Widowhood and the end of spousal care-giving : relief or wear and tear ? JENNIFER REID KEENE* and ANASTASIA H. PROKOS** ABSTRACT This paper analyses the impact of spousal care-giving on survivors’ depressive symptoms six months into widowhood, and examines the applicability of a ‘ relief model ’ of spousal adjustment during bereavement. We examine several aspects of the care-giving situation, including care-giver stress, care-giving demands, and type and duration of care and how these affect survivors’ depressive symptoma- tology. The sample is drawn from two waves of the Changing Lives of Older Couples (CLOC) survey, which was conducted in the United States in the Detroit Metropolitan Area, Michigan. The first wave of data was collected from couples and the second from the surviving spouse six months after the death of the part- ner. We use multiple regression analysis to examine the effects of key variables on depressive symptoms six months into widowhood, controlling for various demo- graphic characteristics and personal circumstances. The results demonstrate that the duration of care-giving is the most influential predictor of survivors’ depress- ive symptoms six months after the death. Indeed, long-term care-givers experi- ence greater relief than both non-caregivers and short-term care-givers, as the predicted probabilities indicate. The results lead us to emphasise that care-giving and spousal bereavement should be studied as related processes rather than dis- tinct phenomena. Indeed, relief from a chronically stressful care situation may actually ameliorate the negative effect of spousal loss for survivors. KEY WORDS – bereavement, conjugal care-giving, depressive symptoms. Introduction Spousal care-giving is an increasingly common experience and emotion- ally a most demanding situation. If the care ends with the death of the spouse, specific characteristics of the care-giving situation may ameliorate or exacerbate the bereavement process. Stress research has characterised conjugal care-giving as a chronic stressor that is linked to increased care- giver burden and psychological distress (Beach et al. 2000 ; Marks, Lambert * Department of Sociology, University of Nevada Las Vegas, USA. ** Departments of Sociology and Women’s Studies, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, USA. Ageing & Society 28, 2008, 551–570. f 2008 Cambridge University Press 551 doi:10.1017/S0144686X07006654 Printed in the United Kingdom