Who Suffers More and When?: A Longitudinal Study on Gender Differences in Depressive Symptoms due to Spousal Bereavement

Abstract

This study aims to identify the trajectory of depressive symptoms experienced by Koreans in their mid-to-later life before and after the death of their spouses and examine how gender influences their trajectories. A random effect regression analysis was conducted using a sample of 8,672 individuals aged 45 or older from the 2006-2020 Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging Panel. The results are twofold. First, the depression following a spousal bereavement deepened over time for both men and women, but women showed more rapid changes in their trajectories compared to men. Second, the depressive symptoms increased even before the death of their spouses only for women, and this pre-widow effect can account for the gender differences in long-term depression. The results suggest that the stress caused by spousal bereavements may partially be socially constructed.