Social Support and Adaptation to Widowhood

This study examined the effects of social support on the psychological well-being of 245 women who had been widowed for less than three years. The survey results indicate that the role of such support is important but complex. Whether social support is helpful, harmful, or inconsequential to widows' psychological well-being seems to depend on such factors as where the widows are in the adjustment process, the type of support given, and its source. While a life crisis, such as death of one's spouse, is traumatic for almost everyone experiencing it, it remains unclear why some widowed people experience a more difficult adjustment process than do others. This study addresses the issue of differential adjustment to the death of a husband. The study of human reactions to bereavement is not new; however, much of the previous work in this area has been grounded in theoretical frameworks that emphasize the instinctual, biological facets of the individual's grief reactions and neglect the social context of the adjustment process (cf. Bowlby, 1961, 1980; Freud, 1917; Klein, 1940; Lindemann, 1944). Consequently, the potential importance of social relationships existing between the bereaved individual and significant others has tended to be overlooked in this area of inquiry. The present study was concerned with the discovery of the ways in which support from significant others tends to enhance or lessen the