University of Liverpool, UK.
J Aging Stud. 2013 Dec;27(4):499-506. doi: 10.1016/j.jaging.2013.03.006. Epub 2013 Jul 21.
Older widowers are more likely to remarry than older widowed women. However, relatively little is known about the attitudes of older widowers to new romantic relationships and remarriage or repartnering. In this study of 60 widowers, more than half spontaneously discussed their attitudes toward, and experiences of, these relationships. However, none of the widowers had remarried and of those who described themselves as repartnered only one was cohabiting. We examine these data in the light of Lopata's concept of 'husband sanctification' (1981). We identify four themes. First, some widowers do sanctify their late wives. Second, we argue that wife sanctification contributes to widowers' uncertainties about repartnering. Third, when widowers make decisions to repartner, wife sanctification does not appear to make an important contribution. Finally, there is evidence to suggest that wife sanctification influences how men refer to their new women friends. Thus, we conclude by arguing that wife sanctification influences widowers' decisions surrounding remarriage/repartnering.
老年鳏夫比老年寡妇更有可能再婚。然而，对于老年鳏夫对新的浪漫关系和再婚或再配对的态度，人们知之甚少。在这项对 60 名鳏夫的研究中，超过一半的人自发地讨论了他们对这些关系的态度和经历。然而，没有一个鳏夫再婚，那些自称再配对的人只有一个是同居。我们根据洛帕塔的“丈夫神圣化”（1981）概念来审视这些数据。我们确定了四个主题。首先，一些鳏夫确实使他们已故的妻子神圣化。其次，我们认为，妻子神圣化导致鳏夫对再配对感到不确定。第三，当鳏夫做出再配对的决定时，妻子神圣化似乎没有做出重要贡献。最后，有证据表明，妻子神圣化影响了男性对新女性朋友的称呼方式。因此，我们的结论是，妻子神圣化影响了鳏夫围绕再婚/再配对的决定。
