Longitudinal changes in mental and physical health among elderly, recently widowed men

Mental and physical health, morale and social functioning were assessed in a sample of elderly men widowed during the course of a longitudinal study. Measures were taken before these men were widowed, and then re-measured four years later, after they had been widowed. They were compared with a sample of age-matched still-married controls. There were no significant differences as a result of either marital status or time for mental health, morale or social functioning. However, there were significant interactions between time and marital status for these variables. Those men who had recently become widowed showed declines in mental health, morale and social functioning. Physical health showed a significant difference for time alone, with both the widowed and still-married men showing declines in physical health over the four year period. The results confirm earlier findings which indicate that men’s mental health and morale is affected by widowhood. They also show that men reduce their participation in social activities following bereavement. This is of particular interest since it is in marked contrast to the evidence of stability in this area of functioning among women. The implications of this finding, and the others, are examined. One of the most profound life events which many elderly people have to face is widowhood. In Britain, for example, over 36% of all people aged 65 years or over are widowed (OPCS, 1990). While the numerical impact of widowhood is greater for the female population, it is nonetheless an important aspect of male ageing too. For example, 24.2% of men aged between 75 and 84 years, and 45.3% of men aged 85 years and over are widowed (Grundy, 1996). While widowhood is more common among elderly women than among elderly men, there is evidence to suggest that the impact on both mental and physical health is greater among men than among women. For example, in a classic paper Stroebe & Stroebe (1983) suggest that, although the evidence is not strong, the gender differences that are found for bereavement reactions indicate that it is the men who suffer more. On the whole more studies have examined female widowhood. However, those studies which have examined men (either alone or in comparison with women) indicate that both mental and physical health are affected by widow265 Correspondence to: Dr Kate Bennett, Department of Human Communication, De Montfort University, Scraptoft Campus, Scraptoft, Leicester LE7 9SU, United Kingdom. Fax: 0116 257 7708. E-Mail KMB @DMU.AC.UK 1357-6275/98/030265-09  Carfax Publishing Ltd 266 Kate Mary Bennett hood. Bowling & Windsor (1995), for example, found that there was excess mortality among men up to six months following bereavement. GallagherThompson et al. (1993) found short-term declines in physical health, whilst Tudiver et al. (1995) found increased use of health care following bereavement in men. Considering mental health, Byrne & Raphael (1994) found depressive bereavement phenomena in half of their men up to 13 months following their loss. Mouser et al. (1985) found that widowers’ life satisfaction was lower than that found for either married or remarried men. Finally, in terms of participation and social engagement, Bennett & Morgan (1993) found that, following bereavement, shopping and leisure decreased as did outdoor activities such as gardening, while indoor activities such as housework increased. There are a number of methodological issues which present difficulties in the study of widowhood in later life, especially among men. The most important of these is that there are simply fewer men in this age group than women. Male mortality is higher (76% for men: 53% for women, within 13 years), both among still-married men and the recently bereaved (Bowling & Windsor, 1995). There is also a greater tendency for men to remarry than is found for women (Haskey, 1982). Therefore, there are fewer men available for study. Both the issues of higher mortality and higher remarriage are important in the context of mental and physical health for men. However, in the context of this study it is the combination of recent widowhood and a return to single status which is of greatest interest. The second important issue is the confounding effects of ageing. Many of the physical and emotional changes assessed in relation to widowhood are known also to change as a result of ageing per se. Thus, physical health (e.g. Nowlin, 1974; Bennett, 1996) and morale (e.g. Larson, 1978; Bennett & Morgan, 1992) both show age-related decreases. If assessed longitudinally, therefore, it is important to distinguish between the effects of widowhood and the effects of ageing per se. Furthermore, widowhood itself comprises at least two different components, either of which might influence social functioning: i) the emotional impact of grief and bereavement; and ii) the transition from married to single status. The present study attempts to address these issues. It was designed to assess the impact of widowhood, and to clarify relationships between mental and physical health, morale and social functioning, in men bereaved during the course of the Nottingham Longitudinal Study of Activity and Ageing (NLSAA). To control for the confounding effects of both ageing and changed marital status this sub-sample was compared with a further sub-sample of still-married controls.