Appraisals of bereavement, coping, resources, and psychosocial health dysfunction in widows and widowers

The purpose of the study was to test a model, based on Lazarus and Folkman's (1984) stress-coping framework, on widowed persons' psychosocial health dysfunction after conjugal bereavement. Older widows (n = 100) and widowers (n = 59) were identified through church burial records and interviewed using the Ways of Coping Checklist, Sickness Impact Profile, and questionnaires to assess appraisal of bereavement and resources. Path analysis indicated that lower threat appraisal, more problem-focused and less emotion-focused coping, greater resource strength, and younger age had direct effects on reducing psychosocial health dysfunction, explaining 30% of the variance. Higher threat appraisal influenced the use of more problem- and emotion-focused coping strategies. Greater resource strength directly influenced lower threat appraisal. Sex and type of death affected psychosocial health dysfunction through their effect on resource strength.