Michal Myck, CenEA. “Consequences of Widowhood: Health and Material Conditions” (with Maja Adena, WZB and Monika Oczkowska, CenEA)

1. Consequences of widowhood:
health and material conditions
Michał Myck
Centre for Economic Analysis
(joint work with: Maja Adena, WZB
and Monika Oczkowska, CenEA)
SITE Academic Conference
Stockholm, 18/12/2018

2. Introduction:
• Widowhood as a phenomenon with a strong gender bias:
• significant differences in life expectancy between men and women:
Consequences of widowhood
70
72
74
76
78
80
82
84
86
88
HU PL CZ EE DK DE NL BE GR SL IL SE PO AT LU IT CH FR ES
LifeExpectancyatBirth(2015)
Men Women
Life expectancy at birth (2015)
Source: OECD

3. Introduction:
• Generally, the gender gap in life expectancy has fallen over the past decades, but
it is still high in many countries and unlikely to disappear soon:
Consequences of widowhood
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
IL GR DK SE DE ES IT AT NL BE CH PO CZ LU HU SL FR PL EE
Gendergap(inyears)
1980's 2010's
Gender gap in life expectancy at birth: averages for 1980s vs 2010s
Source: OECD

4. Introduction:
• Two aspects of widowhood from a gender perspective:
 women outlive men (a positive bias);
 but then live with the consequences of widowhood:
 the challenge of personal loss;
 potential implications for material conditions: loss of income, costs of living;
 consequences for physical and mental health;
 loss of emotional support; social exclusion;
premature death: the “widowhood effect” (Schaefer et al, 1995).
Consequences of widowhood

5. Introduction:
• Severe aspects of widowhood in the developing world:
• dispossession, violence, excess mortality (Durojaye, 2013; Milazzo and van de Walle,
2018);
• Widowhood in studies on developed countries:
• cross-sectional (negative) differences in material well-being and health (e.g. Biro, 2013);
• longitudinal studies: worse life satisfaction (Schwarze and Wunder, 2014), material
conditions (Ahn, 2005); depression (Shaan, 2013; Sasson and Umberson, 2013); short-
term negative physical health effects (Wilcox, 2003); higher probability of dying
(Subramanian et al., 2008; Moon et al 2014);
 strong short term effects;
 important role of policy and cultural contexts.
Consequences of widowhood

6. Introduction:
• Methodological issues when studying the effect of widowhood:
• unobservable characteristics in cross-sectional data;
• challenges in longitudinal analysis:
• data availability – information before and after partner’s loss;
• matching largely on observable characteristics prior to becoming a widow(er):
outcomes potentially affected in advance of partner’s death.
• Aim of our analysis: examine the scale of differences in outcomes between
individuals in couples and widow(er)s in health and material conditions:
• are consequences of widowhood different for men and women?
• how strong is the international variation in consequences of widowhood?
• how are the consequences related to time since partner’s death?
• We use latest release of data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in
Europe (SHARE):
• longitudinal international survey of individuals aged 50+;
• details on current conditions, life histories and “end-of-life” interviews on last year of life of
deceased respondents.
Consequences of widowhood

7. Data and analysed outcomes:
• Health and material conditions indicators in SHARE:
• physical health:
• self-assessed health status (poor SAH = 1);
• limitations in activities of daily living (1+ ADL);
• mental health:
• depressive symptoms – EURO-D scale (4+);
• material conditions:
• difficulties in “making ends meet”.
Consequences of widowhood

8. Data and analysed outcomes:
• Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE):
• cross-sectional analysis: wave 6 (2015) data from 18 countries;
• longitudinal analysis: waves 1-6.
• Identification of widowhood:
• cross-sectional analysis: declaration of partnership status;
• longitudinal analysis: death of partner from end-of-life interviews; “sudden death” as:
• cause of death identified as “accident”;
• length of illness prior to death < month (“How long had (name) been ill before
[he/she] died?”).
• Analytical approach for longitudinal analysis:
• time since death of partner as the point of reference;
• random time of death assigned to non-widowed individuals;
• matching:
• exact on country, gender, age group and education category;
• propensity score matching within groups on a number of current and life-
history characteristics.
Consequences of widowhood

9. Cross-sectional analysis using wave 6 data:
Consequences of widowhood
SHARE W6 data
Men Women
Age:
65.22
(10.24)
67.01
(11.30)
Widowed:
0.077
(0.267)
0.266
(0.422)
Time since widowhood (conditional)
9.88
(8.91)
14.23
(11.61)
Outcomes:
- poor SAH:
0.103
(0.304)
0.129
(0.336)
- 1+ ADL:
0.106
(0.308)
0.145
(0.352)
- 4+ EURO-D:
0.209
(0.407)
0.374
(0.484)
- difficulties in MEM:
0.375
(0.484)
0.407
(0.491)
Number of observations: 29,538 37,458

10. Cross-sectional analysis using wave 6 data:
Consequences of widowhood
Poor SAH 1+ ADL
Specification 1 Specification 2 Specification 1 Specification 2
Female
-0.000
(0.003)
-0.000
(0.003)
0.006**
(0.003)
0.006**
(0.003)
Widowed
-0.011
(0.008)
-0.013
(0.008)
-0.004
(0.008)
-0.014
(0.008)
Female * widowed
0.030***
(0.009)
0.031***
(0.009)
0.041***
(0.009)
0.037***
(0.009)
Time since widowhood
0.000
(0.000)
0.001***
(0.000)
Number of observations: 54208 54123 54210 54210
All countries, OLS: poor SAH and 1+ ADL
Additional controls: age, education category, number of children, number of grandchildren, rural/urban,
country dummies.

