Widowhood, Gender, and Depression

TLDR

Widowhood is generally more psychologically difficult for men in cross‑sectional studies, but longitudinal studies show little or a slightly greater effect for women. The study aimed to resolve this paradox of gender differences in depression using data from the first two waves of the National Survey of Families and Households. The authors used those survey waves to examine gender differences in depression before and after widowhood. Men whose wives died between waves were already highly depressed at time 1, whereas women showed no anticipatory effect; attempts to explain men’s pre‑widowhood depression with wife’s health, caregiving, and marital quality were largely unsuccessful, suggesting that longitudinal studies may miss the pre‑death increase in men’s depression.

Abstract

Many cross-sectional studies have found that widowhood is psychologically a more difficult experience for men than for women. However, most longitudinal studies have found either no gender difference or a slightly greater effect for women. The authors attempted to resolve this paradox with data from the first two waves of the National Survey of Families and Households. They found that men whose wives died between the two waves were already highly depressed at time 1, compared with men whose wives survived until time 2. There was no such anticipatory effect for women. Attempts to explain men's elevated depression before widowhood, with predictors involving wife's health, caregiving, and marital quality at time 1, were largely unsuccessful. However, the authors suggest that longitudinal studies that examine change in depression after widowhood may miss the increase in depression for men that appears to occur before their wives' deaths.