Self-Identity in Marriage and Widowhood*

Theories of symbolic interaction and ethnomethodology assume that everyone undertakes a complex process of construction of reality, including self-identity, in interaction with significant others. Utilizing insights into variations in identity reformulation in marriage obtained from a study of American metropolitan women, this paper concentrates on variations of identity reformulation among widows. The major hypothesis guiding the discussion is that the higher the education of the woman, as measured by formal schooling, the more she is likely to experience and undertake identity reformulation in marriage and in widowhood. The less education a woman has, the less she will be consciously affected in her identity formulation by these events.     

Gender,Preloss Marital Dependence,and Older Adults’ Adjustment to Widowhood

I examine how preloss emotional and instrumental dependence on one's spouse affects older adults’ psychological adjustment to widowhood. Analyses are based on 297 persons from the Changing Lives of Older Couples (CLOC) study, a prospective study of widowhood among adults aged 65 and older. Women who were most emotionally dependent on their spouses had the poorest self‐esteem while still married, yet evidence the highest levels of self‐esteem following loss. Men who were most dependent on their wives for home maintenance and financial management tasks experience the greatest personal growth following loss. These results suggest that widowed persons who were once highly dependent upon their spouses reap psychological rewards from the recognition that they are capable of managing on their own.     

A comparison of widowhood and well-being among older Greek and British-Australian migrant women

The impact of widowhood on well-being has been well-documented, but to date has not focused extensively on the experience of older migrants who have aged in a foreign land. This study aimed to examine the well-being of older migrant widows from two groups in South Australia: British-born (n = 61) and Greek-born (n = 60) Australian migrants, who had been widowed, on average, 13 years. All participants completed a self-report questionnaire in their preferred language. Three indicators of current well-being (self-rated health, depression and loneliness) as well as variables expected to differ cross-culturally, and potentially influence well-being (mourning rituals; continuing bonds to one's spouse; religiosity; social support) were measured. Greek-born widows displayed higher levels of mourning rituals, continuing bonds and religiosity than the British. Both groups perceived similarly high levels of familial social support. Greek widows also reported worse self-rated health, and increased symptoms of depression and loneliness compared to the British. This paper suggests that the detrimental impact of widowhood on well-being may be greater for non-English speaking migrants who are ageing outside of their country of origin, and who, despite residing in an English-speaking host country for several decades, have retained the linguistic, cultural and religious practices and traditions of their home country.     

Do Spousal Discrepancies in Marital Quality Assessments Affect Psychological Adjustment to Widowhood?

We use prospective couple‐level data from the Changing Lives of Older Couples to assess the extent to which spouses concur in their assessments of marital quality (N = 844) and whether discrepancies in spouses' marital assessments affect the bereaved spouse's psychological adjustment 6 months after loss (n = 105). Spouses' assessments of marital quality are correlated modestly (r = .45), with women offering less positive assessments. Bereaved persons who had rated their marriages more positively than their spouse at the preloss interview reported higher levels of anger 6 months postloss. We conclude that persons who offer more positive appraisals of their marriages than their spouse may view spousal loss as a particularly unjust event. We discuss implications for understanding late life marriage and spousal bereavement.     

Ethno-cultural diversity in the experience of widowhood in later life: Chinese widows in Canada

This paper utilizes Helena Znaniecka Lopata's concept of life frameworks as a lens through which to understand the experience of widowhood amongst elderly Chinese immigrant women living in Toronto, Canada. While Lopata defined life frameworks as including social supports, social relations and social roles, for these widows, personal resources (framed in Chinese cultural context) were also important aspects of life frameworks. In-depth interviews with 20 widows contacted through a Chinese community center were conducted in Mandarin and Cantonese and then transcribed and interpreted through team-based qualitative analyses. These women ranged in age from 69 to 93 years and had been in Canada an average of 17 years, with over half of them widowed following immigration. Our analysis framed the widows' narratives in terms of four types of supports defined by Lopata: social, service, financial and emotional supports. They had fairly extensive social and service supports focused primarily around family and the Chinese community. Although norms of filial piety traditionally dictate sons as primary supports, daughters predominated as providers of supports to these widows. Interpreted from a life course perspective, financial supports were deemed sufficient, despite overall limited financial means. Emotional support was more nuanced and complex for these widows. Loneliness and feelings of social isolation were prevalent. Nevertheless, themes of acceptance and satisfaction dominated our findings, as did reciprocity and exchange. The narrative accounts of these widows depict a complexity of experience rooted in their biographies as Chinese women and as immigrants, rather than primarily in widowhood itself.     

