Identity Relevance and Disruption as Predictors of Psychological Distress for Widowed and Divorced Women

By using measures of identity relevance and identity disruption, we examined differences and similarities in the adjustment process for women who lost a spouse through death or divorce. We expected widowhood would be more disruptive of identity and more distressing than divorce. Based on work by Thoits (1991) and Burke (1991), we predicted higher psychological distress in both groups for women who had higher subjective evaluations of their (ex)husbands, for women who had higher identity relevance or salience of a coupled identity, and for women who had experienced higher levels of identity disruption. The sample consisted of 173 widowed and 156 divorced women matched on age, race, and median income of census tract of residence. Widowhood was more distressing and disruptive than divorce. However, multisample path analysis indicated that the adjustment process was also similar for both groups in terms of the impact of the identity process on psychological distress. Key Words: divorce, identity theory, marital separation, psychological distress, stress theory, widowhood. Theoretical comparisons of the similarities between adjusting to the death of a spouse and to divorce have been made for more than 60 years. These comparisons are based upon potential similarities between these groups, including each group's need to adjust to the loss of a partner, to reconstruct role relationships, and to adjust to changes in lifestyle (Blau, 1973; Bohannan, 1970; Goode, 1956, 1982; Parkes, 1986; Waller, 1930/1967; Weiss, 1975, 1976, 1993). Few studies have actually investigated similarities (Gove Kitson Kitson Morgan, 1989; O'Bryant Petiet, 1982), in part, because of the large difference in the median age at widowhood and divorce that could account for any observed differences. Beyond similarities and differences in the experiences of the widowed and divorced, all loss has the potential to be a painful and stressful human experience, with deeply felt loss intrinsically linked to the disruption of a sense of personal identity (Parkes, 1986; Simos, 1979; Weigart Simos, 1979; Weiss, 1993; Wiseman, 1975). Divorce is similar to the death of a spouse in terms of an object loss, that is, the loss of the partner and the marital relationship. The divorce process can be similar because it entails severing the bonds of attachment produced in a long-term primary relationship (Kitson, 1992; Parkes, 1986; Weiss, 1975,1976, 1993). However, the process of divorce can be different from widowhood because of the potential for continued interaction with the ex-spouse and the varying degrees of antipathy felt toward the expartners (Chiriboga, Catron, Jacobson, 1983). For example, the completion of the bereavement process may be more problematic for a divorced person who continues to interact with their former spouse. Another difference is that a divorced person potentially has more choice in the ending of a marriage, whereas a widowed person does not. …