The Effect of Widowhood on Mental Health - an Analysis of Anticipation Patterns Surrounding the Death of a Spouse.

TitleThe Effect of Widowhood on Mental Health - an Analysis of Anticipation Patterns Surrounding the Death of a Spouse.
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2017
AuthorsSiflinger, B
JournalHealth Econ
Volume26
Issue12
Pagination1505-1523
Date Published2017 12
ISSN Number1099-1050
KeywordsAdaptation, Psychological, Aged, Bereavement, Cause of Death, Female, Humans, Interviews as Topic, Male, Mental Health, Middle Aged, Models, Econometric, Qualitative Research, Spouses, Widowhood
Abstract

This study explores the effects of widowhood on mental health by taking into account the anticipation and adaptation to the partner's death. The empirical analysis uses representative panel data from the USA that are linked to administrative death records of the National Death Index. I estimate static and dynamic specifications of the panel probit model in which unobserved heterogeneity is modeled with correlated random effects. I find strong anticipation effects of the partner's death on the probability of depression, implying that the partner's death event cannot be assumed to be exogenous in econometric models. In the absence of any anticipation effects, the partner's death has long-lasting mental health consequences, leading to a significantly slower adaptation to widowhood. The results suggest that both anticipation effects and adaptation effects can be attributed to a caregiver burden and to the cause of death. The findings of this study have important implications for designing adequate social policies for the elderly US population that alleviate the negative consequences of bereavement. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

URLhttp://doi.wiley.com/10.1002/hec.3443http://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1002%2Fhec.3443
DOI10.1002/hec.3443
User Guide Notes

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27747997?dopt=Abstract

Short TitleHealth Econ.
Alternate JournalHealth Econ
Citation Key8751
PubMed ID27747997