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Social Support and Well-Being: A Comparison of Older Widows and Widowers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 November 2010

Andrew V. Wister  and
Laurel Strain
Andrew V. Wister
Affiliation:
University of Waterloo
Laurel Strain
Affiliation:
University of Toronto and University of Manitoba
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Abstract

This paper investigates several dimensions of the informal support network and well-being among widows and widowers. Using subsets of two random samples of older people living in Winnipeg, Manitoba collected in 1980, one group who were using home care services and another who were not. widowed men and women are contrasted on a number of support network variables, three indicators of well-being, and several socio-demographic and health-related variables. While significant differences arise in length of widowhood, functional ability and some components of the support network, no gender differences are found for the measures of well-being for either sample, even after introducing control variables. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.

Résumé

Cet article examine plusieurs des dimensions du bien-être et support informel des veufs et des veuves de deux échantillons de personnes âgées choisit au hasard habitant à Winnipeg, Manitoba, et recueillit en 1980. Un des échantillons représente les veuf et les veuves qui utilisèrent des services à domicile, l'autre échantillon représente des veufs et veuves qui seront des clients de ces services. Ces deux groupes de personnes sont comparés sur telles le réseau de support, trois indicateurs de bien-être, leurs, caractéristiques socio-démographiques et leur état de santé. Tandis que des différences significatives apparaissent entre les durées de veuvage, les capacités fonctionnelles et certains éléments constitutifs du réseau de support, aucune différence significative est détectée entre sexes pour les mesures de bien-être dans chacun des deux échantillons, après avoir controlé pour les effets de certaines variables. Les implications pratiques et théoriques de ces résultats sont discutées.

Keywords

social supportwidowhoodwell-beingaged
Type
Articles
Information
Canadian Journal on Aging / La Revue canadienne du vieillissement , Volume 5 , Issue 3 , Autumn/L'automne 1986 , pp. 205 - 220
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Association on Gerontology 1986

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