SATISFACTION?

This study analyzes 1973 Quality of Employment Survey data to examine how work-place gender composition affects women's work-related psychological well-being. With individual, job, and organizational characteristics controlled, women in predominantly-male work settings are the most satisfied with their jobs. This supports theories that women's intergroup relations improve as their relative numbers decline and previous accounts of women's social comparison processes. The least satisfied women are in "female-tilted" settings (15–30% male), apparently reflecting favored treatment of the male minority, to their female co-workers' frustration. Neither job-related depression nor job-related self-esteem relates to workplace gender composition. These results for women are compared to a recent study of men (Wharton and Baron 1987) that reports more substantial links between gender composition and psychological well-being.     

Personality Comparisons of College Students Reporting Previous Sexually Transmissible Disease Infection and Students Never Infected

Abstract

This study determined if college students reporting previous sexually transmissible disease infection can be identified as possessing particular personality characteristics. The Cattell Sixteen Personality Factor questionnaire was administered to students in health education classes at seven U.S.A. universities. Students indicated if they had ever contracted an STD through sexual contact outside of marriage. The data were analyzed by the discriminant function analysis. Previously infected females (N = 47) and males (N = 49) were differentiated by personality from their counterparts reporting no previous infection. Six personality factors were the major discriminators between the female groups, with previously infected females being more sober, placid, trusting, affected by feelings, experimenting, and forthright. Five factors differentiated the two male groups, with previously infected males being more tender-minded, assertive, relaxed, practical, and expedient than never infected males. All of the personality factors for the STD groups were within the “average” range for college students. Therefore, the STD groups apparently had no greater psychological difficulties/deviations than other college students. Focusing control efforts on population groups with particular personality characteristics would appear not to be appropriate.     

How Does Divorce Affect Iranian Women's Sexual Well-Being?

Sexuality and divorce are two interwoven subjects with complex effects on women's sexual well-being in Iranian culture. Results of this exploratory study using focus group discussions and individual interviews revealed how the sexual well-being of women was influenced by the divorce experience through common patterns and recurring themes. A total of 26 women participated voluntarily in the study. They were approached through a selected social support group in a center in West Tehran in 2011, and all had been divorced for less than 10 years. For the majority, sexuality-related matters became complicated and jeopardized their overall well-being in postdivorce life. This finding, along with the fact that the majority were seeking financial and emotional support, implies that counseling women and providing economic support for postdivorce life might improve women's sexual well-being.     

Psychological Differences Between HIV-Positive Mothers Who Disclose to All, Some, or None of Their Biological Children

This study explored the psychological differences between HIV-positive women who disclosed their serostatus to all, some, or none of their biological children. Data from this project come from a larger, longitudinal investigation of the disclosure process of HIV-infected women. Data were obtained regarding the disclosure processes and the psychological adjustment of women with children ( n  = 90) based on measures of depression, anxiety, and stress. Results suggest that women who disclose to all, some, or none of their children are not significantly different with regard to emotional well-being. Implications for marriage and family therapists are provided.     

Marital Status and Well-Being:

This paper addresses itself to three main questions: (a) To what extent does single-parenthood enable a quality of life characterized by a sense of personal well-being? (b) What are the main components of well-beinifor single mothers? (c) Which back- ground factors facilitate well- emg In smgle mothers? In order to answer these questions a Depression Adjective Check-List (Lubin, 1965) was administered to a representatwe sample of 142 widows and 120 divorcies who had been single for a minimum of four ears and who each had at least one minor child. The main fin '7 ings: (a) measures of well-being were lower for single mothers than for married mothers; (b) there were negative, but also some positive com onents of well-being: a growing sense of loneliness, of mate- rial ardship, of anxiety about parental responsibilities, on the one hand, and a sense of occupational growth, on the other hand; (c) the background factors which affect well-being were properties such as schooling, earnings, and health as well as participation in familial decisions while still married. These results were mterpreted in the context of the familistic orientations prevailing in Israeli society.     

