MONDAY, Sept. 15, 2003 (HealthDayNews) -- The first year of widowhood is the most difficult in terms of mental health, but widows do recover after a period of time, says an American study in the September issue of Health Psychology.
The study found women who were widowed less than a year reported more mental and physical problems than women widowed for longer than a year and women who were married.
But the study also found recently widowed women did improve over time. It also says that finding social support may be important in the coping process for these women.
The researchers examined 72,247 women aged 50-79 who were either married, recently widowed (lost their husband in the previous year) or widowed more than a year. The researchers also followed 55,724 women over three years to document changes over that time.
The study found married women had a more favorable health profile than widows. Recent widows reported much higher rates of depressed mood, poorer social functioning and lower mental and physical functioning than women widowed more than a year. But the mental health of the recent widows improved over time.
"After a three-year period of time passed, emotional and social functioning improved among most of the widowed women," the authors write.
"These findings underscore the resilience of older women and their capacity to reestablish connections, but point to the need for services that strengthen social support among women who have difficulty during this transition."
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