CONJUGAL LOSS IN LATER LIFE--A DYNAMICAL SYSTEMS APPROAC

University Of Notre Dame, Notre Dame IN

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Abstract

The proposed pilot research proposal is in response to Research Objective number 22: Personality and experimental social psychology. The proposed study has two primary aims: to examine the initial process of emotional regulation after conjugal loss and to identify resilience resources that may contribute importantly to more optimal outcomes to the bereavement process. In regard to the emotion regulation process, it is speculated that in normal older adults, the day-to-day change in a person's mood has a point attractor and an equilibrium point that is between emotionally stable and unstable. A stressful life event, like the death of a spouse, will perturb the emotional regulation of the individual away from equilibrium, contributing to emotional vacillation. Over a period of time, however, the individual will move back to equilibrium and a dynamical model will produce a prediction about the attractor state that best fit the data. Participants will include approximately 90 older adults comprising three groups of widows, two groups who are recently bereaved (i.e., 2 weeks post death), and a control group who has been bereaved for at least five years. All subjects will participate in a pre- and post-interview and will be asked to complete self-report questionnaires. In addition to the interview and questionnaire data, the Target Widowed Group and the Long-term Widowed Control Group will be asked to answer a series of questions regarding their emotions/affect on a daily basis for 90 days. The Recently Widowed Control Group will not participate in the daily assessments of emotion/affect to assess whether the experience of reporting one's feelings on a regular basis enhances health and well-being outcomes. In examining the process by which an individual reorganizes his/her emotions after the death of a spouse, we can pave the way to understanding the underlying mechanisms by which individuals successfully adapt to widowhood.