Mourning in a Pandemic: The Differential Impact of COVID-19 Widowhood on Mental Health

Data resource profile: The Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE)

Haowei Wang, Emily Smith-Greenaway, Shawn Bauldry, Rachel Margolis, Ashton M Verdery and Jessica Kelley

The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, 2022, vol. 77, issue 12, 2306-2316

Abstract: ObjectivesThe death of a spouse is an established predictor of mental health decline that foreshadows worsening physical health and elevated mortality. The millions widowed by COVID-19 worldwide may experience even worse health outcomes than comparable pre-pandemic widows given the particularities of dying, mourning, and grieving during a pandemic defined by protracted social isolation, economic precarity, and general uncertainty. If COVID-19 pandemic bereavement is more strongly associated with mental health challenges than pre-pandemic bereavement, the large new cohort of COVID-19 widow(er)s may be at substantial risk of downstream health problems long after the pandemic abates.MethodsWe pooled population-based Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe data from 27 countries for two distinct periods: (1) pre-pandemic (Wave 8, fielded October 2019–March 2020; N = 46,266) and (2) early pandemic (COVID Supplement, fielded June–August 2020; N = 55,796). The analysis used a difference-in-difference design to assess whether a spouse dying from COVID-19 presents unique mental health risks (self-reported depression, loneliness, and trouble sleeping), compared with pre-pandemic recent spousal deaths.ResultsWe find strong associations between recent spousal death and poor mental health before and during the pandemic. However, our difference-in-difference estimates indicate those whose spouses died of COVID-19 have higher risks of self-reported depression and loneliness, but not trouble sleeping, than expected based on pre-pandemic associations.DiscussionThese results highlight that the millions of COVID-19 widow(er)s face extreme mental health risks, eclipsing those experienced by surviving spouses pre-pandemic, furthering concerns about the pandemic’s lasting impacts on health.

Keywords: Bereavement; COVID-19; Mental health; Widowhood (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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The Journals of Gerontology: Series B is currently edited by Psychological Sciences - S. Duke Han, PhD and Social Sciences - Jessica A Kelley, PhD, FGSA

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