physician-diagnosed mental disorders. Methods: First, married individuals whose spouse died by suicide, sudden natural death (SND) and unintentional injury (UI) were compared to non-bereaved matched cohorts to determine if there were differences in mental disorder rates between bereavement groups and non-bereaved matches. Second, SBS (n = 365), spouses bereaved by SND (n = 1000), and spouses bereaved by UI (n = 270), were compared using inverse probability treatment weighting and generalized estimating equations to calculate relative rates of mental disorders 5 years before/after death. Outcomes: All bereaved cohorts had higher rates of mental disorders compared to non-bereaved cohorts. SBS had the greatest rate of depression post-bereavement (50·96%), followed by UI (38·52%) and SND (33·70%) spouses. When comparing bereavement cohorts, a significant group-by-time interaction (P = 0·047) revealed the rate change for depression was significantly different between suicide and UI-bereaved spouses, with SBS having higher rates of depression before bereavement. SBS had increased rates of any mental disorder both pre (ARR = 1·35, 95% CI = 1·03-1·18, P<·05) and post spousal death (ARR = 1·24, 95% CI = 1·03-1·45, P<·05) when compared to UI spouses signifying pre-existing mental disorders. Post-bereavement, SBS had greater rates of depression only when compared to SND-bereaved spouses (ARR = 1·31, 95% CI = 1·10-1·55, P<·01). Interpretation: SBS have the greatest rates of depression and any mental disorder before the death of their spouse, suggesting suicide bereavement may be unique. Sudden spousal bereavement is a vulnerable time for mental disorders.

Can social capital moderate the impact of widowhood on depressive symptoms? A fixed-effects longitudinal analysis

Objectives Widowhood is associated with increased risks of depression in the surviving spouse. We examined whether an increase in individual-level social capital mitigates the adverse impact of widowhood on depressive symptoms. Methods We used data from the 2013/2016 waves of the Japan Gerontological Evaluation Study of functionally independent adults aged 65 years or older (men: n = 20,853; women: n =16,858). Fixed-effects regression was applied to examine the potential buffering effects of changes in social capital on changes in depressive symptoms following widowhood among married people living with their spouse and/or others at baseline. Results Widowhood had a deleterious impact on depressive symptoms particularly among men who ended up living alone following their spouse's death. Fixed-effects models revealed that an increase in informal socializing and social participation might buffer the effects of spousal bereavement on depressive symptoms among men who became widowed during the first two years of follow-up and ended up living alone. Discussion An increase in structural social capital may mitigate the impact of spousal bereavement on depressive symptoms. However, the associations vary by gender, living arrangement, and time since widowhood. Intensive efforts should be directed toward connecting the vulnerable group, widowed men living alone, to sources of social capital.

사별 후, 혼자 남겨진 여성노인들의 일상 들여다보기 -활동적 노화(Active Ageing)의 관점에서-

사별 후, 혼자 남겨진 여성노인들의 일상 들여다보기 -활동적 노화(Active Ageing)의 관점에서-

Grief Reactions of Bereaved Spouses in Ilorin Metropolis, Kwara State, Nigeria

Spousal death is one of the most traumatic events that can occur in marital experience and most times, engenders different reactions. The paper investigated the grief reactions of bereaved spouses in Ilorin metropolis, Kwara State. A total of 395 bereaved spouses were selected using a purposive sampling technique. Data were collected from the respondents using an instrument titled "Grief Reaction of Bereaved Spouses Questionnaire" (GRBSQ). The research questions raised were answered with percentages while the hypotheses generated were analysed using t-test statistics and three-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) at 0.05 alpha level. The findings of the study indicated that (90.6%) of bereaved spouses in Kwara state have positive grief reactions, while 37 (9.4%) have negative grief reactions. The study further revealed significant differences in the grief reactions of bereaved spouses in Ilorin metropolis based on age at bereavement, nature of death and length of years of loss. Based on these findings, recommendations were made on the desirability of establishing counselling centres in governmental and non-governmental organisations aside from the conventional ones in schools and hospitals. The study also stresses the need for bereaved spouses to be exposed to grief counselling to help them adjust better to their bereavement and educated on the adverse effect of complicated grief as a result of poor adjustment.

Psychosocial Needs of Bereaved Spouses in Nigeria: Implications for Grief Counselling Intervention

Spousal death is a traumatic life event which engenders different reactions. It becomes more challenging when psychosocial needs are inadequate. This study examined the psychosocial needs of bereaved spouses in Nigeria. The research method adopted for this study was descriptive survey. The population of the study consisted of 1,924,301 bereaved spouses in Nigeria. Purposive and proportional sampling techniques were adopted in selecting a total sample of 1,594 bereaved spouses across the six geo-political zones in Nigeria. The Psychosocial Needs of Bereaved Spouses Scale was used for data collection. Means, percentages, rank order, t-test, and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) statistical measures were used to analyze the data collected for the study. The findings of the study revealed that respondents needed to acquire a job to sustain the family, raise finances for family upkeep, pay house bills and deal with widowhood isolation, among others. Also, age at bereavement, length of years of loss and nature of death had significant influences on respondents’ psychosocial needs, while gender and religious affiliations had no significant influence on the psychosocial needs of the respondents. The study concluded that respondents’ psychosocial needs were high. The implication is that bereaved spouses need better psychosocial supports to facilitate better adjustments. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended, among others, that counsellors should provide relevant community-based intervention programs and support services to assist bereaved spouses of different age groups, length of years of loss and nature of death, religion, and gender to meet their varying needs.

