2. 2
SPIKE of Excellence
2
• Gender Studies
• Goals
• Gain advanced theoretical and clinical knowledge in
gender studies
• Skill proficiency in psychological practice with women and
men
• Research in gender studies
3. 3
SPIKE continued
3
•
•
•
Didactic
•
•
Graduate Certificate in Women’s Studies
Instruction of Psychology of Gender, Psychological
Perspectives on the Female Experience, Introduction to
Women’s Studies, and Counseling Diverse Populations
Gender and Ethnicity
Clinical
•
•
Feminist Interpersonal Process Therapy
Men’s issues rotation
Research/Writing
•
•
Self-Esteem and Widowhood: A Qualitative Study of Older
Women
Symposium (submitted): Innovative Psychological Services
for College Men: The Men’s Center Approach
4. “IT’S A WHOLE NEW WORLD”:
SELF-ESTEEM AND WIDOWHOOD
IN OLDER WOMEN IN A
RETIREMENT COMMUNITY
Krystle Balhan Archibald
5. 5
5
Introduction
• Widowhood is
potentially most
disruptive transition of
a woman’s life (Bradsher,
2001)
• ½ of women 65+ are
widows (Hanson & Hayslip,
2000)
• Literature reviewed and
current study focus on
widowhood in the
context of heterosexual
marriage
6. 6
Widowhood as Layers of Loss
• Loss of spouse (Fry, 2001)
• Loss of status (e.g., van den
Hoonaard, 2005)
• Loss of social networks
(e.g., Bennett, 2005)
• Loss of self-esteem (e.g.,
Walters & Charles, 1999)
7. 7
Benefit of Self-Esteem in Widowhood
• Drops in self-esteem are not automatically
indicated in widowhood (Fry, 2001)
• Serves as buffer against depression and stressors
(Aneshensel, Botticello, & Yamamoto-Mitani, 2004)
8. 8
13
Purpose of the Current Study
• Understand the lived
experiences of older
widowed women with
their self-esteem
12. 12
Methods - Procedure
16
• Demographic Questionnaire
• Semi-structured interviews
• 1 time, face-to-face
• Approx. 45 minutes
• Audio-recorded
• Transcript Review
• Participant reviewed her own transcript for
accuracy
13. 13
17
Trustworthiness
• Extent to which we can
trust the results and
conclusions
• Researcher’s journal
• Peer examination
• Member-checking
14. 14
18
Analyses
• Constant Comparative Analysis (Strauss & Corbin,
1990)
• Inductive Approach
• Codes developed from the data, not a priori
• Step 1: Interviews and Transcripts
• Step 2: Open Coding
• Step 3: Finding Categories Among Codes
• Step 4: Analyses of Themes and Other Variables
20. 20
It’s a whole new world
• As I said, it’s a whole new world.
Nothing is the same...That was a big
turning point. Such a little thing, but
it was like cold water in my face.
Things will never be the same. Not
that they can’t be good, but they’ll
never be the same. (Sarah)
25. 25
Confidence and Positivity
• I think selfesteem is confidence in
your ability to um do things
adequately and appropriately.
(Melissa)
• “Feeling good about yourself, feeling
you’re OK.” (June)
26. 26
Sources of Self-Esteem
• Women: Well, women. Women are marvelous. And I never
really had the connection that I had before this happened,
because it’s different. (Sarah)
• Friendships: Well, my friends have been just wonderful. My
friends have wined and dined me, taken me places, done all
kinds of things with me, come and stayed with me.
(Samantha)
• Family: my family is very important, even though they’re not
here. (Patty)
• Faith: And now I feel really good about being there, and being
involved in the activities at the church, so that’s been a real
big help for me. Just to be closer to people that believe the
same way that I do. (Joy)
• Leisure: Bridge, Osher Lifelong Learning Institute
28. 28
Exclusion from couples
• Well, I think they [other people] have
to know that in our society,
widowhood means you cannot
associate with, you will be rejected by
married couples. Uh, you just have to
understand that our society does not
accept widows or divorcees with
married couples. (Blythe)
30. 30
Preparation for widowhood
• But I do know a lot of women also,
that don’t know mechanics of uh you
know how to take care of the car.
They need to be very involved in the
nuts and bolts of what it takes to live.
But I think that’s the preparation that
all women of our age need to do.
(Sarah)
31. 31
Independence during marriage
• I’ve always done that, even through my married life. I
went to a lot of things by myself, so I was kind of primed
for it. (June)
• I have been an independent person who supervised a
large number of employees. Have lived alone before and
traveled a lot by myself, so most of the things I’m dealing
with now aren’t the first time I’ve ever dealt with them.
