Comparison of Younger and Older Spouses in Bereavement Outcome

Forty-five bereaved spouses were interviewed shortly after the death and again eighteen months later. The Grief Experience Inventory and MMPI were administered at both interviews, responses being subsequently divided into two age categories, sixty-five years and older and sixty-three years and younger. Matched controls were utilized. Younger spouses initially manifested greater grief intensities but at eighteen months a reverse trend was noted; older spouses showed exacerbated grief reactions. While denial seemed to operate as a defense against their anxiety, nevertheless elevations on the Social Isolation, Depersonalization, Death Anxiety, and Loss of Vigor scales of the GEI for older spouses point to the debilitating effects of loneliness and fear for one's personal safety. Maslow's needs hierarchy was used to explain the two levels of motivation seen among younger and older spouses.