Journal of Gerontology: PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCES Copyright 2001 by The Gerontological Society of America

2001, Vol. 56B, No. 3, P176-P186

Gender Differences in the Relationship Between

Marital Status Transitions and Life Satisfaction in
Later Life
Judith G. Chipperfield1 and Betty Havens2

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Health Leisure and Human Performance Research Institute and 2Community Health Sciences,
University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.

This study examined life satisfaction among individuals who had undergone a transition in marital status and
those whose marital status remained stable over a 7-year period. In particular, using data from a large-scale, lon-
gitudinal study we assessed life satisfaction as measured in 1983 and 1990 among 2,180 men and women between
the ages of 67 and 102. Groups of individuals were identified on the basis of whether a spouse was present or ab-
sent at the two measurement points. This allowed for a classification of groups who experienced stability or tran-
sitions in marital status. Among those individuals whose marital status remained stable over the 7 years,
women's life satisfaction declined and men's remained constant. Among those who experienced a transition—in
particular, the loss of a spouse—a decline in life satisfaction was found for both men and women, decline being
more predominant for men. In addition, men's life satisfaction increased over the 7-year period if they gained a
spouse, whereas the same was not true for women. Generally, these findings imply that the relationship between
marital status transitions or stability differs for men and women.

A S people age, many face the traumatic experience of

losing their spouses, either through death or institu-
tionalization. Evidence suggests that individuals who lose a
spouse are more likely to die than their counterparts who do
not experience this stressful event (e.g., Bowling, 1987). An
equally important issue is the quality of life following the
loss of a spouse. Some individuals adjust well to the loss;
others do not. Attempting to understand the experience, re-
searchers have studied everything from bereavement (e.g.,
Herriott & Kiyak, 1981; Lund, 1989) and depression (e.g.,
Osterweis, Solomon, & Green, 1984; Stroebe & Stroebe,
1983) following the loss of a spouse to use of health ser-
vices (e.g., Wolinsky & Johnson, 1992). This emphasis on
widowhood, however, has overshadowed the need to study
stability in marital status or marital status transitions other
than the loss of a spouse. For example, marriage in later life,
whether for the first time or following the loss of a spouse,
has important implications for quality of life.
The goal of the present study was to explore life satisfac-
tion among seniors who had undergone both types of transi-
tions (i.e., those who gained spouses and those who lost
spouses) and seniors who retained marital status stability. In
particular, we examined life satisfaction among various
groups of seniors differing in marital status, thereby adding
to the literature on life satisfaction among those who are
single (Chappell & Badger, 1989), divorced (Farnsworth,
Pett, & Lund, 1989), remarried (Bulcroft, Bulcroft, Hatch,
& Borgatta, 1989; Burks, Lund, Gregg, & Bluhm, 1988), or
married and widowed (e.g., D'Amato, 1987; Fengler, Dani-
gelis, & Little, 1983; Geis & Klein, 1990).
Marital Status and Well-Being
A large literature has emerged on the relationship be-
tween marital status and well-being, as measured by a vari-
ety of indicators including morale, depression, happiness,
life satisfaction, and so forth (e.g., Allen, Ciambrone, &
Welch, 2000; Holicky & Charlifue, 1999; Hong & Duff,
1997; Kehn, 1995; Morris, 1997; Ryff & Keyes, 1995).
Overwhelmingly, the literature points to a positive associa-
tion between having a marriage partner and being satisfied
with life (e.g., Hong & Duff, 1997; Kehn, 1995). Much of
the past work has focused exclusively on women (Bennett
& Morgan, 1992; Day & Day, 1993; Kousha & Mohseni,
1997; Mookherjee, 1997), in part because they generally
outlive men and have a greater likelihood of being wid-
owed. Reinhardt and Fisher (1989), for example, compared
reports of life satisfaction among women who were married
and those who were widowed and found significantly
higher life satisfaction among those who were married.
Other researchers have directly examined gender differ-
ences, comparing married and widowed men and women.
Connidis and McMullin (1993), for example, found that di-
vorced men and women were less satisfied than their mar-
ried counterparts. Lubben's (1989) results indicated that
married men were more satisfied with life than either mar-
ried or widowed women, and among men, those who were
married had higher life satisfaction than those who were
not. Moreover, in their extensive search of the literature,
Stroebe and Stroebe (1983) reported that "married females
were more depressed than married males and widowed
males were more depressed than widowed females" (p.
284).
Taken together, these findings suggest that the presence
of a marriage partner has positive implications for life satis-
faction. As Dykstra (1995) pointed out, "Many activities are
couple-companionate, undertaken as a couple, with other
couples" (p. 321). Thus, to the extent that social interaction
facilitates psychological well-being, the availability of a