But I I definitely think that the fact that I have done a lot
of things on my own in life and had a responsible job
and did uh uh, have traveled and done a lot of things on
my own helps me to know that I can get along.
(Samantha)
33. 33
Essence: Constructing Multiple Identities
• Development and identity formation in old age
(Chapman, 2004; Ryff, 1991)
• Continuity: stable self-esteem sources,
independence
• Brandtstädter and Greve (1994)
• Change: being alone, relationships, exclusion
34. 34
Considering Demographics
• Physical Health
•
•
Independently living women
Increased physical health correlated with higher self-esteem (Dionigi &
Cannon, 2009)
• SES and Education
•
•
High school+; retirement community
Low SES related to increased morbidity/mortality for mental health
disorders (Anderson & Armstead, 1995)
• Ethnicity
•
•
Self-identified Caucasion, Euro-American
Racial discrimination related to negative mental health consequences
(Williams, Lavizzo-Mournay, & Warren, 1994)
35. 35
Implications and Future Directions
• Implications for
clinicians
• Positive psychology
• Feminist psychology
• Future directions
• Health information
• Heterogeneous sample
Women face many transitions and changes throughout the lifespan…going to college, getting a career, becoming sexually active, getting married, becoming a mother, grandmother, caring for aging parents, becoming a widow.
Not every woman goes through each of these changes. For instance, lesbian women cannot get married in most of the country and some women do not want to have children.
At the same time, statistics show us that most women will experience the transition to widowhood during their lives. ½ of all women over 65 are widows; with this number even greater for women who live to 85. In 1990, it was expected that 4 out of 5 women over 85 were widows.
As the population of older adults grows, we can only assume that the population of widowed women will also grow. These women deserve our research and clinical attention.
Note about heterosexual marriage.
Spouse: Most simplistic description of widowhood. Fry extends definition by saying that in losing the spouse, the widow loses a significant personal relationship.
Status: In our context of a patriarchal society, men are afforded more status than women. Marriage historically and currently allows women to vicariously access their husbands’ power and privilege. Researchers have found that widowed women lose status in their communities, presumably because they are no longer linked to a man.
Cotten (1999) asserted that this is a risky status because it is associated with marginalization, depression and poor psychological well-being.
Social networks: Some studies find decreases in social engagement with the network. Lund and colleagues (1986) found that once social engagement decreased, it did not ever resume to pre-widowhood levels. Other studies show changes in social networks, instead of just loss. Widows may be left out of married friends’ plans and they typically do not have an already established group of widowed friends.
Self-esteem: Relatively older literature. Most from 80s and 90s. Self-esteem may be lowered through a variety of pathways including, loss of spouse, loss of contact with spouse’s associates, increased physical and social isolation, diminished economic resources, stress of loss.
When widows seek therapy, low self-esteem is typically a presenting issue (Schwartz & Kaslow, 1985).
Drops: Other factors may influence self-esteem beyond spousal loss. Fry found that self-efficacy beliefs impacted self-esteem.
Buffer: This hypothesis seems related to TMT. Help widows buffer the stresses of the stigmatized status. Also help maintain personal identity.
Not to explain or predict
Why 55: lower limit to live in community is 55, so presumably age will not exclude anyone from participating. Researchers have also used 55 for the lower limit of the “older adult” study.
Why widowed 1-4: Be respectful of widows’ immediate grief experiences. In order for them to discuss fresh experiences, upper limit of 4 years was established.
Why GV: grandmother lives in community. I will not interview her, but I find it meaningful to interview and understand the experiences of her peers. And a vacation to Arizona during the winter isn’t a bad perk
Saturation: no predetermined sample size
Suggests using 2 strategies to maximize trustworthiness. I’ve chosen 3.
Researcher’s journal: Field journal of logistics—appointments, etc. Methods journal—if interview protocol should change, listed here. Personal diary—own thoughts, ideas, reactions. By having my own outlet for thoughts/feelings, more assured that they will not present themselves in the way I interview, analyze, or write about the study.
Peer examination: More like expert examination. My major advisor will serve. Major component to the peer review is determining saturation. Look at codes and themes and mutually agree upon saturation.
Member-checking: Strongly encouraged by Jim Banning. Participants will receive their transcripts and review them for accuracy as they remember. The revised transcripts will be coded.
1: Face-to-face interview. Transcribed by me or a research assistant.
2: Level I. Large set of codes produced. Arise from the data.
3: Level II. Categorize level I codes, bringing them to a more abstract level.
4: Level III. Analyze level II codes for all participants and across classification variables like age, length of time as widows, etc. Establish a core category/essence related to all other categories.
