Dataset Information

Mourning in a Pandemic: The Differential Impact of Widowhood on Mental Health During COVID-19.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

The death of a spouse is an established predictor of mental health decline that foreshadows worsening physical health and elevated mortality. The millions widowed by COVID-19 worldwide may experience even worse health outcomes than comparable pre-pandemic widows given the particularities of dying, mourning, and grieving during a pandemic defined by protracted social isolation, economic precarity, and general uncertainty. If COVID-19 pandemic bereavement is more strongly associated with mental health challenges than pre-pandemic bereavement, the large new cohort of COVID-19 widow(er)s may be at substantial risk of downstream health problems long after the pandemic abates.

Methods

We pooled population-based Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe data from 27 countries for two distinct periods: (1) pre-pandemic (Wave 8, fielded October 2019 to March 2020; N = 46,266) and (2) early-pandemic (COVID Supplement, fielded June to August 2020; N = 55,796). The analysis used a difference-in-difference design to assess whether a spouse dying from COVID-19 presents unique mental health risks (self-reported depression, loneliness, and trouble sleeping), compared to pre-pandemic recent spousal deaths.

Results

We find strong associations between recent spousal death and poor mental health before and during the pandemic. However, our difference-in-difference estimates indicate those whose spouses died of COVID-19 have higher risks of self-reported depression and loneliness, but not trouble sleeping, than expected based on pre-pandemic associations.

Discussion

These results highlight that the millions of COVID-19 widow(er)s face extreme mental health risks, eclipsing those experienced by surviving spouses pre-pandemic, furthering concerns about the pandemic's lasting impacts on health.

SUBMITTER: Wang H

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9278192 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Mourning in a Pandemic: The Differential Impact of COVID-19 Widowhood on Mental Health.

Wang Haowei H Smith-Greenaway Emily E Bauldry Shawn S Margolis Rachel R Verdery Ashton M AM

The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences 20221201 12

<h4>Objectives</h4>The death of a spouse is an established predictor of mental health decline that foreshadows worsening physical health and elevated mortality. The millions widowed by COVID-19 worldwide may experience even worse health outcomes than comparable pre-pandemic widows given the particularities of dying, mourning, and grieving during a pandemic defined by protracted social isolation, economic precarity, and general uncertainty. If COVID-19 pandemic bereavement is more strongly associ ...[more]

PMID: 35753008

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Project description:BackgroundThe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has posed a significant influence on public mental health. Current efforts focus on alleviating the impacts of the disease on public health and the economy, with the psychological effects due to COVID-19 relatively ignored. In this research, we are interested in exploring the quantitative characterization of the pandemic impact on public mental health by studying an online survey dataset of the United States.MethodsThe analyses are conducted based on a large scale of online mental health-related survey study in the United States, conducted over 12 consecutive weeks from April 23, 2020 to July 21, 2020. We are interested in examining the risk factors that have a significant impact on mental health as well as in their estimated effects over time. We employ the multiple imputation by chained equations (MICE) method to deal with missing values and take logistic regression with the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (Lasso) method to identify risk factors for mental health.ResultsOur analysis shows that risk predictors for an individual to experience mental health issues include the pandemic situation of the State where the individual resides, age, gender, race, marital status, health conditions, the number of household members, employment status, the level of confidence of the future food affordability, availability of health insurance, mortgage status, and the information of kids enrolling in school. The effects of most of the predictors seem to change over time though the degree varies for different risk factors. The effects of risk factors, such as States and gender show noticeable change over time, whereas the factor age exhibits seemingly unchanged effects over time.ConclusionsThe analysis results unveil evidence-based findings to identify the groups who are psychologically vulnerable to the COVID-19 pandemic. This study provides helpful evidence for assisting healthcare providers and policymakers to take steps for mitigating the pandemic effects on public mental health, especially in boosting public health care, improving public confidence in future food conditions, and creating more job opportunities.Trial registrationThis article does not report the results of a health care intervention on human participants.