Perceived Self-Competency Among the Recently Bereaved

Abstract

In this study, the authors identified personal resources, features of the marital relationship, and death circumstances that affected perceived self-competency among recently bereaved older adults. Data came from 328 widowed persons who participated in the “Living After Loss” project. Results suggested that those who had more personal resources—namely, income and good health—were the most competent in daily life tasks. Surprisingly, neither death forewarning nor marital quality improved competency after widowhood. Higher competency was associated with more positive mental health outcomes, suggesting that grief is complicated by the need to enhance and/or restore daily life activities as well as the need to deal with the sadness associated with the loss.

KEYWORDS:

• bereavement
• death
• forewarning
• gender differences
• grief
• marital quality
• self-competency
• widowhood

Acknowledgments

This project was funded by the National Institute on Aging, Grant #R01 AG023090.

Notes

Note. ^a Individual items were assessed with a 3-point Likert response: 1 = not at all, 2 = somewhat, 3 = a lot. ^b Significant gender differences were assessed using independent samples t tests.

*p < .10. **p < .05. ***p < .001.

Note. ^a Subscales were standardized to a z-distribution to adjust for skewness, and thus had a mean of 0 and a standard deviation of 1.

All analyses controlled for site (San Francisco, Salt Lake City) and months bereaved; not significant.

BOLD indicates a significant regression coefficient, p < .05.

Notes. ^a Subscales were standardized to a z-distribution to adjust for skewness, and thus had a mean of 0 and a standard deviation of 1.

All analyses controlled for site (San Francisco, Salt Lake City) and months bereaved; not significant.

BOLD indicates a significant regression coefficient, p < .05 level.

Boxes indicate a significant interaction by gender, p < .05.

Note. *Correlation (2 tailed) was significant at the .05 level, **at the .01 level, ***at the .001 level.

All variables were measured so that higher numbers indicate higher levels of perceived competency, grief, depression, or loneliness.