Research Team: Gerardo Meil, Luis Ayuso

Widowhood in a changing society

Duration: October 2006 to September 2009

Research team: Gerardo Meil, Luis Ayuso

Cooperating institutions: Department of Sociology of the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid and Universidad de Málaga

Funding: General Directorate for Scientific Research, Ministry of Science and Technology SEJ2006-08676

Abstract

The sociological analysis of widowhood has attracted little scientific interest, so knowledge of this social reality is fragmented and biased. The purpose of this research project is to analyze the evolution of the socioeconomic characteristics of widows and widowers in Spain, focusing on their demographic characteristics, economic situations, and family status.

It is well known that socioeconomic conditions in Spain have changed profoundly over the three past decades, and these changes have altered the living conditions of widows and widowers. Widowhood is no longer synonymous with poverty, and, among other reasons, this is due to the massive incorporation of women into the labor market, but above all, it is due to the great improvement in coverage and intensity of social protection during recent decades. This does not mean, however, that all widows and widowers share the same economic situation because, in addition to gender and class differences, there are great distinctions in the working histories of individuals. Therefore, an interesting area of research is the economic situations of widows and widowers.

Moreover, family life is experiencing a profound transformation that includes the structure, values, and norms that govern relationships among members of the family network. On the one hand, due to the falling birthrate, the increasing rate of childlessness, and a rising life expectancy, there is a growing number of aged people in families, which presents many challenges to the relatives of the elderly. Given the central role that family networks play in developing the sociability of individuals and especially older people, one research question is the effect of childlessness or the reduction of the number of children on the social relationships and the well-being of widows and widowers. Further, given the central role of women within family networks, special attention should be focused on the question of how social relationships of widows and widowers are affected when they have no daughters or sisters. On the other hand, changes in social values have led to a growing privatization of life projects and a loss of influence of family networks on the behavior of its members, a process that has been conceptualized as individualization. Therefore, the research focuses on the question of whether widows and widowers are increasingly socially isolated and have increased feelings of loneliness.

The analysis is based on existing databases as well as on a strategic survey of 300 widows and widowers living in Spain. The “snowball” methodology has been utilized, but the sampling process has been controlled for age and sex, ensuring a minimum of interviews with people younger than 65 as well as a minimum of men, but weighting off their oversampling in the whole database. This survey was carried out in December 2007 and January 2008.

Publications:

On this same Webpage you can find the main survey results in the section “Statistics on family change in Spain”

Meil, Gerardo (2009),“The effects of shrinking family networks on widow´s family relationships” in Panorama Social, 10, 2009 (in Spanish).