11. Cross-sectional analysis using wave 6 data:
Consequences of widowhood
4+ EURO-D Difficulties in MEM
Specification 1 Specification 2 Specification 1 Specification 2
Female
0.131***
(0.004)
0.131***
(0.004)
-0.008**
(0.004)
-0.008**
(0.004)
Widowed
0.057***
(0.011)
0.083***
(0.012)
-0.012
(0.011)
-0.010
(0.012)
Female * widowed
-0.010
(0.013)
0.001
(0.013)
0.119***
(0.012)
0.122***
(0.012)
Time since widowhood
-0.003***
(0.000)
-0.000
(0.000)
Number of observations: 51676 51676 53435 53435
Additional controls: age, education category, number of children, number of grandchildren, rural/urban,
country dummies.
All countries, OLS: 4+ EURO-D and difficulties in MEM

12. Cross-sectional analysis using wave 6 data:
Consequences of widowhood
Widowhood coefficients by country (Specification 2): poor SAH

13. Cross-sectional analysis using wave 6 data:
Consequences of widowhood
Widowhood coefficients by country (Specification 2): 4+ EURO-D

14. Cross-sectional analysis using wave 6 data:
Consequences of widowhood
Widowhood coefficients by country (Specification 2): difficulties in MEM

15. Longitudinal analysis: data
Consequences of widowhood
Non-widowed:
Widowed
(all):
Men: Women: Men: Women:
Number of observations: 1005 2564 1005 2564
Age at wave prior to death of partner (mean)
73.91
(9.603)
70.60
(9.028)
73.76
(9.317)
70.62
(9.021)
Higher education
0.166
(0.372)
0.117
(0.321)
0.162
(0.369)
0.109
(0.312)
Number of children (mean)
2.464
(1.690)
2.443
(1.660)
2.398
(1.673)
2.505
(1.627)
Place of living: rural
0.306
(0.461)
0.321
(0.467)
0.333
(0.472)
0.298
(0.457)
Working
0.108
(0.310)
0.098
(0.298)
0.101
(0.302)
0.100
(0.300)
Less than 1 shelf of books at home at age 10
0.694
(0.461)
0.700
(0.459)
0.727
(0.446)
0.695
(0.461)
School performance: worse in math
0.128
(0.335)
0.162
(0.369
0.116
(0.320)
0.150
(0.357)
Sample for longitudinal analysis:

16. Longitudinal analysis: data
Consequences of widowhood
Non-widowed:
Widowed
(all):
Widowed
(sudden death):
Men: Women: Men: Women: Men: Women:
Number of observations: 1005 2564 1005 2564 195 631
Age at wave prior to death of partner (mean)
73.91
(9.603)
70.60
(9.028)
73.76
(9.317)
70.62
(9.021)
74.232
(9.603)
70.805
(9.119)
Higher education
0.166
(0.372)
0.117
(0.321)
0.162
(0.369)
0.109
(0.312)
0.154
(0.362)
0.115
(0.319)
Number of children (mean)
2.464
(1.690)
2.443
(1.660)
2.398
(1.673)
2.505
(1.627)
2.472
(1.721)
2.431
(1.542)
Place of living: rural
0.306
(0.461)
0.321
(0.467)
0.333
(0.472)
0.298
(0.457)
0.300
(0.459)
0.323
(0.468)
Working
0.108
(0.310)
0.098
(0.298)
0.101
(0.302)
0.100
(0.300)
0.097
(0.297)
0.119
(0.324)
Less than 1 shelf of books at home at age 10
0.694
(0.461)
0.700
(0.459)
0.727
(0.446)
0.695
(0.461)
0.717
(0.452)
0.696
(0.460)
School performance: worse in math
0.128
(0.335)
0.162
(0.369
0.116
(0.320)
0.150
(0.357)
0.146
(0.355)
0.156
(0.363)
Sample for longitudinal analysis:

17. Longitudinal analysis: results
• Local polynomial regression:
• time since death of partner as the point of reference;
• random time of death assigned to non-widowed individuals.
Consequences of widowhood
Depression: 4+ EURO-D
All widowed: “Sudden death” widowed:

18. Longitudinal analysis: results
• Local polynomial regression:
• time since death of partner as the point of reference;
• random time of death assigned to non-widowed individuals.
Consequences of widowhood
Depression: 4+ EURO-D
All widowed – women: “Sudden death” widowed – women:

19. Longitudinal analysis: results
• Local polynomial regression:
• time since death of partner as the point of reference;
• random time of death assigned to non-widowed individuals.
Consequences of widowhood
Poor health: SAH
All widowed – women: “Sudden death” widowed – women:

20. Longitudinal analysis: results
• Local polynomial regression:
• time since death of partner as the point of reference;
• random time of death assigned to non-widowed individuals.
Consequences of widowhood
Material conditions: difficulties in MEM
All widowed – women: “Sudden death” widowed – women:

21. Summary and conclusions:
We use the SHARE data to analyse implications of widowhood on health and material
conditions:
• Associations of widowhood with poorer physical health only found for women and
only in a small number of SHARE countries.
• Widowhood associated with significantly higher likelihood to suffer from
depressive symptoms – both among men and women.
• Across many SHARE countries widowhood is associated with poorer material
conditions among women.
• Longitudinal analysis shows:
• clear causal effect of widowhood on symptoms of depression (lasting up to 4 years after
partner’s death);
• no effects on physical health;
• unclear implications for material conditions.
 Mental health as a major concern following widowhood which seems to call for
policy intervention.
Consequences of widowhood