Alcohol Consumption and Psychological Distress in Recently Widowed Older Men

Objective: The relationship between severe adverse life events and subsequent health-related behaviour is not well established for older people. To address this issue, we studied self-reported alcohol consumption in recently widowed older men and matched married men. Method: We carried out a double cohort study in community-residing men aged 65 years and over. Recently widowed men (n = 57; mean age = 74.5 years) were identified from the death records of their wives and assessed at 6 weeks, 6 months and 13 months post-bereavement. Matched married men (n = 57; mean age = 75.4 years) were identified from the electoral roll and assessed at similar intervals. Self-report measures of alcohol consumption, grief and state anxiety were employed. Results: Similar proportions of older widowers and married men reported that they consumed some alcohol, although recently widowed older men reported significantly greater frequency (χ2 = 4.64, df = 1, p = 0.031) and quantity (χ2 = 7.75, df = 1, p = 0.005) of alcohol consumption than matched married men. A significant minority of subjects reported hazardous levels of alcohol consumption with 18.9% of widowers and 8.3% of married men reporting that they drank five or more standard drinks per drinking day. However, among widowers, self-reported alcohol consumption was not significantly correlated with levels of either self-reported grief or state anxiety. Conclusions: Hazardous alcohol consumption occurs commonly among recently widowed older men, but is not related to their levels of self-reported grief or psychological distress. Loss of spousal care and control may be an alternative explanation for this drinking behaviour. Older widowers should be regarded as a high-risk group for hazardous alcohol consumption and would be a suitable target group for preventive interventions.