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The death of a spouse is considered one of life’s most stressful experiences yet it is, for many, a central experience of growing older. The terms “spousal bereavement” and “widowhood” are often used interchangeably in the literature. Both are marked by the death of a spouse but while spousal bereavement is generally understood to be a short-term state, widowhoodrefers to the ongoing, longer-term experience which requires an individual to reestablish their life in their new status as a widow, a woman whose husband has died, or a widower, a man whose wife has died. The death of a spouse has immediate and longer-term consequences for many aspects of the surviving spouse’s life, including their health and well-being, their personal relationships, how they spend their time, and their sense of self. The experience following the death of a spouse is personal and is influenced by a wide range of factors...
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Soulsby, L.K., Bennett, K.M. (2015). Widowhood in Late Life. In: Pachana, N. (eds) Encyclopedia of Geropsychology. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-080-3_85-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-080-3_85-1
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