Men's psychological functioning in the context of women's breast cancer

Previous research indicates that men are affected when their female partners have breast cancer. However, little is known about what predicts men's psychological well-being in this context. The current investigation involved couples in which the woman had early stage breast cancer and explored the degree to which men's positive and negative well-being was related to women's well-being, women's physical symptoms, relationship functioning, and relationship duration. The findings indicate that all of these factors play a role and interact in predicting men's well-being. In particular, when women have a high level of physical symptoms, the typical associations between men's well-being with women's well-being and relationship adjustment no longer persist. Implications for working with couples addressing health problems are provided.     

Well-Being Among Spanish Lesbian,Gay, Bisexual and Heterosexual Adults: Disclosure of Sexual Orientation to Family and Friends

Relevance of disclosure of minority sexual orientation on subjective (SWB) and psychological well-being (PWB) was analyzed. Participants were 236 men and 238 women self-identified as lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) or heterosexual. No differences in SWB were found between heterosexuals and LGBs. Heterosexual women showed greater environmental mastery than bisexual men and greater purpose in life than lesbian and bisexual women. Outcomes showed greater well-being among LGBs who disclosed their minority sexual orientation to parents later in life. Disclosing minority sexual orientation to parents was related with greater PWB. Further research that takes a differential approach to improve well-being for LGBs is needed.     

Effect of Age,Initiator Status,and Infidelity on Women's Divorce Adjustment

Divorce can be a distressing event. Although various studies have been conducted to better understand this phenomenon, little research has focused on the combined effect of age, initiator status, spousal infidelity, and spiritual well-being on divorce adjustment. To determine the effect of these 4 factors on divorce adjustment, 133 divorced women in the United States were surveyed using the Fisher Divorce Adjustment Scale, Spiritual Well-Being Scale, and a participant questionnaire. Results indicate that initiator status, spousal infidelity, and spiritual well-being together can predict 38% of the variance in overall divorce adjustment for women. Spiritual well-being was found to be the strongest contributor. Recommendations for researchers and implications for clinicians are discussed.     

Poverty and psychological distress in Latin America

The objective of this paper is three-fold: first, to study the psychological distress of the Latin American poor. Second, to study differences in psychological distress between the poor and the relatively wealthy in Latin America. Third, to study how economic growth impacts the psychological well-being of the poor.This paper uses micro-level information from the Gallup 2007 Survey for 16 Latin American countries to study psychological distress of the poor in Latin America; the survey is representative at the country level. The investigation works with approximately 12,500 observations. Psychological distress is measured on the basis of a set of questions regarding a person’s emotional situation the day before he/she answered the questionnaire.The investigation finds out that the poor show greater psychological distress than the wealthy and that the gap is statistically significant. However, it would be inappropriate to attempt predicting a person’s psychological well-being on the basis of his/her poverty condition alone, since many factors affect people’s psychological well-being. The paper also shows that rapid economic growth seems to be detrimental to the psychological well-being of the poor, and that the impact of economic growth on psychological well-being differs between the poor and the relatively wealthy.     

Disclosure and Psychological Well-Being of Sexually Abused Adolescents in Hong Kong

The role of disclosure on psychological well-being of adolescents with child sexual abuse experience was investigated in a subsample of 74 disclosers among 800 adolescents recruited in the community in Hong Kong. The results supported that CSA experiences have differential impact on adolescents’ psychological well-being. Family characteristics of the disclosers accounted for only a small amount of the variance in an array of psychological well-being measures. CSA characteristics were robust predictors of disclosers’ sexual eroticism and externalizing behavioral symptoms. Disclosers’ cognitive appraisal of CSA experience and quality of parental attachment were strong predictors of their self-esteem and internalizing behavioral problems. After controlling for the aforementioned factors, negative disclosure experience still significantly predicted lower self-esteem, higher sexual anxiety, more internalizing behavior, and more severe post-traumatic stress disorder responses. Research to understand the factors that generate negative disclosure experiences is needed for developing effective intervention strategies to mitigate the negative consequences of disclosure.     

