Journal
SOCIAL SCIENCE & MEDICINE
Volume 66, Issue 4, Pages 873-884Publisher
PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2007.11.029
Keywords
bereavement; mortality; neighborhood; multilevel discrete-time hazard analysis; widowhood effect; gender; USA
Funding
- NHLBI NIH HHS [K25 HL081275-04, K25 HL081275-02, K25 HL081275-05, K25 HL081275-03, K25 HL081275, K25 HL081275-01, 1 K25 HL081275] Funding Source: Medline
- NIA NIH HHS [R01 AG17548-01, R01 AG017548] Funding Source: Medline
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The effect of death of a spouse on the mortality of the survivor (the widowhood effect) is well-established. We investigated how the effect of widowhood on mortality depends on the neighborhood concentration of widowed individuals in the United States. We developed a large, nationally representative, and longitudinal dataset from Medicare claims and other data sources characterizing 200,000 elderly couples, with nine years of follow-up (1993-2002), and estimated multilevel grouped discrete-time hazard models. In neighborhoods with a low concentration of widowed individuals, widowhood increased the odds of death for men by 22% and for women by 17%, compared to 17% for men, and 15% for women in neighborhoods with a high concentration of widowed individuals. Our findings suggest that neighborhood structural contexts - that provide opportunities for interacting with others and favoring new social engagements - could be potential modifiers of the widowhood effects and as such requires more systematic consideration in future research of widowhood effects on well-being and mortality. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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