P176
 CHANGES IN LIFE SATISFACTION
spouse may offer a "protective" function. Interestingly,
some of the existing research has pointed to the possibility
that the presence of a spouse affords a relatively greater ad-
vantage for men than for women. For example, in a study of
retirement satisfaction, the beneficial impact of marriage
on satisfaction with retirement was greater for men than
for women (Calasanti, 1996). Moreover, researchers have
shown an increased risk of dying among widowers, but not
among widows, following their spouses' deaths (e.g., Bi-
ondi & Picardi, 1996; Bowling & Windsor, 1995; Marti-
kainen & Valkonen, 1996). This implies that the implica-
tions of marriage and widowhood are different for men and
women.
Although numerous studies of aging have explored the
"loss-of-spouse" transition (i.e., death, divorce, institution-
alization), fewer studies have examined the remarriage tran-
sition. This is, in part, because small numbers of people tend
to remarry late in life (Zick & Smith, 1988). Likewise, with
a few exceptions (e.g., Barrett, 1999; Bennett & Morgan,
1992; Dykstra, 1995; Strain & Payne, 1992), never-married
seniors have been largely ignored when examining the rela-
tionship between marital status and well-being.
Stability versus transitions in marital status.—The im-
portant distinction between marital status stability versus
marital status transition has received little attention in past
research. A potentially useful approach would allow for a
two-dimensional classification that distinguishes between
the presence of a spouse (present vs absent) and transitions
in marital status (yes vs no). Within this framework, never-
married and still-married individuals are similar on the tran-
sition dimension (i.e., they have not experienced a transition
in marital status) and different on the presence dimension
(i.e., never-married individuals do not have spouses present,
and still-married individuals do have spouses present). This
classification would allow for a consideration of whether
undergoing a transition in marital status has more serious
consequences for life satisfaction than the mere presence or
absence of a spouse.
Longitudinal designs are essential in order to directly
study the role of marital status transitions. However, in the
few longitudinal studies that exist, it is difficult to summa-
rize the impact of marital status transitions on changes in
life satisfaction because the comparison groups differ across
studies (e.g., married vs widowed; remarried vs widowed).
In one study of seniors who had lost spouses, those who re-
married displayed higher levels of life satisfaction after 2
years than those who did not (Burks et al., 1988). In another
10-year study, those who remarried were relatively happier
with their lives than those who did not, but this happiness
diminished with time (Bulcroft et al., 1989).
Finally, Bennett and Morgan (1992) found that patterns
of psychological change over 4 years differed for women
who had been widowed, had never married, or were still
married. Overall, morale decreased; however, the magni-
tude of this decrease was strongest among widowed women.
Also, those who experienced a transition (i.e., the widowed
women) had significantly lower levels of morale after 4
years than those whose status remained stable (i.e., still-
married and never-married women). Despite differences in
Pill
the presence or absence of a spouse, the groups who experi-
enced stability expressed similar levels of morale. In other
words, morale appeared to be more affected by a transition
than by the mere availability or presence of a spouse.
The Present Study
Using a longitudinal design, we directly addressed the
question of whether patterns of life satisfaction differed for
seniors who underwent a transition in marital status (e.g.,
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death of spouse, remarriage) compared with those who ex-
perienced stability (i.e., remained married, remained never
married, remained divorced or widowed). First, we pre-
dicted that, over time, life satisfaction would remain rela-
tively unchanged among those who experienced stability in
marital status. This prediction was based on Bennet and
Morgan's (1992) finding that those who experienced mari-
tal status stability expressed similar levels of morale over
time and on the findings from several large-scale longitudi-
nal studies of well-being, one involving a 9-year follow-up
(Costa et al., 1987) and another involving a 14-year follow-
up (Stacey & Gatz, 1991).
Second, we predicted that life satisfaction would change
among those who underwent a marital status transition. In
particular, within the marital status transition groups, we ex-
pected that those who lost spouses would experience a de-
cline in life satisfaction, whereas those who gained spouses
would enjoy heightened satisfaction. More important, we
expected that, relative to women, for men the magnitude of
change in life satisfaction would be larger. Women's life
satisfaction, on the other hand, was expected to be relatively
more stable than men's, despite changes in marital status.
These predictions are in keeping with research that has
shown an increased risk of dying among widowers but not
among widows following the death of a spouse (e.g., Bowl-
ing & Windsor, 1995).
Of course, an evaluation of changes in life satisfaction
would be inadequate without attention to other factors. For
the present purpose, potentially important variables were
identified by drawing from the literature on the predictors of
life satisfaction (Davis, 1991; D'Amato, 1987; Fengler et al.,
1983; Girzadas, Counte, Glandon, & Tancredi, 1993; Rid-
dick, 1985; Spreitzer & Snyder 1974). We included mea-
sures of health, which is consistently shown to be the
strongest predictor of life satisfaction (D'Amato, 1987;
Farnsworth et al., 1989; Girzadas et al., 1993; Lubben, 1989;
Morris, 1997). Also included were age (e.g., Geis & Klein,
1990; Lund, Caserta, & Dimond, 1986), education and in-
come (e.g., Farnsworth et al., 1989), social support (e.g.,
Fengler et al., 1983; Strain & Chappell, 1982), and activities
of daily living (Girzadas et al., 1993), variables that have
been shown to predict life satisfaction.
The majority of the existing work in this area has used
cross-sectional designs, obtaining only posttransition mea-
sures of well-being. Unlike these past studies, which do not
allow for a direct analysis of marital status transitions and
accompanying changes in well-being, the present study sys-
tematically assessed these changes across 7 years, from
1983 to 1990. Participants were part of the longitudinal Ag-
ing in Manitoba (AIM) Project, and because of the represen-
tative nature of the study sample, it was possible to track
P178 CHIPPERFIELD AND HAVENS
those individuals who experienced both types of marital sta-
tus transitions (e.g., widowed, remarried) as well as those
who retained stability (e.g, married, never married, re-
mained widowed or divorced). As such, our assessment ex-
pands on the previous work, which has only indirectly ad-
dressed marital status transitions versus stability primarily
by comparing groups that are married versus widowed. As
such, it provides an opportunity to extend the existing de-
scription of the relationship between marital status and life
satisfaction that has arisen from those studies that focus on
specific comparison groups.
METHODS
AIM Database
The AIM database contains data from interviews con-
ducted with older people in Manitoba at five points in time:
1971, 1976, 1983, 1990, and 1996. The individuals who
agreed to participate (or in some cases proxies) were inter-
viewed in their home, in their language of choice (e.g.,
Ukrainian, French, Italian, Icelandic, Yiddish, Portuguese,
Polish, German, Chinese, Sioux, Chippewa, and Cree). The
interviews lasted approximately 1 to 1.5 hr and assessed a
variety of variables, including demographics, social net-
works, perceptions, health, well-being, and so forth.
To obtain sufficient numbers of individuals who experi-
enced marital status transitions and large enough numbers
to examine each of the stability-transition groupings (e.g.,
see subsequent description of stability-transition groups),
the present analysis focused on a subset of individuals who
were interviewed over a 7-year period. This included AIM
participants who were interviewed in 1983 and again in
1990. Thus, the following description is restricted to these
two measurement points. A full description of the method-
ology of the AIM studies can be found elsewhere (Chipper-
field, Havens, & Doig, 1997).
In 1983, a total of 5,273 individuals were interviewed;
some of these (n = 2,780) were first-time participants. Us-
ing an age-gender stratified area-probability sampling tech-
nique, these first-time participants were randomly selected
from Manitoba Health's computerized registry, which con-
tains information on all Manitoba residents (e.g., age, gen-
der, and area of residence) who are covered under the uni-
versal medical insurance program. Because this registry
represents the most comprehensive listing of residents
available in the province of Manitoba, samples drawn from
it can be considered representative of the overall provincial
population. Other 1983 participants were-part of a longitudi-
nal follow-up panel (n = 2,403), having begun the AIM
study at an earlier time (i.e., in 1971 or 1976). Again, the
initial 1971 and 1976 samples were selected from Manitoba
Health's registry using the same age-gender stratified area-
probability sampling technique. Interviews were completed
