Date of Award

1-2-1992

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Psychology

Abstract

Twenty-five bereaved rural elderly subjects (10 males, 15 females) were compared with twenty-five bereaved urban elderly subjects (16 females, 9 males) in the second year after the death of a spouse. All subjects were drawn from a Hospice population. The rural elderly were found to have higher levels of depression, unresolved grief, and poorer health than the urban elderly as measured by the Multiscore Depression Inventory, the Beck Depression Inventory, the Wahler Physical Symptoms Inventory, and the Texas Revised Inventory of Grief. Multiple regression analyses revealed that several variables influenced scores on the outcome measures. Depression scores were best predicted by whether or not subjects were in the rural or urban group, and utilization of resources. Health scores were best predicted by whether or not subjects were in the rural or urban group, and grief scores were best predicted by utilization of resources, whether or not subjects lived in the rural or urban group, distance in miles from the nearest relative, number of siblings, income, the age of the spouse at death, and the closeness of the marital relationship. It was concluded that qualitative and quantitative differences in resources and resource utilization between rural and urban elderly accounted for the current findings. Elderly males were found to be more sad, pessimistic, less energetic, and to exhibit higher levels of instrumental and learned helplessness than their female counterparts, despite the finding of fewer economic resources among the elderly females. It was concluded that several factors may have accounted for this finding: (1) none of the men had remarried and may not have been utilizing an effective method of coping with bereavement, (2) elderly men may have poorer resolution of bereavement when their spouse dies of a lengthy terminal illness, and (3) instrumental helplessness resulted from the death of a spouse, since the death marked the end of a close, dependent primary relationship and the beginning of a difficult period of social and psychological adjustment for the widower.

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