Citation

Spahni S, Bennett KM, Perrig-Chiello P. Death Stud. 2016; 40(3): 182-190.

Affiliation

a Department of Psychology , University of Bern , Bern , Switzerland.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2016, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/07481187.2015.1109566

PMID

26745606

Abstract

This research examined the effect of marital status and gender on various indicators of psychological adaptation, namely depressive symptoms, loneliness, and life satisfaction. It further explores the role of trait resilience, marital history, and context of death for predicting these outcomes in bereaved individuals. Four hundred eighty widowed individuals aged between 60 and 89 were compared with 759 married peers. Main effects were found for marital status and gender for all indicators. The regression analyses illustrate the multifaceted structure of psychological adaptation. Trait resilience is a key factor in adapting to spousal bereavement, whereas marital history and the context are secondary.

Language: en