Psychosocial Needs of Bereaved Spouses in Nigeria: Implications for Grief Counselling Intervention

Spousal death is a traumatic life event which engenders different reactions. It becomes more challenging when psychosocial needs are inadequate. This study examined the psychosocial needs of bereaved spouses in Nigeria. The research method adopted for this study was descriptive survey. The population of the study consisted of 1,924,301 bereaved spouses in Nigeria. Purposive and proportional sampling techniques were adopted in selecting a total sample of 1,594 bereaved spouses across the six geo-political zones in Nigeria. The Psychosocial Needs of Bereaved Spouses Scale was used for data collection. Means, percentages, rank order, t-test, and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) statistical measures were used to analyze the data collected for the study. The findings of the study revealed that respondents needed to acquire a job to sustain the family, raise finances for family upkeep, pay house bills and deal with widowhood isolation, among others. Also, age at bereavement, length of years of loss and nature of death had significant influences on respondents’ psychosocial needs, while gender and religious affiliations had no significant influence on the psychosocial needs of the respondents. The study concluded that respondents’ psychosocial needs were high. The implication is that bereaved spouses need better psychosocial supports to facilitate better adjustments. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended, among others, that counsellors should provide relevant community-based intervention programs and support services to assist bereaved spouses of different age groups, length of years of loss and nature of death, religion, and gender to meet their varying needs.

Short-Term Mental Health Sequelae of Bereavement Predict Long-Term Physical Health Decline in Older Adults: U.S. Health and Retirement Study Analysis.

Spousal death is a common late-life event with health-related sequelae. Evidence linking poor mental health to disease suggests the hypothesis that poor mental health following death of a spouse could be a harbinger of physical health decline. Thus, identification of bereavement-related mental health symptoms could provide an opportunity for prevention. We analyzed data from N = 39,162 individuals followed from 1994 to 2016 in the U.S. Health and Retirement Study; N = 5,061 were widowed during follow-up. We tested change in mental and physical health from prebereavement through the 5 years following spousal death. Bereaved spouses experienced an increase in depressive symptoms following their spouses' deaths but the depressive shock attenuated within 1 year. Bereaved spouses experienced increases in disability, chronic-disease morbidity, and hospitalization, which grew in magnitude over time, especially among older respondents. Bereaved spouses were at increased risk of death compared to nonbereaved respondents. The magnitude of depressive symptoms in the immediate aftermath of spousal death predicted physical-health decline and mortality risk over 5 years of follow-up. Bereavement-related depressive symptoms indicate a risk for physical health decline and death in older adults. Screening for depressive symptoms in bereaved older adults may represent an opportunity for intervention to preserve healthy life span.

Health in widowhood: The roles of social capital and economic resources.

A sizeable literature has demonstrated strong negative associations between widowhood and health, but longitudinal evidence on moderating factors has been mixed. This study assesses the roles of pre-existing social capital and wealth in moderating changes in health in the event of spousal death. Samples of widowed individuals (n=796) and matched married controls (n=8233) are employed from 17 consecutive waves of the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey (2001-2017). Individual-level fixed-effects models are used to estimate changes in physical and mental health before and after spousal death, in reference to one's own health more than two years before widowhood. Results show a temporary physical health improvement in the year of spousal death, and a decline in mental health beginning up to two years before spousal death, lasting up to two years after spousal death. Using social capital-from children, club membership or volunteering status, and social connections-observed earlier than two years before spousal death, this study finds that widowed individuals with higher social capital show poorer mental health than those with less capital. This negative moderating role is more marked among widowed males than females. In contrast, greater wealth, particularly from non-financial assets, is associated with earlier psychological adjustment among males. For females, mental health in widowhood shows little difference by wealth. These findings suggest that social capital may not be sufficient to protect deteriorations in mental health among widowed individuals, and that the pursuit of alternative avenues may be especially important among the less wealthy.

Family Support in Hard Times: Dynamics of Intergenerational Exchange after Adverse Events

We use an event-study approach to examine changes in intergenerational financial transfers and informal care within families following wealth loss, job exit, widowhood, and health shocks. We find sharp reductions in parental giving to adult children following negative shocks to parents' wealth and earned income, particularly in low-wealth households. Parental giving also decreases with some health shocks and increases following spousal death. Meanwhile, children of low-wealth households increase financial transfers to their parents following adverse shocks and children in both high- and low-wealth households increase their provision of informal care to parents following a wide range of adverse shocks.

