UC Irvine

In later life, the loss of social ties is particularly consequential for emotional health. Widowhood becomes increasingly common as people age, and divorce rates have been on the rise among older adult populations. Such losses, particularly in the absence of remarriage, reduce older adults’ access to support and companionship. Research on spousal loss has yet to consider variations in perceived need for support and companionship. It is also possible that having additional support and companionship beyond a minimum threshold reduces need for support and companionship and contributes little to older adults’ emotional health. A new and growing form of social contact, remote interactions, is becoming increasingly important, however, research has yet to examine whether older adults use remote interactions to garner support and companionship following widowhood and divorce. To address these gaps in the literature, the current dissertation used two waves of data sourced from the UC Berkeley Social Networks Study (UCNets). A subsample of community-dwelling older adults aged 60-70 years (N = 411) were interviewed about their social networks (i.e., support and companionship providers and marital status), remote interactions (e.g., text, email, or other online methods), and emotional health (i.e., days felt isolated, days felt lonely, and psychological distress). Analyses revealed that widowed/divorced older adults experience a greater need for support and companionship than do married older adults. Current support and companionship did not change widowed/divorced older adults’ need for support and companionship. Contrary to expectations, experiencing a greater need for support and companionship was associated with decreased support and companionship providers over time. Even when considering current support and companionship, the duration of widowhood/divorce was not associated with a need for support and companionship. Remote interactions were significantly associated with emotional health, but only for older adults whose number of support and companionship providers was insufficient (i.e., below a threshold). Marital status (widowed/divorced vs. married) did not influence the association between remote interactions and emotional health. These findings convey the importance of examining need for support and companionship as an antecedent to substitution and compensation following spousal loss. Future research examining remote interactions should take into consideration the joint effects of in-person support and companionship.