by 95% of the potential surviving participants (Chipperfield
et al., 1997).
In 1990, a second follow-up study was conducted, rein-
terviewing all of the individuals who had participated in
1983, excluding those who had died. At this time, inter-
views were again conducted with 95% (n = 3,218) of po-
tential participants (Chipperfield et al., 1997). Rigorous
steps were taken to determine the status of a small percent-
age of individuals (n = 170, or 5%) who could not be inter-
viewed in 1990 for a variety of reasons and to compare
these nonrespondents with respondents. No significant dif-
ferences were found on a variety of demographic variables,
indicating that the nonrespondents and respondents were
similar (Chipperfield et al., 1997).
Present Study Sample
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To consider the relationship between marital status and
life satisfaction, only a subset of the 1990 AIM survivors
were included. The sample was restricted to those individu-
als who, in 1983 and 1990, completed Neugarten, Ha-
vighurst, and Tobin's (1961) Life Satisfaction Index A
(LSIA), thus excluding individuals who were not inter-
viewed at both times, those who required assistance from a
proxy, and those who were cognitively incapable of re-
sponding to these items. The participants retained for analy-
ses (n = 2,180) consisted of 1,321 women and 859 men
ranging in age from 67 to 102 (M = 77.7). One half (50%)
were married, 40% were widowed, 3% were divorced, and
7% were single. Formal education ranged from a low of 0
(2%) to a high of 16 or more years (2%). The majority lived
in a house (68%) with at least one other person (56%) and
described their ethnic descent as British (41%).
Measures
Demographic variables.—Age was calculated from year
of birth as indicated on the Manitoba Health records (M =
11.1 years, SD = 6.9). Other demographic variables for the
analyses were based on information obtained during the
1983 interview. Education was assessed by asking the par-
ticipants, "How many grades did you complete in school?"
The answers were coded into one of seven categories: 1 = 0
years (no school), 2 — 1 to 4 years, 3 = 5 to 8 years, 4 = 9
to 10 years, 5 = 11 to 12 years, 6 = 13 to 16 years, and 7 =
16 years or more. The median level of education was be-
tween 9 to 10 years. Income in 1983 was calculated by add-
ing all the sources of reported income (i.e., pensions, sala-
ries, rents, interest, insurance annuities, Old Age Security,
Guaranteed Income Supplement, allowances, welfare, un-
employment insurance, Old Age Assistance, Shelter Assis-
tance for Elderly Renters, Manitoba Supplement for Pen-
sioners, or cash from other sources). The mean level of
monthly income in 1983 was $595.33 (SD = $552.54) in
Canadian dollars.
Social support.—On the basis of Gumming and Henry's
(1961) Social Lifespace Measure, we created two variables
to reflect monthly social interaction in 1983. These vari-
ables were constructed from respondents' reports of the
numbers of people they saw every day, once a week, a few
times a month, once a month, and less than once a month.
First, interaction with relatives was assessed by responses
to the question "Of the relatives (including any in house-
hold) you feel closest to, how many do you see and how of-
ten?" As suggested by Gumming and Henry, the number of
people seen was multiplied by a weighting factor so that a
large score would mean more social contact. The mean
 CHANGES IN LIFE
score for interaction with relatives in 1983 was 44.3 (SD =
47.18).
Second, interactions with friends was assessed by re-
sponses to the following question: "Of the friends (includ-
ing any in household) you feel closest to, about how often
do you get together with any of them?" Again, the number
of people seen was multiplied by a weighting factor. The
mean score for interaction with friends in 1983 was 48.6
(SD = 88.3).
Finally, an interaction with neighbors variable was as-
sessed by responses to "How often do you get together with
the neighbour which you see most frequently?" The respon-
dents could choose between every day (1), at least once a
week (2), a few times a month (3), about once a month (4),
and anything less than once a month (5). Scores on this
4-point scale were reverse coded such that high scores re-
flected more interaction. The mean interaction-with-neigh-
bor score was 3.8 (SD = 1.4) in 1983.
Change in health status variables.—On the basis of par-
ticipants' responses to the interview questions, three mea-
sures were created to assess changes that occurred in health
status over 7 years. Perceived health was assessed both in
1983 and in 1990 by asking, "For your age, would you say,
in general, your health is good, fair, or poor?" The re-
sponses were provided on a 5-point scale ranging from 1
(excellent) to 5 (bad for your age). These scores were subse-
quently reverse coded such that high scores reflected excel-
lent health and low scores, poor health. By subtracting the
1983 score from the 1990 score, a variable was created to
measure change in perceived health (M = —0.1, SD =
0.88). Scores ranged from —3.0 to 4.0, with higher (i.e., pos-
itive) scores reflecting improvements in perceived health.
Morbidity was assessed in 1983 and again in 1990 by
summing the number of health problems. Individuals identi-
fied these problems from a list of problems or diseases en-
countered within the past year: arthritis or rheumatism;
palsy; problems with eyes, ears, teeth, stomach, feet, skin,
and other areas; heart-related problems (e.g., hardening of
arteries, hypertension, heart attack); lung problems (e.g.,
emphysema, tuberculosis, breathing problems); stroke; kid-
ney problems; and diabetes. A low score reflected low mor-
bidity and a high score, high morbidity. Again, the 1983
score was subtracted from the 1990 score to create a change
in morbidity score. Higher scores indicated increased mor-
bidity; lower scores, decreased morbidity (M = 1.01, SD =
2.24).
Functional independence was determined by asking the
participants about their ability to perform basic activities of
daily living as identified in other standardized measures
(Branch, Katz, Kniepman, & Papsidero, 1984; Branch &
Myers, 1987; Katz, Ford, Moskowitz, Jackson, & Jaffee,
1963): going up and down the stairs; getting about the
house; getting in and out of bed; washing or bathing or
grooming; dressing and putting shoes on; and eating. A
functional independence score was created by summing the
activities that respondents were able to perform indepen-
dently. Thus, higher scores reflected greater independence.
By subtracting the 1983 score from the 1990 score, a change
score was created such that higher scores reflected increas-
SATISFACTION P179
ing independence and lower scores, decreasing indepen-
dence (M = -0.16, SD = 0.89).
Stability-transition groups.—The major independent vari-
able, marital stability-transition, was determined by asking
respondents about who lived in their households in 1983
and again in 1990. For the purposes of this study, four
groups were identified on the basis of presence (P) or ab-
sence (A) of a spouse. Spousal presence obviously referred
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to the presence of a spouse who lived in the home. Spousal
absence from the household could be due to having never
been married, the death or institutionalization of a spouse,
or divorce or separation. The P or A groups were further
classified as having stability in marital status or as having
experienced a transition.
Table 1 shows the four groups identified in the present
study, separately for women and men. The present—present
(PP) stability group included those who reported living
with a spouse in both 1983 and 1990. These individuals ex-
perienced stability in the sense that they remained married
over the 7-year period of this study. As shown in Table 1, a
greater proportion of men (27.34) relative to women (19.40)
were classified into the PP stability group.
Respondents who were not living with a spouse in either
1983 or 1990 were classified into the absent-absent (AA)
stability group. The absence of a spouse was for a variety of
reasons (e.g., never married, divorced or widowed before
1983; see Appendix, Note 1). Although some of these indi-
viduals had undergone a transition before 1983, they had all
retained at least recent stability in marital status.
The present-absent (PA) transition group included indi-
viduals who were living with a spouse in 1983 but not in
1990. The loss of a spouse was most often due to death
(87%). However, for a small percentage of the participants,
it was due to divorce (3%) or other reasons (11%) such as
institutionalization of a spouse.
The final, absent-present (AP) transition group consisted
of those respondents who were not living with a spouse in
1983 but were in 1990. In the majority of cases (83%), the
presence of a spouse in 1990 was due to remarriage or being
reunited with a separated spouse, although for 5 individuals
(17%) the presence of a spouse in 1990 was indicative of a
first marriage. It is worth noting that fewer than 1% of both
men and women in this study gained a spouse in late life.
Life satisfaction.—The dependent variable, life satisfac-
tion, was measured in 1983 and 1990 using Neugarten and
associates' (1961) LSIA. The LSIA was administered to
Table 1. Marital Status Group Sizes (Frequences and Percentages)
Men Women
Status
Stability
Present-present 596 27.34 423 19.40
Absent-absent 153 7.02 657 30.14
Transition
Present-absent 93 4.27 229 10.50
Absent-present 17 0.78 12 0.55
P180 CHIPPERFIELD AND HAVENS

