Feinson M C
Int J Aging Hum Dev. 1986;23(4):241-55. doi: 10.2190/1N2U-9HHE-470H-YQPT.
Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin resigned shortly after the death of his wife. A classic portrait of the grieving widower, his despondency did not surprise mental health professionals. One psychiatrist explained that "Women take bereavement better than men because the widow keeps her domain" while the widower tends to become disoriented. This article examines the perception that men, specifically aging men, are more emotionally distressed than aging women by their spouse's death. A literature review reveals little evidence from behavioral or psychological studies to support the perception, along with mixed evidence of higher male mortality rates in some age groups. Data from a random probability community mental health survey are presented. Prevalence rates for the bereaved are significantly greater than are married rates for only one of the five measures of mental disorders. Widows report significantly more overall distress and depression, but these differences disappear when gender is examined, along with other sociodemographic variables in regression analyses. Clearly, these findings and those from studies of elders, do not support the perception that aging widowers experience more emotional problems during bereavement than do aging widows. Perceptions and mental health policies should be revised to reflect the reality of more similarities than differences among aging widows and widowers.
以色列总理梅纳赫姆·贝京在其妻子去世后不久便辞职了。作为鳏夫悲痛形象的经典写照，他的沮丧并未让心理健康专家感到意外。一位精神科医生解释说：“女性比男性更能承受丧亲之痛，因为寡妇能守住自己的领地”，而鳏夫往往会变得迷失方向。本文探讨了一种观点，即男性，尤其是老年男性，因配偶死亡而比老年女性更容易陷入情绪困扰。文献综述显示，行为或心理学研究几乎没有证据支持这一观点，同时在某些年龄组中，男性死亡率较高的证据也参差不齐。文中呈现了一项随机概率社区心理健康调查的数据。在五项精神障碍指标中，只有一项指标显示，丧亲者的患病率显著高于已婚者。寡妇报告的总体困扰和抑郁情绪明显更多，但在回归分析中，当考虑性别以及其他社会人口统计学变量时，这些差异就消失了。显然，这些研究结果以及其他关于老年人的研究结果并不支持这样一种观点，即老年鳏夫在丧亲期间比老年寡妇经历更多的情绪问题。应该修订相关观念和心理健康政策，以反映老年寡妇和鳏夫之间更多的是相似而非差异这一现实。
