Psychosocial issues and Widowhood

Polkampally Bharathi; Godishala Sridevi; K.B. Kumar

Volume : V, Issue : X, October - 2015

Psychosocial issues and Widowhood

Polkampally Bharathi, Godishala Sridevi, K. B. Kumar

Abstract :

 The death of a spouse is one of the most profound and life–altering events adults will ever experience. One of the biggest problems reported by both widows and widowers is loneliness, which may last well beyond the usual period of mourning. Loneliness can be described as a gnawing chronic disease without redeeming features which has long been recognized as a strong correlate of depressive symptoms. The aim of the study is to investigate the psychosocial issues among widows and widowers. 30 widows and 30 widowers were selected from Hyderabad between the age groups of 40yrs–70yrs. UCLA Loneliness Scale by Russell, 1996 and Lubben Social Network Scale by Lubben, 1988 were used. The results show that widowers are experiencing significant loneliness than widows and no difference was found on social network and significant difference found based on age groups.