Journal
JOURNALS OF GERONTOLOGY SERIES B-PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES
Volume 68, Issue 3, Pages 431-442Publisher
OXFORD UNIV PRESS INC
DOI: 10.1093/geronb/gbt015
Keywords
Aging; Depression; Europe; SHARE; Widowhood
Funding
- European Commission [QLK6-CT-2001- 00360, RII-CT-2006-062193, CIT5-CT-2005-028857, CIT4-CT-2006-028812, 211909, 227822]
- U.S. National Institute on Aging [U01 AG09740-13S2, P01 AG005842, P01 AG08291, P30 AG12815, Y1-AG-4553-01, OGHA 04-064, IAG BSR06-11, R21 AG025169]
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This study investigates the role of gender, caregiving, and marital quality in the correlation between widowhood and depression among older people within a European context by applying the theory of Social Production Functions as a theoretical framework. Fixed-effects linear regression models are estimated using the first 2 waves (2004, 2006) of The Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). A subsample of 7,844 respondents aged 50 and older in 11 countries, who were married at baseline and are either continuously married or widowed at follow-up, is analyzed. Respondents who experienced widowhood between the 2 waves report significantly more depressive symptoms than those continuously married, with respondents living in Denmark and Sweden reporting a lower increase in depressive symptoms than those living in Greece, Spain, or Italy. There is no statistically significant interaction between gender and widowhood. Widowed persons who report higher marital quality at baseline show a larger increase in the number of symptoms of depression than those with low marital quality; widowed persons who report being a caregiver for their partner at baseline report smaller increase in the symptoms of depression compared with widowed noncaregivers. The results support the results of previous studies using longitudinal data. Furthermore, the effect of widowhood varies among the 11 countries in the subsample although only a small amount of the variation in the increase of depressive symptoms after becoming widowed can be explained by such contextual factors.
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