study participants who were capable of responding to 20
statements (i.e., proxy responses were not obtained). These
statements included such items as "I have gotten more of
the breaks in life than most of the people I know" and "As I
grow older, things seem better than I thought they would
be." Respondents were asked to tell the interviewer whether
they agreed, disagreed, or were not sure whether each state-
ment was true for them. Only a small percentage (under 9%)
of individuals had missing values on more than 10 of the 20
1. For example, in examining the correlations between po-
tential covariates and the LSIA change score for women
within the AP group, correlations were based on as few as
15 individuals, whereas Table 1 shows 17 individuals in the
AP group.
Table 2 shows that none of the demographic or social
support variables correlated significantly with change in life
satisfaction. Some large correlations emerged for women in
the AP group; however, due to the very small sample (n =

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LSIA items (see Appendix, Note 2). A mean LSIA score
was created for each individual, ranging from 0 to 1. In
1983, the mean LSIA index score was .71 (SD = .18), with
a Cronbach's alpha of .77. In 1990, the mean LSIA index
score was .67 (SD = .20), with a Cronbach's alpha of .74.
RESULTS
Preliminary Analyses: Identifying Covariates
Before addressing the major question of whether changes
in life satisfaction varied depending on the stability of or
transition in marital status, preliminary correlational analy-
ses were undertaken to identify potential covariates. Poten-
tial variables included demographics (age, education, and
income), social support (interaction with relatives, neigh-
bors, and friends), and heath status (perceived health, mor-
bidity, and functional capacity). Each of these variables was
assessed in relation to the change in LSIA scores over time,
which was measured by subtracting a respondent's LSIA
score in 1990 from his or her LSIA score in 1983. A posi-
tive difference score indicated an increase and a negative
difference score indicated a decline in life satisfaction over
time.
Because the relationships between each potential covari-
ate and the LSIA change might differ by gender and stabil-
ity-transition group, we examined correlations separately
for men and women in the four groups (i.e., PP, PA, AP,
AA). It should be noted that, owing to missing values on the
potential covariates, the sample sizes for the calculation of a
given coefficient may differ from those presented in Table
15), these are nonsignificant and likely to be quite unreli-
able. In contrast, there was some evidence for associations
between changes in health and in life satisfaction. Table 2
shows that this relationship was most apparent for the per-
ceived health variable: Those who perceived their health to
be deteriorating over the 7 years of the study showed more
evidence of declining satisfaction with life. This was espe-
cially true for women, with three of the correlations exceed-
ing .20. Changes in independence on activities of daily liv-
ing, although significantly correlated with LSIA changes for
women in the PP and AA groups, were low (.127 to .154).
Repeated Measures
We conducted repeated measures analyses with Proc
Mixed (SAS Institute, Inc., 1992, p. 229) to examine differ-
ences in patterns of life satisfaction as they related to gender
and marital status stability-transition. The design was a split
plot, involving a gender (male or female) X stability-transi-
tion group (PP, A A, PA, or AP) X year (1983 or 1990) 2 X
4 X 2 analysis of covariance model with repeated measures
on life satisfaction. Change in perceived health and inde-
pendence were initially retained as covariates because of
their correlations (p < .05) with change in life satisfaction
(Table 2). However, the subsequently reported analysis ex-
cludes these covariates because, when included, they did
not alter the overall effects of other independent variables
(see Appendix, Note 3).
A significant main effect emerged for the between factor,
Stability-Transition Group, F(3,2172) = 30.79, p < .0001
(Table 3). However, the main effect for Stability-Transition

