scholarly journals Social Dimensions of Personal Growth following Widowhood: A Three-Wave Study

Gerontology ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 64 (4) ◽  
pp. 344-360 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudia Recksiedler ◽  
Katharina Loter ◽  
Hannah S. Klaas ◽  
Betina Hollstein ◽  
Pasqualina Perrig-Chiello
Keyword(s):  
Social Support ◽  
Life Events ◽  
Personal Growth ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Social Embeddedness ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Social Support Seeking ◽  
Support Seeking ◽  
Time Varying Covariates

Background: Losing one’s spouse is one of the most stressful life events in old age, yet research on positive consequences of overcoming critical life events describes experiences of personal growth for survivors. Objective: Because prior studies conceptualized personal growth as a stable accomplishment of an individual, our study challenges this assumption by examining trajectories of personal growth and its links to two aspects of social support. We assume that personal growth is boosted by heightened levels of loss-related social support seeking during early years of widowhood. However, toward the later stages in the bereavement process, we expect personal growth to be fostered by perceived social embeddedness. Data and Method: Data stem from a survey on relationships in later life conducted in 2012, 2014, and 2016 in Switzerland. The final analytical sample consisted of 508 individuals aged 50+ years, who were on average 73 years old and widowed for about 3 years at baseline. Longitudinal explorative factor analyses yielded a 3-factorial solution for personal growth. Random-effects group-specific growth curves were used to examine the trajectories of personal growth and its subdimensions, by different levels of loss-related social support seeking and embeddedness in a supportive network, over the first 8 years of widowhood. Our analyses included time-invariant and time-varying covariates. Results: On average, our findings point to a stable trajectory of personal growth after having become widowed in later life. Group-specific analyses, however, showed different courses in the trajectories for specific subdimensions of personal growth – particularly for spiritual change and appreciation of life. Average marginal effects also yielded group differences by loss-related support seeking in the level of personal growth over time, which highlight the importance of social support seeking, rather than social embeddedness, at all stages of the bereavement process. Conclusion: Findings underline the importance of a longitudinal and linked-lives perspective on personal growth and point to different pathways regarding its various subdimensions. Future research should further examine the validity of personal growth scales for other populations and consider the possibility to experience personal growth already during the anticipation of a traumatic event (e.g., in the case of long-term caretaking).

scholarly journals Beliefs about Emotions, Depression, Anxiety and Fatigue: A Mediational Analysis

2016 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-78 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mia Sydenham ◽  
Jennifer Beardwood ◽  
Katharine A. Rimes
Keyword(s):  
Social Support ◽  
Negative Emotions ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Symptoms Of Depression ◽  
Self Compassion ◽  
Social Support Seeking ◽  
Support Seeking ◽  
Emotional Avoidance ◽  
Beliefs About Emotions ◽  
The Relationship

Background: Beliefs that it is unacceptable to experience or express negative emotions have been found to be associated with various clinical problems. It is unclear how such beliefs, which could be viewed as a form of unhelpful perfectionism about emotions, may contribute to symptomatology. Aims: This study investigated two hypotheses: a) greater endorsement of beliefs about the unacceptability of negative emotions will be associated with greater emotional avoidance and lower levels of support-seeking and self-compassion; b) these beliefs about emotions will be associated with higher levels of symptoms of depression, anxiety and fatigue and that this relationship will be mediated by social support-seeking, emotional avoidance and self-compassion. Method: Online questionnaires were completed by 451 community participants. Mediational analyses were undertaken to investigate emotional avoidance, social support-seeking and self-compassion as mediators of the relationship between beliefs about emotions and symptoms of depression, anxiety and fatigue. Results: Beliefs about the unacceptability of negative emotions were significantly associated with more emotional avoidance and less self-compassion and support-seeking. The relationships between beliefs about emotions and depression, anxiety and fatigue were significantly mediated by self-compassion and emotional avoidance but not social support-seeking. Conclusions: Future research should investigate whether interventions that pay particular attention to emotional avoidance and self-compassion, such as mindfulness-based therapy or modified forms of CBT, may be beneficial in reducing distress and fatigue associated with beliefs about the unacceptability of negative emotions.

