The Impact of Marital Status on Well-Being in Older Adults
Author Information
Author(s): Ghose Urmimala, Park Rinseo, Smith Jacqui, Ram Nilam, Gerstorf Denis
Primary Institution: Humboldt University Berlin
Hypothesis
What role do social resources play in the well-being of older adults experiencing marital transitions?
Conclusion
Older adults who experience spousal loss have a longer-lasting decline in well-being compared to those who go through divorce.
Supporting Evidence
- Bereavement leads to a steeper rise in depressive symptoms compared to divorce.
- Divorced individuals reach average depressive symptom levels of continuously married peers after three years.
- Bereaved individuals continue to lag behind in well-being even after six years.
Takeaway
Being single or losing a spouse can make older people feel sad, and it takes longer for those who lost a spouse to feel better compared to those who got divorced.
Methodology
The study used six waves of longitudinal data from the Health and Retirement Study and employed synthetic cohort matching.
Participant Demographics
Participants had an average age of 66 years, with 56% women and 75% White.
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
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