Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-fscjk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T01:02:51.620Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

How to achieve resilience as an older widower: turning points or gradual change?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 January 2010

KATE M. BENNETT
KATE M. BENNETT*
Affiliation:
School of Psychology, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK.
*
Address for correspondence: Kate M. Bennett, School of Psychology, University of Liverpool, Eleanor Rathbone Building, Bedford Street South, LiverpoolL69 7ZA, UK E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The paper draws together two conceptualisations of resilience in bereavement and widowhood that were developed by Bonanno (2004) and Moore and Stratton (2003), both using North American data. This paper has re-examined data from two United Kingdom studies of widowerhood. Among an aggregate sample of 60 widowers, 38 per cent showed resilience in the face of the exacting challenges that late-life widowhood brings. Resilient men were seen as having a positively viewed biography, were participating in relationships and activities, and had returned to a life that had meaning and brought satisfaction. Four broad categories among the resilient widowers were identified. The first had been resilient consistently throughout their widowhood. The second group achieved resilience gradually, and the third following a turning point. Finally, a small group of men demonstrated both gradual and turning point pathways towards resilience. Personal characteristics had been particularly influential for those in the first group, while for the last group, social support had made an important contribution to achieving resilience and had two forms: informal and formal. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications of the differentiation of resilience for adaptation to bereavement amongst older men.

Keywords

widowerresiliencesocial supportpersonality
Type
Articles
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 30 , Issue 3 , April 2010 , pp. 369 - 382
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bedford, A., Foulds, G. A. and Sheffield, B. F. 1976. A new personal disturbance scale. British Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 15, 4, 387–94.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bennett, K. M. 1997. Widowhood in elderly women: the medium and long-term effects on mental and physical health. Mortality, 2, 2, 137–48.Google Scholar
Bennett, K. M. 1998. Longitudinal changes in mental and physical health among elderly, recently widowed men. Mortality, 3, 3, 265–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bennett, K. M. 2005. ‘Was life worth living?’ The decision to live following male spousal bereavement. Mortality, 10, 2, 144–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bennett, K. M. 2006. Does marital status and marital status change predict physical health in older adults? Psychological Medicine, 36, 9, 1313–20.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bennett, K. M., Hughes, G. M. and Smith, T. 2005. Coping, depressive feelings and gender differences in late life widowhood. Aging and Mental Health, 9, 4, 348–53.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bennett, K. M. and Vidal-Hall, S. 2000. Narratives of death: a qualitative study of widowhood in women in later life. Ageing & Society, 20, 4, 413–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boerner, K., Wortman, C. B. and Bonanno, G. A. 2005. Resilient or at risk? A 4-year study of older adults who initially showed high or low distress following conjugal loss. Journal of Gerontology, Psychological Sciences, 60, 2, P67–73.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bonanno, G. A. 2004. Loss, trauma and human resilience: have we underestimated the human capacity to thrive after extremely aversive events? American Psychologist, 59, 1, 20–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bonanno, G. A. and Kaltman, S. 1999. Toward an integrative perspective on bereavement. Psychological Bulletin, 125, 6, 760–76.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bonanno, G. A. and Kaltman, S. 2001. The varieties of grief experience. Clinical Psychology Review, 21, 5, 705–34.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bonanno, G. A., Moskowitz, J. T., Papa, A. and Folkman, S. 2005. Resilience to loss in bereaved spouses, bereaved parents and bereaved gay men. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 88, 5, 827–43.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bonanno, G. A., Papa, A. and O'Neill, K. 2002. Loss and human resilience. Applied and Preventive Psychology, 10, 3, 193–206.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bonanno, G. A., Wortman, C. B., Lehman, D. R., Tweed, R. G., Haring, M., Sonnega, J., Carr, D. and Nesse, R. M. 2002. Resilience to loss and chronic grief: a prospective study from preloss to 18-months postloss. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83, 5, 1150–64.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bonanno, G. A., Wortman, C. B. and Nesse, R. M. 2004. Pr0spective patterns of resilience and maladjustment during widowhood. Psychology and Aging, 19, 2, 260–71.Google Scholar
Bowlby, J. 1980. Attachment and Loss. Volume 3, Loss: Sadness and Depression. Basic, New York.Google Scholar
Charmaz, K. 1995. Grounded theory. In Smith, J. A., Harré, R. and Van Langenhove, L. (eds), Rethinking Methods in Psychology. Sage, London, 27–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ferraro, K. F., Mutran, E. and Barresi, C. M. 1984. Widowhood, health and friendship in later life. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 25, 3, 245–59.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Janoff-Bulman, R. 1992. Shattered Assumptions: Towards a New Psychology of Trauma. Free Press, New York.Google Scholar
Lopata, H. Z. 1996. Current Widowhood: Myths and Realities. Sage, London.Google Scholar
Luthar, S. S., Doernberger, C. H. and Zigler, E. 1993. Resilience is not a unidimensional construct: insights from a prospective study of inner city adolescents. Development and Psychopathology, 5, 4, 703–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McMillen, J. C. 1999. Better for it: how older people benefit from adversity. Social Work, 44, 5, 455–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moore, A. J. and Stratton, D. C. 2003. Resilient Widowers: Older Men Adjusting to a New Life. Prometheus, New York.Google Scholar
Moore, A. J. and Stratton, D. C. 2005. Analyzing Alvin: the challenges of determining resilience. Paper presented at the 58th Annual Scientific Meeting of the Gerontological Society of America, Orlando, Florida, 21 November. Abstract at The Gerontologist, 45, SI–II, 270.Google Scholar
Office for National Statistics 2001. Living in Britain 2001. Stationery Office, London.Google Scholar
Rubinstein, R. L. 1986. Singular Paths: Old Men Living Alone. Columbia University Press, New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rutter, M. 1999. Resilience concepts and findings: implications for family therapy. Journal of Family Therapy, 21, 2, 119–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, J. A. 1995. Semi-structured interviewing and qualitative analysis. In Smith, J. A., Harré, R. and Van Langenhove, L. (eds), Rethinking Methods in Psychology. Sage, London, 9–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taylor, S. E., Lichtman, R. R. and Wood, J. V. 1984. Attributions, beliefs about control and adjustment to breast cancer. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 46, 3, 489–502.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zigmond, A. S. and Snaith, R. P. 1983. The hospital anxiety and depression scale. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 67, 6, 361–70.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed