Publication Type |
dissertation |
School or College |
College of Nursing |
Department |
Nursing |
Author |
Farnsworth, Judy |
Title |
Influence of self-esteem on the subjective well-being of older divorced and widowed adults |
Date |
1987-08 |
Description |
This cross-sectional study was designed to investigate the influence of self-esteem on an older individual's well-being after the loss of a spouse through divorce or through death and to determine if the relationship was comparable for both groups. The study was posited in a framework of symbolic interactionism. The participants were 109 divorced and 110 widowed individuals over 50 years of age. These participants were part of two larger research projects: 'The Divorced Elderly: Biopsychosocial and Economic Factors Affecting Adjustment' conducted by the Psychosocial Division of the College of Nursing, University of Utah, and 'Bereavement in the Elderly: Factors in Adaptation,' which was funded by the National Institute on Aging (Grant No. R01 AG-02193). Measurement of self-esteem was obtained from a coding scheme developed to classify participants' response on the 20 statements test. Measurements of subjective well-being were obtained from the Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale, the Life Satisfaction Index-A and an array of single-item indicators about a variety of loss-related feelings and behaviors that had been factor analyzed into five global subscales. The findings indicate that the well-being of divorced and widowed individuals was similar except that the divorced experienced more anger, guilt and confusion, while the widowed individuals were more depressed. Correlation coefficients and Fisher's z indicated that self-esteem influenced subjective well-being and that the influence was similar for divorced and widowed individuals. The influence was always in the direction of high self-esteem being associated with more favorable scores on the various measures of well-being. Stepwise multiple regressions of selected descriptive variables on the subjective well-being measures for the two samples revealed that the individual's perception of one's personal health was the major indicator of subjective well-being following either divorce or widowhood. |
Type |
Text |
Publisher |
University of Utah |
Subject MESH |
Aged; Self Concept; Single Person; Middle Aged; Divorce; Life Change Events; Grief |
Dissertation Institution |
University of Utah |
Dissertation Name |
PhD |
Language |
eng |
Relation is Version of |
Digital reproduction of "The Influence of self-esteem on the subjective well-being of older divorced and widowed adults". Spencer S. Eccles Health Sciences Library. |
Rights Management |
© Judy Farnsworth. |
Format Medium |
application/pdf |
Format Extent |
1,333,111 bytes |
Identifier |
undthes,4376 |
Source |
Original: University of Utah Spencer S. Eccles Health Sciences Library (no longer available). Original: University of Utah Spencer S. Eccles Health Sciences Library (no longer available). Original: University of Utah Spencer S. Eccles Health Sciences Library (no longer available |
Master File Extent |
1,333,194 bytes |
ARK |
ark:/87278/s6cc12d9 |
Setname |
ir_etd |
ID |
190425 |
Reference URL |
https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6cc12d9 |