Why are some older adults devastated when their partners die, while others enjoy improved psychological health and social relations? The experience of loss differs for men and women, and also depends on how one's spouse died and how the couple related during their marriage.
References
1.
JohnArcher.The Nature of Grief: The Evolution and Psychology of Reactions to Loss (Routledge, 1999). A ground-breaking synthesis of ideas from evolutionary psychology, ethology and experimental psychology on the process of grief. Archer argues that grief is a natural reaction to loss, rather than an illness to be cured or a psychiatric disorder.
2.
GeorgeA. BonannoyCamilleB. WortmanDarrinR. LehmanRogerG. TweedMichelleHaringJohnSonnegaDeborahCarrRandolphM. Nesse. “Resilience to Loss and Chronic Grief: A Prospective Study from Preloss to 18-Months Postloss.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology83 (2002): 1150–64. A rigorous and innovative analysis of a diverse range of psychological reactions to spousal loss.
3.
DeborahCarrRandolphNesseCamilleB. Wortman, eds. Spousal Bereavement in Late Life (Springer Publishing, 2006). Wide-ranging theoretical, empirical, and practice-related essays from social scientists studying the social and psychological consequences of late-life widowhood.
4.
RobertO. HanssonMargaretS. Stroebe.Bereavement in Late Life: Coping, Adaptation and Developmental Influences (American Psychological Association, 2006). An in-depth account of the ways older adults cope with loss, authored by leading scholars of gerontology and bereavement, respectively.
5.
HelenaZ. Lopata.Widowhood in an American City (Schenkman, 1973). A classic study of older widowed women in the greater Chicago area.
6.
CamilleB. WortmanRoxanneSilver. “The Myths of Coping with Loss Revisited.” In Handbook of Bereavement Research: Consequences, Coping, and Care (American Psychological Association, 2001). Among the most widely cited works in bereavement research, this article uses compelling data and theory to dispel common myths about coping with loss.