Table 2. Correlations Between Changes in Life Satisfaction Scores and Selected Variables for Women and Men
Women Men
Variable PP AA PA AP PP AA PA AP
Demographics
Age -.076 -.092 -.041 -.138 -.082 -.090 .007 .100
Education -.092 -.003 -.005 -.077 -.045 .023 .211 .004
Income .011 -.041 -.086 -.103 -.030 .027 -.085 -.081
Social Support
Relatives .067 -.015 .073 -.037 -.006 .068 .085 -.247
Neighbors .027 -.045 -.083 -.419 -.026 -.067 -.017 -.028
Friends -.076 -.014 .143 -.160 -.028 .007 .107 -.191
Health Status3
Perceived health .270* .245* .181* -.387 .215* .189 .100 -.296
Morbidity -.127 .093 .100 -.150 .059 -.205 .051 -.217
Independence ADL .127* .154* -.003 .611 .068 -.089 .255 -.086

Note: PP = present-present; AA = absent-absent; PA = present-absent; AP = absent-present.

a
Health status measures reflect changes in health status over the 7 years of the study. Positive correlations indicate that increasing life satisfaction over time was as-
sociated with improved perceived health, independence, and morbidity.
*p < .01.
 CHANGES IN LIFE SATISFACTION P181

Table 3. Summary of Repeated Measures of Analysis: Effects of the within-subject error term, the degrees of freedom for
Gender and Stability/Transition (ST) Group Over 7 Years on each comparison was 2172. Finally, effect sizes (ES) were
Reported Life Satisfaction calculated using Hedge's g standardized mean differences
Source SS F P procedure (R. Rosenthal, 1994) for each significant compar-
df
ison.
Between Subject
Gender 1 0.072 1.48 .224
4.495 30.79 .000 Stability in martial status.—Figure 1 illustrates the lon-
ST group 3
3 0.161 1.11 .345 gitudinal patterns of life satisfaction for seniors who experi-
Gender X ST Group
105.682 enced stability in marital status. Simple main effect tests re-

