Who's to Blame? Perceived Responsibility for Spousal Death and Psychological Distress among Older Widowed Persons

Author:

Carr Deborah1

Affiliation:

1. Deborah Carr is associate professor in the Department of Sociology and the Institute for Health, Health Care Policy, and Aging Research at Rutgers University. Her interests include the social context of death and dying, bereavement in later life, and the psychosocial consequences of obesity and body weight.

Abstract

I examine the ways that bereaved older adults attribute responsibility for their late spouses' deaths, and the consequences of such attributions for psychological adjustment to loss. Data are from the Changing Lives of Older Couples, a prospective study of married persons ages 65 and older. Bereaved persons whose late spouse smoked and had a sedentary lifestyle attributed higher levels of blame to the decedent. Persons who believe that their late spouse's stressful lifestyle and poor health care compliance contributed to the death report significantly lower levels of yearning, yet these effects are no longer statistically significant when marital quality is controlled. Bereaved spouses who believe health care providers contributed to the death report significantly more anger symptoms. The findings suggest that older adults adhere to a “secular morality”; deceased spouses who previously maintained unhealthy lifestyles are viewed as partly responsible for their own deaths.

Publisher

SAGE Publications

Subject

Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health,Social Psychology

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