Relationships and Health 403study showed that small sex differences in
distress appeared among recently widowed
persons, but large sex differences emerged
among those who had been widowed for
more than four years (van Grootheest et al.,
1999). Finally, one study found that widowed
women initially had worse mental health than
married women (Wilcox et al., 2003), but with
time, the mental health of widowed women
improved and ended up exceeding that of the
married women. Thus women may recover
more easily from widowhood than men.Explanations
Strains. One explanation for sex differ-
ences in health following the loss of a spouse
is that women and men face different strains
or stressors from widowhood. Traditionally,
women suffered financial strains, whereas
men suffered strains from having to keep up
with household chores. The strain of keep-
ing up with household chores is an imme-
diate strain and a daily strain, which may
explain why men suffer more than women
immediately following widowhood. Alterna-
tively, caring for an ill spouse is a strain that
is removed by widowhood. Because women
are traditionally more involved in caregiv-
ing than men—whether the spouse is ill or
not—one reason that women might not suf-
fer as much as men following the loss of a
spouse is that some of the burden associated
with support provision has been removed.
In an interview study with recently widowed
men and women, women mentioned a free-
dom from having to look after someone as
a deterrent to remarriage, whereas men did
not express this concern (Davidson, 2001).Social Support. A major loss associated
with widowhood is the loss of social support.
Interpersonal protection theoryhas been used
to explain why men suffer more than womenis examined before and after widowhood.
Imagine how difficult it would be to conduct
such a study. One would have to enroll a large
number of people into a study and then follow
them for a long time so a sufficient number of
people lose a spouse. Thus you can imagine
there are few prospective studies on widow-
hood. One way in which a prospective study
can be conducted is to follow couples in which
a spouse is at high risk for death. However,
the caregiver spouse’s health might already be
impacted if a spouse is ill.Evidence
Widowhood seems to have a more negative
effect on men’s health than women’s health
(Stroebe, Schut, & Stroebe, 2007). A seven-
year prospective study showed that widowed
men had higher mortality rates compared to
married people but widowed women did not
(Molloy et al., 2009). Another study showed
that men’s mortality was higher if widowed
than married but women’s mortality was
lower if widowed than married (Pizzetti &
Manfredini, 2008). A study of stroke showed
that widowed persons were at increased risk
relative to married persons, but the risk was
greater for men (Maselko et al., 2009).
Men also appear to be more distressed
following widowhood compared to women.
In a prospective study that followed couples
before and after a spouse died from severe
renal disease, men reported greater grief six
months following the loss of their spouses
than women (Pruchno, Cartwright, &
Wilson-Genderson, 2009). A nationally repre-
sentative survey showed that the transition to
widowhood was associated with a decline in
self-reported health for men but not women
(Williams & Umberson, 2004). However,
the negative effects were short-lived. Within
three to five years, these men’s health had
substantially improved. By contrast, anotherM11_HELG0185_04_SE_C11.indd 403 6/21/11 12:43 PM