Widowhood and Husband Sanctification

Abstract

A sample of metropolitan Chicago widows who are current or former beneficiaries of Social Security shows a strong tendency to idealize the late husband and life with him before his fatal illness or accident, often to the point of sanctification. However, there are important variations in responses to each of 13 items on a sanctification scale and in the characteristics of widows who are extreme in this idealization and those who deviate from this extreme. Four interdependent variables proved of greatest influence on sanctification scale scores: age, education, income prior to the husband's fatal illness or accident, and race. This paper focuses on the influence of schooling and race, concluding that women who are likely to have had a difficult time in marriage, due to minority status, inadequate education and income, and related problems, are less apt to idealize the late husband and the marriage than are women without these handicaps.