Widowhood and well-being in Europe: The role of national and regional context

Brett Ory, T Huijts

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13 Citations (Scopus)
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Abstract

Researchers have documented that widows have lower levels of subjective well-being than married individuals, but we still know little about how the regional and national context affect the impact of widowhood on well-being. Building on social capital theory and using five rounds of the European Social Survey (N = 119,292 people, 206 regions, 23 countries), this study tests how marital status composition at the national and regional level affects the well-being of widows. Widows fare worse in countries with high proportions of married and in regions and countries with high proportions of widowed. The proportion of married at the regional level does not affect their well-being. Results are in line with the greedy marriage hypothesis but varying effects at regional and national levels suggest that the standard explanation for this phenomenon, lack of individual social support, is not valid. This study demonstrates the importance of multiple contextual embeddedness.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)730-746
Number of pages17
JournalJournal of Marriage and Family
Volume77
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2015

Research programs

  • ESSB SOC

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