Despite the importance of religious faith to many older adults and the predictability of spousal death as an extremely distressful life experience, only a few studies have seriously focused on the relationship between religious commitment and adaptation to widowhood. The present study addressed this issue by surveying 159 elderly widowed involved in southern Californian support groups. Grief, depression, and intrinsic-extrinsic religiousness were assessed and then analyzed via hierarchical multiple regression procedures. Higher extrinsicness was found with higher levels of distress across sex, suggesting that an extrinsic orientation may set the stage for a poorer adjustment. Widowers tending to be more indiscriminately proreligious also showed higher distress levels. Greater distress was associated with poorer health after spousal death for widows and before spousal death for widowers.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AinlayS. C. and SmithR. D., Aging and Religious Participation, Journal of Gerontology, 39, pp. 357–363, 1984.
2.
HunsbergerB., Religion, Age, Life Satisfaction, and Perceived Sources of Religiousness: A Study of Older Persons, Journal of Gerontology, 40, pp. 615–620, 1985.
3.
KalishR. A. and ReynoldsD. K., Death and EthnicityUniversity of Southern California, Los Angeles, 1976.
4.
BornsteinP. E.ClaytonP. J.HalikasJ. A.MauriceW. L., and RobbinsE., The Depression of Widowhood after Thirteen Months, British Journal of Psychiatry, 122, pp. 561–566, 1973.
5.
FerraroK. F., Widowhood and Social Participation in Later Life, Research on Aging, 6, pp. 451–468, 1984.
6.
GallagherD. E.ThompsonL. W., and PetersonJ. E., Psychological Factors Affecting Adaptation to Bereavement in the Elderly, International Journal of Aging and Human Development, 14, pp. 79–95, 1981–82.
7.
GlickJ. O.WeissR. S., and ParkesC. M., The First Year of BereavementJohn Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, 1974.
8.
HeymanD. K. and GianturcoD. T., Long-Term Adaptation by the Elderly to Bereavement, Journal of Gerontology, 28, pp. 359–362, 1973.
9.
KoenigH. G.GeorgeL. K., and SieglerJ. C., The Use of Religion and Other Emotion-Regulating Coping Strategies among Older Adults, The Gerontologist, 28, pp. 303–310, 1988.
10.
KoenigH. G.KualeJ. N., and FerrelC., Religion and Well-Being in Later Life, The Gerontologist, 28, pp. 18–28, 1988.
11.
SpilkaB.HoodR. W., and GorsuchR. L., The Psychology of Religion: An Empirical ApproachPrentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1985.
12.
CareyR. G., The Widowed: A Year Later, Journal of Counseling Psychology, 24, pp. 125–131, 1977.
13.
SimonsR. L. and WestG. E., Life Changes, Coping Resources, and Health among the Elderly, International Journal of Aging and Human Development, 20, pp. 173–189, 1984–85.
14.
HerriottM. and KiyakH. A., Bereavement in Old Age: Implications for Therapy and Research, Journal of Gerontological Social Work, 3, pp. 15–43, 1981.
15.
GorsuchR. L., Measurement: The Boom and Bane of Investigating Religion, American Psychologist, 39, pp. 228–236, 1984.
16.
AllportG. W. and RossJ. M., Personal Religious Orientation and Prejudice, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 5, pp. 432–443, 1967.
17.
DonahueM. J., Intrinsic and Extrinsic Religiousness: Review and Meta-Analysis, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 48, pp. 400–419, 1985.
18.
LindemannE., Grief and Grief Management: Some Reflections, The Journal of Pastoral Care, 30, pp. 198–207, 1976.
19.
Kübler-RossE., On Death and DyingMacmillan, New York, 1968.
20.
ArkinA. M., Emotional Care of the Bereaved, in Acute Grief: Counseling the Bereaved, MargolisO. S.RaetherH. C.KutschnerA. H.PowersJ. B.SeelandI. B.DeBellisR., and ChericoD. J. (eds.), Columbia University Press, New York, pp. 40–44, 1981.
21.
OsterweisM., Bereavement and the Elderly, Aging, 348, pp. 8–13, 41, 1985.
22.
SwitzerD. K., The Dynamics of GriefAbingdon Press, Nashville, 1970.
23.
WordenJ. W., Grief Counseling and Grief TherapySpringer Publishing Company, New York, 1982.
24.
JerniganH. L., Bringing Together Psychology and Theology: Reflections on Ministry to the Bereaved, The Journal of Pastoral Care, 30, pp. 88–102, 1976.
25.
BalkwellC., Transition to Widowhood: A Review of the Literature, Family Relations, 30, pp. 117–127, 1981.
26.
GorsuchR. L. and VenableG. D., Development of an “Age-Universal” I-E Scale, Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 22, pp. 181–187, 1983.
27.
BrinkT. L.YesavageJ. A.LumO.HeersemaP. H.AdeyM., and RoseT. L., Screening Tests for Geriatric Depression, Clinical Gerontologist, 1, pp. 37–43, 1982.
28.
YesavageJ. A.BrinkT. L.RoseT. L.LumO.HuangV.AdeyM., and LeirerV. O., Development and Validation of a Geriatric Depression Screening Scale: A Preliminary Report, Journal of Psychiatric Research, 17, pp. 37–49, 1983.
29.
KostenT. R.JacobsS., and MasonJ. W., The Dexamethasone Suppression Test during Bereavement, Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 172, pp. 359–360, 1984.
30.
FaschingbauerT. R.DevaulR. A., and ZisookS., Development of the Texas Inventory of Grief, American Journal of Psychiatry, 134, pp. 696–698, 1977.
31.
ArensD. A., Widowhood and Well-Being: An Examination of Sex Differences Within a Causal Model, International Journal of Aging and Human Development, 15, pp. 27–40, 1982–83.
32.
SteinitzL. Y., Religiosity, Well-Being, and Weltanschauung among the Elderly, Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 19, pp. 60–67, 1980.
33.
HollingheadA. B., Two-Factor Index of Social PositionYale Station, New Haven, Connecticut, 1957 (memo).
34.
WylerA.MasudaM., and HolmesT., The Seriousness of Illness Rating, Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 11, pp. 363–374, 1967.
35.
KerlingerF. N. and PedhazurE. J., Multiple Regression in Behavioral ResearchHolt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc., New York, 1973.
36.
LovelandG. G., The Effect of Bereavement on Certain Religious Attitudes, Sociological Symposium, 1, pp. 17–27, 1968.
37.
ParkesC. M., Bereavement: Studies of Grief in Later Life, International Universities Press, New York, 1972.
