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Moderating Effects of Prior Social Resources on the Hospitalizations of Elders who Become Widowed

University of Michigan

Linda K. George, PhD

Duke University Medical Center

In a prospective design, the effects of social resources before widowhood on changes in subsequent hospitalizations were compared for 86 married elders who became widowed over a 2-year period and 86 matched elders who remained married. Subjects were from the Established Populations for Epidemiologic Studies of the Elderly (Duke). Hospitalizations were used as an indicator of a serious health outcome whose report was unlikely to be biased by a widowed person's emotional state. The hypothesis that perceptions of inadequate social support from persons other than the spouse would exacerbate the effects of bereavement on hospitalizations was supported for elders who lacked close friends with whom to talk about private matters while still married; believing that no relative would provide such support and dissatisfaction with support tended to have the same effect. Inadequacies in social embeddedness (few contacts with friends, relatives, or children and being childless) had no significant moderating or main effects on change in hospitalizations.

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