Child Adjustment to Familial Dissolution: An Examination of Parental Factors Using a Self-Determination Theory Framework

Research on child adjustment to familial dissolution has been plentiful over the past few decades. However, the mechanisms regulating the process of child adjustment and the ways in which parental factors function to protect against or elevate the risk of child maladjustment are still little understood. We examine the existing literature through the lens of self-determination theory (SDT), a theory of motivation that proposes 3 universal psychological needs (autonomy, competence, and relatedness). According to this model, the meeting of these needs is vital for well-being, whereas their thwarting may result in maladjustment. As parental divorce has the potential to undermine all 3 of children's needs, future research built on an SDT framework could help illuminate the processes by which parenting factors affect child adjustment to divorce.     

Spatial Patterns of Marriage Migration in Turkey

Even though recent societal phenomena such as a heightened sense of individualism, economic well-being, and institutionalization have caused a shift in people's life course and made their lives less standard in developed societies, marriage still remains an important life course event in Turkey. Between the years 1995 and 2000 marriage migration comprised 7.4% of the interprovincial migration in Turkey, and of these marriage migrants 94% were woman. Young Turkish women tend toward marriage migration to escape the patriarchal family structure and gain more autonomy, economic security, and well-being. Focusing on the spatial patterns of marriage migration relationships in Turkey, this study seeks to reveal the economic and sociocultural background of male and female marriage migration and to visualize, explore, and model spatial data by using spatial data analysis (SDA) techniques. The results showed that marriage migration in different regions of Turkey varied by gender. Even though SDA techniques have previously been used in other social sciences studies, no other marriage migration study in the literature uses these techniques, thus enabling the article to contribute to the literature.     

Heterosexually married men who have sex with men: marital separation and psychological adjustment

There have been few investigations of sexual identity and psychological adjustment among behaviorally-bisexual married men. A critical issue is whether such men experience increased psychological adjustment if they exit their primary heterosexual relationship and assume a gay identity. Two hundred and one ever-married men (n = 201) with same-sex sexual interests and behaviors were administered the Brady and Busse (1994) gay identity development questionnaire (GIQ) and the symptom check list-90 (SCL-90) as part of a larger investigation of sexual identity development. The measurement of homosexual identity formation (HIF) using the original nominal scoring criteria for the GIQ did not adequately detail processes of HIF among respondents, and an alternative scoring system that allowed continuous, rather than stage, measurement of HIF was utilized. Psychological adjustment was found to be significantly correlated with HIF among ever-married gay-identified men. Within bisexual-identified men, no relationships between HIF and psychological adjustment were found. Future studies of HIF should clearly differentiate between gay and bisexual men. The findings suggest significant psychological gains accompany public affirmation of gay identity among self-identified gay men who have been in a previous heterosexual relationship.     

State ideology and the status of Iranian war widows

Imbedded in widowhood are emotional loss and change in personal life. For women, depending on social constructions of gender relations, widowhood can also lead to identity change, role adjustment and change in social status. Socio-economic and emotional supports rendered by family, community and society at large can highly impact widows in coping with change and making adjustments. These changes and the corresponding societal supports find new dimensions for ‘war widows’. The political nature of their widowhood may provide them with some benefits not enjoyed by non-war widows. As a token of public gratitude, political regimes compensate war widows and their children for their losses. Some political regimes weave political ideology into their compensatory programs, and through these programs they simultaneously raise widows' self-sufficiency and control their lives and thoughts. The specific case of the Islamic Republic of Iran will be examined here.     

Transition to adulthood and recession: a qualitative study

While the transition to adulthood has been broadly examined, less is known about the impact of economic recession on the well-being and psychosocial functioning of young people. The present study used qualitative interviews with 12 college students to understand their experience. Consensual qualitative research was used to analyse data and develop core themes around young people's experiences. Interviews focused on how young people perceived the impact of the economic recession on their social context and on emotional, behavioural, and interpersonal dimensions. Although students showed a proactive attitude in dealing with the crisis, findings highlighted a negative impact on psychological functioning characterized by feelings of instability and helplessness and by difficulties in planning for the future. Other general themes emerged, including disengagement from community participation expressed by feelings of isolation, lack of interest, and distrust. Directions for future research and implications for practice are discussed.