University Assignment: Annotated Bibliography on Older Adult Widowers

This homework assignment presents an annotated bibliography focusing on the symptoms and behaviors observed in older adult widowers. It analyzes four research articles, examining topics such as depressive symptoms in older Korean widowers, the relationship between marital status and suicidal ideation in Australian older adults, the efficacy of treatment reminders on self-esteem and anxiety in widowed old men, and attitudes towards new partnerships among older widows and widowers in Canada. Each entry provides a concise summary of the article's content, methodology, and key findings, along with an assessment of its relevance to the broader topic. The bibliography highlights the psychological and social challenges faced by older adult widowers, including the impact of cultural factors, social support, mental health issues, and attitudes towards remarriage, providing a comprehensive overview of the current research landscape.

Running Head: SYMPTOMS AND BEHAVIOR IN OLDER ADULT WIDOWERS
Symptoms and Behavior in Older Adult Widowers
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s Note

1SYMPTOMS AND BEHAVIOR IN OLDER ADULT WIDOWERS
Annotated Bibliography
Jeon, G. S., Choi, K., & Cho, S. I. (2017). Impact of living alone on depressive symptoms in
older Korean widows. International journal of environmental research and public
health, 14(10), 1191
Jeon in the article shows the depressive trait exhibited by the older adult
widowers in Korea. The Korean culture and the custom plays a major role as they are dependent
on their children for financial, emotional and physical support owing to the Confucian teaching
which are prevalent in the society in general. The change in adoption of the western cultures by
the family leads to further integration when the child marries and breaks off, this change is
observed to have a huge impact on the depressive symptoms among the older widower. With
this, there is an addition of the fact that their counterparts who still lived in family oriented
culture. Gets the emotional support of their children after the death of their spouse. The article
shows the relationship between the financial condition of a widower and the psychological
influence it has on the individual.
The article is the study of the symptoms shown by the widowers in terms of the
individual and their financial situation with respect to their dependence on their social ties which
has been found to be the critical point. Jeon establishes through the experimental studies that
though financial standing does has a certain impact on the symptoms, lack of social ties has jump
on the individuals. The survey Living Profiles of Older People Survey (LPOPS) shows how after
the death of their spouses and the fact that they have to adjust to new living conditions and
situation along with new responsibilities differs from household to household.

2SYMPTOMS AND BEHAVIOR IN OLDER ADULT WIDOWERS
McLaren, S., Gomez, R., Gill, P., & Chesler, J. (2015). Marital status and suicidal ideation
among Australian older adults: the mediating role of sense of
belonging. International psychogeriatrics, 27(1), 145-154.
The article draws the relationship between male widowed and female widowed
adults living in Australia and their sense of belonging after the death of their spouses which is
measured on the scale of the suicidal tendencies found in them. The study shows the level of
suicidal tendency found in the men and the women folk through the psychological scale of the
Sense of Belonging Instrument with the help of General Health Questionnaire. The article helps
in understanding the influence of marriage to the sense of belonging in the society for older
adults both male and female. It has been established by the result of the survey that the men are
more psychologically attached to their marital status and find a certain refuge in their social ties
especially in their latter age irrespective of the financial status.
The research shows that men are three times more likely to be inclined towards having
suicidal tendencies than women which has been drawn from the fact that they draw social
protection and social stability with their marital status. Thus, the loss makes them less worthy
and cut off from the society making them question their self- esteem. The other factor which
have been noticed in the research is the effect of the gendered role which shows the dependency
and the loss of a spouse in addition to the grief also adds to the new gendered roles which was
done by the dead on the grieving partner.

3SYMPTOMS AND BEHAVIOR IN OLDER ADULT WIDOWERS
Pishvaei, M., Moghanloo, R. A., & Moghanloo, V. A. (2015). The efficacy of treatment
reminders of life with emphasis on integrative reminiscence on self-esteem and anxiety in
widowed old men. Iranian journal of psychiatry, 10(1), 19.
The article from the Iranian journal of psychiatry by Pishvaei, Moghanloo, and
Moghanloo shows the exhibition of the growing anxiety and stress in older men when widowed
at a latter age and the impact of life therapy on their mental health. Following the study and
researches in the field it has been found that depression and anxiety are two of the major factor
which pushes older men into the lack of self-esteem and self-worth which has been identified as
the major cause of mental disorder. The different symptoms observed after the immediate loss of
spouse are the exhaustion, and the unwillingness to carry out with the day to day routine
domestic life chores and even loss of appetite and sleep.
These have been experimented to counter with the life treatment therapy with the major
focus on acceptability of the individual with their loss and sorrow which gives them a clear sight
of the modification required in their life be it in their behavior or emotional state of being. The
treatment as devised were divided into two groups where the experimental group showed better
result where the individual were given the opportunity to talk about their loss and how that
contributed to their anxiety.
Van Den Hoonaard, D. K. (2017). Attitudes of older widows and widowers in New
Brunswick, Canada towards new partnerships. In Intimacy in later life (pp. 105-
119). Routledge.
This article by Van Den provides a contrasting study in which the widows in
Canada is far more than those of the widowers and have been more likely to stay single with a

4SYMPTOMS AND BEHAVIOR IN OLDER ADULT WIDOWERS
comprehensive lack of enthusiasm for remarriage. The article provides data for the ongoing
process of interviewing widowers of age sixty five and more as the process is comparatively
harder to those of the widows owing to the wide gap in the percent of 39 percent to that of
women 79 percent. Moreover, there has been a dramatic attitude change which has been
observed for the women claims never to remarry on the basis of the fact that they already had the
best husband and had a very fulfilling life with them. On the other hand, men claims the reason
for being skeptical is because they are vary of the predatory women.
The article helps in the research as it shows the difference of the identity of widows in
comparison to those of widows in the society. The Canadian society emphasizes more the
identity of a women who are widows being alone and men who are widowers and their marital
status represents their willingness to stay single due to various reasons such as not getting
enough offers from the women.

5SYMPTOMS AND BEHAVIOR IN OLDER ADULT WIDOWERS
References
Jeon, G. S., Choi, K., & Cho, S. I. (2017). Impact of living alone on depressive symptoms in
older Korean widows. International journal of environmental research and public
health, 14(10), 1191.
McLaren, S., Gomez, R., Gill, P., & Chesler, J. (2015). Marital status and suicidal ideation
among Australian older adults: the mediating role of sense of belonging. International
psychogeriatrics, 27(1), 145-154.
Pishvaei, M., Moghanloo, R. A., & Moghanloo, V. A. (2015). The efficacy of treatment
reminders of life with emphasis on integrative reminiscence on self-esteem and anxiety in
widowed old men. Iranian journal of psychiatry, 10(1), 19.
Van Den Hoonaard, D. K. (2017). Attitudes of older widows and widowers in New Brunswick,
Canada towards new partnerships. In Intimacy in later life (pp. 105-119). Routledge.