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Error 2,172
Within Subject vealed a significant decline in life satisfaction for women,
Year 1 0.005 0.23 .631 both those women in the PP category (i.e., those women
1 0.016 0.76 .383
Gender X Year who, over time, remained married), t = 4.30, p < .0001, ES =
ST Group X Year 3 1.075 16.70 .000
0.464 7.20 .000 .209, and those in the AA category (i.e., those who re-
ST Group X Gender X Year 3
Error 2,172 46.61 mained widowed or single), t — 4.96, p < .0001, ES =
.194. In contrast, for men, no significant declines were
found in the AA group, t = 0.37, p = .714, or in the PP
group, t = 3.07, p — .002, ES = .126. Rather, as shown in
(ST) Group is qualified by its interaction with Year, Figure 1, men's pattern of life satisfaction was one of con-
F(3,2172) = 16.70, p < .0001, and by a three-way interac- stancy. Thus, significant declines in life satisfaction among
tion between ST Group, Gender, and Year, F(3,2172) = those who experienced stability in marital status were re-
7.20, p < .0001. This three-way interaction, as illustrated in stricted to women. Moreover, the treatment-contrast inter-
Figures 1 and 2, indicates that changes in life satisfaction action for the AA group was significant, t = —2.49, p =
over time were not equivalent for women and men within .01, ES = -.224, SEs = .007 for women, .015 for men, in-
specific stability-transition groups. dicating that the slopes of the lines were significantly differ-
To consider the nature of the interaction, further tests ent for men and women. This was not true in the case of the
were carried out to assess the significance of treatment-con- PP group, where the slopes did not differ significantly, t =
trast interactions and simple main effects (Kirk, 1982). The -1.31, p = .19, SEs = .009 for women, .008 for men.
treatment-contrast interactions involved a comparison of
the mean LSIA scores over time for men and women, sepa- Transitions in marital status.—Figure 2 shows the lon-
rately within each of the four stability-transition groups. In gitudinal patterns of life satisfaction for those who experi-
other words, these tests examined gender differences in the enced a transition in marital status. Simple main effects of
slopes of LSIA scores. Tests of simple main effects con- the decline in life satisfaction were conducted first for the
sisted of comparisons of LSIA changes over time, sepa- PA group (i.e., the group with a spouse present in 1983 but
rately within each of the four stability-transition groups and absent in 1990; see Figure 2a). The results indicated that the
separately for women and men. Because there were eight decline was significant for both men, t = 6.91, p < .0001,
simple main effect comparisons, a corrected/? value of .05/8 ES = .717 and women, t = 4.11, p < .0001, ES = .272.
(p = .006) was used, and because each of these tests used Furthermore, the magnitude of the effects differed for men
and women, as suggested by the significant test of the treat-
ment-contrast interaction, t — 3.62, p = .0003, ES = .445,
SEs = .012 for women, .019 for men. Thus, for those who
Marital Status Stability lost their spouses the decline in LSIA over time was signifi-
Men cantly greater for men than women.
Women For the AP group (Figure 2b), the treatment-contrast in-
0.78
teraction was not significant, implying that the increase in
life satisfaction for men was not significantly greater than
0.76
the increase in life satisfaction for women, t = —1.32, p =
0.74
Present
.187, SEs = .054 for women, .045 for men. However, tests
0.72
of the simple main effects in the AP group showed that the
LSIA 0.70 increase in life satisfaction was significant for men, t =
Scores 0.68 -3.68, p = .0002, ES = -.893, but not for women, t =
0.66 Absent — 1.37, p = .17. Taken together, these findings suggest that
0.64 gaining a spouse has positive consequences for men's life
0.62 satisfaction but not for women's.
0.60
0.58
Subsequent Analyses
0.56
One explanation for the relatively stronger decline in life
1983 satisfaction that emerged for men (Figure 2a) following the
Year loss of a spouse is that the loss had occurred more recently
Figure 1. Patterns of life satisfaction over time for those who ex- (Barer, 1994), thereby leaving men less time than women to
perienced stability in marital status. LSIA = Life Satisfaction Index A. have adapted. This possibility was addressed in a subse-
P182 CHIPPERFIELD AND HAVENS
Marital Status Transitions
A Spouse Present (1983) - Spouse Absent (1990)
0.78
0.76
0.74
0.72
0.70
LSIA 0.68
Scores 0.66
0.64
0.62
0.60
0.58
0.56
0.54
0.52
0.50
1983 1990
Year
Figure 2. Patterns of life satisfaction over time for those who lost a spouse, A, and for those who gained a spouse, B. LSIA = Life Satisfaction
Index A; cT = men; ^ = women.
quent analysis of those who lost a spouse between 1983 and
1990 (i.e., those in the PA group). Men, on average, had not
lost their spouses more recently than women, ?(318) =
—1.80, p > .05. Thus, recency of loss was not a viable ex-
planation for the relatively stronger decreases in life satis-
faction for men compared with women.
An analysis was also conducted for the subset of individu-
als (the AP group) who gained a spouse between 1983 and
1990. This permitted an evaluation of whether an increase in
life satisfaction for men was due to a "honeymoon effect" re-
sulting from their having been married more recently than
women. No significant gender differences emerged in the
length of time since marriage, ?(16) = —1.73,;? > .05. Thus,
the increase in men's life satisfaction following marriage
does not appear to be explained by recency of marriage.
A final issue that we addressed involved a more refined
analysis to consider possible differences between the "always
single" (AS) and those who were only "recently single" (RS),
that is, those who had lost a spouse before 1983. In our basic
group classification, all of these individuals were classified as
AA because they had no spouse in 1983 or 1990. However,
recent research has suggested the importance of studying al-
ways single or never married individuals as a special group of
interest (e.g., Barrett, 1999; Ferguson, 2000).
We compared these two groups (AS, RS) by using an
analysis similar to that shown in Table 3; however, the four-
level stability-transition group variable was replaced with
the two-level AS-RS group variable. The results revealed a
significant effect for the AS-RS comparison, F( 1,806) 6.47,
p < .05; AS seniors reported significantly higher levels of
life satisfaction than their RS counterparts. However, no
differences between the groups emerged in their patterns of
LSIA change over time, F(l,806) = 1.04,p = .301, nor did
LSIA changes over time between the groups interact with
gender, F(l,806) = 2.38,p = .124.
B Spouse Absent (1983) - Spouse Present (1990)
0.78
0.76
0.74
0.72
0.70
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LSIA 0.68
Scores 0.66
0.64
0.62
0.60
0.58
0.56
0.54
0.52
0.50
1983 1990
Year
DISCUSSION
The results from the present study add to the growing re-
search on the relationship between marital status and well-
being (e.g., Lubben, 1989; Lund and colleagues, 1986).
Some of our results suggest that transitions and stability in
marital status have different implications for older men and
women. Among men, life satisfaction remained constant for
those whose marital status remained stable over 7 years, and
it changed for those who experienced marital status transi-
tions. The pattern was not as simple for women.
Transitions in Marital Status
The overall examination of life satisfaction among those
who lost a spouse and those who gained a spouse produced
a nearly mirror-image pattern (Figure 2a and 2b), suggest-
ing an overall decline in life satisfaction for those who lost a
spouse and an increase for those who gained a spouse. How-
ever, further exploration of the patterns provided some evi-
dence for gender differences. The decline in life satisfaction
following the loss of a spouse was found to be significantly
more pronounced for men than for women, with a corre-
spondingly large effect size (.445). This may suggest that
the loss of a spouse is relatively more detrimental to men
than women. Although men typically experience widow-
hood at a later age than women, leaving them relatively less
time to adjust to their loss (Barer, 1994), the recency of loss
in the present study could not account for men's more pro-