Study of mindfulness and depression in old age people

Old age is the truth of everyone’s life. In this stage, there are many changes in the life of a person, such as retirement from job, sometime death of spouse, separation from children due to their job or marriage, becoming physically weak etc. Due to these, the aged person goes through many psychological problems.Mindfulness has get attention over the past decades as a way to increase wellbeing. It can be helpful for old age life. The present study is an attempt to investigate the effect of mindfulness on depression among aged people. For this study, sample of 100 aged people in the age range on 60 to 80 years were included through purposive sampling technique from district Haridwar. The five facet mindfulness scale (Baer et al., 2004) and depression scale (Karim and Tiwari, 1986) were used to measure variables.The level of mindfulness and depression was found to be lower in old age people living in old age home than in old age people living with family.Mindfulness has been seen to have a positive effect on depression.

Social media and social wellbeing in later life.

Social wellbeing is important to health, but maintaining social relations often becomes difficult in later life due to retirement, chronic disease, and the death of spouses and friends. Social media platforms, such as Facebook and Twitter, present accessible and low-cost communication technologies that have been demonstrated to enhance feelings of social connection and reduce loneliness in younger age groups. This exploratory study uses a four-week social media training workshop as an intervention in a randomised controlled study to examine whether similar social benefits might be realised for those at older ages, aged 65+ years. Social wellbeing measures of social capital, loneliness, social connectedness and social provisions were examined, revealing only small differences in social integration. As these findings seemingly contradict studies conducted with younger persons, the contexts of social media use in older adulthood are discussed, along with proposals for future research directions.

THE IMPORTANCE OF LOW SOCIAL LONELINESS FOR MAINTAINING GOOD WELL-BEING

Older people are often confronted with dependence, death of spouse and other loss experience. Nevertheless, older adults generally experience a good well-being. This lack of age-related decline of subjective well-being has been named the ‘paradox of ageing’. One possible explanation for this paradox can be found in the socio-emotional selectivity theory of Carstensen. Thus, we hypothesize that low emotional and/or low social loneliness can act as a buffer for the negative relationship between negative life events and well-being. We use data of the D-SCOPE project that includes 869 older community-dwelling adults at risk of frailty residing in Flanders. By means of regression moderating analyses the research gains insights into the relationships between older people and well-being where the absence of social loneliness is detected as a possible buffer against negative outcomes. The discussion develops the argument that the absence of loneliness is a crucial facet for maintaining a good well-being.

SOCIAL MEDIA AND SOCIAL WELL-BEING IN LATER LIFE

Social well-being is important to health, but maintaining social relations often becomes difficult in later life due to retirement, chronic disease, and the death of spouses and friends. Social media platforms, such as Facebook and Twitter, present accessible and low cost communication technologies that are associated with enhanced feelings of social connection and reduced loneliness in younger age groups. This paper examines whether similar benefits might arise for adults at older ages. Using a four-week social media training workshop as a randomized, controlled wait-list intervention, this study examines whether social benefits are realized among a group of novice social media users, aged 65+. Measures of social well-being, including social capital, loneliness, social connectedness, and social provisions, were assessed at pre- and multiple post-test intervals for differences related to social media learning. Findings revealed only small differences between groups in one dimension of social connectedness, that of social integration. As these findings seemingly contradict studies conducted with younger persons, the contexts of social media use in older adulthood are discussed. These include the relevance of lower social media adoption rates, as well as influences that intersect with an older person’s life stage, such as gaps in network coverage on technological platforms, perceptions of the value of weak connections, and a reduced digital skills base. These additional factors are relevant to understanding disparity in the benefits that can be obtained through the use of social media and highlight the differing needs that social media fulfill at varying life stages.

RACE, DEATH OF A SIBLING, AND DEMENTIA RISK AT LATE ADULTHOOD

The death of a family member is a stressful life event that compromises health and well-being. Considerable research has documented the detrimental health effects of parental, child, and spousal death. However, much less is known with regard to the health consequences of sibling death especially in late adulthood. Relationship with sibling is one of longest and intimate social relationships and the death of a sibling can be a devastating life event especially for older adults as they are more vulnerable to adverse effect of stress. As sibling death is more prevalent in late adulthood, it is important to examine whether sibling death increases risks of dementia which has become a public health concern due to its deleterious effects on individuals, families, and societies. Therefore, this study investigates the association between sibling death and dementia incidence in later life by using longitudinal data from the Health and Retirement Study. Results from discrete-time hazard models show that respondents who experienced the death of a sibling between 1992 and 2000 are more likely to develop dementia during follow-up. This positive association between the death of a sibling and dementia incidence remains unchanged after accounting for respondents’ health status before sibling death and shared family social status during childhood. Further analyses indicate that psychological distress, health behaviors, and health status cannot explain the relationship between sibling death and dementia incidence. In addition, the association of sibling death with dementia incidence is similar for non-Hispanic whites and non-Hispanic blacks.