Home Alone: Widows’ Well-Being and Time

Maja Adena, Daniel Hamermesh (), Michal Myck and Monika Oczkowska ()
Additional contact information
Daniel Hamermesh: University of Texas at Austin
Monika Oczkowska: Centre for Economic Analysis

Journal of Happiness Studies, 2023, vol. 24, issue 2, No 18, 813-838

Abstract: Abstract Using data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE, 2004–17) and time diaries from Poland (2013), the U.S. (2006–16), the U.K. (2014–15) and France (2009–10), we examine differences between widowed and partnered older women in well-being and its development in widowhood. Most importantly, our analysis accounts for time use, an aspect which has not been studied previously. We trace the evolution of well-being of women who become widowed by comparing them with their matched non-widowed ‘statistical twins’ and examine the role of an exceptionally broad set of potential moderators of widowhood’s impact on well-being. We confirm a dramatic decrease in mental health and life satisfaction after the loss of partner, followed by a slow partial recovery over a 5-year period. An extensive set of controls recorded prior to widowhood, including detailed family ties and social networks, provides little help in explaining the deterioration in well-being. Unique data from time-diaries kept by older women in several European countries and the U.S. tell us why: the key factor behind widows’ reduced well-being is increased time spent alone.

Keywords: Widowhood; Well-being; Social networks; Time use (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I19 I31 J14 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10902-023-00622-w Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
Journal Article: Home Alone: Widows’ Well-Being and Time (2023)
Working Paper: Home alone: Widows' Well-Being and Time (2023)
Working Paper: Home Alone: Widows' Well-Being and Time (2021)
Working Paper: Home alone: Widows' well-being and time (2021)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:jhappi:v:24:y:2023:i:2:d:10.1007_s10902-023-00622-w

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer. ... fe/journal/10902/PS2

DOI: 10.1007/s10902-023-00622-w

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Happiness Studies is currently edited by Antonella Delle Fave

More articles in Journal of Happiness Studies from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().