The Psychological Well-Being of Divorced and Widowed Men and Women

Abstract

In this article we focus on the psychological well-being of the widowed and divorced. The data are from a national stratified probability sample in which the divorced and widowed, particularly divorced and widowed males, were oversampled. Seven different indicators of psychological well-being are used. Compared to the married and, to a lesser extent the never married, the psychological well-being of the divorced and widowed is poor. Overall the psychological well-being of divorced males, divorced females and widowed females is roughly comparable and better than the psychological well-being of widowed males.