Am J Psychiatry 1975; 132:133-137
Copyright © 1975 by American Psychiatric Association
The effect of living alone on bereavement symptoms
PJ Clayton
The author reports on a study of widows and widowers who were followed for
one year after the deaths of their spouses. The study shows that
bereavement itself rather than the effects of living alone influences the
occurrence of depressive symptoms in widows and widowers at one month. The
data gathered also support the idea that younger people who have lost a
spouse tend to show more physical depressive symptoms and to require
hospitalization more often than either matched married controls or older
widows and widowers at one year.