nounced decline in life satisfaction following the loss of
their wives.
This gender difference in declining well-being following
the loss of a spouse is entirely consistent with empirical evi-
dence from the field of social support. Unlike women, men
often view their spouse as their only close confidant (Chap-
pell, 1989; Strain & Chappell, 1982) or the first in their
companion network (Connidis & Davies, 1990). In other
 CHANGES IN LIFE
words, women's spouses may be one among several rather
than one among few confidants. If men's emotional well-
being is partly determined by access to a confidant relation-
ship, widowhood may result in the loss of their only confi-
dant. In addition, men's social interactions with other family
members could be undermined by the loss of a wife who has
been the kin-keeper, "the one who attempts to keep family
members in touch with one another" (C. J. Rosenthal, 1985,
p. 965). Without a "kin-keeper" to foster family interac-
tions, widowed men may be prone to greater degrees of iso-
lation and loneliness than women who have undergone a
similar loss. Finally, social support at a broad level appears
to buffer the negative impact of widowhood (Lin & Ensel,
1989), and as women typically have more extensive support
networks, social support may protect them from some of the
negative consequences of widowhood.
Although men may suffer more psychological conse-
quences than women following the loss of a spouse, our re-
sults suggest that, unlike women, they derive benefit when
marrying late in life. It must, however, be noted that the
small cell size of this group who gained a spouse in late life
limits our ability to draw conclusions. Nonetheless, the
large effect size (—.893) suggests the importance of the
finding that men experience an increase in life satisfaction
with remarriage late in life. In addition, it is interesting that
the magnitude of increases in men's life satisfaction after
gaining a spouse (AP group) appeared to be approximately
equal to the magnitude of their declines in satisfaction after
losing a spouse (PA group), as is illustrated in Figure 2 by
the mirror-image patterns of changing life satisfaction for
men who experienced opposing transitions in marital status.
The gain in life satisfaction for men following the attain-
ment of a spouse may also be due to changes in the social
relationships that accompany the presence of a spouse.
Whether the role of a wife is direct (e.g., access to a confi-
dant) or indirect (promotion of interactions outside the
spousal relationship), the enhanced exposure to social net-
works and increased social activity may foster a more ful-
filling social experience for men. The potential for psycho-
logical gain is consistent with the fact that men are more
likely than women to remarry (Burch, 1990) and they re-
marry more quickly than women (Wu, 1995), implying, per-
haps, a greater motivation to do so.
Although the positive benefit in life satisfaction for men
is likely partly due to the social facilitation effect of a wife,
other factors are surely involved. For example, although we
did not find age to relate significantly to life satisfaction and
we did statistically adjust for health, we cannot entirely rule
out the possibility that our results partly reflect a selection
bias in which younger and healthier men may be more
likely to remarry. Another interesting possibility is that men
marry more compatible mates than women and therefore are
happier and more content in their late-life marriages. This
"compatibility" hypothesis is derived from the work of Wu
(1995) and others who have pointed out that, due to the cul-
tural norms that dictate that men marry younger women
who are often less educated, there is an oversupply of avail-
able mates from which men can select. In contrast, for
women, who tend to marry older, more educated men, there
is an undersupply of men in the potential late-life marriage-
SATISFACTION P183
partner pool. This implies that men have more opportunity
than women to select a compatible mate, thereby enhancing
their satisfaction with life.
Still another possible reason for men's gains in life satis-
faction following late-life marriage is that a wife may have
a health-promoting influence, in turn leading to greater life
satisfaction. This is consistent with the findings of a recent
study (Steinberg Schone & Weinick, 1998) in which mar-
riage had a relatively larger positive impact on health be-
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haviors for elderly men than for elderly women. In short,
there are numerous potential explanations for men's gains
in life satisfaction following late-life marriage that are
worth examining in future research.
Stability in Marital Status
The present findings also showed that among those indi-
viduals whose marital status remained stable, men's life sat-
isfaction remained consistent over time, whereas women's
declined. The stability in men's life satisfaction is congruent
with the results from several large-scale longitudinal studies
of well-being, one involving a 9-year follow-up (Costa and
colleagues, 1987) and another, a 14-year follow-up (Stacey
& Gatz, 1991). The declining life satisfaction for women in
the present study is congruent with some findings, such as
the declining life satisfaction over a 12-year period (1971 to
1983) in our earlier analyses of very old women in the AIM
study. On the other hand, the declining satisfaction is incon-
gruent with findings from Costa and colleagues' and Stacey
and Gatz's studies. Age variation in samples may partly ex-
plain the inconsistency in findings across these studies; the
present study focused on older individuals compared with
Costa and associates' study of 25- to 74-year-olds and Sta-
cey and Gatz's study of 15- to 100-year-olds. In fact, Bar-
rett's (1999) analysis of never-married adults showed that
the effects of never being married were greatest among el-
derly individuals, suggesting inconsistent findings may well
occur across studies of different age groups.
Clearly, our findings suggest that life satisfaction deterio-
rates for older women who remain in a stable marital condi-
tion (i.e., never married, always married). What would ex-
plain their deterioration in life satisfaction over the 7 years
of this study? One explanation is based on women's roles as
caregivers and the burdens associated with caregiving. Pro-
viding care in later life is associated with severe psycholog-
ical burdens (Jones & Peters, 1992; Wijeratne & Lovestone,
1996; Zanetti, Magni, Sandri, Frisoni, & Bianchetti, 1996),
and women are more likely than men to be in caregiver
roles (e.g., Davis, 1991) and to suffer from the burden
(Grafstrom, Fratiglioni, & Winblad, 1994). Thus, women's
declining reports of life satisfaction could be a reaction to
the psychological costs of providing care. A related possible
explanation for women's declining satisfaction is that they
may have increasing unmet needs. This is consistent with
the finding that women report more unmet needs for help
than men (Chipperfield, 1996).
Cautions
For several reasons, caution is required in the interpreta-
tion of our finding. First, our interpretation of the social fa-
cilitation effect of women on their spouses' life satisfaction,
P184 CHIPPERFIELD AND HAVENS
which is based on a substantial literature in this field (e.g.,
see Lubben, 1989, for a review), was not totally supported
by subsequent analyses of our social interaction variables.
Among men, those who were married did have more inter-
actions with relatives (M = 52.52) compared with their un-
married counterparts (M = 39.85); however, this difference
was not significant. Moreover, married men did not have
higher levels of interaction with neighbors or friends than
their unmarried counterparts. Perhaps more surprising, over-
all comparisons of men and women revealed that men had
significantly more interactions with family (M = 49.05 vs
43.37), f(1910) = 2.23, p < .05, and with friends (M =
144.61 vs 120.00), r(1749) = 1.99, p < .05. Although these
supplemental preliminary analyses did not support the inter-
pretations outlined earlier, it may be that different findings
would emerge from further detailed analyses of the relation-
ships between marital status stability-transitions and social
support. Analyses of measures other than frequency of in-
teractions (e.g., perceived support, confidant support) that
are beyond the scope of this study might reveal findings
