Widows and Divorcees with Dependent Children: Material, Personal, Family, and Social Well-Being

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Twenty-one widowed mothers with dependent children were matched with divorced (21) and married (21) mothers and comparisons were made on four types of well-being: material, personal, family, and social. Compared with married mothers, divorced mothers revealed consistently lower levels of economic well-being, whereas widowed mothers tended to have lower levels of personal well-being. Aspects of well-being tended to be higher for mothers who were young and well educated, regardless of family type. Length of time since loss of spouse was positively related to aspects of well-being among widows and negatively related to aspects of well-being among divorcees. The results suggest that interventions with divorcees should primarily address economic problems, whereas interventions with widows should primarily address problems of depression and loneliness.

This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: