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Impact of Bereavement on the Self‐Conceptions of Older Surviving Spouses
Author(s) -
Lund Dale A.,
Caserta Michael S.,
Dimond Margaret F.,
Gray Robert M.
Publication year - 1986
Publication title -
symbolic interaction
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.874
H-Index - 47
eISSN - 1533-8665
pISSN - 0195-6086
DOI - 10.1525/si.1986.9.2.235
Subject(s) - spouse , psychology , test (biology) , social psychology , demography , longitudinal study , gerontology , developmental psychology , clinical psychology , medicine , sociology , paleontology , pathology , anthropology , biology
The purpose of this longitudinal study was to assess the extent to which the social anchorage dimension of the self‐concept is impacted by the death of a spouse among a sample of older surviving spouses. Social anchorage was measured by the Twenty Statements Test (TST) in mailed questionnaires and consisted of self‐statements that signify important social relationships and group memberships. As hypothesized, the 42 bereaved persons had lower social anchorage scores than the 72 nonbereaved controls. This significant effect was evident as early as three to four weeks following the death, and it persisted through five more measurement periods that covered the first two years of bereavement.