404 Chapter 11men expressed interest in remarriage when
they had high levels of support but more
men than women expressed interest in the
absence of support. These results are shown
in Figure 11.5.Selection. Selection might not seem like
an obvious explanation for why widowhood
is associated with poor health. However,
there is evidence that people who become
widowed over a three-year period differ from
those who were already widowed or people
who were married. Researchers followed a
group of older adults over three years, mea-
suring their marital status and health at the
beginning and end of the study (Williams
et al., 2008). The group of people who would
eventually become widowed was similar to
the already widowed in terms of self-rated
health, anxiety, and energy levels but similar
to the married in terms of age, income, mo-
bility, and health problems. The point is that
these people were distinct in terms of some
health parameters from the married andupon widowhood (Stroebe & Stroebe, 1983).
Interpersonal protection theory implies there
are differences in social support across the
marital statuses, and social support provides
a buffer against distress. There are four sup-
port-related explanations for greater negative
effects of widowhood on men than women.
First, because marriage increases men’s more
than women’s social support, widowhood
results in a greater loss of support among
men than women, especially emotional sup-
port. Recall that men are more likely than
women to rely on their spouses as the sole
source of emotional support; women, by
contrast, receive less support from marriage
compared to men and often obtain sup-
port from other network members. Second,
family and friends provide more support
to women than men following widowhood
(Lee, Willetts, & Seccombe, 1998; van Groot-
heest et al., 1999), in part because women
are more likely than men to seek help from
others. Third, men suffer a greater loss of
support from other network members after
widowhood because it is typically the wife
who arranges social affairs and maintains
contacts with friends and family. Fourth,
widowed men have a smaller reference group
compared to widowed women. Because
women outlive men, widowed women have
a larger peer group available than widowed
men do. Thus men lose more in terms of
receiving support from a spouse and sup-
port from other network members follow-
ing widowhood. One study that provided
evidence for this social support explanation
showed that men are more interested in
remarriage after widowhoodonlywhen they
lack social support from friends (Carr, 2004).
Six months post loss, more men than women
expressed interest in remarrying (30% vs.
16%). However, when support from friends
was taken into consideration, few women or–1SD00.20.40.6Predicted Probability of Interestin RemarryingSocial Support from Friends0.81M +1SDMen
WomenFIGURE 11.5 Among those with low support,
men are more interested in remarriage compared
to women. Among those with high support, men
and women are equally uninterested in remarriage.
Source: Carr (2004).M11_HELG0185_04_SE_C11.indd 404 6/21/11 12:43 PM