more consistent with the past literature.
Second, as in all quasi-experimental and field research,
we were unable to rule out potentially important third vari-
ables that may be responsible for a spurious relationship be-
tween marital status stability-transitions and life satisfac-
tion. For example, the stress of coping with a spouse's
debilitating arthritis might lead to divorce, and the docu-
mented decline in life satisfaction may be due to the stress
rather than the divorce (i.e., the marital status transition). In
short, we cannot rule out a variety of third-variable explana-
tions for the reported relationships in our study.
Third, as previously pointed out, the group who remar-
ried consisted of a very small number of individuals. This
may, in part, explain why we did not find the predicted
greater increase in life satisfaction for men who remarried
than for women. On the other hand, the increase in life satis-
faction after remarriage was restricted to men. Women did
not experience a similar increase in life satisfaction, which
is consistent with the view that men's life satisfaction may
be beneficially affected by late-life marriage, but women's
may not.
Fourth, our study did not allow for an in-depth analysis of
the many possible explanations for gender differences in
patterns of life satisfaction. To understand how marital sta-
tus stability and transitions relate to life satisfaction in later
life, it is essential to consider the complexity of the spousal
relationship. A variety of factors are important, from basic
marital compatibility (Wu, 1995) to perceptions of relation-
ship standards and opportunities for future improvements
(see Dykstra, 1995). Although the present study did not al-
low for an analysis of the complexity of spousal relation-
ships, it documented patterns of life satisfaction in a unique
way, considering both spousal presence versus absence and
stability versus transitions in marital status.
Fifth, selective mortality complicates our understanding
of how life satisfaction changes over time, just as it does in
any research that examines survivors. Because measures of
1990 life satisfaction were obviously unavailable for those
AIM participants who died before 1990, they were excluded
from the present analysis. Nonetheless, due to rigorous at-
tempts to acquire representative samples, the present AIM
sample of survivors remains representative of survivors in
the overall provincial and national population (Chipperfield
et al., 1997). Thus, the patterns of life satisfaction that
emerged in this study are likely to generalize to the broader
population of survivors.
Finally, our analysis is subject to the same criticism made
about studies that examine predictors of living arrangement.
In particular, Wilmoth (1998) has argued that multiple tran-
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sitions may be obscured when living arrangements are as-
sessed at two interview dates. In other words, "respondents
could have experienced several transitions during the period
but only the difference between the beginning state and end-
ing state is modeled" (Wilmoth, 1998, p. 434). To consider
this possibility of multiple transitions, we examined the re-
ported length of time married for the group of individuals
who reported having a spouse in 1983 and also in 1990 (i.e.,
the PP group). In fact, there were individuals who reported
being married fewer than 3 years, suggesting that a transi-
tion was obscured in our PP classification. However, the
percentage of misclassification was extremely small (2%),
indicating that this was a minor concern in the present
study. Moreover, given the low rate of remarriage in later
life, this does not become a particularly compelling con-
cern.
Conclusions
Our study demonstrated different patterns of life satisfac-
tion for men and women, for both those who experienced
marital status transitions and those who retained stability in
their marital status. These results can be interpreted pessi-
mistically or optimistically. With respect to women, the
pessimistic view is that life satisfaction generally declined
over time, the declines occurring for those women who lost
their husbands but also for those whose marital status re-
mained stable over the study. Thus, for the majority of
women, life satisfaction may be at risk in old age. The opti-
mistic view of our findings is that life satisfaction did not
decline among older women who marry, suggesting that
later life marriage may offset the expected decline in life
satisfaction. For men, the pessimistic view is that they ap-
pear to be at a relatively greater risk than women for suffer-
ing psychological consequences following the loss of a
spouse. This finding is consistent with the reported gender
differences in survival following the death of a spouse (e.g.,
Biondi & Picardi, 1996; Bowling & Windsor, 1995). The
need to assist men in their adjustment to the loss of a spouse
is underscored by the elevated rate of widowhood among
men that has occurred in the past decade (Martin Matthews,
1994) and that will likely continue in the future. Ultimately,
men's ability to adapt to widowhood will likely also influ-
ence their physical health in later life and perhaps their lon-
gevity. On a more optimistic note, with the exception of
those who lost spouses, men generally experienced either
stability or increased life satisfaction over the 7 years of our
study. This implies that, with the exception of those men
who lost spouses, men are likely to maintain their psycho-
logical health in later life.
Taken together, these findings are consistent with the no-
tion that the presence of a spouse buffers men against de-
 CHANGES IN LIFE SATISFACTION
clining life satisfaction in late life, highlighting the impor-
tance of a spouse for men in late life. However, for women,
satisfaction with life appears to deteriorate if they remain
married as well as if they lose their spouses. Despite
women's relatively greater social interaction than men, all
social interactions may be decreasing at older ages, thus
contributing to declining satisfaction with life. It may also
be that women's dissatisfaction with life is less firmly con-
nected to their marital status and that their declining satis-
faction is influenced by a broader range of factors associ-
ated with growing old in contemporary society. A careful
analysis of these issues is required before a more precise un-
derstanding of the relationship between marital status tran-
sitions and life satisfaction will emerge. What is clear from
the present study is that the implications of marital status
stability-transitions are likely to differ for men and women.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This research was supported by a Canadian Institutes of Health Research
Career Award to Judith G. Chipperfield. We appreciate the cooperation of
Manitoba Health in the construction of the samples for our study. Thanks
also go to Wendy Doig and Darren Campbell for their assistance with data
analyses.
Address correspondence to Judith G. Chipperfield, Health, Leisure &
Human Performance Research Institute, 305 Max Bell Centre, Winnipeg,
Manitoba R3T 2N2, Canada. E-mail: chipper@ms.umanitoba.ca
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Received March 29, 2000
Accepted November 6, 2000
Decision Editor: Margie E. Lachman, PhD
Appendix
Notes
1. Within the AA group, 20% (n = 161) had never mar-
ried and 79% (n = 636) had either been widowed or di-
vorced before 1983. Fewer than 1% (n = 8) indicated that
they were married in 1990 but that they had not lived with
their spouse in 1983 or 1990. In the latter case, it is assumed
that the spouse was still alive but living elsewhere, perhaps
in a long-term care facility.
2. The major analyses were also conducted excluding the
individuals who had responded to fewer than 10 of the 20
LSI A items. The results did not differ from those reported in
Table 3.
3. In the expanded analysis, the effect was not significant
for the covariate, perceived health, F( 1,2146) = 0.31, p =
.58, but was significant for independence, F( 1,2146) =
14.30, p < .001. Consistent with the reported findings in Ta-
ble 3, a significant main effect did emerge for Stability-Tran-
sition Group, F(3,2146) = 27.90, p < .0001, and significant
interactions emerged for Stability-Transition Group X Year,
F = 15.32, p = .0001, and for Stability-Transition Group X
Year X Gender, F(3,2146) = 5.31, p < .005.