Social Support and Coping Style Differences in Subjects High and Low in Interpersonal Trust

1986 ◽  
Vol 59 (2) ◽  
pp. 584-586 ◽  
Author(s):  
Glenn D. Grace ◽  
Thomas Schill
Keyword(s):  
Social Support ◽  
Life Events ◽  
Coping Style ◽  
Interpersonal Trust ◽  
Negative Life Events ◽  
Coping Behavior ◽  
Social Support Seeking ◽  
Support Seeking ◽  
Effects Of Stress ◽  
And Coping

Subjects high in trust have been shown to cope more effectively with stress than subjects low in trust. To provide possible explanations of the process by which trust moderates the effects of stress, subjects high and low in trust were compared on a number of variables of social support and coping behavior. Although both groups were similar in the number of supportive transactions experienced in the last month, subjects high in trust viewed both friends and family as more supportive and engaged in more social support-seeking and less dysfunctional coping behavior than subjects low in trust. Apparently, an inability to benefit from and effectively utilize social support combined with a dysfunctional coping style make subjects low in trust more vulnerable to stressful negative life events than subjects high in trust.

scholarly journals Gaps in social support resources in later life: An adaptational challenge in need of further research

2009 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 103-112 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen S. Rook
Keyword(s):  
Social Support ◽  
Older Adults ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Support Needs ◽  
Adaptive Responses ◽  
Theoretical Perspectives ◽  
Support Resources ◽  
Further Development ◽  
Social Support Resources

Gaps in social support resources in later life may arise when older adults lose social network members due to illness, death, or residential relocation. Gaps also may arise when social networks remain intact but are not well suited to meet older adults' intensifying support needs, such as needs for extended or highly personal instrumental support. Significant gaps in support resources are likely to require adaptive responses by older adults. This discussion highlights theoretical perspectives and illustrates empirical findings regarding the nature and effectiveness of older adults' responses to gaps in their social support resources. The literature examining these issues is relatively small and, as a result, is ripe for further development. Promising directions for future research are suggested.

4. Social and interpersonal aspects of ageing

2016 ◽  
pp. 66-86
Author(s):  
Nancy A. Pachana
Keyword(s):  
Social Support ◽  
Older Adults ◽  
Social Environment ◽  
Life Events ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Role Changes ◽  
Technological Advances ◽  
Societal Context ◽  
Over Time

How we interact with others, with the physical and social environment, as well as how well we cope with life events, role changes, and positive and negative stresses all affect how we age. Later life is also intimately connected to, and affected by, circumstances and decisions earlier in life. Social support and engagement are critical for physical and emotional well-being. ‘Social and interpersonal aspects of ageing’ explores ageing in a social and societal context. The ways in which older adults engage with younger cohorts and their contribution to their family, communities, and society more broadly have changed over time and have also been affected by social and technological advances.

Widowhood in Elderly Women: Exploring its Relationship to Community Integration, Hassles, Stress, Social Support, and Social Support Seeking

1992 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 253-264 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie Pellman
Keyword(s):  
Social Support ◽  
Kansas City ◽  
Elderly Women ◽  
Community Integration ◽  
Daily Hassles ◽  
The Other ◽  
Social Support Seeking ◽  
Seeking Behavior ◽  
Experience Of Stress ◽  
Support Seeking

This study examined the degree to which widows were integrated in their community, the daily hassles and stress they may have experienced, and their social networks and support-seeking behavior. A sample of 160 women, sixty years of age or older, eighty widows and eighty non-widows were interviewed. Half the sample participated in senior centers in Kansas City, Missouri, while the other half belonged to other organizations or were obtained through a truncated snowball technique. The findings indicated that widowhood in and of itself does not appear to be a predictor either of community integration or the lack of it or the experience of stress and hassles. Those who experienced hassles were not the same persons as those who experienced stress. It was surprising to find that those who sought social support did not seem most in need of it. Age and education, along with community integration, were better predictors of the variables studied than was widowhood.

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